Who else is tired of the Anti-Depressant Merry-go round?

[morepain]

I know alot of us here are or have been on anti-depressants. Am i the only one who feels like they just are not the panacea that the manufacturers make them out to be? Whe i look back at my history of anti depressant usage it basically looks like this: prozac - killed my sex drive and made me tired ; lexapro made me feel like i was going insane ; cymbalta - so tired and foggy i can't even think at work and my job requires constant mental attention, initially i thought i had found a great drug, but i started to notice that i could barely stay awake. Of course teh solution to that is ADD ANOTHER DRUG! I am so sick of it, i swear i think the drugs are worse than the disease. The only thing that I know made a difference was Klonipin for a short period of time to break my anxiety cycle. I have been studying the natural anti-depressants more lately and want to try to get off these "wonder drugs" i swear they make me feel worse. PLease share your actual experiences with anti-depressant meds or natural treatments.

[DrmChld]

I've taken Prozac for anxiety and now taking Wellbutrin.

I really don't notice any difference on them, except while I was on Prozac I was able to perform longer in the sack

[T Man]

I am with you on this one as well. Everyone reacts different to anti-D's. It certainly is dose related as well. I have some family members and a few friends who did fantastic on Zoloft. No real side effects unless they took higher doses. They backed the dose down and did very well. Zoloft really changed there life. Panic and depression seems to run in my family. Its all about finding what works.... It is no fun I know first hand as well.

I tried Zoloft and Lexapro and they made me very anxious with scary thoughts. I had to stop them both. I don't seem to tolerate SSRI's the same as my family and friends. I can tolerate low doses of prozac 2.5 mg to 5 mg. I had used it in the past. But it does activate me and I get a little wired feeling. But it did work in improving and curing the depression. But they also gave me T shots with it. This was back in 1989 when I came of AAS and retired from Powerlifting. I was on prozac 5 mg for 2 years.

I wish I knew what I could tolerate safely and without the weird side effects. So far low dose Remeron was the most tolerable... but didn't really take my depression away. My Doc wants to try and get my T levels back up into the mid to higher end of the normal range. We both think that proper T levels are critical to me for good mood. Treat the pituitary deficiency and see what is left as far as depression/anxiety etc. Ideally I would not like to take any anti-d's.

It is all about the merry go round..... my doctors at the university say it is some science and a whole lot of black magic and trials at this point in time. Unfortunately thats the way it is. I am not on anything but Klonopin at the moment.

There are natural supplements.... 5htp (serotonin precurser that people say works). SAME, L-theanine come to mind. I tried the L-Theanine and I felt liked I was drugged the next morning. I was so tired. Tossed that supplement. I would also like to hear of peoples experiences with natural supplements.

[pmgamer18]

For the first 5 yrs. that I was sick before they knew I had low T I was off on sick leave and not able to work. The AD meds they put me on made me feel worse after 5 yrs. my work asked the Head Dr. why I was not better he told my job and my wife I liked being depressed and did not want to get better. Lucky for me a Uro found me to be suffering from Low t and I had to go into a re-hab hosp. to get off the dam AD drugs. This Dr. all most cost me my job and my marriage. I could not believe how much better I felt getting off the AD meds and on TRT. Yet I started having panic attacks later on on TRT 4 yrs. ago I found out it was my Estradiol levels were to high from being on TRT.

[morepain]

I know we are very similar T-man with our problems, i hope the Klonipin is providing some relief for you, i will say after breaking my anxiety cylce with klonipin i did not go back to a deep depression, more like a constant dull mental ache. I have read thoroughly a book called Dealing with Depression Naturally, it offers alot of good advice and insight. Right now i am reviewing the web site Hypericum.com which is primarily dedicated to St john's wort. One interesting thing about SJW is in Europe it is prescribed much more often than any SSRI. Also every head to head study done on the herb using research grade material has found it to be at least as effective and in most cases more effective than SSRi's.

[squareblockhead]

In the past I have been on Zoloft and Paxil for depression. Xanax at night to help me sleep. They made me feel terrible. I was in a constant fog. I told the doc this and the response I got was, just keep taking them until your body adjusts to it. After six months I still felt terrible. I felt like a zombie with no care or no emotion. It also killed my sex drive. I decided on my own to stop taking it. I would rather feel depressed than feel like I did on those meds.

I'm not saying they don't help some people because I'm sure they do. People I know are on these meds and swear it helps them. They just didn't work for me and I won't ever take them again.

[morepain]

I get the same thing from my doctor, there is no point in even expressing a desire to get off the meds, his standard response is to use twice as much or add something else. Why is it that american physicians are so dead set against trying to use natural / alternative therapies ; my doctor acted like i was stupid even when i brought him copies of several university studies shpwing the effectivenness of herbals such as St John's wort. i am going to try it and see how it goes, luckily i have only been on the Cymbalta for about 3 weeks, i quit taking it 3 days ago and i have not suffered any severe withdrawals, hopefully that will continue, many people have horrible side effects when trying to stop Cymbalta. I just feel like i have given the meds chance after chance and in some ways you get a little better but the depression is just replaced with a nearly catatonic state where i can't even function normally.

[tyler]

Morepain,

I don't know your physical background so i can only tell you my story.

Six years ago i drove my Honda civic at 90 mph straight into a highway dividing concrete barrier. Life had just got to be a bit much. I will not bore you with the particulars. The stupid airbag saved my life, according to my doctors. After getting out of the hospital, they send me to a shrink and he put me on Zoloft. Before "hitting the wall" i had not gotten any blood work done but had been getting "counciling". I honestly don't think there was any real physical chemical imbalance. If this is your case(known chemical imbalance), then i am sorry and can't offer you any real advice

In my case, after a month of Zoloft and lookin for a bigger chunk of concrete to try, i just flipped the switch. I used hate. Its as powerful an emotion as love or any other emotion. I had always just taken shit from people and i just said the hell with it. I made it my life's goal to get even with the people that i felt drove me into that fuckin wall. This got me back into life and i've gotten good at it. It gave me more purpose then i had for quite sometime. I flushed the Zoloft down the toilet, told the fuckin shrink to go to hell and got on with the business at hand. Six years later i have an absolute love for life. Having seen death, really makes one appreciate life. Know this, your time is limited, DO SOMETHING WITH IT.

I find it simply amazing that the world's largest market for anti-depressants is the USA. My god, do these people have any idea what life is like in Mexico, or Korea or Russia or 90% of the rest of the world????

Take 100 people on Zoloft, drop them off in Mexico City without a penny in their pocket or means of contacting the USA and tell them they can come back to the US on the condition of no more Zoloft, or they can stay in Mexico and have as much Zoloft as they want for the rest of their life for free.
How many stay in Mexico????? really???

Again, if you have an actual physical imbalance you have my heart, but from what i've seen 90% of the anti-depressant market needs to try and raise a family in Haiti, working in a fuckin Nike factory. THATS ANIETY.

TD

[jwo]

I was on Cymbalta/Wellbutrin for a couple years. Started on just the Cymbalta after trying every other one out there. It was the only one I found I could stomach. I had tried the others years before but they were all horrible. Added Wellbutrin a couple months later to curve the libido issues. It worked for me. I've always researched things to try to figure out why I have the depression, anxiety, and all the other fun crap that goes along with it. I never thought I really had a reason to be that depressed, other than I was a heavy drug abuser when I was a kid. Always thought that must have screwed something up along the way. Long story short, I just got tired of looking at all the pill bottles I had to go through in the morning, and the cost per month, out of my pocket of course. Started poking around on the web again & came across HRT. I could relate to alot of the symptoms so just for kicks, I went & had the blood test. I was suprised at the results. Doc started me on TRT & a couple of pills for now. (pregnenolone, melatonin, dhea) After a couple weeks on this, I totally stopped taking the anti-depressants. I've been on this for about a month and a half now & I feel better than I have in a long, long time. No depression, no anxiety, sleep great. I feel normal again. Hope I've stumbled onto something here with the HRT & its not just a temporary thing.

[love_en]

Originally Posted by jwo

I was on Cymbalta/Wellbutrin for a couple years. Started on just the Cymbalta after trying every other one out there. It was the only one I found I could stomach. I had tried the others years before but they were all horrible. Added Wellbutrin a couple months later to curve the libido issues. It worked for me. I've always researched things to try to figure out why I have the depression, anxiety, and all the other fun crap that goes along with it. I never thought I really had a reason to be that depressed, other than I was a heavy drug abuser when I was a kid. Always thought that must have screwed something up along the way. Long story short, I just got tired of looking at all the pill bottles I had to go through in the morning, and the cost per month, out of my pocket of course. Started poking around on the web again & came across HRT. I could relate to alot of the symptoms so just for kicks, I went & had the blood test. I was suprised at the results. Doc started me on TRT & a couple of pills for now. (pregnenolone, melatonin, dhea) After a couple weeks on this, I totally stopped taking the anti-depressants. I've been on this for about a month and a half now & I feel better than I have in a long, long time. No depression, no anxiety, sleep great. I feel normal again. Hope I've stumbled onto something here with the HRT & its not just a temporary thing.

Congratulations on getting well. It is my belief that SSRIs and all of the new antidepressants ought be restricted to use after endocrine problems have been unequivocably ruled out. Of course a man is going to be anxious and depressed if his testes, adrenals and thyroid have stopped working properly. Do not worry, you will continue to feel better as the hormones do their work. Just watch out for elevated estrogen levels. If your doctor is willing to treat you with T, has he also checked your thyroid and adrenals?

[morepain]

Well i definetley have hormonal issues, most of you have seen my thread about getting off the heavy steroid use. I am on HRT now but we are still dialing it in. My depression has been with me my whole life, even as a child, it sucks bad but i have to come to terms with it. I stopped teh cymbalta 4 days ago but last night i believe i was having some severe withdrawal symptoms so i took one and it did relieve the syptoms by morning. Maybe i am one who will have to accept that i need to stay on a low dose anti-depressant for life. if it would actually make me feel better and i could function normally on it i would be fine with that, it just seems that they make me tired to the point of being disfunctional.

[squareblockhead]

Originally Posted by morepain

it just seems that they make me tired to the point of being disfunctional.

That is exactly why I quit using them. I would rather feel depressed than feel like I did on those meds.

Give the HRT time. Your whole system is out of whack right now. It took me a long time but I'm at the point now where I'm feeling good again. By good, I mean normal.

[GymJim]

I wouldn't be surprised if 99% of the people on anti-depressants could be better served by a heathy diet and vigorous exercise, and perhaps psycho-therapy and HRT is some cases. All their depression and mental problems would disappear if they just got off those horrible meds and got some health and discipline in their lives. So many people in America are sickly, overweight, and have emotional issues and anti-depressants aren't really helping them.

[pmgamer18]

You guys need to check out this site.
http://health.groups.yahoo.com/group/ssrisex/

Description
The sexual side effects of Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors (SSRIs) DO NOT ALWAYS GO AWAY AFTER QUITTING, and can last a long time after discontinuance. This condition is sometimes called Post SSRI Sexual Dysfunction (PSSD). Sometimes sexual dysfunction persists indefinitely after stopping the antidepressant.

This discussion and support group is for men and women with sexual side effects that began during SSRI use, but have continued long AFTER quitting them. These side effects include low or absent libido, impotence or decreased lubrication, delayed, dulled or absent orgasm, ejaculatory anhedonia and genital sensory impairment.

We would like to discover the reason for this persistent dysfunction and find a cure. In some men and women, it appears as though low testosterone is a possible cause. Disturbances in neurotransmitters and receptors also appear to be causative.

We discuss natural supplements or medications that may facilitate recovery from these conditions, and share our experiences of them. Such discussions do not constitute medical advice, and all drugs should be taken under a doctor's supervision.

If you decide to join the group, please take a minute to tell us about your experiences with SSRIs and answer the polls. This is important, and may ultimately help us to better understand the causes, treatment and prognosis of SSRI-induced sexual dysfunction. The more information we have the better, and nothing is too trivial. Don't be afraid to speak up!

You can search the message archives by using the search bar below right. There is also a FAQ and some personal histories of members in the Database section.

Website and PSSD Wikipedia article:

http://www.ssri-side-effects.com

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PSSD

Keywords: Prozac, Serafem, Zoloft, Paxil, Seroxat, Cipramil, Celexa, Lexapro, Cipralex, Luvox, Remeron, Zispin, Effexor, Cymbalta, Ixel, Wellbutrin, Serzone, Trazodone, Strattera, TCA, tricyclic, imipramine, permanent

[morepain]

While i agree that some people may be in that boat, i resent the 99% figure. I have been active in athletics for 25 years, ran cross country, wrestled, ran mini-marathons, then turned to bodybuilding and powerlifting. Eat a very healthy diet including omega 3 oils, lots of fruit and vegetables, high quality protein supps. Believe me i have left no stone unturned when it comes to healing myself, there are legitimate brain chemistry imbalances in some people, including myself that prevent the depression form lifting no matter what you do. The real problem is that the current meds are crude at best for dealing with it.

Originally Posted by GymJim

I wouldn't be surprised if 99% of the people on anti-depressants could be better served by a heathy diet and vigorous exercise, and perhaps psycho-therapy and HRT is some cases. All their depression and mental problems would disappear if they just got off those horrible meds and got some health and discipline in their lives. So many people in America are sickly, overweight, and have emotional issues and anti-depressants aren't really helping them.