Anti-Depressants

[-Hollywood-]

what is anyone's take on anti-depressants? i've been seeing counsellors and psychiatrists and family doctors and talking to people, and only today did i get a referral on a mild dose. i'm really afraid of taking them, but i think they would be good for me. all i've seen of anti-depressants are the side effects, mood swings, drowsiness and so on. i really don't want to mess my body up. i was hoping there would be a more "natural" way to relieve my depression. i understand exercising is a good way, but i simply don't have the time.

-H-

[ticklebug]

hollywood -

 

there are vast opinions on anti-depressants....yes there CAN be side effects...but that really only applies to higher dosage use or when you are given multiple types for multiple symptoms...

 

remember, even tylenol has warnings of potential side effects...don't get hung up on that.

 

the reason you are being given the medication is because after talking to you the dr. found that more than likely, the anxiety or other irrational feelings you are experiencing is less emotional, and more of a chemical imbalance...mild depression starts as an emotional problem...and when left untreated gets worse and your brain chemicals start responding to your emotions...throwing things off.

 

a very low dose also indicates that it was a problem caught early and you won't be on them forever...

 

you know how when you diet you hit "plateaus"...where you can eat healthy but no other pounds fall off until you make a change...like adding exercise? same goes with treatment of depression...the medication will help kick start your healing process...

 

some people swear by using herbs, like st johns wort and such...but they don't do the same thing as medications do...and you have to continue to use herbs to maintain the effect...indefinitely...

[Cadence308]

Some people have seasonal depression, which means that they get depressed primarily during the winter time. If this is the case, St. John's wart can be taken and you can buy that anywhere. Also, light therapy or tanning can be helpful.

 

I've been on antidepressants and they really can help, esp. if you have bipolar or clinical depression. I would try them and if you don't like the way you feel your doc can prescribe something else or change your dosage. It's a good idea to be in counseling while taking them, though.

[Finchabald]

personally anti-depressants dont work for me i react badly with them but they do work and i know of lots of people who have had amazing recoveries using them.

[hockeyboy]

i took some for a while and i dont even know if they did anything. ya i felt better, but i think it was more so the fact that i did it on my own, the things i was doing. i stopped taking them abruptly as well, which i was told would make me really depressed and it didnt have any effect on me.

 

just my opinion, but i think the lower dosage has more a mental effect on you then a real one. you may start feeling better simply cause you think you should be feeling better. but im certainly no doctor.

[shuntaro603]

personally, i don't think anti-depressants is good for u. ppl take them THINK that they r gonna feel better, so mentally they have confidence to overcome their depression. If the doctor gives the patient some aspyrin, and tells them that is anti-depressants they would probably feel better anyways cuz they feel assured. this is just some personal opnion, i don't know if this apply to everyone

 

Happy Holidays

[Finchabald]

that is rubish. yes at time placebo's are used. they were used on me but no they do not help unless ur not really depressed.

[ticklebug]

i took some for a while and i dont even know if they did anything. ya i felt better, but i think it was more so the fact that i did it on my own, the things i was doing.

 

yes but what motivated you to continue to do things on your own....or to start to? at the point you were given the meds, I have a feeling you were stalled out.

 

i stopped taking them abruptly as well, which i was told would make me really depressed and it didnt have any effect on me.

 

stopping any med abruptly can cause issues...and you *can* suffer withdrawl symptoms (akin to depression but not really) but it depends on the dose you were taking, the length of time and the addiction quality of the mediction.

 

It's a potential effect none the less, happens to some, not others....just like when you start a medication.

[arwen]

Shuntaro, I have read this type of reaction before, but based on what experience do you say so? People of your age aren't even prescribed ad's except prozac in severe cases? Before a medicin is approved it is tested first, one group of testpersons take the real pill, the other the placebo. If what you where saying is really true, people might just as well take no chemotherapy for cancer (the chemo will destroy any cell), but instead they can take some salted water in an iv and heal because they believe it is chemo.

 

I am sorry if I come on strong here, but THIS is exactly the comments a depressed person who choses to take medication gets. And it's not helping. Just because depression is a mental illness, doesn't mean it's NO illness.

 

I have been on Remeron for 2 years and on Efexor now for 3 weeks. Both work on two hormones: serotonin and norepinephrine. Remeron works more on serotonin and Efexor more on the norepinephrine, which means that I am less drowsy (Remeron has a more sedating effect, I slept REALLY well which was nice for a change). I think the Efexor is more effective for me, but I was ill of the side effects first, starting on a non-effective low dose of 37,5 mg a day I now doubled it to 75mg of Efexor XR (time released capsules).

 

In general you will first experience more side effects than positive effects. It takes time for your brain to balance. After a month or maybe 3 weeks you should start to feel the positive effect. It does not necessarily occur. That means that you might need to switch to another AD.

 

Don't worry if you have side effects in the beginning. I was freaking at first, with my dry mouth and constant dizziness. But now I am fit and back at work and studies, and slowly feeling the old feeling of not being so scared and depressed all the time.

 

Ilse.

[thisisnotanexit]

i believe anti-depressants can really help you. they've helped me. just don't abuse them, of course.

 

also, there are good ways of naturally dealing with depression, although not as good as medication. such as taking vitamins like b6 and b12, walking, exercising, breathing deeply and slowly, relaxing, getting more sleep, etc.

 

take care and msg me anytime

[dizzy_bruce]

Ilse, I think you'd be surprised how much different a placebo can make on illness.

 

When drugs are tested, it's true there are groups that receive the active drug, a placebo drug but also a group that receives none. In most circumstances the placebo group show more improvement than the group receiving none.

 

This is because disease is not just a physical thing - the mind places an important part too. This is especially the case with a mental disorder like depression.

 

I think the placebo effect on depression can be bad as well as good - some depressed people will feel that receiving drugs will mean that they're meant to feel better. On the other hand others will think that receiving drugs means that they have a serious problem, which could make the depression worse.

 

Your example of cancer is slightly different. Cancer is obviously a physical disease, but the mind can also contribute to recovery/worsening.

 

What my point is, is that people's mental attitude does make a difference (not also a significant one mind) with a disease like depression or cancer.

[arwen]

I am not denying the existence of placebo-effects. What do you think is the difference between a mental illness and a physical one? Your brain is as much as an organ as other organs. I have been tested for my levels of serotonine and other hormones. And they are low. Of course thinking and consciousness are not JUST a matter of chemicals in the brain, which is why people who take medicins should always have therapy next to that.

 

I don't like taking medicins. But at this moment the depression is worse than the idea of pills and the side effects.

 

I wonder if you have any personal experience on how it is to fight depression for over 10 years.

 

Ilse.

[Finchabald]

its true. in some cases placebos do work for the depressants. but there are many different forms of depression and many diffrent stages. So placebos dont work on a very many large cases. but it is alos true that possitive thinking can help people overcome cancer to.

[dizzy_bruce]

I wonder if you have any personal experience on how it is to fight depression for over 10 years.

 

I haven't personally - sorry, I wasn't trying to patronise you.

 

I realise that a 'mental illness' like depression does have physical causes (e.g. hormone inbalances), but I think that depression is a mental illness because the symptoms are (mostly) mental.

 

A depressed person, as I'm sure you will know, thinks and behaves differently to someone without depression.

 

Okay I forgot were I was going with that, so you'll have to figure out what I meant for yourself.

 

Sorry again.

 

dizzy_bruce

[arwen]

Hey dizzy,

 

Don't worry, my reaction to you wasn't personal either. Just understand that me and others with depression have to endure a lot of these kinds of comments.

 

Of course there is a placebo effect, but it occurs also for medication that isn't designed for mental illnesses. And let's not forget: if the placebo effect for an antidepressant would be EQUAL to the effect of the actual medicin, the medicin would be redundant, which clearly isn't the case.

 

Yes, the symptoms of depression are mental, but it's a question of 'chicken and egg' (an expression in my language, which came first, the chicken or the egg?). The hormonal inbalance (like a shortage of noradrenaline or serotonin) can be caused by long term stressed caused by a chronic state of anxiety (like in my case). On the other hand: this sensitivity to be anxious in my case is partly genetic. My grandmother was a very nervous and worried person, as is my mother. I suffered from anorexia for years, so has the sister of my mother, and my grandmother as well... Other causes are more mentally, and lie in the region of upbringing, being teased at school, etc.

 

Medicins are not the solution for depression if they are the only thing you do about it. In my opinion they should always be combined with intensive therapy. 2 years ago I was well enough to quit. So I have functioned more or less 'well' without ad's for over 2 years uptil a month ago when I started on the Efexor. I am not saying this to defend myself, I am just saying this to state that if you start taking medicins to start fighting a depression, it's not for life. The medicins can take the worst symptoms away and give more space in your mind for therapy.

 

Finally, there are a lot of physical symptoms of depression. Mental and physical are not easily to define. In cognitive sciences there is still a battle between mentalism and reductionism these days, the first claiming that mental states are separate from physical states, the latter claiming that every mental state corresponds to a physical state. Of course, this is, even in today's scientific progresses, very hard to proof. We would have to define and label mental states and make scans/tests to see what hormones or chemicals are changing in the brain/blood/... when this state occurs.

 

Anyway! I am rambling on (cognitive science is part of my MA at uni, sorry), what I meant was that symptoms that may seem mental can be translated as physical as well: for example being insomnic, is that mental or physical? Or being nauseated from stress? Having trouble breathing? Trembling? Exhaustion? Stomach aches, headaches?

 

Ilse.