Help Do antidepressants work?

[cookiencream]

I've read up a bit about antidepressants. For some they straight up don't work, for others they make them worse. I think they help the majority though right? I want to know how bad the side effects are to deal with and if anyone has ever had any instance of them making it worse

 

[sinnamonbun]

For me I finally found a combo that works. I have zero side affects on Prozac and Wellbutrin. But one without the other and they do nothing except make me unable to feel sad. It was a long journey with going through a lot of different meds. Only one gave me negative side affects, pristiq made me suicidal. All of the rest just made me numb. If you have a good pcp that won't just throw one at you and not care if it doesn't work they're fantastic

 

[UtopianSoliloquies]

I'm not an expert but I took SSRIs at one point and it did help and eventually, I stopped taking them against my therapist's better judgement. I relapsed a year later though that was probably due to unrelated circumstances and bad luck.

I took sertraline so that's what I can speak to. For sertraline, some side effects are basically guaranteed, like a significantly lowered libido and capacity for erections. If you don't eat enough food with your medication, you will feel nauseous for a while. In the initial weeks of taking them, you might also become more suicidal though that's not a given for everyone.

From a cursory Google search, it seems like headaches, insomnia, diarrhoea, weakness, dry mouth, and dizziness are also possible with the drug.

I've also heard of some antidepressants causing toxic encephalopathy which is essentially brain damage that can seriously affect your cognitive and physical ability, though that's extremely, extremely rare.

It's a complicated subject but they for sure work better than placebo for the population.

 

[Vorty30]

Nope. They don't.

 

[orpheus_]

short answer: it depends.

long answer:
It's complicated, people react very individually to antidepressants HOWEVER it's possible to find the most common outcomes and side effects for every drug.

It's worth researching how specific meds work. Because different groups of meds have different mechanisms of action, which can help you predict what will help you. For example SNRIs affect noradrenaline, which is responsible for motivation and can help people who mostly struggle with it; there are more sedating drugs which will help people who are anxious and jittery, and there are more activating drugs which help those with little energy. There are mood stabilizers which mostly work for intense mood swings. A good psychiatrist should be able to give you medication that's adjusted to your symptoms, BUT some doctors might be a bit careless or just not understand your experiences well enough/just throw you on SSRI by default because they're the most common meds. So it's worth to research before you actually start taking anything.

When it comes to side effects, it's also worth knowing which ones are the most common for a specific drug because it also depends on the substance. You can find statistics about it, reddit posts etc, just search the name of the substance and read about people's experiences. You can also search name of the substance + a particular side effect you're worried about to roughly see how common it is.

Personal experience: Prozac/fluoxetine got me out of the worst depressive episode of my life, like my default mood just went from casually miserable/numb to kinda bad/kinda good sometimes. It also allowed me to feel any kind of pleasure again after ~3 years of complete anhedonia. Just.. I got the option to have any good days again. It also deleted 80% of my social anxiety which was unexpected but I'll take that. No side effects besides loss of apetite during the first month or so.
I've also started Wellbutrin over a month ago and noticed I have more energy (which is good for me) but idk if that's from the med or something else.
My first psychiatrist prescribed me a mood stabilizer which I didn't take because it seemed to me that it would only harm me, since I never struggled with extreme emotions, only apathy. It was probably a good decision but idk how it would work for me.

Also note that many antidepressants need around a few weeks to start working. Also, like mentioned above, for some people only medication combos work well. Overall I think it's worth trying though if you do research, you may save yourself some time and skip the very unpleasant experiences. There are many medications out there, just a few types of classic antidepressants but there are also antypsychotics and other types of drugs that are prescribed "off label" for different conditions and work well for some people.

 

[trying ungracefully]

It isn't an anti depressant it's a mood stabilizer but lamotrigine in combination with my other medication has made it so I am barely suicidal anymore. It is the best thing my psychiatrist has prescribed and she said she loves the medication for that reason too. I think the biggest side effect to watch out for is a rash and if it happens you need to be taken off the medication.

Sometimes not everyone works well with anti depressants. Idk what the criteria is for mood stabilizers but this lamotrigine is a blessing from the universe themself.

 

[Lefty]

I've found that they work at first, at least they did for me. However over time they start to not work. Your body can build a tolerance to them.

 

[bravelytothewinter]

I've read up a bit about antidepressants. For some they straight up don't work, for others they make them worse. I think they help the majority though right? I want to know how bad the side effects are to deal with and if anyone has ever had any instance of them making it worse

SSRIS are... eh? I mean they do have i believe some clinical significance over placebo, and they semi function but they aren't magic. They're moreso so that if you wanna live and you're super depressed you can go to a therapist and go to work in the morning. They aren't magic and they will not instantly fix your depression most of the time. All of this is person dependant by the way, and you got to weight it with the side-effects.

 

[vitbar]

I had to try a few to find what works for me. My mood is mostly decent now. Main side effects for me are sweating, intense dreams, and decreased libido.

 

[eeah]

I tried wellbutrin xl 300mg for a few months and felt literally nothing and stopped taking it and felt no different. i stopped because its expensive to order online. havent tried any others tho, im not willing to take ssri's

 

[Slimprofessional010]

They never seemed to work no matter what I took, seemed to always make it worse

 

[SchizoGymnast]

I've read up a bit about antidepressants. For some they straight up don't work, for others they make them worse. I think they help the majority though right? I want to know how bad the side effects are to deal with and if anyone has ever had any instance of them making it worse

If you have actual depression, it's likely that some variety of antidepressant will work, at least for awhile. However, if you're going through a grieving process, they will not help and it's not recommended that you take them. I think antidepressants are waaaaay over prescribed and they're prescribed by people that aren't qualified to do so.

 

[Rynalia]

They do for some people, for others, not so much. Me personally, I haven't had any luck with any I've been put on all these years.

They have all made me significantly worse, even past the adjustment period. Some have even been the culprits behind some spontaneous ctb attempts.

But don't let that discourage you from giving a few a fair shot. Some folks really do improve, so it's worth a shot if the only other option is ctb.






Also, nice Agnes Tachyon.

 

[cookiencream]

I had to try a few to find what works for me. My mood is mostly decent now. Main side effects for me are sweating, intense dreams, and decreased libido.

Aw, my libido is pretty low already because of my depression. Sadness

Also, nice Agnes Tachyon.

THE GOAT

short answer: it depends.

long answer:
It's complicated, people react very individually to antidepressants HOWEVER it's possible to find the most common outcomes and side effects for every drug.

It's worth researching how specific meds work. Because different groups of meds have different mechanisms of action, which can help you predict what will help you. For example SNRIs affect noradrenaline, which is responsible for motivation and can help people who mostly struggle with it; there are more sedating drugs which will help people who are anxious and jittery, and there are more activating drugs which help those with little energy. There are mood stabilizers which mostly work for intense mood swings. A good psychiatrist should be able to give you medication that's adjusted to your symptoms, BUT some doctors might be a bit careless or just not understand your experiences well enough/just throw you on SSRI by default because they're the most common meds. So it's worth to research before you actually start taking anything.

When it comes to side effects, it's also worth knowing which ones are the most common for a specific drug because it also depends on the substance. You can find statistics about it, reddit posts etc, just search the name of the substance and read about people's experiences. You can also search name of the substance + a particular side effect you're worried about to roughly see how common it is.

Personal experience: Prozac/fluoxetine got me out of the worst depressive episode of my life, like my default mood just went from casually miserable/numb to kinda bad/kinda good sometimes. It also allowed me to feel any kind of pleasure again after ~3 years of complete anhedonia. Just.. I got the option to have any good days again. It also deleted 80% of my social anxiety which was unexpected but I'll take that. No side effects besides loss of apetite during the first month or so.
I've also started Wellbutrin over a month ago and noticed I have more energy (which is good for me) but idk if that's from the med or something else.
My first psychiatrist prescribed me a mood stabilizer which I didn't take because it seemed to me that it would only harm me, since I never struggled with extreme emotions, only apathy. It was probably a good decision but idk how it would work for me.

Also note that many antidepressants need around a few weeks to start working. Also, like mentioned above, for some people only medication combos work well. Overall I think it's worth trying though if you do research, you may save yourself some time and skip the very unpleasant experiences. There are many medications out there, just a few types of classic antidepressants but there are also antypsychotics and other types of drugs that are prescribed "off label" for different conditions and work well for some people.

This was very comprehensive thank you. Based on this I think mood stabilizers should be good for me because I struggle with intense mood swings. I also struggle with anhedonia so I wonder if I should go on a combination....

 

[otoyikim]

I dont know how much antipsychotics count in this discussion but i was on olanzapine for a short while and all it did was made me ravenously hungry and now i have gained nearly 35 kilos in 5 months. I mean, the food made me feel better but, i am obese on top of my other problems now. But i guess being fat wont matter when i am a rotting corpse.

 

[cookiencream]

I dont know how much antipsychotics count in this discussion but i was on olanzapine for a short while and all it did was made me ravenously hungry and now i have gained nearly 35 kilos in 5 months. I mean, the food made me feel better but, i am obese on top of my other problems now. But i guess being fat wont matter when i am a rotting corpse.

My appetite is non existent so i think that would be the best side effect I could get right now

 

[Sweet Tart]

For me I finally found a combo that works. I have zero side affects on Prozac and Wellbutrin. But one without the other and they do nothing except make me unable to feel sad. It was a long journey with going through a lot of different meds. Only one gave me negative side affects, pristiq made me suicidal. All of the rest just made me numb. If you have a good pcp that won't just throw one at you and not care if it doesn't work they're fantastic

I've also had to do a lot of trial and error to find the right combo. Years ago, Wellbutrin was enough. Then it wasn't. I did well on Wellbutrin & Prozac for a while, but I tend to have to switch the meds up, because they stop working well for me after a few years.

I am firm with my psych NP about the fact that I will not accept any meds that cause weight gain. Many people seem to have a hard time negotiating with their prescriber or saying no to them, resulting in med regimens that don't do much for them. If a prescriber doesn't listen to me, I am out. I respect their expertise & expect them to respect my experience & feedback. I've been on a lot of different meds in the past few years & am finally pretty okay with my regimen. No noted side effects. It can take a long time and patience, as well as a doc who listens. It's worth it.

I currently take Auvelity, & Trintellix, & Wellbutrin. It's a lot, & my NP says I can't add anything else. Something will have to be swapped out if it stops working well. The meds keep me from feeling suicidal on a daily basis. I can't say I'm not depressed, but I was in so much psychological pain before finding this regimen. My goal is to return to being a functional person. Not sure I can do it, but the meds help me to try.

 

[Ashu]

I took sertraline so that's what I can speak to. For sertraline, some side effects are basically guaranteed, like a significantly lowered libido and capacity for erections.

I took that shit for a few days. I'd rather be dead with an erection.

 

[Night_Crew]

I've read up a bit about antidepressants. For some they straight up don't work, for others they make them worse. I think they help the majority though right? I want to know how bad the side effects are to deal with and if anyone has ever had any instance of them making it worse

They numb me, almost an escape. I'm on 200mg Sertraline and 300mg Quetiapine. I was distracted this evening until family made some observations, which have stuck with me for the last few hours until I could find somewhere alone. I sat on the end of my bid and swallowed the 4 pills without water, feeling them burn my throat. I dismissed the feeling as I do so many (why does it matter if I do not take them without water), hoping they will make me sleep.

 

[RadiantNumber]

Kinda

 

[orbit]

It's different for everyone but here's my experience

I used to take Fluoxotine, Sertraline (SSRIs) and Venlafaxine (SNRI).

Fluoxetine did jack shit for me, it made me a little manic the first few days. I convinced myself I couldn't die and was unable to sit still talking super fast and stuff for the first week- then after that it just stopped doing anything. I upped the dosage constantly and it would work for a couple days before my body would get used to it and I hit the max dosage pretty quickly so I came off them.

Sertraline was a little more affective I took 50mg. It made my mood better, but it made me super drowsy and gave me insane brain fog to the point I was accidentally hurting myself while out and about so I came off those. It didn't make me manic at least which was a positive, but it made me very disorientated and thoughtless which isn't good for getting shit done.

Venlafaxine worked really well but I was super sensitive to it. I took the lowest dosage I think 37.5 milligrams or something like that. I went batshit insane when I started them. My pupils were huge, I was all shaky, I was manic as fuck and ran around bothering strangers convinced myself I was the reincarnation of Jesus, wrote notes in this book about how everythings a simulation and that I'm stuck in a video game and I convinced myself my blood was yellow?? I don't even know where that came from xD looking back on it it was very funny but I was kicked out of work and college for a like month because I'd show up basically high on my ass bothering everyone xd. I was sent to the doctors to get a slow release version of the pill and that worked better. It made me more energised and happy but it numbed my emotions. It also gave me insane heart palpitations, the doc told me to suck it up and deal with it and I've been told I'm not allowed to try any other medications after this.

I'm still meant to be on Venlafaxine but I went off them cold turkey. I still feel like shit while on them, all it does is numb the feelings I think. Like sure I can take a pill that makes my brain chemistry happier but it doesn't fix anything and if I miss a dose which I'm prone to, it risks me going manic again, losing control of myself and getting such bad heart palpitations I almost pass out. I just don't see the point of it, but my family is pressuring me to go back on them so I'll see about it.

I have certainly felt the affects of being off them, I feel much worse then before. But am I mentally ill or is it just that my life's shit? It's hard to tell which is why I'm weary of going back on them. Sure I go through phases of bad anxiety then bad depression but I'm not sure if it's like irrational? My life is pretty shit, anyone in my situation would be anxious or depressed. Where's the line between the need to be medicated or not? Until I figure that out I most likely won't touch any antidepressants unless my family finds a way to bully me into it.