Did Antidepressants work for you??? Mature conversation about mental health

"because Wellbutrin is a selective norepinephrine and dopamine reuptake inhibitor with no serotonergic activity, common antidepressant-associated side effects, such as sexual dysfunction, weight gain, and sedation, are not associated with Wellbutrin therapy"

Switch to SSRI that targets serotonin.

Yeah Wellbutrin is a sympathomimetic, so all the side effects of sympathetic nervous system activation are annoying to deal with- high bp, elevated heart rate, dry mouth, decreased appetite etc. It gave me horrible insomnia and vision problems. I haven't been on any antidepressant since college, running is enough to mitigate the depression.

Anti-depressants and the whole conceptualization of depression as a mental illness or "chemical imbalance" are pseudoscience. It has been firmly established that they do not work better than placebo except in severely depressed people.

Tried Zoloft, gained about 40 pounds, thought about suing the psychiatrist. The weird part is Zoloft made me not care about getting fat so I just ate everything put in from of me.

Anthony Hopkins wrote:

I'm just wondering how many people here have tried, or are currently on antidepressants. I was prescribed Wellbutrin a few weeks ago, helped with the SAD but destroys my running. It increases systemic vascular resistance and BP, so I can't run far before my heart is beating out of my chest.

I was on Wellbutrin for a month, and boy, was that a fun month. The dopaminergic effects of buproprion made every little thing seem fun and interesting. Unfortunately, after about a month, I started getting severe headaches from the drug, so I had to stop taking it.

To answer your question, though, yes, I have had success using anti-depressants. For me, low doses of Prozac have worked wonders on regulating mood and energy.

The way I see it, there are SO many "unnatural" things we are exposed to every day (car exhaust, chemicals in our food, poor indoor air quality, etc.), our bodies and brains are bound to get out of balance. Anti-depressants aren't without their side effects, but I'm glad we have them to restore some of the balance that gets lost in an urbanized, overly stressful world.

But definitely do your research on any drug you take. A lot of times, issues can be solved with better health, diet, and lifestyle. If you have SAD, why not move down South for the winter? Medicine has its place if that's not a realistic option for you.

I'm 38 and just started the antidepresent thing about a year ago. I'm not lying when I say that it's totally changed my life for the better.

I suffer from minor depression and fairly severe OCD. Was perscribed Zoloft. Was really helping but also made me feel weird and was lazy as hell. Well, doc then prescribed Wellbutrin to take along with the Zoloft. I've never felt better in my life. Life is worth living again. The Zoloft pretty much completely knocked out the OCD and I can nearly always trust that I'll be in a reasonable to great mood. I used to be in the dumps at least a few hours a day.

As far as working out, it took about 4 months but all of the meds side effects went away and I can't tell a difference.

Basically, I take two tiny pills a day and my life is way better. So many nightmare stories about these meds but for whatever reason they've really worked well for me.

Research the amino acid tyrosine. I've used it for mild depression. It helps.

Have you tried therapy? Cognitive behavioral therapy has been shown to work at least as well medication for depression, and the benefits tend to last better after you stop treatment (whereas people often have a really hard time getting off medication). There's also no side effects, though you do have to put real effort in to the treatment in order for it to work.

Prozac helps me with anxiety and depression.

Has not hurt my athletic performance. Rather has helped because, on it, I'm more consistent with my training.

Tried Zoloft. Became a Vegas Hooker.

I just tried valium back in the day (decades ago) when they were given out quite freely. I just needed the edge taken off some bad feelings and it worked well at doing that. Pretty mild stuff, really.

Outside the Box wrote:

Anti-depressants and the whole conceptualization of depression as a mental illness or "chemical imbalance" are pseudoscience. It has been firmly established that they do not work better than placebo except in severely depressed people.

Retarded BS. Since the introduction of modern antidepressants in the 1980s suicide has dropped to about 50% of previous figures in all developed countries.

Eh... wrote:

Outside the Box wrote:

Anti-depressants and the whole conceptualization of depression as a mental illness or "chemical imbalance" are pseudoscience. It has been firmly established that they do not work better than placebo except in severely depressed people.

Retarded BS. Since the introduction of modern antidepressants in the 1980s suicide has dropped to about 50% of previous figures in all developed countries.

Nope.

In addition to antidepressants, can you do stuff that will make you less depressed? Maybe go backpacking where it's sunny like SE Asia and party and hookup with some Jodie Fosters? Or move somewhere where there is skiing in the winter? Or where it's warm in the winter and people can socialize. I was the saddest when I was alone and didn't have many friends to do things with. Just my thoughts.

Using Zoloft.

Beginning at age 40 due to a stress filled life, I would have extreme dizziness with difficulty balancing for days to weeks. Initially thought it was from the particles in the inner ear and spent time trying to get the particles back in place and then relearning balance.

Fast forward to my mid 50s and going through a divorce and the frequency and severity increases along with my deep depression of going through the divorce. Began using Zoloft and depression lessened and dizziness went away altogether for several years.

After the divorce, came off the Zoloft and was fine until a stressful situation came up and the extreme dizziness came back. Went back to Zoloft and no longer have bouts with extreme dizziness.

No negatives to training. Especially since the extreme dizziness kept me from training, eating and sleeping well for days to weeks. Can currently run eight minute miles for 5K after cycling for an hour and then swim a mile while in my 60s.

Serotonin is in everyone's body. The quality or quantity of it can change as one get's older or stressed. Diet, rest, sun, etc. can help; yet, once a person is over the edge, like I was, using a serotonin based anti-depressant may help.

I can see where life can throw so much stress at a person and they can't just quit their job, can't get support from their own family or leave for the beach and change their diet enough to cope.

While running got me through my first life crisis while in my 20s, I was too stressed out by my 40s for it to help. My first extreme dizzy spell was after an enjoyable ten mile run while stretching.

The body breaks down due to stress and age and individuals try to piece together for themselves what works to keep their motor running.

Outside the Box wrote:

Anti-depressants and the whole conceptualization of depression as a mental illness or "chemical imbalance" are pseudoscience. It has been firmly established that they do not work better than placebo except in severely depressed people.

So severely depressed people have a chemical problem which medication can help, but very depressed people have no chemical problem at all and wouldn't be effected by medication.

Faulty logic is faulty.

DiscoGary wrote:

Outside the Box wrote:

Anti-depressants and the whole conceptualization of depression as a mental illness or "chemical imbalance" are pseudoscience. It has been firmly established that they do not work better than placebo except in severely depressed people.

So severely depressed people have a chemical problem which medication can help, but very depressed people have no chemical problem at all and wouldn't be effected by medication.

Faulty logic is faulty.

A chemical imbalance is not the same thing as SAD is it?

I was severely depressed for a while and could not shake it and ended up on Wellbutrin(sp?). It help ridiculously, but my problem was that I was taking too many medications and after two weeks I stopped everything. My depression was mainly from my allergy medication, but worsened going through a divorce and the doc put me on anti depressents. I felt much better about everything, but at that point I was just ready to deal with asthma and allergies on my own and get off the drugs. Even though it was 80% my allergy medications fault, they helped. As soon as I read that one of the side effects was 'suicidal thoughts' I realized what my issue had been the last year, I just chalked it up to a failing mairrage and the depression made it 50x worse.

Few years back on went on Cymbalta and had a lot of side effects. I will say it helped lift the depression but the side effects made it not worth it. I switched to Lexapro and had no significant side effects.

Through it all my running never really suffered. Though the Cymbalta made it almost impossible to go for a run without stopping to take a dump.

For me, running was my saving grace through it all. I quit the anti depressants after about 2 years and have not gone back since then. I was also seeing a therapist during that time and I believe that helped also.