Happy Pills

[Elok]

Originally posted by Q Cubed
lori, i agree with you entirely.
and i'll say it again. lexapro makes me dizzy in the morning. be careful with it.
i'm looking to have my prescription changed back to wellbutrin. this lexapro stuff works, but so was wellbutrin (maybe not as well), and it was doing it without making me dizzy.

STAY AWAY FROM WELLBUTRIN AT ALL COSTS. I don't know about Lexapro, but that damned Wellbutrin gave me a seizure. It was only one seizure, but I've been off Welly for two or three years, I'm on continuous Depakote 125 mg/day, and my hands still shake all the time. Apparently I was one of those acceptable two percent side-effect cases, but I don't think you want to risk it.

[The Andy-Man]

I was really depressed once, and I wanted to do myself in. But my analyst is a strict Fraudian, and they charge you for the sessions you miss.

[Provost Harrison]

Is that Freudian or Fraudian?

[mrmitchell]

I'm back! I see that many a temper has flared over the issue.

There are cases where depression and anxiety drugs are the correct prescription. However, it is my belief that there are a lot more cases where depression is situational instead of chemical, and anxiety is just a complicated medical buzzword for being a dork. In these cases, it is incorrect to give out the medicines because they don't need them and they either don't help or they cause the problem to worsen. Depending upon the doctor you have, you might get an accurate assessment. But docs are all too happy to hand out medicines--it pays the bills, and for some patients it gives them a reassurance that they're getting help (some people really are like this.) To me, when a doctor gives me a buttload of pills after a 3 minute check, it makes me nervous because I get the idea he's not thoroughly figured it out. I know he's just trained to be quick and has a lot of experience, but I get the feeling he just wants me to hand him his car payment and get out.

...I went off topic a little there. Medicines are perfectly alright with me when the patient has been in a long-term deep blue funk (more than 6 months just to start off), has tried a few things that didn't work, and/or have had a family history of the thing. The other allowance is that they're seriously teetering on the deep end (Comrade, I don't like to use people as an example, but seeing dead bodies is a good example of seriously teetering. You're an example of one of the few people who needed help, in that instance.)

Medication is NOT necessary and might even hurt when it is situational ("I lost my job" / "I am a teenager" / "Some jackass on the internet told me to tough it out"). It's also bad when the depression (or anxiety) can be solved by something else like a better lifestyle (get off your ass and quit eating McDonalds). The worst case I can think of, though this is probably relatively rare, is cases where a doctor is really seriously a quack and says "You're depressed. Here's Expensapro" when you come in because of, say, a chest pain or a bad cold.

[reds4ever]

It's amazed me just how many people who post on this board are on/were on anti-depressants!

[PLATO]

In my previous posts I outlined some new information that has come to light. By saying what I did, I certainly didn't mean to demean anyone. These are powerful and new to relatively new medications. I only urge caution. Do your research...things are advancing so fast that no medical professional can keep up. Remember that you know your situation far better than any medical professional ever will. Listen, research, think. Then make a decision that works best for your situation. If that is taking medication, then you will at least know you made the right decision.

[Starchild]

Anyone else thought this was going to be a thread about E?

I'm also surprised at the objections some people express to body/mind modifications. My brain chemistry is currently tickity-boo but if it wasn't and meds where the only option, I certainly wouldn't be so violently against taking the red pill.

So it's an unnatural state of mind. *shrug* The natural state certainly wasn't working. We walk around in fake furs and synthetic fibres, breathing polluted air in a changing climate, on our way to get our latest piercing/ink job/surgical correction of the aging process done during our lunch break. Let's crack open the skull and feast on the yummy chemical insides. Mine currently tastes of actylchlorine with a faint undertaste of ethanol, caffiene, THC and the last metabolic remains of herbal E. Enjoy.

[realpolitic]

I've been on antidepressants and found them helpful, but I want to recommend depression management. Treat you happiness as something as important as income or girlfriends, and be concious of what gives you joy. Being outside, having friends, playing upbeat music, maybe even, GULP, getting away from the computer occasionally. Use them to suplement your medication, as they don't have side effects. Spend some of the time you have to aquire things, doing the things that help you aquire happiness.

[Dr Strangelove]

Re: Happy Pills

Originally posted by Lorizael
Soo, I've joined the ranks of depressed teenagers on SSRIs. My doctor has given me a bunch of sample pills of this stuff called Lexapro, which he described as a third generation Prozac. Apparently this is supposed to be good, new stuff.

Now, I've done my own research on this drug, simply because I wasn't gonna put something in my body if I didn't know exactly what it was going to do to me, but I want to know more.

Are there any Apolytoners on Lexapro? If so, can you tell me how you've fared on it, what kind of side effects it's given you, whether or not you've noticed any beneficial effects?

Thanks in advance.

Lexapro is the long acting form of Celexa. The only major problem is the permanent eradication of your sperm count. Just kidding. Enjoy.

[Bereta_Eder]

[Nubclear]

Originally posted by Feephi


This may sound harsh but it is the truth.

Just a few questions about your depression:

1. Have you been diagnosed with Major Depression with Psychotic Symptoms, psychosis, obsessive compulsive disorder, post traumatic stress syndrome all at the same time? If no, please do not attempt to speak with authority on the subject.
2. Have you seen dead bodies lining your house? If no, see above.
3. Have you locked yourself in your bathroom for hours at a time because you THOUGHT that something was going to posess you to kill your children? If no, see above.
4. Maybe you refused to eat ANYTHING for days at a time because you thought you were going to die from them?
5. Did you feel that someone was near you about to kill you?
6. Did you hallucinate about people being in your house?

I'm sorry, but it does stir up a lot of emotions when people say "tough it out". I tried that and it put me in a situaiton worse than I was in.
These people have NO idea what I've gone through personally. They have no idea what its like to sometimes go 1.5 days without sleep because your afraid something terrible might happen, or almost calling the police because you see a dead body lying in your bed.
They have no idea what I went through when I used to see my childrens eyes turn pure black, or when I began to see faces in the TV when I was watching it. They have no idea what its like to constantly live in fear, thinking ANYTHING and EVERYTHING was going to kill you at THAT VERY MOMENT.
They have no idea what its like to have to stay inside the house, doing nothing, stayiing up till godknowswhen before theyre bodies physically put them to sleep (and sometimes that wouldn't even kick in!).

I'm tired of people saying "tough up and it'll go away". Because they havent the faintest idea at all.
Ugh.

[Lorizael]

Originally posted by mrmitchell
long-term deep blue funk (more than 6 months just to start off)

Check. Five years.

has tried a few things that didn't work

Check. Total reworking of my personality, a psychologist, a lot of thinking upon what my goals for the future were, attempting to become more social, etc...

have had a family history of the thing

My mother, my father, both of my brothers, an aunt and a few grandparents. That I know of.

I think I've made the right decision.

[mrmitchell]

Well, the five years were during your teenage years, that blurs the data a little bit. But with the family history and psycho(logist) not working, you probably made the right decision.

[Solly]

I am still aware of the problems in my life but....

This is it. Taking a pill doesn't sort your life out at all, it just provides a gloss over it.

Kind of like taking a crap car and giving it a new colour - doesn't help to sort out the things that really need improving.

[Asher]

It's more like replacing a car that breaks down every 10 feet with one that will run for a while, to let you go places.