Antidepressants

Wellbutrin XL is amazing for me. The only side effect I had was weightloss which was actually a plus for me. The downside was it stopped working for a bit and I had to add zoloft on top of it but other than that I had a really great experience on it

Wellbutrin is the only one that works for me because it’s not an SSRI. The SSRI antidepressants all gave me bad side effects and I tried 4 different ones.

Pristiq and Vyvance are won-der-ful!

I have to admit that Tofranil (imipramine) currently and Paxil (paroxetine) worked wonders for me.

Celexa (citalopram), Lexapro (Escitalopram), and Zoloft (sertraline) worked like hell for me.

There have already been several threads on this OP. Would it have killed you to have done a search first before you posted this? I mean really? What’s wrong with having a little consideration for others and doing a search first? Would it really have been that hard? Would it?

Damn Search for It troll, you might be adding to his depression!

Take Pristiq you big asdhole!

Ability is helping me.

Abilify? Is there one called Ability? Like Ability is helping me too because Good Looks is getting me nowhere.

I'm on 300mg of Wellbbutrin XL with a 2mg Abilify kicker. Works wonderful.

Ability = Aripiprazole

Wellbutrin = Bupropion

California Rocket Fuel.

Tried Wellbutrin and Celexa but they didn’t work at all for me. Been on a low dose of Zoloft (Sertraline) for quite a while now and it’s been very very helpful. Generally no side effects though occasionally I have ultra-weird dreams.

I’m on 5 antidepressants and a stimulant!!!!!

Wondering if anyone here has tried TMS, and if it worked for them?

I’m taking 10 mg of Abilify and 30 mg of Paxil. I am barely functioning with the stress of my job as a teacher.

Coconut vodka with a splash of sour apple pucker is working for me at the moment.

Nice to see a thread exclusively for New Yorkers.

Welbutrin.

You should be asking blood relatives if they have used antidepressants and what worked for them..

We inherit variations of genes from our parents for serotonin transporter proteins and serotonin receptors that affect the efficacy of certain antidepressants. This is called polymorphism.

Getting your relatives medication history is a proxy for trying to understand the complex genetic interplays that lead to some antidepressants working and others being ineffective.

Best not to ask randoms what antidepressants have helped them - it is fairly useless information given that your genetic inheritance is the primary influence as to how the different anti depressants affect you.

Sadly, the genetic test available is not very good; research shows that choosing an antidepressant based on the results is not better than a random selection

Family history is the absolute most important aspect of antidepressant selection.

Looking at what antidepressants have helped/or not helped is the most important guide to selectng

"Wondering if anyone here has tried TMS, and if it worked for them?"

If TMS was more effective than medication, we would send our patients for TMS and insurance would expand coverage of it.

Just buy some industrial strength magnets and strap them around your head...

R18, don’t take this personally but you’re actually an idiot. New Yorkers actually have among the lowest rates of antidepressant usage in the United States. The rates for prescription anti-depressant medication use are higher in the Southeast, across the deep South, In the Rockies, on the West Coast, and so on. Didn’t your parents teach you to think before you speak?

There's no free lunch. every day you are on them adds to the severity of the withdrawal when you come off of them.

R23 . Antidepressants can save people's lives. But yes, you need to taper off them slowly, over at least 6 months to a year (unless you are cross tapering onto another)

The Teen suicide rate increased after the black box warnings (which were unnecessary) reduced prescriptions of antidepressants to teens.

Now life is so shitty the suicide rate has increased quite a bit for everyone in the US, especially among the 55+ crowd.

R 22 - 2010? Come on.

R5 needs to go back on his meds!

Aside from what I posted at R26, antidepressants is a topic where there is often new information, plus a rash of new DL posters looking for help. So no crime in re-posting such an important subject.

And most seasoned DL'ers know the search engine sucks anyway!

You can never have too many threads about antidepressants, treason, black dick, or Llanview!

R15 I did a full six-week, five-day-a-week course of TMS (Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation). It did get me off the couch. I think, however, it was placebo. It had zero lasting effect. I really wish it had amounted to something because I put a lot of time and money into that experience. Maybe it works for some people.

I did TMS three years ago. Did zilch for me.

Setralin (generic Zoloft) has saved my life. I also take a Wellutrin chaser to help with the (libido-dulling) side effects.

Pristiq, Lexapro, Deplin and Vyvance

Lexapro with a small dose of Abilify. I barely feel anything, but I'm mostly not suicidal, which I was before. Today was an exceptionally horrible day, and I actually felt some of it, and although it's good to know I can still feel things, I'd prefer to be feeling nothing.

Waiting for my edible to kick in, and for my schizophrenic husband to come home from a meth binge -- he fell off the wagon after 5 months clean.

R33 that sucks.

Escitalopram (Lexapro)

I've struggled with debilitating depression for years with multiple stays in the psych hospital. Shortest stay was 3 weeks. Longest was 3 months I've probably been hospitalized 10 times.

I'm on Celexa, Remeron & Trileptal.

Do I feel great ? No but I'm not suicidal or self-harming so I consider that a win.

Paxil But I can’t come but at least I’m not suicidal

I can cum on Pristiq.

What if no one else in my family has ever taken anti-depressants, R20?

Lexapro. I can honestly say it saved my life. I was on it for five years and have been off for 16.

R36

Do you have borderline personality disorder as well?

R33 Dump his ass and take care of you.

R41

No I don't have Borderline Personality Disorder. I have depression & OCD

microdosing is working wonders for me. Makes the world beautiful. Adds calm. I have a feeling within 10 years, low dose psychedelics will be outselling SSRI's and whatever other frankenstein pills that big pharma has cooked up in their labs. Psychedelics used to be part of the human diet, they seem to have inspired all world religions, and they make you happier in the tiniest doses. Read or watch James Fadiman's stuff.

I'm taking Cymbalta after years of being on effexor. It was the easiest transition to a new depression med i've ever had.

For those taking an antipsychotic like Abilify, Rexulti, Seroquel, do they help calm your anxiety and help you sleep? Do they feel like you took a benzo like Klonopin, Valium, Ativan, Xanax? I would take it [antipsychotic] but I'm scared of all the side effects like high blood sugar and weight gain and so on...

If they help you sleep or even put you to sleep, I just might look into which one I want to start trying to take at night instead of taking Ambien CR...

Sure, seroquel will help you sleep, but it might fry your GABA receptors in the process and make you permanently dependent on it for sleep. You could end up with chronic, unresolved insomnia for the rest of your life without it.

R46

If your only issue is sleep then a lot of times they just provide Trazadone. It has pronounced sleep affects, is non addictive like benzos & has minimal side effects.

I have a trazadone script. I use it to help me sleep sometimes, but at much lower doses than the script. I got it 5 years ago when I stopped drinking.

On the microdosing - I used psychedelics in college and I could certainly see where they would be effective. I had access to a large supply (a one time buy) and “microdosed” then. Taking far less than the full “trip out” dose. I wasn’t trying to treat anything then, but it certainly helped my mood in getting through the engineering college.

So, I’m general, to the poster doing it today, how would you go about getting access today? I’m not asking for names or ads, but just a general approach. My friends pot connection was no help and I don’t really commerce in recreationals anymore.

Btw, congrats on finding something that works for you.

A Stoli Martini with a twist of lemon.

Wellbutrin XL, but it’s got a kick....

Gawd, I fucking hate them. I’ve been in deep denial about depression for most of my life. Relapsed several times and drugged, drank, because of this denial. This time, I finally accepted that yes, I suffer from mental illness. It’s called clinical depression, and it is also, almost always a condition that will never be cured, just managed.

Antidepressants work. I recently stopped taking one that was working better than the one I’m on now. So here’s another endorsement for Pristiq .

I just got myself really decent health insurance. This will allow me to get picky about my docs, and meds - at least more so than I have been.

Getting off antidepressants isn’t always a good idea. I tried that all of my life, and failed, miserably, as a result. So I’m gonna stick to them and see if I can get myself better docs/clinicians where I live. So many shitty docs where I live. They’re everywhere, really. Gotta be your own best advocate.

Good luck everyone. Exercise, funny, kind people to laugh and be completely silly with helps, & pets help, a lot.

R47, I tried some Seroquel from a friend who's supposed to take it for their manic depression/BD, but it really didn't help in getting me to sleep. The only thing it did was make me sleep a long time when I eventually got so exhausted from being up so long (I think it was nearly 32 hours I was awake). I like slept almost 11 hours. Then another time I took it when I weren't exhausted like I mentioned and the shit didn't even work that time. If anything, it made me wake up earlier in the middle of sleep, kinda like those people who take Xyrem/GHB, but unfortunately, I didn't have anything to put me back to sleep after waking up.

The one I took was the 150mg extended-release pill. I didn't spilt it to titrate it in me when I took it - I just took the whole thing because with it being extended-release, I thought it would put me to sleep and keep me asleep in the vein of Ambien CR. Now, before anyone attacks me, I know that each pill works differently and are in different classes, but the thought of each one being extended-release and one actually causes sleepiness, and the other just has a side effect of potentially having solemnness, it would work in the same vein at an initial high dose.

R48, I have tried trazodone, but the side effect of a headache was too much for me to bear - especially since I get tension headaches every other month seems like. After my doctor wrote it, I called him back the next day after doing a little bit of research on it to see why my head hurt so much, and that's when he started me on benzodiazepines...I remember it so well - Klonopin 1mg qHS. Then when I started seeing the stupid psychiatrist for my insomnia, they kept me on the Klonopin to take for my anxiety twice a day if needed and Ambien 10mg. After a while when the tolerance built up, they switched from Klonopin to Ativan at my request and switched from taking Ambien IR to Ambien CR 12.5mg. Ambien CR was the best decision I ever made because I've not built a tolerance to it at all. It works every single time I need and want it to.

However (and this is to both of you who responded to me as well as new people), I've heard from some people that take Abilify, they've told me that if I were to take that at bedtime, it would almost knock me out in the vein of a barb or benzo. I would love to try it but what I'm scared of is if I have an antipsychotic in my chart, well...let's say I see another doctor because my doctor died. He takes a look at my chart and sees that I'm on an antipsychotic. If he doesn't ask me why or read my chart to see why, I'm scared they'll automatically label me crazy like I have BD, MDD with psychosis, schizophrenia, or schizoaffective disorder...and I have some other medicines that I MUST take that I'm afraid they will take away because those meds can give me the ability to kill myself. And I'll be honest - sometimes I think of doing that, but not at the expense of using those pills and potentially wasting them because they don't end up harming or killing me and then I'm short by x amount of days because I made an attempt with these medicines and I can't get an early refill of them because when asked why, I'd have to lie about it to get it. So, I definitely wouldn't do that.

Another reason why I'm scared of antipsychotics to augment an antidepressant is tardive dyskinesia. It's bad enough that I have essential tremor, especially in my hands/fingers. Why in the world would I want aggravate that condition by taking something that doesn't even work for me BUT gives me all its side effects, including but not limited to TD, weight gain, high cholesterol, etc...how have you (you as everyone in this thread that takes antipsychotics) managed to keep the bad side effects away? Did adding an AP to augment your depression help? Did it help your anxiety/GAD/panic disorder if you have one or more mentioned? And if you have insomnia, what does the AP do to help with that or do you take something else for it?

The best antidepressant for me was to abstain totally from alcohol. It's a fast acting antidepressant and only positive side effects, mentally and physically. The thing is, when you are depressed, there's the pull to numb your emotions and have just a little drink and then some more. And then for two hours of feeling the best you have in weeks/months you get pulled down for a couple of days which then compels you to drink some more.

In my experience, n-acetylcysteine (NAC) and - wait for it - saffron (!) are very good augmenting strategies to simply not drink alcohol. I tend to react okay to SSRIs but they come with a bunch of nasty side effects (libido, weight gain, yawning all the time...) and I'd rate the combo of sobriety with NAC and saffron (I had saffron to a lot of dishes) as effective as those SSRIs/SNRIs.

To whomever above said that Seroquel would burn your GABA receptors: not true. Seroquel doesn't interact with GABA at all. It might sensitize your H1 receptors though: withdrawing rapidly from Seroquel or any other AP or antihistamine meds will induce rebound insomnia but only for a couple of weeks as opposed to the benzos or Z drugs whose PAWS can last up to a year).

Trazodone seems like a pretty safe choice, but unfortunately it's not available in my country.

My husband’s shrink is trying to put him on Zoloft/sertraline for his anxiety and depression and everyone I know who has been on it has gained weight. My cousin put on over a hundred pounds. So it’s scaring the crap out of us. Weight gain would just cause more depression. Any thoughts on this med or a good alternate med for these symptoms? What about Wellbutrin or Effexor?

If you’re a natural fatty, it’s Wellbutrin or nothing. Maybe Benzos would help, but doctors typically have to cycle through all antidepressants before they try more effective/addictive meds.

Seroquel as a sleep med is DANGEROUS in long term doses. Ok for a few weeks. if your doctor has you on it for a long period of time without a great reason, GET A SECOND OPINION! All drugs have side effects but usually people don't get them. With seroquel, you WILL likely end up with some very severe problems that require lifetime management. Not worth it for a sleep drug

r49 Sounds like you were into microdosing before the name was popularized. Get on reddit and join the microdosing groups for info on dosing as well as purchasing or growing. They're easy to grow supposedly and you can order spores in all but three states (although some independent sellers will mail to anywhere). You can even order psychedelic spores on etsy. Lots of people use the dark web for ordering but i can't figure that out yet.

Check your city to see if there are any psychedelic integration groups. If so attend meetings. Also, start casting a wide net. Tell five or ten people you know that you're looking for shrooms or LSD. See if they can think of anyone they can contact to help you. Good news is that once you do find some, you wont need a ton to stay well stocked unless you start doing it for fun and or consciousness expanding. Start the learning process now, then you'll be ready once you do find what youre looking for. My therapist and my psychiatrist both thought microdosing sounded like a good addition but i will be hiring a psychedelic pharmacologist just to consult with for 2 sessions (one introductory and one follow up) because my psychiatrist is not yet up to speed on how psilocybin interacts with the drugs I'm on (which are common and very low dose). I'd love to do Ketamine therapy sessions but they're prohibitively expensive, although now legal and available in some major cities.

Again, for anyone out there who knows they require anti-depressants, low dose shrooms and lsd are pretty spectacular. It's a tragedy that America keeps these substances away from people but that is quickly changing. Talk to your psychiatrist about them. If they dont know anything, that's ok. let them do the research. The more doctors that are approached by their patients with inquiries, the faster legalization will occur.

R53- pinch it off!!! Godamn!

Reading a spiritual book for me.

Seriously, I say this as someone who has been on Paxil, Zoloft, Adderall, Ritalin, Zyprexa, Proza, Wellbutrin etc.

None of those gave me what I get out of reading Buddhist and spiritual teachings.

I’m on 40 mg on Paxil The depression and anxiety have come back. I’m not sure if I should ask for an increase

R61 I was on that shit too. It wasn't great. I recommend to try working out more, lifting weights and take more risks in sharing feelings and being honest.

May not work but it might. Upping it just seems like a neverending tolerance staircase. Can you top out? I mean what other things have you tried? Maybe depression and anxiety are normal. Duh, we're alive and alot of us are depressed! Maybe you are just completely normal, baby!

Prozac was great for me. Like an old, comforting friend. I eventually went off of it because of sexual side effects, however.

I learned through Prozac that there is indeed a difference between "happy" and "not depressed." Prozac made me not depressed, but not really happy (although it's easier to leap into happiness when you are not in pain). I can't really complain, though. They never said they were happy pills.

prozac - no zoloft - ok

Zoloft packed over a hundred pounds on a cousin of mine. He literally didn’t change anything else in his life. Do some of these possibly lead to metabolic disorders? I am going to try and find some shrooms to microdose.

Zoloft made me cuss out the Amway lady.

Anyone been on Vortioxetine? It's meant to be more effective at relieving brain fog than other antidepressants.

My doctor told me the Lorazepam I’ve been taking for panic attacks at work (I’m a teacher) are linked to early onset dementia. I’ve tried avoiding taking them since school started in September, but broke down today and took one because I had a full blown attack in front of my class. Can anyone suggest an alternative to Lorazepam that is safe to use?

I have scripts for Klonopin and Xanex.

Citalopram

Zoloft worked great for me until my docs realized I was bi-polar and it was throwing me into manias. I had to ween myself off it for about 6 months. My current drug regimen works just fine and I know I'm lucky because most don't.

R68 Buspar

Anyone ever try GLeeMONEX?

Citalopram. Very pleased with it.