Antidepressants and Antipsychotic meds

Wellbutrin but never take it for more than a month.

Currently taking Celexa and trazodone

Amitriptylene hydrochloride. Basic, cheap tricyclic. Middling to no side effects. Quickly derails any and all wrong-think. Keeps you functioning, smoothed out and smiling.

Pristiq, Lexapro, Deplin and Vyvance

All this stuff is making everyone zombies. Every woman I know is on some type of shit and they are totally living in fantasy land with no grip on reality. They never make eye contact, they’re passive aggressive and they interrupt everyone... but no worries they smile and feel great... about THEMSELVES!!!

Effexor but I try to take breaks so I don't become dependent. I was told once you are dependent it takes years to safely get off it by slowly stepping down the dosage. I don't want any drug having that much control over me

I take 100mg of Pristiq

Wellbutrin, bb. The only one that ever worked for me. Not a miracle, but reasonably effective.

I don’t men do well on SSRIs. Wellbutrin or Buspar tend to be better.

Trazodone for sleep

Weed

As far as pills go, I'm a big fan of Abilify for my own personal anti-psychotic needs. Quiets the intrusive negative thoughts. Wellbutrin complements it nicely, lifts the fog.

If your depression/bipolar is severe, atypical, med-resistant and/or lingering, and you have the means/insurance, I cannot recommend ketamine infusion therapy enough.

R12 I heard ketamine can trigger schizophrenia in those susceptible.

It's not a risk I've ever read of or been advised of, R13, but obviously consult your doc. I've done a number of treatments and found them very effective with no ill side effects.

R14 would you describe it? The treatment

Lots of NYC guys I know who are on meds are just even, no highs nor lows. Not much laughter.

Seconal, quaaludes

R15, Not my words but a decent enough description can be found here. Read this just before I had my own experience. Describes a series of treatments so hopefully covers what you're curious about.

Thank you for this thread.

I also take low dose of Celexa and then trazodone for sleep.

I would like to add something to this regimen to help with high aniexty plus low depression.

I've been almost everything. And suffered side effects weight gain, aniexty, diminished libido.

This regimine has worked well for the last 4 years- until the pandemic.

Again I would like to add something to help balance me out during this time.

But I don't want to get back on the side effect roller coaster

Switch to Trintellex. I did a few months ago and it's a major improvement. Fucks with your sleep for a while but then tapers off.

R20 was that regarding my post? If so please tell me why you recommend Trintellex Thanks

I love Wellbutrin-- I am organized, motivated and productive on it. Until it stops working.

Amitriptylene for migraine (off label) and depression. An old, inexpensive tricyclic. Mild, helpful.

The ketamine infusion seems extreme and expensive, and my friends who undergo these infusions manage a lot of complexity maintaining the regime. One has moved to be nearer the infusion center, another becomes very disinhibited and oddly insistent about helping others with advice when cycling through a dosage. The behavior is like I saw many years ago when people took more Prozac. One guy I know becomes very intensely social and focused on sharing all his ideas and aspirations, then vanishes into like a fugue state when his system adjusts over time. But for him the infusions are really important, like an emotional bank, where he goes and recharges all these emotions. I wonder how he will manage over time.

I take Celexa, Remeron and Trileptal

Wellbutrin and Nafazodone (formerly Serzone). The Serzone is great stuff -- if you have the kind of depression that keeps you up most of the night, Serzone is the ticket! I sleep like a baby.

I swear by a combination of Zoloft (200 mg/day) and Wellbutrin (300 mg/day). I tried to get off everything--and did for several months--but I just couldn't function without these drugs.

I'm on Lexapro and Welbutrin. Also was taking Trazadone to sleep, but it was giving me suicidal thoughts so I had to cut it down to half a pill. I have had life long insomnia issues and Trazadone was working for sleep, so now I'm back to staying up until 4am and then sleeping past noon...

oh well.

I'm on Lexapro, Wellbutrin and Buspar. Buspar really takes the edge off my anxiety.

R28 buspar made me manic the first day

I told my shrink the only way I would ever give up my Trileptal is if they pried it from my cold dead hands.

I'm on a very low dose (25 mg) of Lamictal with a very low dose (2.5 mg) of Lexipro and it only takes the barest edge off. I'm not cranky, but I'm not happy and I'm tired all the time. It's not enough. But if I go higher, I get sadness. Which obviously defeats the purpose for medicating depression! I really need new meds.

R29, luckily for me, anti-depressants don't make me feel like shit. I'm thinking of all the possible side effects there are. But the one med I've ever taken that I couldn't handle was PREP. It made me feel like I could sleep for 14 hours easily, even after 1 month.

I take 500mg of Fuckitol every day.

R31

Ask your shrink to try you on a different combo of meds. It took a lot of trial & error before I found the right combo.

Pillsh are just SHWELL

R30 you use Trileptal as a mood enhancer/stabilizer? I thought it was an anticonvulsant...

I’m one of those that is resistant to antidepressants. I started with Prozac decades ago and took it for years in the hope it would help, even though I never felt any lifting. I am still here, however. Effexor was the same. Wellbutrin helped until it made me abruptly, seriously suicidal. The one drug that was a true game changer is Viibryd. I had no real side effects and it was truly a miracle drug for me. I need it now, badly,, but cannot afford it. If you are resistant, check into Viibryd.

Thank you for posting a thread exclusively for New Yorkers.

OMG. You guys are scaring me.

I’ve taken a lot. I hate them all and don’t take or need any any longer. But here’s my summary:

Zoloft: Hate it. It robs me of emotion and makes me feel like a robot.

Wellbutrin: This is straight-up speed. The first time I took it, I found myself standing on my desk at work wondering why I had never dusted the top of my bookcase, and then on all fours at home at 11:00 scrubbing the kitchen floor. I didn’t know it at the time I took Wellbutrin, but later found out I had been living with a late-stage Lyme disease infection that affected my nervous system, and Wellbutrin made all the neurological symptoms worse. I had Parkinson’s-like tremors on it. But I felt happy moodwise. Of all the Rx psychotropic drugs I ever took, this is the one that I would equate to a street drug.

Klonopin/Clonazepam: It’s like being put into slow motion and walking through shallow water with time moving in slow mo. Awful.

Seroquel: Best, deepest sleep of my life. I was put on a very low dose for a short time to get quality sleep, as described in a separate thread. The sleep I got while taking this made me feel more awake and focused in waking life. But the withdrawal from this was a NIGHTMARE. It was really torture in a way.

Ayahuasca: Changed my life. Took it five times. It ended my lifelong obsessive suicidal ideation, ended my clinical depression, and improved my anxiety significantly. It changed my whole worldview. The only downside I experienced as a result of it is that my creativity—both writing and painting—always have been fueled by anxiety. Without it, I’ve found that I am less creative. I am no less imaginative, but I am less motivated to make things because material things have so much less value than experiencing life does after ayahuasca. It’s one of the most significant experiences of my whole life and it’s a million times more effective for depression and anxiety than Rx drugs.

30 mgs of Lexapro and 2.5 mgs of Xanax ER.

R36

Yes, I'm prescribed Trileptal as a mood stabilizer

^^^

I hit Reply too soon. Yes, Trileptal is an anti-convulsant. I have no idea how it works as a mood stabilizer but it has been a God send for me.

Yes R19, I was replying to your post. I was on Celexa for many years and was feeling really low over the winter. My doctor switched me at my request. I don't have those deep lows I was experiencing. I'm not exactly Bozo but a lot better.

Bipolar and been on this cocktail for awhile:

Seroquel Depakote Lamictal Doxipen

It sounds like a lot but after years of experimenting it's the only combo that keeps me sane with the least amount of side effects. And trust me, I've tried them all.

I like the old time ones - Haldol and Thorazine!

Any other than Wellbutrin that don’t make you obese?

[quote]All this stuff is making everyone zombies.

Do not listen to this BS!

I was suffering from severe depression for basically ten years (26-36 years old), and I thought eating well, talk therapy, complete sobriety from alcohol and drugs, and a rigorous workout schedule alone would cure me, and it didn't. At 36 I just crashed hard and finally decided I could try an SSRI, which I did not believe in after a lifetime of listening to people who also knew NOTHING.

I finally took the advice of my doctor and went on Zoloft and after six months I finally became aware I wan't waking up wishing I were dead, and my entire outlook slowly changed. Not one moment was I like a zombie, and everyone in my daily life acted relieved that I seemed less troubled (bizarre, sad and crazy were other words they used). Everyone owes it to themselves to uncritically explore any and every solution to depression, and not waste a decade listening to people who know nothing and of course aren't you! I didn't know how much I was missing and regret every day I wasted being depressed and barely functioning.

R48 thank you for saying what I know as well as you do

Big pharma is sooooooo happy reading this thread!

r50 doesn't count his Truvada as part of "Big Pharma", naturally.

Yup.

LOTS of mental illness on DL.

Why don't you put an icepick in your eye socket and wiggle it around?

It shut my cousin up for 50 years

You silly gooses. You do understand that you inherit variations of enzymes ("polymorphs") that break down most psychiatric medication in the liver (Cytochrome P450 family of enzymes).

Due to this variation, individuals show a wide variety of responses to the same medications. The same medication may work for someone, but cause many side effects in another - due to the variations of the P450 enzymes that each individual has inherited.

There are also inherited differences in the types of serotonin transporter proteins as well, adding to the very individual response.

Family history is the most important component in how to chose what medication to take. If your mother or brother has done well on Zoloft, for example, then you are likely to respond well to Zoloft. Family history is a proxy for the complex genetic variation of proteins involved in the metabolism of psychiatric medication.

Any research studies showing these drugs do anything? I took a course in University that said they never beat placebo. I took a low dose of seroquel for sleep. It worked but I never slept right after getting off it. Very painful withdrawal.

In this case the computer says Yes!

[quote]Any research studies showing these drugs do anything?

No,. None. They've never done any studies at all, they just made it all up. Thank god you took that "course" at a "university"!

R57 don't be so flippant. Placebo effect is very powerful. Obviously drugs have effects on mood but do they improve your life. You would be surprised that all research suggests that shrink meds don't work. Seroquel lifted my mood for long time but getting off was disaster. Shrinks have been tested over and over and they can not tell difference between healthy and unhealthy brain. It genuinely depresses me that people like u don't do basic research.

Please give a link to show that the meds do not work, I just gave one that show otherwise, put up or shut up.

I have been depressed for most of my life and have seen therapists on and off with not much improvement. When Prozac came out it sounded promising, but when all the negative stories about "Prozac zombies" and horrendous side effects came out, I was afraid to try ADs. Then, in 2006 I went through some personal traumas that put me under extreme stress. I went into a major depression that made it so difficult to function that I had to seek psychiatric help.

The doctor recommended a low dose of Prozac. By then I was so miserable that I would have been willing to try anything. To my surprise, Prozac not only helped me feel better within a few days but had very few side effects. My libido went down for a while - I felt numb - but eventually it came back after I got accustomed to the drug. I can't say that I'm never depressed any more, but my down moods are more manageable, and I no longer feel as if I'm constantly walking around with a 50 lb. weight of melancholy on my shoulders.

Chronic depression can permanently change your brain chemistry. What ADs do is to restore normal functioning. I don't see it as being any different than taking insulin for diabetes or thyroid if you have a deficiency. It's a medical issue, not a personal failing or character defect. That's why it's important to work with a doctor, preferably a psychiatrist, who is knowledgeable about these drugs and experienced in prescribing them. You also have to be patient as it can take up to six weeks for them to start working, and you might have to try several different ones and/or adjust the dosage until you find the regimen that works best for you.

Lithium

Lexapro

Buspar

Klonopin

I’m on Wellbutrin, Paxil and Abilify, but still struggling with anxiety to the point it is interfering with my job performance. The Wellbutrin is fairly new to me. It was prescribed for my depression. I’ve been on Paxil for a long time. The Abilify was initially very effective for me, but seems to have run its course. I’m desperate to find something to improve my anxiety.

I take Cymbalta, it is an AD but a side effect is a slight anti-anxiety effect, so it helps me without going to benzos which are addicting.

I've never taken any

Magic mushrooms and vodka

Just FYI Prozac is the only SSRI suggested for Bipolar usually best paired with an anti-psychotic.

I think a lot of people on DL could use a good strong anti-psychotic. Or at least switch to one that works.

R54 is that why my mother has responded so well to taking Zoloft over the years yet I have feelings of extreme irritability when I took it for six weeks??

Has anyone taken mirapex? It's usually used to treat Parkinson's, but can also be used for treatment-resistent depression.

I take mirapex, r69, for insomnia caused by restless-legs syndrome (RLS). It works.

Paxil (longtime user) for depression and buspar for anxiety. The buspar is not that effective for me, though.

Wish I could get hold of some Xanax. But California keeps a tight lid on psychoactive drugs and lifestyle supplements like benzodiazepines.

thank you, R69. I've been offered it for anhedonia.

Been on and off antidepressants my entire life! They have never worked and the withdrawals and rebound anxiety are awful. Doctors hand them out like candy. It’s all a guessing game for them.

Klonopin is the worst. A young inexperienced Dr. prescribed a large dosage for my insomnia and it worked but the dosage was so high I got to the point that if I didn’t take it every night, the next morning I would start experiencing withdrawal symptoms. Luckily I switched doctors and he slowly weaned my to a much lower dosage and then switched me to Valium which I can go a couple of days without it but withdrawals start after 3 to 4 days. I hate Benzodiazepines. Wish I had never touched one.

On Sequel I gained 40lbs, I’m 5’11” and went from 180 to 220. but luckily as soon as I stopped taking it, I lost the weight.