How did you guys decide to go on medication, instead of just trying therapy or toughing it out? What made you decide that medication for whatever your problem may be was the right solution? Do you mind sharing what you take, and some of the sideaffects?
I was at rock bottom when I decided I needed help. I'd been in a horrible breakup and had picked up some of her bad habits. Once I accepted that I was depressed (which was pretty obvious), I wanted meds... I've never been afraid of them or having them change my personality or anything like that. If they made me a zombie, well a zombie was better than drinking, or doing other drugs, or doing nothing and facing my immediate hell. I only wanted meds for a short period of time to pull my head above water, and put more true healing attention toward CBT therapy with an awesome amazing psychologist (she had purple hair and wore black leather pants.... haha). Three months later I was off the meds and out of therapy. As far as the meds themselves, it took a few tries to find the right antidepressant. I tried Zoloft and Paxil (zoloft made me throw up for hours and paxil gave me sweats) before I found Effexor. Effexor was like a dream, no side effects and it literally startled me at how well it worked. I was splitting a 75mg pill, half at morning, half at night. I also took 0.5mg klonopin for a month or so in there so I could calm down and go to sleep. Didn't have any problems coming off either of those, but a whole bunch of people do.
this is a very good question...i've been wondering about this too and would love some input as i have been considering whether i need medication or not lately. so far i have never taken anything for psychological issues....please more input would be so helpful
I was on meds for a few weeks and I know they probably weren't even in my system yet but I stoppped because I felt like they weren't helping me. I don't know if that was a smart move or not, I haven't noticed anything bad since I've been off them but I guess time will tell. I don't really think taking meds to get over depression or some huge problem in your life is the way to go. They can end up making things worse, not nessisarily on the outside but inside I think it just messes everything up. I couldn't cry a single tear while I was on my meds, that's not normal and I don't think it's very healthy for your mind. I might be wrong and maybe I just didn't give it a chance. I'm just hoping that I can cope with my life and not go back into a deep depression.
I've been on Prozac for the past year and it has helped me a lot. My dr. just put me on Xanax yesterday for my panic attacks and I just feel sleepy. I don't like it personally, I'd like to find another way to deal with it. For now it's better than being constantly on edge.
I'm off meds now. I first started seeing a psychologist for a long time whilst I refused to take meds. I thought I'd rather try homeopathy first. So I tried St John's Wort and Ginseng for about 6 or 7 months first, along with eating healthily and getting regular exercise. Then I went a bit mental and was on high risk alert, so they gave me citalopram at 20mgs along with a 4 week course of zopiclone (sleeping pills) at 15mgs - 7 mgs. I only really took the citalopram for 3 or 4 months and then thought fuck it... if I want to do this properly, I need to do it for myself and I haven't gone back since, although I do get cravings for zopiclone every now and again.
I was on Lexapro for 8 months until 2 months ago when I thought in some half psychotic episode that the meds were making me go crazy, because i was so anxious aobute verything and i thought me reality was changing. It probably like, 1000 to 1 wasnt the meds. SO then i went off them and have had a really really up and down 2 months, but now im back to where i was 12 months ago, which is good lol. The imporant thing I have learned is that CBT and such must be combined with the meds.
I never really had a choice about beginning the meds, it was a last resort for my parents after repeated violence and acts of self harm as a 10 year old. My pediatric psychiatrist just kept going, thinking this or that may work better. Some of them had worse side effects than others, some of them worked a lot better than others. After I "fired" my old shrink my diagnoses changed, and it was decided that therapy and self dicsipline would work better than just my cocktail.
i went on medication because i was seriously tired of years and years without it. i honestly could not function and it had been like that for years... side effects- hair loss, no sex drive unless drunk, weight gain, no real sense of excitement..... went off of medication because i got to the point where i could believe in myself and my ability to deal- went through huge withdrawls... which have included feeling depressed again during the withdrawl period glad i went off anyways
No mental medication! they damage your brain cells and make you very dumb. you know why there are no genius like Mozart and Beethoven now? B/c all the bipolar ppl are giving medication. i feel pity for them, they could be genius while having bipolar, now they are normal people, but they lost their genius forever.
Hello, I would like to say in response to Pugsley's post, be VERY careful to take ANY meds !!! I too have a little history, I have taken (olanzapine, active substance) for couple months. this is an anti-psychotic medication, now I first got to take it by misunderstanding, I am not going to explain that, but the truth is, I was misdiagnosed by this weird psychiatrist and given pills for no positive symptoms. what these do, they will treat halucinations alright (If you never had any, DON't take any anti-psych meds, EVER) but they will drag you deep down into the hole of apathy, emotional flatness, lack of creativity, lethargy, prolonged reaction time, if anyreactions occur at all, inability to hold relationships. very debilitating. and other physical symptoms (including muscle tremors --> these are due to prolonged use(over 10years?) they WILL NOT go away) facial twitches, muscle cramps and pains, even seizures !!! heart problems, spatial problems, and decreased sex drive. so, in short, anti-psychotic(+ now prescribed as anti-anxiety) meds will highly increase the negative symptoms of the "disorder" my friend was diagnosed with severe depression due to which she developed anorexia nervosa. she was almost hospitalized, but given pills as her last chance to live her normal life. she already has muscle tremors, and her disorder --> anorexia, DID NOT go away !!!! some facts: FDA approves pills for prolonged use (lifelong) after only 4-6 weeks of testing (double blind). I would not trust the least bit in FDA, after all, they approved GMOs too. most pills for depression do not work, the user experiences placebo effect as the only sign of being better (few months only) the therapy is at least just as effective as the placebo effect, moreover, the progress will not go away. Now, the last thing, the withdraval for some people means a relapse, and with every relapse your "disorder" is more and more likely to become permanent. (I had none, at least I don't remember). last thing, If you by any chance decide to go on any of the two kinds of medications, do not combine them with alcohol. my friend experienced very increased muscle tremors. I, luckily, never developed any physical symptoms other than internal random muscle pain, but it is not worth it to drink on either of those, as your tolerance to alcohol will fall radically and unpredictably, however high it ever was.
Interacting with "big pharma" and the FDA is what I do day in and day out. Anti-depressants and anti-psychotics usually do not have a study time of 4 to 6 weeks, at least in Phase III studies (which is where they're being tested on larger populations to determine significance). The positive effects usually aren't even seen in such a short time period. The placebo effect is very well known, and studies take it into account when determining clinical significance. These drugs do work... saying that they don't is a futile position. I have over 600 studies on my desktop that say they do.... and they're just the tip of the iceburg. It's not just the placebo effect that makes them work... that only accounts for about 30% clinical significance, and when over 60% of the people taking the study medication have lessoning symptoms of depression, that is the drug working. Further, post marketing studies continue to go on for the entire time that a drug is on the market. You are right about "talk" therapy being as effective as drug therapy, at least in terms of treating depression. However, study after study after study has shown that the combination of the two is the most effective treatment method. Other disorders are different. There's no cookie cutter mold to treating any of them.
Meds should be taken depending on the disorder/ problems one is dealing with. Make sure you are going to a good pysch. I can't emphasis that enough. I went to one who diagnosised me with unipolar depression rather than bipolar depression and the antidepressants that help the former condition worsen the latter. I developed manic episodes due to Wellbutrin. The side effects on gets depends on their brain chemistry. Without trying the med for a certain amount of time, one cannot know what the effects will be. For example, I am prone to amphetamine induced pyschosis with extended use so I cannot take Adderall. Depakote caused my hair to fall out as well as my blood iron levels to drop, since I have issues with anemia. Not everyone will have the same reactions as I have had. Meds can only do so much. One must help themselves for the meds to work to their full potential, whether that means seeing a therapist, etc. Personally, my bf and I work together as my therapy. I can analyze shit and see patterns where they are if I am in the right mindset. If I am depressed or manic, forget it. I have often heard that you are your best therapists. Therapists help you see what you have been overlooking. Do research on the meds. Learn as much as you can. Sorry about the rambling; hope this helps. peace and love
..I understand where you are coming from with the tone of your reply. I should have not stated "some facts" at the beginning of this paragraph, as I am not a researcher, just an amateur. let me ask some clarifying questions: what do you mean by phase 3 testing? is it the phase that follows after the 6-th week and up? who is the larger population? is it the patients? Is the larger population involved in phase 3 testing well informed the testing is still in progress? who else is funding this research, is it the drug companies, or the FDA only --> any independent studies you came across? (they might be predisposed to put anything on the market as long as it makes big bucks). by positive effects, I meant halucinations, delusions, paranoia, etc.... any "extra" conditions added to the patient's behaviour. when the medication is introduced in the appropriate dose, these should go away in a few days --> couple of weeks, othervise the meds are useles. my last couple of questions, have you ever taken any of these yourself? do you think that with such limited knowledge of the physiology of a human brain, we are able to cure these disorders? from my own experience, and the little research I have done, the symptoms are suppresed, but the disorder (if there ever was any) never goes away. that's to the definition of 'working' meds. That is not to say that I am totally against meds, but I think that unless one is seriously disturbed, they do too much harm and too little good. I do understand that without them, many people would have to spend their lives locked up in mental institutions and such.
I see there are a lot of mixed feelings out there. To each his own ya' know. To anyone who is looking for advice on this subject, the only person you should listen to is YOU! People experience things in their own unique ways. As far as my own experience, I was resistant to taking meds for years. I have always had a depressed mood, ever since I was little. Then I experienced a great trauma in my life and mentally things started changing. At first I thought I could handle it by continuing my breathing therapy and seeing my LISW regularly, I mean this is MY mind so I should be able to control it right? WRONG, it's like everything I tried, my mind would adapt and my anxious feelings would come back. Then I had one panic attack too many! I made an appointment with my LISW and she suggested I try Zoloft. I was skeptical but I gave it a go. All I can say now is that my life has been dramatically change. It hasn't been like a miracle or anything by all means, but I can do things that I couldn't handle doing before. And then again I also had a bad experience with Wellbutrin. I was taking it for a few weeks and it made me go nuts! It's really trial and error. You don't know unless you try. Good luck and peace be with you
i dont nor have i ever taken any psych meds.... I can not allow anyone or thing to take control over my life. Its mine and the only thing that i myself have complete control over. if i cant control it then how the hell can i expect anyone or anything else to be able to do so...If i choose to allow someone else to have control over something that is mine only then i am also giving up all my responsibilities, decision making and original thought...none of which i am ready nor willing to give up at this stage of life. In the future who knows what will happen my rights to decide my own choices may be taken from me for whatever reason , but til then ..... I personally think meds are entirely overused in society and that very few should actually be on them for whatever reason,,, pysch or not,, but thats neither here nor there
I used to have the same feelings about meds that many other do. I thought society was overusing anti-depressants, and that it was a way to "control" peoples though processes. Then I actually thought about it. When someone is unhappy, and are contemplating suicide, or is just very unhappy all the time I think meds can be a very nice thing. Everyone has this negative connotation with anti-depressants, but when they are making people happy, and saving some peoples lives, imo they're a good thing. I do believe they change people's though process, however I do not think the people who are on these drugs "lose control" of their lives. These drugs don't take responsibility/decision making away, they take depression/anxiety/sadness away. When someone is so low, that they feel they need to use this as away to escape that, then they should. edit: Currently, I'm on zero medications, except for ritalin every once in a while. Last year I was placed on Lexapro for anxiety for about 5 monthes, then I decided that I didn't need medication, and I started exercising, and eating heathy. Everyone uses different ways to make themselves feel happier, and I wouldn't say any way is better than the other but what works for someone may not work for me, and vice versa.
Phase 1 and 2 studies are very small in terms of how many people are taking the study medication. The goal is to determine if the medication isn't obviously dangerous, as well as to determine if there appears to be enough positive results to warrant going to a phase 3 trial. A phase 3 trial is done with a larger population (usually 1000 to 3000 patients, but I've seen them with as many as 15000) and again it's looking to see if the medication is safe and effective. The way these studies are set up is very complex... double-blind simply doesn't cover it, there are far more checks and balances set up to keep the results clean. For example, the drug company will hire independent specialists in whatever field they're studying who have nothing to gain from the drug making it to the market. These people are the ones who determine if the drug is worth submitting to the FDA. Funding comes from all over the place. It usually is the drug companies, though, but the government (ie: the NIH) helps with feedback and funding as well sometimes. I don't understand what you mean by an independent study... unless you mean by comparitive studies by doctors or psychologists or organizations like the APA or groups of psychologists and stuff. Those are the studies that you have to watch out for... sometimes they have good data, sometimes they're manipulated... they aren't done in the same way that NDAs (New Drug Applications) are, because they're not necessarily done to the same standard that the FDA requires when a drug is trying to be brought to market. As far as side effects, it's all about whether the pro's outweigh the con's. If large numbers of people die, then the drug will not be given approval. If it causes mild nausea in large groups, it might be given approval if it also keeps people from hearing voices, or their herpes from breaking out, or etc. It's all relative. I was like the last couple of posters... I had always been able to handle everything on my own and was kind of proud of that. A few years ago, shit hit the fan... I did nothing for almost six months but drink all day long and contemplate ending it all. I finally saw a psychologist who worked with me, who got a psychiatrist to write me a prescription for zoloft. I threw up for 8 hours straight and stopped taking it. I tried paxil, and broke out in a rash. I tried effexor and it worked like it was supposed to. I'd get nauseated for about an hour after taking it for the first two weeks, but I didn't care, because after the nausea, the depression wasn't dominating my life. My psychologist worked with me, and about six months later I was off the med and everything's been great since then. That's the way meds should be used, imo. Some disorders are more complex, though. If I had paranoid schizophrenia, I would take whatever I needed to take to live a somewhat normal life and not hear voices and see things and be a prisoner to my own head. The side effects might suck, but not as much as the other. That's just me, though.
i got too lazy to follow diet and lifestyle modifications that had made life livable for me and decided to take the 'magic bullet' that would fix my depression for me long enough for me to get back onto the right diet,etc. however, the side effects are just as debilitating as the depression. now i'm weaning off of the meds and going back to plan A which involves proper diet, efa's, exercise, volunteer work, etc... effexor~side effects: incredible sleepiness, like i can never fully wake up and i can sleep thru 2 alarm clocks, doorbell/phone ringing, someone shaking me, etc it's really bad. really intense dreams. constipation (sorry, tmi!), and in the second week i had some visual disturbances.
Hello fulmah, thank you for clarification. yes by independent I basically meant anyone who will not profit from the research. as you see my attitude is very bad towards these medications (therefore I am prone to notice only "bad" research outcomes) but oh well, I don't want to influence anyone in a wrong direction, I just never really needed any of the meds and they kind of ruined several months for me. but, you are right, whoever stops functioning and is helped --> that's a success and thats the purpose.
