You can never know with 100% certainty what effect any treatment, be it drug or therapy, might have for you personally without trying it. If a lot of people say that something helped them, that doesn’t mean it will definitely help you too. Some people don’t benefit from therapy, some don’t benefit from drugs, some benefit from both, some from neither. There is unfortunately no way around trying different things and seeing what happens (unless a particular treatment concept doesn’t make sense to you from the beginning or even makes you uncomfortable - then you’re probably better off skipping it).
As somebody who has been through multiple different antidepressants, I think you are overestimating their effectiveness. While I hope they might be able to fix all problems, realistically they simply help. For me, they flatteren the bumps and reduce me spiraling but some CBT helped me learn how to recognise these and techniques to manage them. I’m not longer receiving CBT, Ive been to 20+ sessions and felt I wasn’t gaining anything anymore (not that I’ve been able to get any other therapy for 4 years now) but those techniques what I learnt from them were genuinely helpful. Helped me to realise that my drugs at the time weren’t effective as well
I won’t delve deeper but every time I tried to work out my problems (twice) with therapy I ended up on antidepressants (not saying cbt wasn’t still somewhat helpful for me in its own way), and once they kicked in it seemed to me that there was no problem to begin with. Like usually cbt comes along with some condition it’s meant to mitigate, but I couldn’t figure out exactly what I need since I have no complaints
Long standing depression and anxiety often come with habits; mental, personal, emotional, relational, hygiene. These habits can establish a negative cycle- don’t feel like doing anything because depressed > depressed because didn’t leave the couch today, etc.
CBT is about managing behaviors and won’t really go into rehashing every bad thing that’s ever happened to you. Some therapists list CBT on there About Me section, but then just do regular talk therapy, where that’s basically all you do.
If your life, health, relationships and career are all fine and you purely struggle with unpleasant feelings that are effectively medicated away without unwanted side effects, then there would be no need for CBT.
This will be hard to answer because everyone is different, particularly how they react to meds. You can keep a daily record of your mood when you switch over to try and track its efficacy and to monitor side effects though. That can be helpful to both you and your doc.
I was on 150mg of Zoloft. Ended up running out before I could get a new prescription. The withdrawal symptoms were horrible. Now I’m on 20mg of Prozac and 30mg of Buspirone Hcl. All I can say for sure is I’m actually getting some sleep now.
I’ve been on SNRI’s for a decade +. Venlafaxine, the worst of the bunch. They “work” in that I can feel barely able to live as opposed to definitely wanting to off myself daily. But they disabled my dick and flatten any kind of peak-ey emotions as well, including riding a rollercoaster. If I forget even a single dose - BANG, brain zaps for 12 hours. Good luck falling asleep.
I don’t know whether to be thankful they exist or to be sorry I got on them and have to live life like some sort of half-human in the meantime.
I have been on Venlafaxine for almost a decade as well. I'm now on a low dose (37.5mg daily) and I function well on it. I don't feel flattened. But oh, fuck those brainzaps. I want to quit but I'm a bit anxious to.
I’m on 37.5mg Venlafaxine for the second time–tried Zoloft for a bit in between. What’s wicked weird is that the first time I was on Venlafaxine I got brain zaps from missing a dose. This time I don’t and I kind of miss the built-in kick in the pants to take my meds.
When I got off Venlafaxine XR the first time, I weaned myself off very slowly. At first, I counted down the tiny pellets in the capsules, then I got a medication scale. I was able to avoid brain zaps.
What do the brain zaps feel like it, I was on it for years at max dose (for Canada anyway) and I don’t think I ever felt anything like a brain zap. Sleep problems yes, but I also stopped cold turkey one day and had no negative effects
Wait, after reading this thread, I feel like I got a lot of brain zaps, but for me they are not unpleasant. For me they are actually somewhat good feeling of relaxation. But maybe its just me. Also as a sidenote, did venlafaxine really helped you? I got it for 1 month, then my doctor cancelled it, saying that it was not having intended effect on me
Venlafaxine did help. The first time I was on it, I remember walking down the sidewalk and just doing of double-take of “oh, this feeling. I think I’m happy. This is what ‘happy’ feels like. Weird.”
I haven’t had anything so flagrant this time (and the flavor of stress I’m under is different), but I think it helps with my anxiety.
There was a time I was really considering SSRI’s. Mostly for anxiety related issues. But I heard about problems with those kinds of meds similar to what you described.
I’ve been able to find my own methods to deal with anxiety. Glad I never got on SSRI’s as I’m not sure I would have been able to get off them.
I mean great you found something that works well for your case. A friend of mine is on SSRIs for his depression since years and still has to take neuroleptics from time to time for his panic attacks.
I guess he’d also like to cut down the SSRIs due to the side effects (mostly loss of libido bothers him I think) but I don’t think that’s an actual option given his condition.
Anyhow, from a quick glance, 50mg/day seems to be the standard dose here, which you seem to surpass
This fear has kept me depressed and anxious my whole entire life. 😀 But I’m pretty much at the end of my rope now, so hopefully I can force myself to see a doctor and get some of these addictive pills.
You do you. I just kicked an 8yr addiction and feel better than ever, because I worked on myself and got my brain to make the happy chems. Being addicted is the worst nightmare I’ve ever been through. It starts with “omg this actually works, I can live again!” And ends with EVERYTHING on pause. I was not a human anymore, just a robot/slave to the drug and society. A perfect little worker. Happy to be free and be a real biological creature again. If I feel bad now, there’s a reason and I go change it, it was a whole lot of work to internalize that realisation.
But hey, everyone’s different, and using drugs might help you! It just didn’t for me. More power to you.
I was on Effexor max dose. And yea I feel the robot thing. But they eventually found out what was wrong with me and I’ve been depression free for a year which has been different…
We all crave normalcy or something like that, I tried multiple pills in order to feel normal. Zoloft > Wellbutrin > Effexor. I stopped Effexor cold turkey which is apparently very dangerous but had zero effect on me. But I stopped because I had zero feelings, I just existed, it honestly scared me (in my mind because I didn’t feel shit).
5 years later they realized I was XXY, and my body doesn’t produce testosterone. Turns out hormones are important. Once I started Testosterone, the constant downward pressure I had endured for decades disappeared overnight. Now I have phantom depression, depression is my normal so I have a hard time dealing with the fact that I’m not depressed. But my body will try to make it feel like I’m depressed. It is weird and I don’t have the words to describe it, I thought being depression free would mean happy but instead it’s this weirdness…
Most studies show that SSRIs do work best in conjunction with therapy, like CBT, so you're not entirely wrong. But the comment "you do you" seems to dismiss that some people have very real biological differences that might make them a long term solution, even with effective lifestyle changes. So I'll edit based on my experience and understanding.
You do you what you need to in order to feel healthy and happy (appropriately happy, not all the time happy). Be sure to check in wirh yourself regularly, ask for help where you need it, and know that the peope that (should) matter to you are on your side and hold no judgement however you need to get healthy.
Remember that you should never feel guilty about using meds as they are intended to be used. Dependence ≠ addiction.
Guilt about that kept me from getting medicated for my own issues, but when I finally found what worked for me, I genuinely wept. “Is this what ‘normal’ people feel like? Able to function? Quiet thoughts? Not overwhelmed by pure, constant anxiety?”
Does it kinda suck to think that I may have to take it indefinitely? Yeah. Sure. But it’s much better than being stuck in my own head and paralyzed by my own stupid brain.
Love yourself and do what’s best for you, meds or not.
I tapered escitalopram down following my dr’s instructions, in part 3 of my “no more meds” push a couple of years ago. Worst taper of the three, and one of the other two was lorazepam.
Had to stretch the taper schedule out to six months and take tiny steps down and still dealt with terrible brain zaps and intermittent panic attacks throughout the six months and for a month or so after.
I’m “better now” and much more present in my day to day life but without the meds there’s no safety net so I work out often, practice mindful meditation and breathing exercises, and have a “moderate” drinking problem.
It’s legal, I just don’t react to it well. I’ve tried for several years. Different strains, different potencies. So, I moderate. It’s not a perfect solution, but what is?
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