[edit on 11/7/2004 by jameo131i]

If we all lived in a perfect world, who would need to take anti-depressants? They may in fact alter brain chemistry for mood disorders but if in this perfect world we had all we dreamed of as in heaven, who would have time to be depressed? Not many people I have met actually seem to possess the level of awareness required to grasp the fact that a pre-existent world pressures each one of us into absorbing or rather conditions us to popular or mass notions, thus social influence of family, friends and others make many weak to truly exploring what THEY want or allowing a person to develop a free-form philosophy. Does one not have the right to make what they will of the creation on their own as per free-will?

Not to tangent, but a time will come when we must decide if it is the human world system that fails us or if we are failing in developing a tangible and stable civilization. It has become so easy to push pills at everybody rather than root the problems of the world so to allow all the same comfort, respect and honor. Anti-depressants are a band-aid to cover up or mask the growing numbers of people who have lost faith in our governments, education, school systems and the like to name just a few. The real issue is whether the doctors themselves have the right to declare an authoritarian stranglehold on the assessment of human beings. The pharmaceutical industry is a billion dollar cake-take and it sure is easier to collect those dollars from the masses to continue building the empire, rather than actually take a step back as a species and re-evaluate our very fabric of society. Just food for thought. Peace!

zoloft pretty much handed my life back to me on a silver platter!
wish i had the stuff when i was 14. tried to come off of it semi-cold-turkey several times. went straight to the abyss i can tell you true. my immediate family said to stay on it or they were leaving.
for the better part of 7 years i enjoyed the benefits, without any any side affects after the 1st 4 mos.
then 911.
912: grama dies
927: dad dies
i was so so grief stricken i forgot to take the meds but every few days. eventually ran out. and did not return to the abyss. i was free.
i am glad my chemistry has returned to normal. there is still a lot of stigma attached to an involuntary chemical inbalance.

I don't notice foods interacting with my depression, but I do notice things that really kick start my panic disorder...chocolate, too much caffeine, too much sugar. All these things make me feel very hyper, nervous, agitated, and panicky.
Just because foods don't affect my depression doesn't mean it can't affect depression. Obviously, if I'm hit with panic attacks,because of food, then a person can be hit with worsening depression symptoms too.
joey

In Nov 03 I went in my doctor's office and complained of heart palpitations. She immediately diagnosed me as having "panic disorder" and so began my almost 10-month nightmare of anti-depressants. Over this time-period I have seen 3 doctors and 3 psychiatrists, each one trying to toss more drugs at me to fix the screw-ups from the last drug. The second day I was on Zoloft I had a massive panic attack, the first one of my life. So followed months of neurological dysfunction, crippling fatigue, muscle pain, migraines, hallucinations, mood swings, panic attacks, numbness, and hyperventilation so bad I could see my fingers literally turning blue. The bottom line: it was found out that I'm allergic to most medications, including cold meds, anti-depressants & the like, as well as anything chemical like sun-tan lotion, bug spray, nutrasweet, perfumes in soaps, etc. I don't blame the doctors for not knowing this about me; what I DO blame them for is blaming me for the side-effects, telling me that I either made them up or they were in my head, and then dumping more meds on me to make the "hypochondria" go away. They simply refused to admit these drugs have any negative effects...I felt like they cared more about the drugs' reputation than they did about me.

I have spent the last 4 months tapering off/detoxing from a course of Xanax I was on for only two weeks. In that time I have had to give up my job, spend weeks at a time indoors, one week in the beginning & the end of the tapering where I was in bed almost all the time, I was so ill. Anti-depressants messed up my life totally; and apparently if the "kicking meds" message boards are any indication, I'm not the only one.

Since I have done so much research over the last several months on the topic (I mean, what the hell else could I have done...er, except posting on ATS), I do want to point out to long-time meds users the "pooping out" phenomenon. That's when you've been on the drug for a while and all of the sudden it stops working. Doctors are not sure what exactly causes it, but guess that the body must have developed a tolerance to the substance. So now you're just as depressed as before. So what do you do? Stop taking the drug and try a new one? Not so simple. You have to detox from the first drug first--or else you'll get horrific withdrawal effects (I know all about them--it's like Dante's Inferno). How long will you have to withdraw? I read something like if you took Prozac for 6 years you would have to taper for a year. FOR A YEAR! For a drug that is no longer helping you. Along the way, you'll be given other tranquilizers & stuff to calm you down. Like Xanax--which you will have to undergo a long taper for as well. Doctors don't tell you things like this before they give you the pill. They should. We should be informed of all the risks. In the meantime...inform yourselves!

I've been told to sue my doctors or the drug companies for destroying my career & nearly driving me to kill myself while suffering the side-effects & withdrawal. Looking over the success rate for such litigations, I doubt I would have a chance--apparently, this situation is considered "normal" in a society where even our president is allegedly on SSRIs. However, if there is a God (or Goddess) I'm hoping those hexes work.

In the meantime, there is nothing to do but detox my body & let it heal.

I was on both meds until recently....they worked well, but had a few side effects. If I could afford to go back on them, I would in a minute.

Prozac was the first one I was on - it made me shake.

Right now I am taking Fish Oil and it seems to be working...

I was "Put on" anti depressants by a consultant, not for depression (though I was depressed, the doctor didn't know that), but because they were "trialing" the anti depressants effects on stomach problems. So I had ADs for a stomach problem, and they turned my life upside down. I became paranoid, nasty, stupid, over emotional, the whole spectrum of #ty characteristics, culminating in being paranoid and alcoholic at the age of 18. I can't say I think anti depressants are good after an experience like that...........For Gods sake, they made me 10 times more depressed than I thought was even possible, it's only since I stopped taking them that I've started to get back on track, but it's still left some permanent reminders (i.e. alcoholism, bad hygene and diet) and my brain will never be the same, so to speak.
ANTI DEPRESSANTS BAD

That's the bad thing about antidepressants. For some people (like me) they work great and, for others, they have terrible side effects. Unfortunately, with SSRI's, you have to be on them about 6 weeks before you know if they are right for you. The whole body chemistry/brain chemistry thing isn't that well understood yet.
However, if SSRI's work for you, I think it's a heck of a lot better than suffering the terrible effects of depression or the drugs that were once used to treat depression (which REALLY made you a zombie).
Although we have a long way to go in figuring out exactly how to tailor meds for every condition/individual, on the whole, the situation is much better than in the 1950's. I had an aunt,with clinical depression at that time, and she was basically subjected to a series of shock treatments that took away her personality and left her totally "flat". Very sad. She was a brillaint woman and spent months locked in a psuchiatric ward undergoing shock therapy on a routine basis purely because they didn't know any other methods of treating her illness. Now, she'd at least have a shot at leading a normal life.
This isn't to say that SSRI's work for everyone. I took Effexor for a bit adn had terrible side effects, so I can empathize with all of you who have had bad side effects with SSRI's. I guess I'm just lucky that Prozac seems to help me without major side effects.
joey

Prozac drove me insane.
I went from wanting to kill myself to wanting to kill everything. I would get extremely pissed off over the stupidest things. When i was about 4 months on the prozac, Some guy gave me a funny look and i threaten to cave his head in with a iron bar, im not even a violent person.

I am bipolar and take risperdal and a low dosage of paxil because it can be dangerous for manic depressives to take anti-depressants. I've been on it for 3 months and feel better than I have in a year and a half. The risperdal controls my mania but I was in a deep depression until I started taking it. I guess I am one of the lucky ones it works for.

My physician is not one of those 'natualists', but Fish Oil (in capsule form) has helped me with my depression...

All pharmaceuticals have side effects, which are the reasons the FDA requires these to be prescribed by physicians.

Some children are believed to be suicidal after taking antidepressants but no definitive study has proven this. The children may have been suicidal before taking the pills, which may have been a side effect of the reasons they were put on the pills in the first place. Most telling is the fact that these suicidal tendencies were found only at the outset of the time they began taking anti-depressants. After awhile (the pills take a few weeks to work) none have been found to be suicidal.

Among adults, a common effect of some antidepressants is a decrease in the sex drive. So adults can make a choice: sex or depression? Anyone who has suffered from depression doesn't want to return to that condition.

Had we had these medicines when Ernest Hemingway was alive, he most likely would never have committed suicide at the relatively young age of 63.

[edit on 5-8-2004 by joey]

Originally posted by Codemaster_01
All pharmaceuticals have side effects, which are the reasons the FDA requires these to be prescribed by physicians.

Some children are believed to be suicidal after taking antidepressants but


no definitive study has proven this. The children may have been suicidal before taking the pills, which may have been a side effect of the reasons they were put on the pills in the first place. Most telling is the fact that these suicidal tendencies were found only at the outset of the time they began taking anti-depressants. After awhile (the pills take a few weeks to work) none have been found to be suicidal.

Among adults, a common effect of some antidepressants is a decrease in the sex drive. So adults can make a choice: sex or depression? Anyone who has suffered from depression doesn't want to return to that condition.

Had we had these medicines when Ernest Hemingway was alive, he most likely would never have committed suicide at the relatively young age of 63.

EXACTLY!!!!
The whole crux of this problem is that all meds have side effects. You have to weigh the problem of side effects with the outcome of taking the drugs. For those who have known the depths of despair and depression, a few side effects are a small price to pay.
joey

Ok, could this trend for children and teenagers to commit suicide wen beginning their antidepressant treatments stem from the fact the the drugs take a while to work... the child/teenager might have been so depressed and or suicidal that they are looking for fast results... for all the # to stop... the pills take to long to work... no change... so they kill themselves thinking that they can't be fixed/helped...

"Gimme that Z, O-L-O-F-T
Gimme a grip, make me love me
Suckin' 'em down, I'm happy man
Can feel it inside, makin' me smile

...realize that the sky's not made of gold
don't disguise the nature of your soul

Gimme that z, o-l-o-f-t
No longer pissed and you don't bother me
I'm makin' it through, I'm givin' my all
When base are loaded, I'm whacking the ball

...don't suck the mind, don't drain the source
the path of life's not so easy to course, buddy" Ween - "Quebec"

I forgot to mention way back on page 4 that I also suffer from anxiety attacks. If I start to get an anxiety attack I usually have to get as far away from my 'dwelling place' as possible, out in the open. If I don't I end up breaking things and I can't control my anger. This leads me to the next paragraph:

For anyone who is unfamiliar with true depression (not a 'in the dumps' feeling), here's my bit on it... Imagine that you had the time of your life the day before with your girlfriend and all of both your friends. Everything went awesome, noone argued about anything, everyone just got together and hung out and everything was storybook perfect. The next morning a person would be remembering the day before and smiling about it and ready to tell everyone who didn't show up all about it, but instead you wake up with this uncontrollable felling of doom from nowhere. You start thinking that your GF snuck out of bed while you were passed out to screw your best friend, and that everyone is out to get you. You think that no matter how great the day before was, today can't be better, so it must be going to be worse. Normally a person can just blow this irrationality off, but you can't seem to nudge it... and you KNOW you are being irrational, especially since you hardly slept and you know that your GF was sound asleep the whole time. Even when all the lights turn green on your way to work, you can't be happy about it. You just can't shake the feeling that too many things are going good, something is going to come and screw it up as usual (usually your own self doing, and you know it but can't seem to do anything about it). Alot of people would just call you a pessimist, but you aren't being negative. You aren't TRYING to be negative. Imagine having a great day at work and you get home and for some reason get so bummed out that you cry for about half an hour before you realize you don't even know what you are crying about (yeah, I've done that one several times... I'm a guy, and yes I cry... I am human after all, duh).

That is just one day for you. Now imagine that about every day to every three days... and you can't control it. I've been at family functions where I had to leave because I was so 'bummed out that everyone else is having a good time'. 2 thanksgivings ago I stayed in bed until like 7pm so I didn't have to see anybody (I have a bad antisocial problem as well). I was staying with my GF at her parents house, since we lived in a different town at the time, and was supposed to go to my parents. I ditched a freakin' Thanksgiving because I was depressed! It's really sad... really, but you can't really seem to do anything about it.

For anyone who is afraid of the drugs, do this for yourself: make sure that your VERY BEST friends don't put up with it. Personally, I have less than a handfull of 'friends' (friends=family, and family=friends... always!) that I will deal with when I get depressed. When I get in these modes I will sometimes even blow them off. Luckily they understand the depression and don't take no for an answer. After a best friend drags yer arse out of the house a couple times, you just go with it and it slowly starts to become easier. The biggest thing I've come to understand about depression is that it is something like picking at a scab... you know it's there and you can't ignore it (you are depressed, you know it, but it just permeates your head), and since you can't get it out of your head you keep picking at it until it comes off and you finally bleed all over the place (you try as hard as you can to think happy thoughts, but you just can't get any of the negative thoughts out of your head and you keep dwelling on them until you finally collapse).

One thing I've found that helps when I'm depressed is to eat alot of sugar (sweet fruits, tea with cane sugar, chocolate, etc... no corn syrup) and go pass out as soon as the sugar buzz wears off, and stay away from caffeine... although cocoa contains a pretty significant amount of caffeine. The thing with passing out is so you can sleep off the depression. You overload it (you know you are gonna come down off the sugar and be in a worse state than before, so you load yourself to the point where you pass out instead of being depressed). Another thing is, for me, that I have a fast metabolism, so alot of food doesn't go very far... or I may have a digestive disorder, who knows. This was very interesting, considering what I have just said:

Originally posted by EnronOutrunHomerun
One thing to watch out for, besides large clumps of garlic powder, is that a lot of symptoms of depression are similar to diabetes...garlic is used in some alternative medicine approaches for diabetics - I'd get a blood test to make sure...

I absolutly love garlic! I won't even take the pills, I'd rather torture everyone around me! I love the tase! Now I want a bowl of pasta with butter, parmesean, and hella-garlic (minced, mind you... not crushed). Yumm! Think there's a link there? Read on:

My mom told me that I have something similar or related to diabetes where my body doesn't metabolize sugars like they are supposed to, so when I eat alot of sugar I can actually get 'high' from it, but when I come down it's severely harsh... not just to me, but to everyone around me, lol. Now as far as my mom's credibility goes, I don't know. I love her 'til I die, but sometimes I think she is severely misinformed. I have never gone to the doctor to have any kind of blood test done (I also, according to my mom, have some joint disorder that is genetic... my little sister started popping and cracking about age 9... I started at about 13, but my mom started when she was about 17... my chiropractor didn't have a clue what I was talking about, but I know my knees separate about an eighth inch when I jump in the air and slam when I land). Anyways, it seems that a helthy diet helps out all sorts of problems... and believe me, Carl's Jr. 3 times a day doesn't qualify as healthy (I can't believe it didn't kill me! I ate about 10-15 times a week for over 4 years straight!!!)

I'm no doc, but I really do think that bi-polar, depression, and anxiety are all so closely related that they could all be treated in very similar ways instead of taking pill after pill after pill after pill. I know that when I get rid of my depression for the day, all other problems go as well... same when I treat an anxiety attack. Really, personal diet helps with the control so much it's unbelievable. Also, I read an ATS thread today that was talking about acidic foods (about anything you eat nowadays) being linked to masses of health and mental problems.

From my knowledge of being prescribed to effexor xr for the past year and a half is that effexor xr does increase the patients risk of suicide. All anti-depressants should be taken parallel with some sort of counseling. What happens is when someone is depressed thier thoughts of suicide may be high depending on the person. But while these patients have suicidal thoughts they lack the energy to fullfil thier thoughts. When the patient begins taking effexor their energy rate rises, causing suicide to be more propable of happening. Thats why therapy should be induced with the medicine so that those suicidal thoughts decrease as your enrgy level increases. But many of times the pateint may skip sessions of the doctor may not hold them frequent enough. Thats just what i think about the increased suicide topic. Thats only pretaining to effexor also.

I just recently started taking the new one called Lexapro..

I must say, its saved my marriage. The first couple weeks sucked, I felt like my brain was being washed down, my every thought was vague and whatnot.. after week 3, everything cleared up, my moods stopped, and I've never been happier. I still have the depressed feelings, but I dont allow them to effect my mood anymore.. works great

Some of the 'older' pills really messed me up. I tried prozac and then Paxil after that and they really turned me upside down.. the mood swings I got from those 2 were astonishing.

Isn't it interesting how our brain chemicals are all so different? The med that works for one of us causes troubles for others. For example, Prozac works great for me, but Effexor was awful.
I wholeheartedly agree that SSRI use MUST be combined with counseling. My own psychiatrist explained that the first few months of antidepressant use should be carefully monitored. As posted above, once your energy level begins to rise (because the drugs are kicking in) those who are suicidal might finally have the "energy" to take some action.
I don't discount the dangers of SSRI's BUT I do think, that in many, many, circumstances they can restore lives, marriages, careers, and bring joy where there was once only despair.
Some people say this is an "unnatural" feeling of happiness or joy, but I disagree. If we accept that MOST psychiatric disorders (including clinical depression and panic disorder, and ocd to name a few) are caused by glitches in our brains, due to lack of certain chemicals, then we have to also accept that SSRI's can restore the "natural" brain function.
joey