antidepressants - s&d, CoD, evil bitches, cash cows and saviours of sanity

I've had horrible experiences with friends who have gone completely nuts while on prozac. A boy I knew back in upstate NY- a very creative, intelligent and, well... slightly eccentric musician and artist. He was put on prozac for some reason or other, and first off, he ballooned up about 100 lbs in weight, and then he started to talk about how electric fields were controlling his thoughts. Next thing, he started moving furniture around the house because he claimed the noise from the electricity in the walls was keeping him awake. Then he smashed up my sister's flat, throwing shit around and destroying everything in sight.

As soon as he went off the prozac, he returned to his normal zany, creative, eccentric, but completely well balanced self.

So this is why I believe prozac = very, very bad thing.

Oh, and lithium does produce low level auditory hallucinations. I thought I was going mad! Well... maddER. I have never seen it listed in any of the side effects booklets, but both my brother and I both had exactly the same experiences with it. It nearly drove me insane, because I've spent the rest of my life looking for music that approximated that sound. It was quite lovely, actually.

Hallucinations, in lawyers, are worrying. I could be one step away from dancing babies, bad scripts and Vonda Shepherd.

Dan's Joei story = genius. No wonder he married her. :-) Out of curiosity, what *did* they say after that devestating quip back?

No, seriously, Paul, in your case, I know that your hallucinations were caused by SLEEP DEPRIVATION. This can cause hallucinations as real and as terrifying as any drug. I've seen the sky swimming with killer paramecium paisley after being up for two days, with no drugs involved.

Probably not the most gentle of responses, but considering that she started the conversation from the perspective of "If you don't need, this stuff isn't good for you and you shouldn't be taking it" and got attacked, I don't blame her for letting loose with both barrells.

Dude, I am so tired. Supposed to fo the final inspection of our condo today. I can barely keep my eyes open. I need caffeine (the only socially-acceptable upper).

On the other hand I was and am a hobby writer, not a working writer, so I don't have the discipline of writing or creating daily anyway, which might well get you through.

To this I can only say "GIMME THE ANTIDEPRESSANTS NOW."

About a month ago we added Lithium. Hopefully that will pick up any depression wellbutrin can't handle.

*raises hand* 300 milligrams a day. No noticable side effects.

I was on Effexor for a little while after a hospital stay two years ago. It worked incredibly well at pulling me from the deepest depths of depression. But I hated the "brain shivers" I got and became scared when I read that the dependency it could cause was dangerous for bipolars. Anyway I got off.

I wonder if the interweb has done me more damage in terms of "information" about my meds?

Great thread.

I am a fan of psych nurse practitioners (and NPs in general). For most stuff I would take an NP over an MD every day of the week. Nurses rule.

She is an NP :( Just a very stubborn one. Hi Q!

Paxil seems like bad news, in a new way.

Coupland et al, 2019. Anticholinergic drug exposure and the risk of dementia: a nested case-control study. JAMA Int Med.

Hi VP! Sorry ‘bout your bad NP :(

^^ haha, I mentioned that study to my NP (I had read it in the NYT). She hadn't heard of it, but got very annoyed and said that she didn't know why Paxil should be linked to dementia, unless you ate so much that you got lethargic and didn't move around very much--hence leading to dementia.

oof

boy that is an unfathomably stupid response from a medical professional

So the NP just called me bc my therapist tried to intervene on my behalf and she said, “So, I don’t want your therapy sessions to be taken over by discussing medication.”’ And then she said she would up the Paxil if that’s what I wanted and I said yes and then she said she was on the train and basically implied she was not available to discuss further so I said thank you. She has the worst bedside manner! Hopefully insurance will cover this latest dosage. I feel like she is threatened and angry that I am questioning her judgment. She said nothing about if
or when or how I should taper off the abilify.

I have been taking sipralexa for years. Afraid to go off it. The issues which caused my anxiety have been solved (more or less) but I’m afraid to go off it. :-(((

So I saw the psych nurse for the last time. I have an appointment with a doc who takes my insurance in a month. I stopped taking the Abilify due to side effects and now she recommends Lamictal and Ativan. Thoughts?

Careful with the ativan is my only thought. Benzo addiction is no joke.

Good news for once: Met with a psych my coworker recommended who takes my insurance and he questioned everything the NP prescribed and told me stop taking the Lamictal and to start taking Wellbutrin on top of the Paxil and see how it goes. If it goes well he said we can lower the Paxil and up the Wellbutrin. He's still ok with me taking benzos to sleep, even though I asked him about the danger of it. Glad to be back in the land of on-label usage. The best part about it: my copay was $15. Hopefully my summer of experimentation with legal drugs is coming to a close. Good luck to everyone dealing with this bs! And thanks to those who listened to me whine and offered advice.

Lexapro/Cipralex turning out to be utterly insufficient so far; I felt better for a few weeks and experienced some of the common side effects at the initial dose, but before long both side effects and intended ones fell away entirely. Got my dosage upped and felt no change. Took the step of upping it again and once again feel no different. (We're talking 10mg->15mg->20mg here.) I have a (virtual) consultation with a new doc next week, we'll see how it goes I guess. Did other folks experience a similar arc?

(At that first uppage I asked my clinic doctor if my brain was simply "too powerful", which he did not seem to find amusing.)

friendship ended w lexapro, now zoloft is my best friend*

*remains to be seen actually

zoloft and i are currently friends with benefits, i also went to it as a rebound from my most recent breakup with lexapro

we're doing ok for now but navigating ltrs with antidepressants is really challenging, i just feel like a lot of them aren't able to make a long-term commitment

as mentioned previously lexapro was nice for a bit but became both emotionally and physically absent very quickly, oh well

time to find out if I get insomnia OR sleep like a log, I love brains

Anybody ever get a feeling like you've missed a pill but you haven't? A few times in the last couple of weeks I've had a low level spacey, zappy feeling, just like I'd missed a day really. Just wondering if this is a thing?

yes get that quite often, slightly wobbly in head. I got one of those pill dispensers with a different compartment for each day so that I can keep it straight (although other health problems contribute more to my day/time confusion)

I definitely took it this morning tho. I hear even a few hours can make a difference and tbh I may have a bug, can't tell what's physical and what's not at the moment

oh I meant that I got the dispenser so I can tell that I did take it that morning even though I'm feeling the wobble. it tends to go away by the next day though. do you get it lasting more than a day?

Nah, just happening on odd days, maybe for a few hours

I could use a dispenser like that

Yes, but as far as I can tell it’s totally random, no idea why it happens

That's why I asked really, not alarmed but good to know other people have experienced similar

Yeah, I get that all the time. I can never remember if I actually did miss a day or not

Same over here. My memory's so bad that I should probably start using my dispenser again but, er, I forget to fill it. (I always thought pill dispensers would make good band merch, I think at least a couple of people have done that but more people should do it.)

I used to get pills with the days printed on the packet but thattlonh gone