Medication: your experience

@greenEyes2019

Vitamins are a valid method and often recommended by GOOD doctors who care enough. Sometimes blood tests won't indicate everything you might be deficient in. I'm on an SSRI right now as well as making sure I get at least the minimum recommended vitamin D3 intake (better than D2) and try to get just under the max amount of 4000IU (US and Canada measurements for average healthy bodyweight). I try to get outside in the sun as well when UVB will be obsorbed which happens when rays are at around 80-45 degree angle from the ground.

So far my SSRIs have been working and have only needed to be increased once. It's called ciprolex (Escitalopram Oxalate). I was put on 10mg initially which made me so restless I started to feel dred of sitting still and felt pretty dizzy so doctor said I could cut pill in half to 5mg and that was much better. After the side effects passed I was feeling much more energetic (I was also using that energy to start exercising so if you don't do that results may vary). I've been off of it once for a year and went back on it, then had it increased to 10mg. It's taken once a day. Other side effects to expect include a sensation in the head that feels like part of it feels colder for a moment like what some people describe as "freezing sensation" which won't last very long and is nothing to worry about. You may also have a low sex drive for a few months but when the drug works the improvement in mood usually comes within a few weeks and full effect in a few months and the sex drive will come back shortly after that which varies person to person. I lucked out and had the first med I tried work well, some other people need to try a number of them before they find the right one and right dose. I'm hopeful that with more learning things like "mindfulness" and CBT and getting enough sun maybe from a sunlamp in the winter that I may be able to go off the SSRI for good but it's too soon to tell.

I'm also on wait list for a therapist (can't pay for a more immediate one) and doing as much I can for free on 7cups out of the self-help options and those have helped with occasional excess anxiety.

@greenEyes2019 I've been taking SSRIs for many years and am now on one that's not an SSRI (mirtazapine), all daily. I've tried a few different things over the years...it's not the most fun ride, honestly, but if you have a good doctor that you trust you should be able to find something that works for you. It does take a little time to decide if something is really working for you or not (maybe around a month?), so those med-switching times can be pretty rough. But for me, I know I can't get by without medication.

Side effects differ for each indiv I think, so you just have to try to find out how a drug will affect you.

I also use some different supplements - 5HTP, St. John's Wort, vitamin B....talk with your doctor and see what they think about you trying those kinds of things if you're interested. With those as well you might have to play with the doses - start with a small dose and work your way up over time to see what the effects are like for you. What works for one person may not do anything for someone else.

Good luck and let us know how it goes! It's a little scary to start on meds but for some people it can really make a difference.

Hi lovely people of 7cups,

I've been wondering if some of you have had any experience with taking medication in mental health issues (servere depression of many years in particular).

*I'm also curious about vitamin B3 (niacin) and D supplementation and unconventional medicine practice.

I'm aware that meds have some side effects and they don't start working overnight, but I'm actually considering taking them (although I treat them as my last resort). So I'd like to know if my fears are rational. (You know, in many countries psychiatrists are demonised and so are pills/tranquilizers/etc.)

I also know medications differ between countries, but perhaps someone would like to share their experiences.

You could think of: 1) the type of your medication (what issue it is aimed at)

2) dose&how often you take it

3) how long you have to take it to feel the difference

4) side effects (short-term and long-term)

5) expected treatment time

6) how (dis)satisfied you are with the treatment

7) if depression/your issue fades entirely when/after you take the pill/finish the treatment

8) anything more that comes to mind (suggestions, regrets, happy stories, etc.)

@greenEyes2019

Hey, I won't be of much help because I didn't take my medication for the amount of time you need to so it starts working. But I'm going to share anyway :D.

I am located in Germany and got prescribed the SSRI Citalopram. They were intented to help battle my depression and anxiety issues. I took them for about three weeks and those weeks were hell. All my depression and anxiety issues worsend over that period . I felt dizzy and had headaches, was crying all the time and felt hopeless and helpless.

As soon as I stopped taking them, everything was fine and I was back feeling like I felt before I took them. So my experience wasn't good at all. But my neighbour takes the same medication and she feels great. She didn't experience any side effects other than feeling really tired the first week. She took them for one year and had therapy at the same time and is fine now as far as I know.

My doctor told me that finding the right medication can take some time and therapy is key. Taking pills alone won't help much.

I am a big fan of curcumin. Before I started taking curcumin I took about 4 pills against headaches a day....But after making sure that I drink enough and taking 3 tabs of curcumin a day I rarely have headaches and just took one aspirin in the last 8 months. i also take vitamin D because I don't leave the house that much, the weather here is rather meh and I usually wear clothes that don't show a lot of skin.

I can't experiment that much with other supplements, because I take Medikinet Adult for my ADD and taking the wrong supplements/medication at the same time can be dangerous.

So I guess my advice really would be to talk to your doctor and find the right medication/therapy combination for you. Be completely honest with your doctor and should you feel uncomfortable with the side effects, talk to your doctor before stop taking the medication! :)

Hi

@greenEyes2019

I'm going to write about my experiences with medications, but those are only mine and you shouldn't think that it will be the same for you, because we are all experiencing it differently, of course. I've taken many of them, but the most of the medications I've been taking through my journey with recovery from mental health issues are - antidepressants, which are, as their name says, medications that are used for depression.

If the doctor notices that you're experiencing some other symptoms beside the depressive ones, he/she can prescribe you some other medication besides the antidepressant, or maybe he/she can prescribe you some other type of medication because many medications in general are used in many cases, for example Aripiprazole (Abilify) can be prescribed for MDD (Major depressive disorder), which is an antipsychotic, but can be also prescribed for depression, so if you decide to take medications and they prescribe you something that's NOT the antidepressant, please know that it probably doesn't automatically mean that you have some other mental disorder, unless the doctor tells you so.

Medications are being taken every day in the morning, afternoon or in the evening and doses change. You are almost always starting with some very small dose of some medication, and then the doctor uppers it until he thinks the dose will be okay for you. My doctor, for example, tries to give me as less medications as she can and the smaller therapeutic doses she can give me just to make me functional, and because we (my doctor and I) truly believe that psychotherapy is the better option for me, but I have something else and not depression, so let your doctor decide. But in general, psychotherapy is very, very important.

Side-effects are different for every medication, so I can't really tell you anything about that, sometimes you lose appetite, sometimes your appetite increases, sometimes you're tired in the beginning, sometimes you're energetic etc. It really depends, and like I said, everyone reacts differently to medications. You can ask the doctor about the side effects and he/she will tell you what you may experience --- the most common ones in patients.

Expected treatment time... It also depends. But it's important not to rely only on medications, but also on psychotherapy and working on yourself, as I already said. Actually, working on yourself is more important than the medications, medications are there only to help you a bit, but we all need to fight on our own, medications are like the crutch... That's the best example and metaphor I can give you for them.

Also, don't expect for the first medication to immediately work, maybe you'll be lucky and maybe your first medication will help, but finding the right medication that suits you and your needs is very hard and tough journey and I needed a lot of time to find the right one for myself. It can happen for the first one to work, but don't be so sure. I'm not trying to discourage you or anything, I'm just trying to represent you the most realistic picture of how it all works with the meds.

Depression doesn't fade away once you take the pill. You usually need to wait 2 weeks to see the improvement, but only the improvement, not the "cure". And I will again repeat --- working on yourself aka your mental state, working, working, working... Trying and failing, standing up, trying again but stronger even for a bit, failing - okay, again trying, but even stronger...

As the Kurt Cobain says: "It's a long, long journey from *death to birth".
* here I meant a "mental death", if you understand, because that is what depression is for me personally, and I believe for many of you.

And about the supplements, I didn't take many of them/I didn't take them often, so I can't really tell you anything about them.

I hope I helped, message me if you want to discuss about this, but don't expect from me to give you any recommendations for medications because I'm not a doctor.

And I hope it will work for you.

Hang in there

@greenEyes2019I take 5000 mg of vit D every day and it does seem to help. I have been taking meds for years and it isnt my favouite thing but it usually keeps me from sinking to the depths. Except for right now. The side effects have been mild to non existant esp after a few weeks. With SSRI's. I don't like to think where I would be without them. They really can help.

I know it's scary to think of starting anti depressents but it can be scarier to not take them. For me anyway. I am not a huge med fan and think they have been overprescribed sometimes but it is worth a try if it can help to decrease the suffering. As you probably know meds + theraqpy works best but meds alone can help. I wish you the best whatever you decide

Hello @greeneyes2019 😊

I have been diagnosed with clinical depression aka severe depression, anxiety, and ptsd. I was on medications for years along with therapy. I am happy to report that I have been off my prescription medications now for 2 months and I feel better about not having to take any. I currently take Complex B Vitamins daily and Vitamin D3 weekly. I do still have my prescribed anti-anxiety medication, however, I haven't had the need to take them.

Don't get me wrong, when I was taking my prescribed medications, I was in need of their aide badly and it was my last resort. But along with therapy and self care and self help, I am able to function without them. The thing with antidepressant, coming off them was difficult and have to weaned off or your body with go through withdrawals. Talk with your physician and come up with a plan that will work for you. Everyone is different and treatments will be different.

There are physicians and therapist who are, as you say demonised along with the medications/chemical treatments. But that's strictly up to you and your mental health provider.

I was on an SSRI for depression, a Beta Blocker for anxiety, a mood stabilizer, a medication for my nightmares, and one for my hallucinations. (If you want to know the specific names and dosages, please pm me, not sure if we could mention names here). It took about 2weeks for everything to start working and the plans was that I would be on these medications for the rest of my life. Many of the side effects I felt was feeling sleepy and sometimes nauseated but that eventually evened out and I didn't feel so sleepy and the nausea passed.

I wasn't dissatisfied with the treatment plan, it just got too expensive even with health insurance so I found alternatives to treat my mental illness. I still have my struggles with depression, anxiety, and occasional triggered from my ptsd but I do other things to bring me out of it, being here is one, I chat with a listener and or join group chats, I journal and I dance, yes dancing helps 😁. Talking and getting stressors out of your mind is a plus.

Hope this helps. Please feel free to pm me anytime 😊 Good luck and take care 🌹

@greenEyes2019

I've taken 15mg cipralex for a while. Meds are you friend, they take a while work, but they surely work!

Hi, just a brief description of the points you asked for, as I see you've had a lot of lovely in depth feedback already :) I have taken two different medications for depression/anxiety. Sertraline and Duloxetine. I will refer to them as S and D from here on. I took S for just over 6 months, had a break for three months and then onto D. I've been on D since January this year:)

1) the type of your medication (what issue it is aimed at)

S - for my severe social anxiety and very mild depression

D - Social Anxiety and more severe depression

2) dose&how often you take it

S - originally 50mg but upped to 100mg after a month, one tablet a day

D - 30mg daily

3) how long you have to take it to feel the difference

S - I felt a difference about 10 days in but only bad side effects. Once upped onto 100mg it took about a month to feel a noticeable difference.

D - I felt a difference quicker with this one. I went back to my GP after three weeks and we could tell a difference. No need to up the dosage or anything.

4) side effects (short-term and long-term)

S - Severe depression during the first four to six weeks of taking it. After six months, I developed severe mood swings that caused me to consider a diagnosis of Bi-Polar. The psychiatrist ruled it out and said it was my medication. I stopped in a graded way but still experienced headaches and tiredness for about a month after.

D – Side effects included dizziness, nausea, headache, sleepy. Im unsure if Im still getting those side effects because I take it before I go to sleep now because of mentioned side effects.

5) expected treatment time

S – At least six months, was due for review when my mood swings started

D – Review due in six months

6) how (dis)satisfied you are with the treatment

S – Although I had some severe side effects it did dramatically improve my anxiety which therefore improved my life overall until the six-month point.

D – So far, I am pretty happy. If I take the tablet before bed, I sleep through all the side effects and it has improved my mood and anxiety.

7) if depression/your issue fades entirely when/after you take the pill/finish the treatment

S – I only had mild depression whilst on this but yes, it did fade.

D – So far, my depression hasnt faded entirely but to be honest Im not expecting it to. I personally have come to accept that some form of depression might be present in my life, that is my own opinion though 😊

8) anything more that comes to mind (suggestions, regrets, happy stories, etc.)

I would just want to say that trying medication does not mean that you have failed or are weak. You are strong for facing your problems and trying to deal with them 😊

Take care everyone :)