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Dec 08, 06
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Taking medication for psychological reasons
I know a lot of you are adverse to such things. It's at the point of such significance that self therapy isn't working anymore. (quote me on that)
short and sweet: I need your opinions on medication 
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Dec 08, 06
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can you be a little more specific on the type of medication? i take ssri's to help manage depression. they do the trick for now but they make me super tired & if i forget to bring them with me on a 3 day weekend trip (whoops) i get some pretty weird buzzed out feelings through my head by the third day.
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Dec 08, 06
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honestly, best bet is to go talk with your doctor. i'd tried pretty much everything i could (besides prescription medication) for close to ten years and it just wasn't working anymore. my doctor had given me tons of different routes to try first and it finally ended up coming down to taking meds. talk to a doctor you trust, they should be able to set you straight on your options. meds work for me, they might not work for you.
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Dec 08, 06
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Dec 08, 06
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i was on paxil (ssri) a couple years ago for about 9 months, which i was taking in combination with benzos prescribed by my doctor.
It seemed to work for a few months, but I was using street drugs the whole time I was on them. So after awhile I began noticing adverse effects and began tapering down my dosage until one day i just decided to flush the rest. Coming off that medication was an incredibly difficult period in my life. These medications are only recommended to be used for 6 month periods at the most, so if you decide to use them you will have to quit them inevitably. For how rough it was to quit that shit ( FUCKING ROUGH!!!!), it really wasnt worth the few months that it sort of worked. And if your gonna have a hard time saying good bye to alcohol and street drugs, I'd recommend keeping your distance from ssri's. They'll do more harm than good if you don't follow the strict rules. Wish ya the best man Last edited by -evil-duerr-; Dec 08, 06 at 06:24 PM.
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Dec 08, 06
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medication in conjunction with therapy is basically the best thing ever. ignore horror stories you read on the internet and friends who tell you they 'don't believe in our over medicated society'. these people are actually usually way crazier then you are. some drugs also have really neat side effects like being totally horny all the time.
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Dec 08, 06
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so basically, your not a doctor so why dont you 100% shut up. :)
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Dec 08, 06
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From the time I was 8 years old until I was 15, I was on dozens of different medications. The doctor would be weening me off one while starting me on another. Paxil was the worst of them all. I remember at one point during that time when I couldn't feel any emotion at all, let alone depression. Then one day I cut myself while making some food and realized "hey, I felt THAT". Eventually I started routinely cutting myself because that was the only time I ever felt anything. It wasn't a suicidal impulse at all.
Finally I told the doctor that I was going to quit.. he actually told me that I was on my own if I quit, because he thought the drugs were working. So I weened myself off of them as best I could but the next year of my life was hell.
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Dec 08, 06
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but i have seen first hand how SSRIs physically affect a person. my mother, at the age of 50, finally got on the meds she needed. they're not SSRIs but something else. i'll see if i can get the name. i will say the diffrence they made in her was HUGE. she's a diffrent person, and it's a drastic change for the better. but as robyn says, drugs alone are not the answer. drugs are only there to help you sort through things.
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Dec 08, 06
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Also, your brain is different than every other brain on the planet. There are different levels of chemicals in your frontal lobe than in mine, so naturally you're going to be affected differently than I will.
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Dec 08, 06
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if i could add one more point If your an artistic person, you should know that it effected my creativity negatively. The well of ideas and inspiration that I drew from faded away more and more the longer I was on those things. It came back after i stopped using them. This might not be the same for every creative person, but thats how it worked for me. Fuckin scary shit.
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Dec 08, 06
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A good way of going about this without pharmaceutical medication is:
- 2-4 tbsp, 2x a day of omega-3 fish oil (herring and/or cod oil) - 100-200mg, 2x a day of 5-HTP supplementation (5-hydroxytryptophan - that's the stuff that gets converted into serotonin... your happy chemical) - 200-800mg a day of SAM-e supplementation (the most effective natural anti-depression supplement) If you do those things on a regular basis anywhere between 2-4 months, you will start noticing your depression going away and your energy coming back so that you could do more things again. If things don't get any better from natural treatment, ask your doctor about the different types of anti-depressants. There are SSRI's, MAOI's, and the older try-cyclic anti-depressants. There are also two new categories which I forgot what they are called and they are supposedly even better than SSRI's. Do NOT take amitriptyline - that is one lame tri-cyclic anti-depressant which makes you super drowsy and does fuck all. I would recommend finding out more about SSRI's if you really need to take them. Taking 8-22 psychologist treatments would also benefit you greatly. If I were you, I would take the natural supplements and go see a psychologist for some treatment sessions. Don't go see a psychiatrist on the other hand cause he will just label you as crazy and will prescribe you Seroquel or some other bullshit anti-psychotic medication and you will not be happy you went to see him. Last edited by FireWire; Dec 08, 06 at 08:35 PM.
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Dec 08, 06
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shoulda known! annnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnyhoo!im with fire wire on this one.This kid knows his shit.
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Dec 09, 06
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meds are always last resort, and should only be used if your suicidal or in such a bad state of mind that you can't function in daily life.
sometimes being on anti-depressants can, in the long run, actually create more problems than before.
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Dec 09, 06
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i think brains function in a similar manner, but the chemistry in each persons brain is as unique to that person as anything else about them. and things like SSRIs work on brain functions, not brain chemistry.
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Dec 09, 06
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I only skimmed through the responses in here.
I generally didn't believe in treating depression with medicine (was afraid I'd get addicted or something), but then I ended up having to take medication for it. Honestly, it was one of the smartest decisions I ever made. I was on Paxil alone at first and then Wellbutrin for the last few months. I was lucky and only ended up having to take medication for about 7-8 months, and I never really got any of the bad side effects either. Medication alone doesn't work for everyone, and sometimes medication doesn't work at all for some individuals- but if your doctor thinks that it's worth a shot then I say go for it. :)
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