Depression and ssri's

[William68]

Interested to hear from anyone that has been on SSRI's for a long period of time? There seems to be some evidence that they don't work and the chemical imbalance hypothesis is a sham.

[Blueruth]

I don’t think it is a sham but I think the doctor, pharmacy and therapist role are too divided. Yes there is evidence of badly prescribed meds. Situational depression is completely treatable so it is important to know which it is and that is generally not an easy task. I believe we grow and that can take the place of meds. Brené Brown workshops were huge for me. That should be the goal but traditional western doctors don’t think like that. I’m pretty critical of docs btw and fyi

My PA comes from therapy and that sets her apart. She doesn’t think SSRIs need to be a lifetime sentence. Many patients use it to get through their winter trauma or just for a while. I avoided them for years after taking them for years but this year has been too much so I relented. Last time I had to leave my doctor to leave the med. now I have a therapist in addition to the med which I strongly recommend. Studies have long supported the combination. Living is always learning.

If you are over prescribed and are relying on that alone I suspect it will be a long time or for life. Always double check the fda documents until you trust your doctor. I have been over prescribed more than once and it is not fun.

[Blueruth in reply to Blueruth]

To be clear. There are people that need chemical help for life. I would never try to diagnose that as it isn’t my place. Our culture does over prescribe in all areas though. Should it be a surprise they do in mental health? I have bottles of addictive pain killers with 1 missing to prove it. Luckily that isn’t my vice!

[EspressoBeans]

I was on Cipralex for a long time because I thought it was helping. But then I went off meds and realized I didn’t really feel different. That being said, if 2/3 of people are helped by antidepressants, I think it’s more than the placebo effect. Also, I have TRD, so meds have never really helped too significantly.

[ColoradoSunshine]

I tried various anti depression and anti anxiety meds after years of fearing it. Once I started Cymbalta (6 years ago) it was life changing for my severe anxiety that I’ve had since elementary school.

2-3 years ago, After a severe depression bout we upped the Cymbalta (30 to 60 mg) and later (after I felt like I didn’t know why I was even alive) we added 300 mg Wellbutrin. I also meditated, went to church, took long walks daily, saw a therapist regularly, saw a psychiatrist until meds were stable and met with a church mentor.

After 6 months I felt over medicated and numb; so we lowered the Wellbutrin to 150mg and I’ve been on it ever since. What I don’t like is Cymbalta makes me sweat at night (after we increased the dosage) and I believe the Wellbutrin causes tinnitus. I also don’t like that I have withdrawals when I forget to take Cymbalta for 2 days. But for me, the benefits far outweigh the side affects, I hope everyone here finds something that works for them for the long term. I agree with others that meds should be combined with other treatments to be most effective.