Anti-depressant experiences

[appropionate]

So I’m fucked up in complex ways resulting in messed up dopamine and serotonine levels, which I have not been able to successfully regulate long-term with anything pharmaceutical except for SSRI’s.

despair has recently been pushing me towards considerations of murder/suicide, so I’m reconsidering SSRI’s as a last resort, but they all (mirtazapine, zoloft etc.) sound like they’ll just shut down all the good in life alongside the bad, turning me into a zombie.

anyone have positive experience reports of anti-depressant use (still motivated to lift, do shit, sleep and eat properly)?

 

[anabolic_scholar]

I’ve tried 3 different meds for my anxiety. It’s classified as general anxiety disorder. I manage it pretty well day to day but I can get hit with stressors that send my anxiety off the charts and I can’t sleep and have a hard time functioning. The meds didn’t really do much for me other than make me really tired.

I am starting to see a counselor once a week and I think that will be really good for me. Going to run nothing but test for a while as well. Make sure I’m doing cardio, lifting and eating healthy. Also just started CBD oil to see what kind of effect it will have. Only been a few days so it may be awhile before I know if the cbd is having any effect.

Don’t give up on it. Do everything you can for your mental health.

---

SouthernCompounding" pid='41938' dateline='1550494683:

Mindset man - been battling depression for 15 years now. Medicated and unmedicated. Started with TRT about 5 years ago and it made the biggest difference of any “medication” that I’ve been on so far. Wellbutrin was by far my least favorite but it’s classified as an NDRI. I felt artificially happy when taking it and that feeling weirded me out. This was from my younger years and I would like to believe that having matured both physically and emotionally, my response towards it now might be different or at least my reception to it would be different. I have used Zoloft for the last two years to help with anxiety and it has done a great job with that but it never really hit the bouts of depression. I would feel great then just have bad day - as someone with depression I am sure you can probably relate to this. I recently made the switch to Effexor XR - an SNRI. I can’t give you much feedback on it being that I am only about a week or two into daily dosing but I am currently on 37.5mg/day which is as low as you can get it and I’ve never felt better. I will honestly tell you that I believe it’s the placebo effect but if that’s the case and I still feel this way at the six week mark, I’m not going to be upset at all. I feel like me - which is big for me. I don’t want to feel medicated.

Medication is partly what you make it. There are so many options out there to try - don’t give up over a few that didn’t work for you. Would love to have you email or Wickr me. I’m here if you need to talk - I lost a loved one 12 years ago to suicide. I’ll never be the one to tell you that it’s not the right choice, because I believe that you are the only one who can set yourself down a path, but it leaves a hole that can’t be filled.

Hope some of this rambling helps!

I think knowing that others struggle with these things helps. Important for people to know they aren’t alone in the way they feel.

 

[appropionate]

thanks for the high quality replies! natty vs trt hasn’t made a difference for me unfortunately, got a rather stupid & incurable genetic disorder and the downstream effects of it are slowly killing me physically and mentally.

having studied psychology I deeply distrust any assessment that isn’t expressed in lab results on a sheet of paper, so counseling/therapy isn’t something I’m currently considering.

 

[Dumbass-TheGreat]

I’ve been dealing with mental issues for 20+ years now at this point I’ve been off of meds longer than I have been on them. I felt like TRT helped in the beginning because I a lot was changing at the time. Over time though the mental demons kept getting stronger and stronger. I’ve had a few half assed attempts and a lot of wreckless behavior hoping that I would die as a result. It finally got to the point I was afraid I was going to kill myself in a moment of weakness.

I went and saw a psychiatrist and they started me on Lexapro, it didn’t work like a magic pill but over the 1st month the urge to end it all faded a lot. I was still having the occasional panic attack but so they upped it. going on almost 2 months of it now and I don’t feel like a zombie, not going to say I am a big ball of sunshine either but I don’t really get the voice in my head telling me to give up and end it all anymore. I will have bad days again I know but right now it’s working. I am more focused on my workouts and being more consistent again.

Need anything or just want to vent about how life sucks wickr is DumbassTheGreat

 

[hunterrountree]

appropionate" pid='41934' dateline='1550485337:

So I’m fucked up in complex ways resulting in messed up dopamine and serotonine levels, which I have not been able to successfully regulate long-term with anything pharmaceutical except for SSRI’s.

despair has recently been pushing me towards considerations of murder/suicide, so I’m reconsidering SSRI’s as a last resort, but they all (mirtazapine, zoloft etc.) sound like they’ll just shut down all the good in life alongside the bad, turning me into a zombie.

anyone have positive experience reports of anti-depressant use (still motivated to lift, do shit, sleep and eat properly)?

i am in nursing school and JUST sarted learning these things. Wellbutrin seems nice and Buspirone. These two are not as sedating. BUT the sedation side effect supposedly wears off on most of these. just take them atnight at first

 

[Masterofron]

I personally don’t believe any sort of psychotropic medication should be used outside of any sever mental cases (hospitalized cases mainly), because 1) We medicate based off a 1950’s theory of “chemical imbalance “, which I will remind you, is a goddamn theory that has never been proven nor adequately researched beyond the creation of pharmaceutical drugs that “fix the imbalance “ (wether lack of dopamine, serotonin, etc). 2) All psychotropic medications ARE effective in fixing your mental health, but they also will have the exact same effect in a person who doesn’t have these issue. 3) Robert Whitaker. He provides an in depth look on the history —-present day usage of all these medications. He does so by showcasing only medical studies, along with APA’s (American psychiatric institute) publishing’s.

Your wrong in thinking therapy is a secondary option. If is the ONLY option you have if you want to address your poroblems and then fix them, instead of masking them.

Flooding your brain with excess dopamine/serotonin/etc should be of no ones interest. and you say “ I deeply distrust any assessment that is not expressed in any lab results, etc.” welllll, pick up the DSM and diagnose your issue with the book. That is exactly ALL a psychiatrist will do, because that’s all they CAN do, This is how all mental “disease” is diagnosed. A book. Pls also always remember this- if everyone who posted in this thread and shared with you what they take, stopped takin it, they’d have withdrawals that are worse than most hardcore drugs…

 

[appropionate]

Masterofron" pid='42292' dateline='1550762407:

Your wrong in thinking therapy is a secondary option. If is the ONLY option you have if you want to address your poroblems and then fix them, instead of masking them.

Flooding your brain with excess dopamine/serotonin/etc should be of no ones interest. and you say “ I deeply distrust any assessment that is not expressed in any lab results, etc.” welllll, pick up the DSM and diagnose your issue with the book. That is exactly ALL a psychiatrist will do, because that’s all they CAN do, This is how all mental “disease” is diagnosed. A book. Pls also always remember this- if everyone who posted in this thread and shared with you what they take, stopped takin it, they’d have withdrawals that are worse than most hardcore drugs…

I actually agree - therapy is useless and anti-depressants aren’t a solution either, so I’m going to accept hopelessness, which I consider better than hoping for there to be any unseen hope on the horizon.

Thanks for the reality check!

 

[strongr007]

appropionate" pid='42306' dateline='1550766683:

I actually agree - therapy is useless and anti-depressants aren’t a solution either, so I’m going to accept hopelessness, which I consider better than hoping for there to be any unseen hope on the horizon.

Think you misread his post, he seemed to be saying therapy is better option. Have to agree, my depression and anxiety turned out to stem from fucked up family upbringing. Once the actual problem becomes visible, it becomes easier to handle, even though it is not a cure per se in my own experience.

I tried Lexapro and minimal (1mg/day) Abilify and had immediate suicidal ideation (ideation = thinking about it constantly but stopping short of actually buying rope and writing a note). Never had suicidal thoughts of any kind prior. This is not common, but it is is well known (google Black Box Warning).

I am very wary of psych meds and how casually they are distributed as a result.

TRT ( short, medium and long ester blend along with tren A and Tren E at relatively low dose) and 400mg modafinil per day have been the best protocol for me. I take a break from modafinil a day or two at a time and carb load - net result is sleeping like a bear in hibernation. Moda is very mild compared to Adderal and Ritalin which have extreme abuse potential in my own experience.

 

[appropionate]

strongr007" pid='42336' dateline='1550777676:

Think you misread his post, he seemed to be saying therapy is better option. Have to agree, my depression and anxiety turned out to stem from fucked up family upbringing. Once the actual problem becomes visible, it becomes easier to handle, even though it is not a cure per se in my own experience.

I got that part and I agree it is better, as in not potentially destructive, but having studied psychology, I think it’s quite useless in my case, and knowing a few psychologists, generally works better the less you know about psychology, neuroscience, biology etc.

I’ve built up a tolerance to modafinil and would need about 1g a day for the benefits to last from morning till evening, which isn’t a dose I’m comfortable taking.

 

[Masterofron]

appropionate" pid='42341' dateline='1550778430:

strongr007" pid='42336' dateline='1550777676:

Think you misread his post, he seemed to be saying therapy is better option. Have to agree, my depression and anxiety turned out to stem from fucked up family upbringing. Once the actual problem becomes visible, it becomes easier to handle, even though it is not a cure per se in my own experience.

I got that part and I agree it is better, as in not potentially destructive, but having studied psychology, I think it’s quite useless in my case, and knowing a few psychologists, generally works better the less you know about psychology, neuroscience, biology etc.

I’ve built up a tolerance to modafinil and would need about 1g a day for the benefits to last from morning till evening, which isn’t a dose I’m comfortable taking.

If you care to use it, switch to armodafinil. I was up at a gram or more most days of moda. I switched to armodafinil and have need 3-4 pills max per day.

Whatever you do, it’s smart to stay away from psychiatrists. They are literally useless to 90% of people. If you walk into to a psychiatrist’s office and tell them you’ve felt upset lately because your dog died, you’ll walk out with an ssri (or similar) script. Fucking joke, only in America…

 

[appropionate]

Masterofron" pid='42349' dateline='1550780910:

If you care to use it, switch to armodafinil. I was up at a gram or more most days of moda. I switched to armodafinil and have need 3-4 pills max per day.

Whatever you do, it’s smart to stay away from psychiatrists. They are literally useless to 90% of people. If you walk into to a psychiatrist’s office and tell them you’ve felt upset lately because your dog died, you’ll walk out with an ssri (or similar) script. Fucking joke, only in America…

I’ll look into armodafinil for sure, thanks. Thank all the gods I don’t like in America, we got a really good healthcare system here in Germany and people are usually only described anti-depressants as a last resort unless your psychiatrist is shit.

 

[Pharmahgh]

Masterofron" pid='42292' dateline='1550762407:

I personally don’t believe any sort of psychotropic medication should be used outside of any sever mental cases (hospitalized cases mainly), because 1) We medicate based off a 1950’s theory of “chemical imbalance “, which I will remind you, is a goddamn theory that has never been proven nor adequately researched beyond the creation of pharmaceutical drugs that “fix the imbalance “ (wether lack of dopamine, serotonin, etc). 2) All psychotropic medications ARE effective in fixing your mental health, but they also will have the exact same effect in a person who doesn’t have these issue. 3) Robert Whitaker. He provides an in depth look on the history —-present day usage of all these medications. He does so by showcasing only medical studies, along with APA’s (American psychiatric institute) publishing’s.

Your wrong in thinking therapy is a secondary option. If is the ONLY option you have if you want to address your poroblems and then fix them, instead of masking them.

Flooding your brain with excess dopamine/serotonin/etc should be of no ones interest. and you say “ I deeply distrust any assessment that is not expressed in any lab results, etc.” welllll, pick up the DSM and diagnose your issue with the book. That is exactly ALL a psychiatrist will do, because that’s all they CAN do, This is how all mental “disease” is diagnosed. A book. Pls also always remember this- if everyone who posted in this thread and shared with you what they take, stopped takin it, they’d have withdrawals that are worse than most hardcore drugs…

Im not a big believer in looking to a dr for help in the hopes that they are going to fix you. Really? why? because they have a degree in phycology? In many cases there more screwed up than we are. They haven’t a clue on how to live their own life successfully finding peace and happiness and they are supposed to tell you how to do so.

I am a huge believer in self help and spirituality. Not religion, but if that is where you find your peace by all means . Its mind, body, spirit. All connected all working together. The problem is that science will not recognize spirit. Therefor any type of spiritual activity or discipline that builds your spirit and emotional state is not a viable option to remedy our issues. so they prescribe meds right away. Dont get me wrong there are people who absolutely need them, but many don’t that are taking them

It is proven that spiritual activity raises dopamine and serotonin levels. many of us that struggle or have struggled with depression or other issues can gain at least some relief without the use of meds. But it takes time to do that. many of us don’t have that time.we have families, jobs ect and need to be able to function at life. we may not have the luxury of giving it time. we need to feel better now. so we feel we need the meds. I have seen somebody detox from a low dose of prozac and still couldn’t get off after almost 2 1/2 months of hell. cloudy thoughts ,brain zapps like they were being shocked in their head,Total depression worse than ever.

Emotional stability and spirituality are a discipline. If we put the same time and focus into that as we do our training, diet,supplements, we would be in good shape. our bodies need to be fed, our minds need to be fed and our spirits need to be fed. If we feed ourselves garbage food we will look like crap.In the same way if we feed our spirits constant negativity,We will deff get an unfavorable result. It will manifest itself in depression,addiction,ect.There is a remedy without using psych meds but it take work.

https://www.steroidsourcetalk.org/mybb/Thread-source-PHARMAHGH-Verified-souce

 

[appropionate]

I’m respectful of people’s religious/spiritual beliefs and all the good they may find in it, but I also respectfully ask not to derail this thread in that direction specifically.

 

[Savagemannn]

Always been high strung. Never been able to handle stress and always had bad anxiety even as a very young kid I would stress myself out and throw up and stop eating. Fast forward to now as an adult. I randomly have been going through some weird smell where I can’t eat and been throwing up. Ran TONS of test. Anyways long story short. Doctor was thinking it was anxiety. Maybe stress from being built up or being on “auto pilot” Bc you’re so used to severe anxiety. Anyways, I’m on my fourth week of Lexapro. He started week 1 low dosage. Week 2 10mg. Week 3 10mg. Now he just had me bump it up to 20mg a day Jc I had another anxiety attack three days ago and threw up all data. Sucks esp bad when you’re trying to get jacked!! But I can truly say I have not experience suicide ideation or anything Bc of the medicine. I am NOT saying the other guy is lying. EVERYONE reacts different to ALL medicines. I was just giving you my personal experience since I’m actually going thought it now for the first time. I can post weekly how the 20mg Lexapro is or isn’t helping if you want

 

[appropionate]

After further research and reading anecdotes I’ve given up on anti-depressants & therapy but it might be of help to others

 

[Masterofron]

Savagemannn" pid='42606' dateline='1550945660:

Always been high strung. Never been able to handle stress and always had bad anxiety even as a very young kid I would stress myself out and throw up and stop eating. Fast forward to now as an adult. I randomly have been going through some weird smell where I can’t eat and been throwing up. Ran TONS of test. Anyways long story short. Doctor was thinking it was anxiety. Maybe stress from being built up or being on “auto pilot” Bc you’re so used to severe anxiety. Anyways, I’m on my fourth week of Lexapro. He started week 1 low dosage. Week 2 10mg. Week 3 10mg. Now he just had me bump it up to 20mg a day Jc I had another anxiety attack three days ago and threw up all data. Sucks esp bad when you’re trying to get jacked!! But I can truly say I have not experience suicide ideation or anything Bc of the medicine. I am NOT saying the other guy is lying. EVERYONE reacts different to ALL medicines. I was just giving you my personal experience since I’m actually going thought it now for the first time. I can post weekly how the 20mg Lexapro is or isn’t helping if you want

Homie no worries, it will most likely help you severely; as it would anyone. Let it help you, in your particular case I’d say fuck it and get on some meds to. The typical “been depressed for years” “can’t focus” or the most COMMON- “I’m experiencing severe emotions due to my life around me and they fluctuate drastically (aka living LIFE with responsibilities and problems and shit, medicating to reduce these feelings

 

[Pharmahgh]

appropionate" pid='42595' dateline='1550942403:

I’m respectful of people’s religious/spiritual beliefs and all the good they may find in it, but I also respectfully ask not to derail this thread in that direction specifically.

REALLY? WOW I had a lot typed up as a response but im going to leave it alone. Maybe try some adderall or ritalin

 

[appropionate]

Pharmahgh" pid='42700' dateline='1551018353:

appropionate" pid='42595' dateline='1550942403:

I’m respectful of people’s religious/spiritual beliefs and all the good they may find in it, but I also respectfully ask not to derail this thread in that direction specifically.

REALLY? WOW I had a lot typed up as a response but im going to leave it alone. Maybe try some adderall or ritalin

tried those, same mechanisms as moda/ephedrine (norephrine and dopamine modulation). this is currently how I survive but the minute they wear off I’m fucked.

I don’t even disagree with you (I veer towards buddhism myself) and it would make a fun thread for discussion separately from this one.

 

[Pharmahgh]

appropionate" pid='42701' dateline='1551018619:

Pharmahgh" pid='42700' dateline='1551018353:

appropionate" pid='42595' dateline='1550942403:

I’m respectful of people’s religious/spiritual beliefs and all the good they may find in it, but I also respectfully ask not to derail this thread in that direction specifically.

REALLY? WOW I had a lot typed up as a response but im going to leave it alone. Maybe try some adderall or ritalin

tried those, same mechanisms as moda/ephedrine (norephrine and dopamine modulation). this is currently how I survive but the minute they wear off I’m fucked.

I don’t even disagree with you (I veer towards buddhism myself) and it would make a fun thread for discussion separately from this one.

I dont know what to say brother my response was genuine. Its all I really have to offer. When I read some of your posts I feel for you. I mean its a horrible place to be in when you feel like you have lost all hope. Meds arent working or cant find the right combination and therapy well that seems useless.I was on meds for many years. If you do want to talk privately then you can always email me I would be happy to talk to you brother anytime

 

[MiniFridge]

Some things that have had the biggest impact on my mental health have been Jordan Peterson’s material and Self Authoring program, Johann Hari’s insights on the shortcomings of the current approach to mental health treatment, and the Wim Hof Method paired with mindfulness meditation.

Life is hard and sometimes you can get so lonely that nothing seems worth the suffering, but I promise you life is worth living.

https://selfauthoring.com/