Posted by Sulpicia on February 11, 2001, at 18:56:19
In reply to antidepressants are drugs, drugs are drugs, posted by dennis on February 11, 2001, at 15:42:53
> It seems to me that taking antidepressants is a lot like taking small doses of amphetamines or cocaine. If you think about it, people who take ADs suffer the same problems as people useing these illegal drugs,
I disagree. There are numerous motivations for using illicits, like peer-pressure and experimentation, inter alia, and they are by far and away different from clinical depression. It is true that people who are depressed or who suffer from untreated ADD/HD are more likely to use drugs to self-medicate.
Interestingly, the drug of choice tends to be alcohol.
>and people useing ADs can feel euporic.I have been treated with ADs for several bouts of depression and I have never felt euphoria. People with undiagnosed bipolar disorders can be pushed into mania by some ADs. But my experience is simply that, my own.
>All the drugs work in slightly different ways but they all affect the same chemicals in your brain, such as seritonin or dopamine for example.
If you want to correct/help/alter mood, yes, you are limited by neurochemistry. I suppose you could make a case either for or against ECT.
>Users of ADs experience withdrawal after stoping the drug, they can build a tolerance to the drug needing higher doses and eventually experience AD poopout, a person useing ADs can have problems with proper mental functioning. I have also noticed that when a antidepressant works, the improved mood or happiness feels very artificial, not exactly the kind of happy feeling you would feel if you were drug free. It seems to me that drugs like amphetamines and other illegal drugs that we as a society have classified as dangerous and haveing no medical value are exactly like antidepressants drugs. It seems to me that SSRIs are not fixing a chemical imbalance in the brain, they are makeing a chemical imbalance in the brain which makes the person feel better. Thats the way I see it, I just thought I would share my view of ADs with you.
Keep in mind that the millions of people who are happy with their ADs tend not to post on forums such as this. I have never developed a tolerance to an AD or a loss of effectiveness. All drugs have side effects; prescription drugs are a cost/benefit calculation. Individual reaction varies. Problems w/cognitive functions that an individual is willing to put up with pale in comparison to problems of suicidal ideation or action. How do you define artificial? Are you speaking from experience here? This is not something I've ever experienced. Amphetamines are not illegal; they are a schedule II drug proven effective for the treatment of ADD/HD and narcolepsy; ritalin similarly so, and is now being looked at as an adjuvant in the elderly who are recovering from strokes. Pain management specialists regularly use stimulants to counteract the somnolence of opiate therapy for severe chronic pain.
We don't know exactly how ADs work and we definitely are not clear on how amphetamines help the symptoms of ADD/HD ergo no analogy can be logically sustained.
At abusively high dosages illicit users of amphetamines may/might/probably/could experience tolerance and addiction. IMHO the real difference between ADs and amphetamine is that ADs don't seem to alter the pleasure circuits in the brain -- yes, if they work you feel normal. After addiction, in some funny way you've altered the pleasure threshold and normal feels bad -- it's like everything has been re-set.I'm basing this on my experience with tofranil [3x] and paxil [1x and stopping now]and adderall for ADD. Clearly the makers of the new SSRIs have some explaining to do to the people who are experiencing tremendous difficulty getting off them.
Just one person's opinion.
poster:Sulpicia
thread:53758
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20010131/msgs/53770.html