Psycho-Babble Medication Thread 543953

Shown: posts 1 to 19 of 19. This is the beginning of the thread.

 

Life not the same after SSRIs?

Posted by tygereyes on August 19, 2005, at 17:32:34

After two years of being off SSRIs due to bladder-related side effects, my psychiatrist has added Zoloft (which I took, on and off, from the time I was sixteen until I was twenty) to my current medication regimen. And I can't wait to start feeling its effects.

You see, Zoloft not only returned me to baseline -it made me BETTER than baseline. I was five shades above normal. Not that I was hypomanic; I was simply happy - excessively happy, one might say. I'd never been happier in my life, not even before my psychiatric illness began.

Since I've been off of it, I've definitely had periods of stability, but it was never the same as when I was on Zoloft. I was never H-A-P-P-Y in that "I love life and everything is wonderful and I even like myself and this is a miracle drug" kind of way. And I missed that feeling like crazy.

Has anyone experienced the same thing with SSRIs? Finding that they make/made you feel like you had surpassed your baseline and then feeling that life was not the same after you'd stopped taking them, even if your psychiatric symptoms did not return?

It is frustrating to know that "life after Zoloft" will always feel sub-par to me, even during periods of symptom-free stability. In a way, I wish I'd never known what it was like to begin with - then I wouldn't have to miss it so darn much.

 

Re: Life not the same after SSRIs? » tygereyes

Posted by Phillipa on August 19, 2005, at 18:40:39

In reply to Life not the same after SSRIs?, posted by tygereyes on August 19, 2005, at 17:32:34

May I ask? How much zoloft were you taking. Everyone seems to have such good results from some med combination. But unfortunately i can't remember the last time I was happy or laughed. Maybe my doses aren't high enough? I'm a lot older than you. Fondly, Phillipa

 

Re: Life not the same after SSRIs?

Posted by tygereyes on August 19, 2005, at 19:58:04

In reply to Re: Life not the same after SSRIs? » tygereyes, posted by Phillipa on August 19, 2005, at 18:40:39

> May I ask? How much zoloft were you taking. Everyone seems to have such good results from some med combination. But unfortunately i can't remember the last time I was happy or laughed. Maybe my doses aren't high enough? I'm a lot older than you. Fondly, Phillipa

I was on 150 mgs.

Now, though, it requires a cocktail: 50 mg Zoloft (the new addition), 300 mg Trileptal, 100 mg Desipramine, 25 mg Seroquel.

As you get older and have mental illness longer, it becomes more difficult and complicated to treat. The Kindling Phenomenon, it's called.

 

Re: Life not the same after SSRIs?

Posted by linkadge on August 19, 2005, at 20:19:10

In reply to Re: Life not the same after SSRIs?, posted by tygereyes on August 19, 2005, at 19:58:04

Yeah, I would never say the SSRI's made me better than well, but I would agree that after stopping them life just sucks, and it is hard to regain a sence of normalacy.

They are street drugs, and from that light, I can accept the fact that they messed up my life beyond repair.

Linkadge

 

Re: Life not the same after SSRIs?

Posted by Sonya on August 19, 2005, at 20:35:47

In reply to Life not the same after SSRIs?, posted by tygereyes on August 19, 2005, at 17:32:34

On Celexa I attained a state that can only be described as "better than well". I wasn't my normal self. For about a month I felt absolutely wonderful...extroverted and euphoric; life was wonderful...then I lost it. As you said, it's almost better to not know what that felt like because everything after gets compared to that brief state of mind.

 

Re: Life not the same after SSRIs?

Posted by linkadge on August 19, 2005, at 21:10:07

In reply to Re: Life not the same after SSRIs?, posted by Sonya on August 19, 2005, at 20:35:47

I think that part of the euphoria is in the thought that you have found something that will do this sustainably. Almost like you're convinced that *this* is the real state of mind, and that everything prior was nonsence.

Once you it poops out and you start to return to exactly where you were, it is almost impossable to regain. Almost like your brain cannot trust another med, because it knows that they can poop-out.

Then you're just happy to find a place of being comfortably numb.


Linkadge

 

Re: Life not the same after SSRIs?

Posted by flmm on August 19, 2005, at 22:01:14

In reply to Re: Life not the same after SSRIs?, posted by linkadge on August 19, 2005, at 21:10:07

Sorry to disagree Linkadge, they are NOT street drugs. Please...................

 

Re: Life not the same after SSRIs?

Posted by linkadge on August 20, 2005, at 0:25:19

In reply to Re: Life not the same after SSRIs?, posted by flmm on August 19, 2005, at 22:01:14

I tried marajuanna once, certainly didn't leave me with a 5 month withdrawl (and counting) with seemingly irriversable brain dammage.

Linkadge

 

Re: Life not the same after SSRIs? » linkadge

Posted by Declan on August 20, 2005, at 0:49:38

In reply to Re: Life not the same after SSRIs?, posted by linkadge on August 20, 2005, at 0:25:19

Hi Linkadge
Are you taking an AD at the moment?
Declan

 

Re: Life not the same after SSRIs?

Posted by Empathy on August 20, 2005, at 0:54:14

In reply to Life not the same after SSRIs?, posted by tygereyes on August 19, 2005, at 17:32:34

I think what you are describing is a pretty common experience. Did you ever read the book "Listening To Prozac"? It was fascinating, in that it posed the question: Which is the REAL person? The one on the SSRI or the one not taking it.

I had a few months off of all anti-depressants this year for first time in a decade and it was interesting revisiting my "old self". She's not so bad :) but she is just always on the edge of desperation.

Also, I had a very bad Fibromyalgia flare up during that time and that is when I figured out that Prozac had been helping with Fibro all these years and I didn't realize it.

 

Re: Life not the same after SSRIs?

Posted by linkadge on August 20, 2005, at 3:19:02

In reply to Re: Life not the same after SSRIs?, posted by Empathy on August 20, 2005, at 0:54:14

What scares me is not so much the fact that life is so drab off the drugs, it is that the longer I take the drugs, the closer I converge to that previous self anyway. But at that point, I have an additional problem in that I am now stuck on a drug.

It is easier to start a drug than to stop a drug, so I'd rather be off them as it makes me feel more in controll, even if it means being suicidal.


Linkadge

 

Re: Life not the same after SSRIs?

Posted by linkadge on August 20, 2005, at 3:19:26

In reply to Re: Life not the same after SSRIs?, posted by Empathy on August 20, 2005, at 0:54:14

I guess simply put, I don't trust them.


Linkadge

 

Re: Life not the same after SSRIs? » tygereyes

Posted by AMD on August 20, 2005, at 9:53:08

In reply to Life not the same after SSRIs?, posted by tygereyes on August 19, 2005, at 17:32:34

That is the same way I felt about Celexa ... after it had helped me kick the depression, I went through a few years when I thought, daily, "life is grand!" I still get those moments now and then when I'm able to refrain from drug and alcohol use.

Some might say it's hypomania, but if you never get the flip-side of the coin -- the depression -- you could be an example of the hedonist life in which some hope we will eventually live via enhanced psychopharmacology.

amd

 

Re: Life not the same after SSRIs?

Posted by tygereyes on August 20, 2005, at 10:41:41

In reply to Re: Life not the same after SSRIs? » tygereyes, posted by AMD on August 20, 2005, at 9:53:08

I don't agree that SSRIs are "street drugs" nor do I think that they are "addictive" - I've been addicted to real drugs and find it laughable when people compare the two. SSRIs do not cause the "drug-seeking behavior" that is characteristic of drug addiction, nor do they produce an immediate high (unless one is bipolar). Simply because they cause a withdrawal effect (which I personally don't think is that bad, but that's probably just because I've gone through heroin and Xanax withdrawal more times than I can count).

HOWEVER, SSRIs do seem to have this unique property to make people feel "better than okay." For most of us, who have struggled with depression and other psychiatric issues for a very long time, this is miraculous and this is something that we do not want to give up. The interesting thing is that I have seen this even in my friends who take SSRIs and do not have clinical depression. The drugs still have an effect on them, even though nothing is technically "wrong."

I am fascinated by this, because according to psychopharmacology, the drugs should have NO effect unless they're "correcting" some kind of "imbalance" (to use a crude term).

I have taken tricyclics, anti-convulsants, and neuroleptics - in fact, I'm on a drug from each class right now, actually - and yet I've never seen this with any other class of drugs, only SSRIs.

It makes me sad to know that this trial of Zoloft will probably not make me feel the same way that it did in the past. Maybe SSRIs are like anti-biotics in that regard; maybe we develop tolerance to them and they're simply going to need to create more and more similar drugs to "trick" our bodies into responding the same way.

 

I'm feeling like the only one! » tygereyes

Posted by ed_uk on August 20, 2005, at 11:38:07

In reply to Re: Life not the same after SSRIs?, posted by tygereyes on August 20, 2005, at 10:41:41

SSRIs never made me feel better than well! They make me less anxious and less obsessive, but more lazy and less energetic.

~ed x

 

Re: Life not the same after SSRIs?

Posted by linkadge on August 20, 2005, at 15:43:21

In reply to Re: Life not the same after SSRIs?, posted by tygereyes on August 20, 2005, at 10:41:41

It depends on the person. I would not say that everyone who takes them feels better than well. I certainly never felt better than well. Infact, even though I felt somewhat better, I never even felt "well".

I still contend that the drugs are completely addictive. I have come off about 180mg of codiene and 5mg of clonazepam, nicotine gum, caffiene, etc. I have three friends who also quit smoking and say that quitting smoking was easy, but kicking paxil is in their words "f*ckin' impossable"


I am in my fifth month of SSRI withdawl. I am still experincing brain zaps, flu like symptoms, nausia, the works. All go away within 1 hour of reinstituting a dose of an SSRI. I crave the relief that a simple zoloft or celexa will bring. I crave it. These drugs are highly addictive.

It is funny how people will sit here and defend the drugs untill the day that they need to come off of it, then their attitute very quickly changes.


Linkadge

 

Re: Life not the same after SSRIs? » linkadge

Posted by ed_uk on August 20, 2005, at 16:01:29

In reply to Re: Life not the same after SSRIs?, posted by linkadge on August 20, 2005, at 15:43:21

Hi Link,

IMO, SSRIs can create a strong physical dependence in some cases.

SSRIs have been a mixed bag for me. They've helped my anxiety but eliminated my motivation and drive.

I do seem to need SSRIs for OCD though, perhaps I should return to Prozac.

I've been luckly in one sense, I've never found it difficult to withdraw from SSRIs. I've only ever suffered brief withdrawal - which wasn't too bad.

Kind regards

~Ed

 

Re: Life not the same after SSRIs?

Posted by linkadge on August 20, 2005, at 16:40:52

In reply to Re: Life not the same after SSRIs? » linkadge, posted by ed_uk on August 20, 2005, at 16:01:29

Different people find different substances addictive.


Linkadge

 

Re: Life not the same after SSRIs? » linkadge

Posted by ed_uk on August 20, 2005, at 16:57:07

In reply to Re: Life not the same after SSRIs?, posted by linkadge on August 20, 2005, at 16:40:52

True!

~Ed


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