18 replies to this topic

[nowayout]

...when it works?

[hippocampus]

More energy, more positive emotions, less negative emotions (mood stabilizers may be different in this aspect - they may lower intensity of both), better sleep (although some may cause sleeplessness), one feels more refreshed in the morning ... if were not counting all the side effects. Effects may vary between persons and between drugs.

[nowayout]

So they don't make you feel "good" in some sense? I find it hard to understand how they could change negative thinking habits and a pessimistic and defeatist world view unless they are, in fact, mild euphoriants.

Edited by nowayout, 21 May 2013 - 10:52 PM.

[hippocampus]

Well, I find hard to understand Chinese. They can of course cause mania, but usually they do not cause intense euphoria in depressed or normal (= not bipolar) individuals. You could say that they are mild euphoriants, yes, but some people report exactly the opposite - that higher doses of ADs caused blunted affect for them.
Anyway, I've never taken SSRI for that matter so I wouldn't really know. I have experience with "natural" ADs like turmeric, rhodiola rosea and St. John's Wort and with low dose amtriptyline (when I was taking it I was somewhat suicidal and I felt weird althought I don't know if this is exactly because of amitriptyline).

[Raptor87]

HAHAHHA! Iv'e never sensed those things when on antidperessants. I just felt like I got a analytical distance from everything while feeling stuck in a bubble. It didn't bother me of course. I was content! I miss that. It's not a good feeling when you wake up old as me realising that your anxiety sucked your life away from you. Well at least I tried to be with people! I wish there was a drive through lobotomy clinic near me.

[nupi]

Arguably, you are not supposed to feel it (much). You just should feel less bad, possibly a little optimist even and less anxiety, less constant worrying, less negative thoughts. There is a bit of blunted feeling, especially with SSRIs but coming from anxiety, that is still a big improvement. To some degree, they are dont give a shit pills...

Edited by nupi, 22 May 2013 - 04:33 PM.

[Debaser]

So they don't make you feel "good" in some sense? I find it hard to understand how they could change negative thinking habits and a pessimistic and defeatist world view unless they are, in fact, mild euphoriants.

Antidepressants do not give you a high or induce euphoria to counter depression. I would describe their effects as more like a "numbing". You don't feel anything as much. This means you don't feel the deep despair of your depression as much, and thus it has a normalising effect. But I wouldn't say I was happy on SSRIs. The entire time I was just in a void. I didn't really enjoy things any more. Even eating was just sort of "meh" and I couldn't be bothered with it. My sex drive was gone. Nothing excited me. But nothing made me particularly sad either. I just existed.

I would say they were effective at reducing my depression and helping me deal with it, but I don't know what the long term consequences of taking them were on my brain. I had many side effects and really it was only years after I stopped taking them that I started to feel some semblance of normalcy again.

[nowayout]

Antidepressants do not give you a high or induce euphoria to counter depression. I would describe their effects as more like a "numbing". You don't feel anything as much. This means you don't feel the deep despair of your depression as much, and thus it has a normalising effect. But I wouldn't say I was happy on SSRIs. The entire time I was just in a void. I didn't really enjoy things any more. Even eating was just sort of "meh" and I couldn't be bothered with it. My sex drive was gone. Nothing excited me.

Well, those sound like a lot of the symptoms of what I thought was my depression, so maybe I need the opposite of an antidepressant.

[brainslugged]

Antidepressants do not give you a high or induce euphoria to counter depression. I would describe their effects as more like a "numbing". You don't feel anything as much. This means you don't feel the deep despair of your depression as much, and thus it has a normalising effect. But I wouldn't say I was happy on SSRIs. The entire time I was just in a void. I didn't really enjoy things any more. Even eating was just sort of "meh" and I couldn't be bothered with it. My sex drive was gone. Nothing excited me.

Well, those sound like a lot of the symptoms of what I thought was my depression, so maybe I need the opposite of an antidepressant.

There is an SSRE (opposite of SSRIs) named Tianeptine (Stablon) that is readily available on the internet.

However, SSRIs do sometimes have the reverse of a numbing effect if you are already numb. It probably isn't through the actual effects on serotonin, though, but increase in BDNF, so maybe you would want to look into things that increase BDNF.

A really simple thing is that, if you are a night person (late to bed, late to wake), you could try not sleeping for a few days. I actually find that lack of sleep significantly helps me out when I am feeling bad. It is tough, but you can take ephedrine or something to help you stay awake (and ephedrine does a VERY good job of this for me).
http://www.ncbi.nlm....pubmed/19576267
I cant find the study claiming that it works better for night people, but I swear I have read it somewhere... not too important anyway.

In my experience, the positive effects of the acute sleep deprivation happen once you pass the point where you are tired anymore. It is like you suddenly become less tired than if you had actually slept, and you feel very alert. It can be difficult to go back to sleep after that point, though.

However, don't do this for more than like a day and don't do it often. Only do it when you are feeling really crap. There is a chance of getting microsleeps if you do it too often/for too long. For example, when I first discovered the full potential of it some week in jan or feb of this year, I stayed up for about a week, with only about an hour of sleep per day. Needless to say, that is not a good idea. You end up almost having wrecks and accidentally pouring chemicals on yourself in chem lab because you zoned out when you were filling up the beaker

Anyway, just stay up about 48 hours (maybe an hour nap on the 2nd day if you want) during a time when you don't have any responsibilities and see how it works for you. Its free, and there isn't really anything to loose.

[Logic]

You start thinking positively.
Then you start thinking will I ever come!?
The lady tarts thinking: "Mine..!"
Then you think: "I cant get a hard-on any more, but its cool..."
"The house id burning down!" Cool

Edited by Logic, 26 May 2013 - 02:38 AM.

[hippocampus]

I'd just like to point out (again) that not all ADs are the same and not all people react the same way so it's hard to generalize.

Edited by hippocampus, 26 May 2013 - 10:34 PM.

[Logic]

I'd just like to point out (again) that not all ADs are the same and not all people react the same way so it's hard to generalize.

True. I was referring to SSRIs. The heading is to general.
There are other substances to upregulate neurogenesis and protect the brain without missing half your life.

[nowayout]

There are other substances to upregulate neurogenesis and protect the brain without missing half your life.

Such as? And do they relieve depression?

You start thinking positively.
Then you start thinking will I ever come!?
The lady tarts thinking: "Mine..!"
Then you think: "I cant get a hard-on any more, but its cool..."
"The house id burning down!" Cool

[Raptor87]

Actually you should feel the effects in the beginning.

Hypothesis: Antidepressants have their gig when you start taking them but the effect will fade off when your body goes through it's homoeostasis levelling it's tissue serotonin- levels. The question is if there is a point at all eating pills that doesn't do anything after a while. Actually I sensed that my depression disappeared when I started taking the pills but the effect just wore of, consequently I also felt better when I went off them, (this was not when I was on venlafaxine). I actually do believe that Srri dosages should be fluctuated.

http://www.psycholog...brain-serotonin

Keep in mind that none of us are docs (or are you?) and you shouldn't listen to shit we say.

OT: Anyone tried 5-htp along with their Srri´s? (I didn't even know that it went through the BBB?).
http://www.ncbi.nlm....pubmed/23336047

http://www.umm.edu/a...phan-000283.htm

Edited by Brainfogged, 27 May 2013 - 02:30 AM.

[protoject]

I'll never understand how ssri's can help anyone, they just make me feel worse on a consistent basis. There's that advice that you need to take it for x amount of time but I seriously feel that it makes me even more worse off the longer I take it. I remember one of my old roomates would feel like they were high on prozac, I dont think I ever got that sort of effect, ever, from ssri's alone. There are just more side effects than actual therepeutic effects (and there are no therepeutic effects in my case).

[Raptor87]

I'll never understand how ssri's can help anyone, they just make me feel worse on a consistent basis. There's that advice that you need to take it for x amount of time but I seriously feel that it makes me even more worse off the longer I take it. I remember one of my old roomates would feel like they were high on prozac, I dont think I ever got that sort of effect, ever, from ssri's alone. There are just more side effects than actual therepeutic effects (and there are no therepeutic effects in my case).

Zoloft turned me in to a living zombie. It was like being under water, I felt like a fish swimming around not being connected to the world at all. I would like to try that again, but just for a while

[nowayout]

Yeah, Zoloft made me feel kinda out of it, I think it "works" by making you unable to concentrate on your own thoughts, thereby reducing negative rumination. Also, in the 5 weeks I was on it I didn't feel any sexual urge, not even once.

Mirtazapine made me feel dysphoric and murderously irritable. I honestly don't understand how this is an anti-depressant.

Agomelatine makes me feel no different than a sugar pill.

[Raptor87]

Yeah, Zoloft made me feel kinda out of it, I think it "works" by making you unable to concentrate on your own thoughts, thereby reducing negative rumination. Also, in the 5 weeks I was on it I didn't feel any sexual urge, not even once.

Mirtazapine made me feel dysphoric and murderously irritable. I honestly don't understand how this is an anti-depressant.

Agomelatine makes me feel no different than a sugar pill.

Mirtazapine: ZzZZZZzzZZz please, where is the nearest bed, I am soooo sleeepyyyyy! Besides that, NOTHING, I didn't feel anything.

[nupi]

I'll never understand how ssri's can help anyone, they just make me feel worse on a consistent basis. There's that advice that you need to take it for x amount of time but I seriously feel that it makes me even more worse off the longer I take it. I remember one of my old roomates would feel like they were high on prozac, I dont think I ever got that sort of effect, ever, from ssri's alone. There are just more side effects than actual therepeutic effects (and there are no therepeutic effects in my case).

Initial couple of days on Prozac indeed made me feel kind of high (possibly I wandered into hypomania for a while which was nice but didn't feel very sustainable [1] :-).


[1] I never told my shrink lest he takes the one thing that keeps me sane away.