Anti depressants

So I’ve started taking Fluoxetine which is an anti depressant drug. I think it might have the other name Prozac which is probably more familiar for you guys.

I mean the doctor told me there are no side effects but just being cautious so am asking whether anyone knows anything about it from personal experience.

I actually feel slightly happier now 12 hours on from taking the first pill. It could be a placebo effect or it could be working but either way I’m feeling happy and optimistic about the future which I haven’t for a long time so hopefully things keep getting better.

It’s a placebo effect. It takes a few weeks before it starts kicking in, if it works. I’ve tried a number of SSRIs but none really worked very well for my anxiety. Prozac is a bit too stimulating for people like me who have anxiety. I’ve talked to at least 100 people who have used it for mood disorders and followed up many of them. It works really well in a few, somewhat in most and hardly at all in others.

It might make you happier initially but all SSRIs stop working after a while and then start causing depression again and you have to switch to another one. For an excellent explanation of how SSRIs work and why they stop working check out a book called “The Mood Cure” by Julia Ross. It also mentions some safer SSRI alternatives and has a big explanation about everything to do with Serotonin and how that stuff all works.

There are side effects with prozac but they’re not as severe as most of the other drugs.

I had been on SSRI’s for around 5 years and anti-anxiety meds for around 1-1.5 years. I found they didn’t help. There was one anti-anxiety med which I have forgotten the name of that actually made me more anxious and gave me severe agitation to the point where people couldn’t handle having me around.

In the last 4 months I’ve had a complete change in scenery and lifestyle and my depression and anxiety doesn’t seem to be there anymore. I do still have some shitty days but they’re not days where I wished I would die.

I found the biggest contributing factor to my depression was my expectation to be able to fulfill everyone elses expectations of me rather than doing what I feel is best for me. I also haven’t touched drugs (illicit or prescription) for the last 4 months and I drink maybe one or two nights in a 3-4 week period.

Anti depressants are notorious for killing libido. In the US they are dispensed by doctors like candy. “Here take this pill, it will make you feel happy. You may have sexual side-effects, but you won’t care. You will still have the same problems that got you depressed in the first place, but you won’t care. Just don’t stop taking it or you may feel suicidal.”

Forget the pill. Some good bud will do you better. You’ll feel happy, you will be a horny motherfucker, and you won’t kill yourself if you run out. You will still have the same problems that got you depressed in the first place, but you won’t remember what they were. :cancer:

Why did you start taking that?

If you still want to take meds for feeling better mentally , you could take some nootropics like selegiline which will make you happy and horny.

Tossed Salad,

Was it the drug Paxil (Paroxetine) that caused the severe anxiety/agitation?

I thought I should mention that I do group therapy with a number of individuals who also suffer from depression, anxiety, and drug/alcohol addiction among other disorders and I also do relaxation therapy, try to follow a good nutrition program, exercise, etc. All these methods seem to help a bit, especially when all are combined. But from what I have seen, if the depression/anxiety is severe, some type of medication is sometimes needed and may help. And sometimes a lot of experimentation is required before the right medication is found. Sometimes, however, medication does squat and the person may have been better without it, due to side-effects, lack of effect, poop-out, etc.

Two good relaxation methods/videos can be found here:

Jacobson’s Progressive Muscle Relaxation | Psychology Wiki | Fandom

I think Cognitive Behavioural Therapy should be the first line of treatment before an SSRI or SNRI. These are powerful medications with dubious efficacy and can cause depency problems, at the most they will stop you from desperately wanting to kill yourself, they’re incapable of making you “happy”.

In numerous trials CBT augments or outperforms SSRIs/SNRIs without the crippling effects on sex drive etc.

I think someone would have to be in a situation where suicide was a real possibility to justify starting on a medication like this.

(For the record, I took antidepressants for 7 years and they never really helped, I had better lucky with modafinil, CBT and sunlight therapy).

This is the end of my third day of taking the drug. Yeah it was just a temporary placebo effect that first day. Second and third (today I feel like shit). My sex drive is still good.

The doctor did seem to prescribe them so easily. I initially went there about being tired so much. I sleep like 10 hours a night and in the day am still tired. No matter what sleep routine I use I’m always tired and lack energy. They gave me a blood test and a questionnaire on depression.

I mean I know I’ve been depressed for a long time but always thought I could fix it myself. Obviously couldn’t and hate feeling this tired. If the pill only fixes that I’ll be happy.

In the questionnaire it asked if I thought about dying. I answered ‘several times’ over a two week basis. But not as a serious thing, just a fleeting thought about it. I haven’t had real real thoughts about it for a year. I mean it’s better to be a live than not in any situation. But I think after the doctor brought up the dying/suicide question is when he decided to prescribe the drugs. And I’m not a suicide risk for sure.

After reading the responses I’m definitely doubting the drug. My parents were strongly against it as well. But well I mean the doctor said there are no side effects of this drug. I think I should give it a chance for around a month and see how I feel.

Give it a go but don’t put all your hopes into it being the cure for your problems.

What other blood work did they do? Depression can be because of many things like testosterone levels being off(low) or thyroid levels being low. There are many reasons why you may feel depressed. That’s the problem with some doctors, they just want to keep treating the symptoms rather than curing the problem.

And just because you are young doesn’t mean that you can’t have low testosterone or low thyroid. Google low thyroid/testosterone and if you feel they match, TELL your doctor you want those tests run. Good luck.

Do you have Indigestion, heart burn or GERD? Do you drink a lot of products that have artificial sweeteners in it? In your blood work did they test for cortisol?

That is one dangerous doc. It has plenty of serious side effects. If you weren’t all the depressed to start with, you will be from the side effects! :rolleyes:
http://www.drug s.com/sfx/fluox … de-effects.html
http://depressi on.emedtv.com/p … de-effects.html

Are you working out as well?
Exercise and Depression: Endorphins, Reducing Stress, and More

As others have mentioned, get some comprehensive blood work done. Depression is often connected to thyroid issues, B vitamin deficiencies, or a host of other medical problems. Also, if you are depressed because you hate your job and your wife is sleeping around pills won’t help.

For some people the pills really are magically life changing. But they are way, waaay, over diagnosed. The idea that the doc is out and out lying to you about the potential of side effects to induce you to take the stuff is a very bad sign.

Doctors told me there’d be few effects and that SNRIs/SSRIs didn’t result in withdrawal syndromes. They were very wrong. I’ve had friends hooked on smack who didn’t go through withdrawal as bad as I did on Effexor. I don’t trust them with psych drugs any more. If it’s something wrong with my blood circulation, I’ll let them take a look at it, when it’s my brain I’m more cautious.

Sorry to hear that R Dopa.

iamaru - Effexor Info