Anti-depressants advice wanted

[kingkong57]

Hi. I will be starting a course of Sertraline tomorrow. I'm posting here because I'd like to know any and everyones experience with them and anti depressants generally. Good and bad.
I held off for a long time because I had a dream of becoming a fighter jet pilot and pilots don't have mental illness. Really I think my dream should have been to achieve and sustain a state of mind that wants me to be alive. At least I've realised that now.

Has anyone who has positive experiences with anti-depressants come off of them and sustained their new view point on reality? How did you do it and how long did you manage without them (if you went back)?

 

[LittleJem]

Hi, I avoided meds for many years and suffered terribly. I'm now on Prozac week 5. It's definitely helping a lot. I need to give it 12 weeks apparently.Today I didn't have suicidal thoughts all day long (my usual state) but instead was a bit low and grumpy then felt cheerful by 6:30pm. Now a bit agitated but okay. This is my third medication and the best so far. I hope your first one helps you! I really recommend the Facebook support groups for Sertraline/other meds, because people share success stories and support each other through any initial side effects. I have had a relatively easy time so far with Prozac, but some people get extra agitation at the beginning. Hopefully your doctor will give you something like (Ativan? Valium) to get through any difficult starting days. Erm I used weed, though if you can keep the medication pure then do. Today I had no weed all day, just the Prozac. First time in ages. Lots of luck.

If Prozac helps me I will stay on it long term

 

[Rustysoupcan]

I tried about 10 meds before finding one that helps. I guess all I say is don't expect it to fix all your problems, it's only for help, not a cure. Which sucks because I deeply wish mental illness could be cured, but it can't. Sertraline didn't help me, but nortriptyline and abilify I'm on now do. I plan to go down on them in the next couple of months, and I expect to go back into my depression. That just how it goes. I'm sure this is not the view you want to hear, but I think people with true mental illness cannot live a full life without treatment. It sucks, but again, thats just how it goes.

 

[mossyfox]

It depends on what caused your depression. If it's mental illness, anti depressants will always be needed to keep symptoms at bay. If something else started your depression and you got 'stuck' in it, then you need to be on the medicine long enough for your brain to re-wire itself so-to-speak, and for your hippocampus to get back to normal strength, since it has atrophied during your depression.

Our brains are plastic and flexible, but we make kind of these ruts and groove patterns if we get stuck thinking and behaving certain ways for long periods of time. Medicines can help you break a habit and reset and create new grooves in the 'correct' spot.

For people with mental illness, chemical imbalances are also a problem and will always need medical supplement. Think of it like type 1 vs type 2 diabetes. Mental illness is type 1, can't be changed with lifestyle alone, needs medicine. Type 2 can be caused by lifestyle (triggered by life events) and can be reversed if done before there is long lasting damage. This would be depression not caused by mental illness.