What do antidepressants feel like?

[Lavendersblue8]

I’m at a low point at the moment, have been for quite a while now really.

I have felt very low before, but never admitted it or asked for help, and no one has ever noticed. In the past I have been able to work through these low patches and make changes in my life until I am content again. At the moment I am unable to do that. I understand the causes of my negative emotions, but am not in a position to change the situation.

I’ve always avoided speaking to a GP etc when feeling low, and previously never wanted medication, or even a diagnosis. But now I fear that I am wasting years of my children’s childhoods, and wondering if it’s time to ask for some help, before they grow up and it’s too late. However, I’m still nervous and reluctant when it comes to antidepressants, I only want to try if they can make me feel happy / interested / motivated / engaged again. If they will only take me from low to numb then I don’t see the point.

Can anyone who has taken antidepressants please try and explain what happens when you start taking them?

I hope they work for you OP

Thank you to all the people who have shared on this thread. My teen DD has been on anti-depressants for around 15 months and hearing others' descriptions helps me understand more.
They have been a game changer for her, she missed all her last year at school and was in a dreadful state, but has now nearly completed her first year at college. Plan is to try to halve her dose over the summer.

OP, best wishes and I hope you find a way through.

@Lavendersblue8
Trust how you feel. I let it get far too bad before I spoke to the GP for the reasons you stated: I didn’t think I was bad enough and I had been much worse in the past (& it had ruined big chunks of my life).

Then I became bad enough and the GP was shocked I hadn’t come to her sooner. You know how you feel. Much love to you. Only those who have been through it know how debilitating depression is. The word is used a lot but having been through real clinical depression, I can arrest that it can feel like hell on Earth. Anti-depressants provide a little doorway out. And remember @Lavendersblue8 It can be a slippery slope into worsening depression.

*attest