To ask if antidepressants made a difference to your life?

[marmite92]

I have been struggling with horrible anxiety and mild depression for a few years now. Antidepressants have been suggested to me in the past by a gp but as part of my issue is health anxiety I'm quite scared to take them, and one of my friends is in the psychology field and is against ADs so that's always been niggling in the back of my head as she thinks they just mask it and numb you then you can't get off them.

I've done cbt, I do all the self help stuff that they say but it just doesn't feel enough and I am exhausted, I want to feel happy and relaxed again but fear I never will. I have had a lot of big life changes in the past year but I was like this before all that too. Any positive stories? Or even tips on how to beat all this?

Also see Dunning Kruger ....

@marmite92 I’m so glad you’re open minded. I’d really recommend a chat with your gp. It won’t commit you to anything but you could understand your options better. X

They have saved my life twice.Both times I had crippling life threatening depression.

Try them at least,you can always stop them if they are not for you.

Fluoxetine has massively improved my life and made it possible for me to function day to day. I'm not happy and upbeat all the time, still have very low periods, but don't feel like I'm going to break apart at any moment. As others have said: you'd treat a longterm physical illness with the appropriate meds, and this is no different. We need to forget the stigma associated with mh needs.

I'm trained in the 'psychology field' and I recommend them highly.

I would really urge you to have that chat with your gp.

You have nothing to lose and so much to gain. It is one phone call and one visit to your gp surgery. It could change you from a life half lived to a life enjoyed.
If you had a broken wrist, you would not think twice about a plaster cast until you were healed. It is a support to get you through. AD is the same.
Please make that appointment.

They literally saved my life, I have had CBT and I continue to have regular therapy which helps, but without ADs I very much doubt I would be alive, if I was I certainly wouldn’t be capable of working, parenting or being in a relationship.

I’ll probably be on them for the rest of my life, but thats fine, being on something longterm doesn’t mean its a problem or a negative thing. I have type one diabetes, my ADs are just as important as my insulin.

I have been on fluoxetine for a few years and it makes the difference between being able to cope and not. I am still depressed, but able to function and able to get my anxiety more in control.

I fully expect to be on it for the rest of my life, but that is fine by me. I will take other medication for life for a physical medical problem and don't see this as any different.

I did however have to try sertraline, venlafaxine and citalopram before finding fluoxetine is the one for me!

I used a combination of CBT and medication.
I started with the medication and was lucky to access 121 therapy at the same time , which then moved into CBT (which I think really really helped me) Also small life style changes - I was signed of work. Joined the gym, stopped drinking alcohol and diet changed.
Over the months I went back to work slowly & was able to come off the medication but still used CBT still some 5 years later.
It takes time to heal and medication I felt helped me start that journey. I will always suffer from anxiety but use CBT to help me cope with it.

Yes they have really helped me but not without long term side effects and I'm struggling to come off them now.

I have also been told by a mental health professional who has just retired from the NHS that CBT isn't all it is cracked up to be because it doesn't deal with things that have happened in the past. She said that the NHS recommends CBD for everything for reasons of economy (especially the online versions) rather than effectiveness long term, although this was of course one persons opinion.

They enable me to live a normal life. It quite honestly is as simple as that.

I'm glad you started this thread OP. I was prescribed them 6 months ago but was too scared to take them as both my mum and dh don't really believe in depression or ads. I think I might have to though.

After struggling with A & D from age 14, having several goes at counselling and CBT and also private hypnotherapy as we were desperate, my dd eventually tried Sertraline at the age of 18. Six months later, although she says she still fells anxious a lot of the time, she is functioning almost normally. I'm certain she would still be stuck in a deep hole without them.

Yes so true, I don't know why mental health is viewed to differently to physical health, it's just as important. Although I've had shitty situations happen to me so my friend says it's natural, I've felt this way for years and my mum had crippling anxiety so it's possibly genetic to an extent. I think there is a gp at the surgery who has an interest in mental health so would be a good person to chat to x

@Ces6 I've actually been prescribed them in the past when I lived elsewhere and was too scared to take them too! But honestly I don't know about you but I feel there's nothing left to lose now, and if your family haven't experienced anxiety or depression it's so easy to give their opinion but living in my head 24/7 is a nightmare. I look at other people my age and constantly think I was I was 'normal' like them and worried a normal amount about normal things x

I think they are the dogs bollocks. I've got chronic depression and 'talking' doesn't help one jot. It seems clear to me that I simply don't make enough of the right neurotransmitters so need some help in that department. I see them as vitamins for the brain. The only thing is, it can take some time to find the right AD, just as you would with the pill. I had to try seven different types before settling very well on venlafaxine. GP, psychiatrist and me all agree that I'll probably be on them for good and that's absolutely fine. After all, as a PP said, you'd take insulin if you needed it - this is no different.

That's very true about feeling there's nothing left to lose!

I can't function properly without them. I cry constantly and have panic attacks over the smallest things. With them, I have more normal emotions (I cry over sad things/films but not constantly - I mean I used to cry for hours each day) and my panic attacks and general depression is under control. I can hold down a job and function. I believe they have saved my life, and doubt I'll ever stop taking them (any more than I'd stop wearing my glasses).

I've been on them for over 20 years, finally came off last year, only to have to go back on as i can't come off them, the annoying thing as well is that they don't actually make much difference. I wish I'd never taken them in the first place, imo they've caused more problems

Yes

Was on for a few years after the kids
Came off no probs when life got better

Back on at start of lockdown when started to plummet

Aok now

Yes, saved my life. I used to sit and write lists of ways to die and plan my funeral. Now I feel normal- good days and bad because that's life but I don't want to die and I can live again.

Life is much better with them.

I've suffered with depression and anxiety for 15+ years, and have had periods of medication and without.

Medication definitely allowed me to stabilise when I was at my worst. I do totally understand the numbness that others describe - because they also numbed me to my lowest lows, which gave me the headspace I needed to make proper changes.

I didn't find CBT helpful at all. What did work for me was talk therapy, which got the the roots of what was causing my negative thought patterns - and helped me to become more aware and have more control over episodes.

If you haven't tried anti-depressants, give them a go. You'll probably get side effects for a few weeks, but they're worth it when they stop the cycle of depression and anxiety.

100%. I don’t feel like killing myself anymore. I’ve been on them 6 years.

Re CBT vs ADs, antidepressants are actually recommend to be taken alongside having CBT. Crudely speaking, they clear some headspace for the CBT so that you can actually concentrate on it and put it into practice.

Your friend is a nobber thy should know better. I’d stop talking to them about your MH if I was you.