AIBU to think anyone can come off antidepressants successfully

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Just that really. Interested in hearing people's stories please. I've been on them on and off for more than ten years.
Thanks

Which papers are those, OP? Because they’re very easy to misinterpret. Or do you mean you read a newspaper article that cherry picked quotes from a scientific paper? Because there’s a real fucken problem with that and has been for a very long time.

Neuroscience, or specifically, Neuropsychopharmacology is a very niche area of expertise.

I would be dead without mine. I’ve been under a Psychiatrist for years, and am A Lifer. My brain didn’t get to form properly in my formative years and so I’m in constant Fight or Flight mode without them, to name just one issue that a childhood of abuse causes, and has enabled me to break the generational curse/traumas with my own children, who have never/will never suffer what I did, nor ever know what I went through, because on the outside, I’m “normal.” And that’s mostly due to my meds.

There’s a difference between 20mg of Prozac that the GP prescribes and what a Psychiatrist prescribes.

Additionally, that 20mg of Prozac that people take every day for years/decades/all their life is what keeps them alive, and anyone who begrudges people that, can fuck right off.

@RedPlumbob

Me too! Well said👏🏼👏🏼.

All these people talking bollocks have never been unwell enough to know how it feels.

Started taking them at 32. On and off for a bit then permanently at 40. Now 58. They make life enjoyable.

My little girl brain was subject to trauma at an early age. So my mind developed to expect it. With the added bonus of long term chronic pain which is also part of it.

If you can navel gaze enough about the ‘dangers’ or money making if anti D’s then you’re well enough to not need them.

But surely the fact you keep going back on them contradicts your statement that anybody can successfully come off them, OP?

If we were talking about quitting smoking you defo wouldn't be considered an ex smoker if you kept smoking on and off.

@ArseInTheCoOpWindow I was on and off then from as young as 16, till I was 27 - at which point I was on them constantly, until I moved areas at 32 and was immediately sent to a Psychiatrist, who was horrified that I’d never managed to get a successful referral before.

That was 5 years ago. I was also diagnosed with ADHD, CPTSD and am medicated for those, too. The meds I’ve been on for the last 5 years have done more for me than any others, likely because they’re stronger, and for once, the correct medications.

I can’t even begin to name all the ones thrown at me in the 11 years prior 🥴

Well yes, technically anyone can stop taking antidepressants. Whether it’s ‘successful’ or not is another matter. If you want to come of antidepressants that’s fine you do you. But the idea that everyone on antidepressants should be working towards coming off them is damaging. There is no shame in permanently taking ADs, just like there would be no shame in taking medication for your blood pressure or whatever.

@RedPlumbob

Same here. Been on pracically every one going!

OP - why have you asked quite such a provocative question, that is, ‘am I being unreasonable to think anyone can come off antidepressants successfully?’

You're clearly only asking about yourself - and even then it doesn’t read as if you do think you can easily come off them?

But - why are you posing the question to suggest that anyone can come off them? It’s - and I’m sorry, but I can’t think of a better word - inappropriate.

Surely it’s entirely obvious that no, anyone can’t just come off antidepressants successfully?

And besides, what does what anyone do, have to do with whether you can?

I was on them for many years, considered too dangerous to come off them during pregancy..

I had to get used to feeling my emotions again and dealing with them good and bad, but that doesn't mean i think everyone can ir indeed should.

I was only on them about six months but at above the maximum dose (venlafaxine). I was forced to quit for my mental health. My emotions were completely blunted, I couldn't feel joy, just nothing. I was a teenager so acted like one and just flushed the pills and quit like that. Withdrawal was rocky and a bit scary but it was absolutely the right decision to quit (though I probably should have done it more gradually).

I take 375mg venlafaxine daily, the minute I wean myself down even by 37.5mg, I became highly unstable, feel physical withdrawal and have several times now tried to kill myself. I never want to come off my only source of support.

Hi Op ,

I was on setaraline for about 7 months . Came off them for the second lockdown around November 2020, honestly because everyone seemed stressed about it and I was just meh.

But

I d been in an unhappy relationship before I went on them with a married man and I felt they gave me the strength to tell him to leave me alone

So I would say anyone can come off anti depressants but they need to have dealt with the under lying reason they are on them first

Hth

I've been off them for about ten years now, having spent about 6 years on them before that. I had severe depression and severe GAD, requiring a month in a psychiatric hospital at one point and years of being unable to work or do anything much.

It was hard to come off but I weaned down very, very slowly. Still got side effects, but they were tolerable - just - when the taper was slow (ignore any GP recommendations to do it in 4 weeks - that is just ridiculous).

I've been fine since and am now a very different person to who I was when I was ill. This has come from a shitload of private therapy that has changed my life. I was fortunate to be able to pay privately and have as long as I needed, which was way, way more than the NHS would have offered - we're talking weekly therapy for years. I put my recovery down to the fact I have healed trauma, changed my beliefs and ways of thinking and now take much better care of myself. The effects of all this are way more effective than the meds ever were - but it was a long old road and I'm conscious not everyone is lucky enough to be in a similar position.

So OP, my question to you is do you think you have resolved the factors that caused you to get and stay depressed?

Yes, reduced VERY slowly over a period of 6 months with support from GP. No adverse side effects and still well 7 years on.

Coming off amitriptyline is horrendous. I was on a low dosage (20mg) for migraine prevention and when I came off, it was really bad. I did actually taper my dose coming off but it was a real shocker. I can't imagine what it must be like for people on higher doses for depression etc. As you'll see below, I'm no wimp at coming off anti-depressants but amitriptyline was bad, especially when I was on such a low dosage.

And I write this having have severe depression in the past where I came off a high dose of paroxetine cold turkey. Literally from full dose to zero. The withdrawal was awful for 3 weeks but then starting feeling much better. I've done the same with citalopram and that was much easier. I can understand how people getting stuck in a cycle of taking anti-depressants as the physical impact of getting off them can be really nasty.

I have! I came off venlafaxine very slowly when I was pregnant with DC1 who is now 4. I had been on it for a few years and had already halved my dose a few months before I fell pregnant, I was recovered from the depression I had been battling for many years by that point. I did get PND after I had DC1 however it was situational (DD was a nightmare of a baby that screamed all the time for about 7 months) and resolved itself as she aged and stopped screaming all the time. DC2 is 8m and I did struggle again with my mood, but only for about the first 4 months.

I came off sertraline and propanolol. However I stupidly went cold turkey overnight after taking them for years. That was not fun.

Should add I'm not on then now and haven't been for 3 years.

Anyone came come off them... I did it, it wasn't ncie for 2 weeks the zaps and vertigo. I felt a dip after about 9 weeks when I probably had no left in my body. My case as mild tho and people with mood disorders and treatment resistant depression cannot do so as easily.

I've come off ADs twice. I stopped Citalopram by cutting down slowly over a period of many weeks and I stopped taking Venlafaxin when I was ill in hospital, so went cold turkey. Both times I was off ADs for a couple of years but the depression came back with a vengeance. Although I tried to cope without them I ended up in such a black place I went back to taking them. I feel quite well atm and have been thinking recently that I want to stop taking them again. But also wonder if that's a good idea and that maybe I'll be on them for life.

With hindsight I really should have been on ADs about 20 years before I started taking them. My teenage years and through my 20s and 30s was a horrible time for me, blighted by crippling depression. It affected my life- from my career to my relationships- but my family was very anti psychiatric medication and I'd had it drilled into me that taking ADs was a weakness so suffered depression in silence not even discussing it with my GP.

Hello OP, just spotted your message. It’s hard to predict whether you will relapse or not, and need to go back on medication.
On the plus side, you have removed one source of stress, in your job, which is obviously helping. But on the down side, you have relapsed before.
I would play it by ear. If you find you get several years of good mental health between episodes, then it is worth the risk of stopping, to have such a long time free from drug side effects. But if you find you relapse within months, or have frequent cycling episodes of depression, it would make more sense to stay on medication for life.
I’m sorry that I can’t give definitive advice - I would need a crystal ball! But I send my best wishes that you remain well.

This book is an interesting read, gives some food for thought.
thelostconnections.com/

This thread has got me really worried.

I’m suffering from a lot of anxiety and depression. I’m in a really dark place and having massive panic attacks which is impacting my work (I have a stressful professional job).

my GP has prescribed Citalopram but I was worried about taking it but he assured me I could stop anytime and it wasn’t a long term thing. I said would I have to wean myself off and he said no, at 10mg to take while I needed and then easy to stop.

Ive only taken a few days worth but reading this I really think it might be best to stop now before they change my brain chemistry in a way that sounds very addictive…. I’m terrified of them.

No chance, I've been on them 39 years, had several different ones in that time but 5 years ago started Mirtazapine & it suits me so I will be on it for the forseen future.

The amount, @woodencoffetable, in USD, that Big Pharma gives the U.S. politicians is absolutely obscene. They grease Congress’ palms so they’ll pass laws favourable to Big Pharma, obviously.

And you’re right. The pharmaceutical companies in the U.S. alone makes $Billions. In fact, they make SO MUCH MONEY that they have tv commercials where they advertise how if you can’t afford your medication, they can assist you in getting it free from their companies.

They are SO RICH they can literally give it away. But… if your insurance covers it, you only have to cover that “extra $750” or whatever god-awful amount they charge.

What a racket.

Of course, we’re home to the (once) great and wonderful Sackler family, whose company created OxyContin, which in turn created the opioid crisis.
Now, buildings are tearing their name off and they’re suffering from “The Great Erasure.”
The Sacklers have been literally “sacked.”

I didn't say anybody could, I was asking if it was possible because I'd found it difficult