Life after antidepressants?

[charliecat]

I have a good friend who is possibly depressed, but she doesnt want to take antidepressants as she doesnt want to get hooked, understandably.
While discussing it yesterday I was warbling on about chemical imbalance, pills put you on even keel and both of us thought at the same time...oh what happens afterwards though.
For all the time I have known her she has gone through slumps, so pills may correct it while she is on them but what about afterwards, or would it be for life?
Have no experience of this myself and would like to know to her help.

you cant get hooked on them, they correct an imbalance but you also need to work on what made you depressed in the beginning so that when you corect the imbalance and them stop the ad's it wont just happen again cause you still cant cope

Think trinty has got it there. If you can sort out what's making you depressed, the ad's can act as a crutch to get you through. If not, then if you stop taking them, you're just going to feel the same again.

I'm taking them at the moment for PND which from previous experience I know stopped at around a year. So once DS2 has started sleeping, I'll try stopping them to see how I feel.

I know of people that have taken them for decades as the cause of their depression didn't end.

Hmmm, interesting, I dont think shes sure what caused the depression, possibly birth of first baby years ago, she was prescibed ADS, but didnt stay on them for long.

i know people who've been on them for years. sometimes it isn't something you can do to change the imbalance. i've just started myself and am in the 'we'll see what happens when we get there'. i def. think it is worth getting better, and sometimes it is only when you feel better that you can make changes which MAY help when you come off them to keep you staying off them eg. good diet, exercise and social friendships.

i would recommend your friend takes them as they are not addictive and they make the world of difference to her - it is so worth feeling happy and excited again! if she figures out what makes her slump (for me it is definitely winter time as a key factor) she can time taking them round these periods.

I had a marriage break-up after only a year and a few months later after just going more and more down hill and becoming physically ill, I started on anti-depressants. I was on them for a year, started on citalopram, then duloxotine, and then sertraline. They kept changing what I was on, or upping the doseage. I ended up on 100mg by September last year. I met my current boyfriend last summer, but I was living on my own in a flat and I drank a lot which I guess didn't go down too well with the tablets.. Then in December I found out I was pregnant and immediately got the docs to halve my doseage and gradually take me off them for the sake of the baby. I was dead scared of coming off them, but I also knew that I was not myself while I was on them. A month later, in January, I decided myself just to stop them. I kept missing a day for a few days, and then I stopped. I felt fine, and over about 2 months I was really up and felt pretty good. I'd got things to look forward to and I moved into a nice house with my partner.. I told the doctors even tho I'd stopped taking them quickly I felt pretty good. Then a couple of months later I started to get down again and was getting the same feelings inside as I used to. This is still going on, and I keep trying my best to pull myself out of it as I am sure I can do it without tablets. Now I know I've tried tablets but even with them I still had to pull myself out. They couldn't just work magic. So I am trying. I hope it is just a downer due to pregnancy hormones and that it might pass later on. I am worried about the birth and the baby, so hopefully once it's here these bad feelings might go. But I don't know. I have never been through this before. I just hope that I don't fall back into the trap I felt I was in before.

Charlie if your friend was not on them for long she may not have been on them long enough to work. One of the things I found good about AD's was that they gave you the ability to think (which I lost while depressed) as well as the strength you need to face the problems in your life and make the necessary changes to deal with them. hope that makes sense.

One of the things I have found really useful is yoga, particularly the breathing and relaxing sessions which only need to be 10/15mins a day and help to rebalance me when I need it.

Hi everyone, I have recently lost a brother-in-law when he commited suicide. I know he was on anti-depressants. They seem to have a lot of side effects and the problem is still there when you come off them. You are just in oblivion - in a world of your own. I think these things are evil and are just there to make money for the drug companies. Apparently worldwide, more money is spent on drugs than on food. That's why they spend so much time invalidating the effectiveness of vitamins and minerals, as they are a better alternative to these harmful drugs. Now my sister-in-law is on Floxtine. I am going to try but I know it is going to be hard. She is going through a very hard time having lost a husband; and their daughter recently had her 4th birthday with no daddy to see it. What I would say to anyone on these drugs is you need to look at what is making you feel so depressed that you have to resort to these desperate measures; after all you are trying to solve a spiritual problem by physical means. All the "chemical imbalance in the brain" stuff is a load of rubbish -why would adding MORE chemicals redress an "imbalance?". Some people think it is just a matter of finding the right drug that "suits them". I would say that taking some vitamins, getting plenty of excercise, good diet and a circle of good friends to share your troubles with are the best therapy you could have. I am reading a book called the miricle of fasting - which is not just about fasting - it's about real health and following nature's laws. Nature will always have the last laugh when you try to outsmart it. If this helps one person to get off these terrible things then I will be very happy. We have 2 kids and I would never let anyone give them drugs to make them more "agreeable". Why do you think all these school shootings happen in the US? I hope this helps. I know I am not alone in my opinion of these drugs, but our voices are not being heard.

Colin

I'm glad that you have the inner confidance to go up against reams of well documented research, Colin.

I personally feel that anti depressents saved my life. When you have a 2 week old baby and are practically pissing blood, you don't really have time for you 'wide circle of friends' (if you had one in the first place) or the energy for 'plenty of exercise'.

Presumably you are in possession of full working knowledge of how the human brain and nervous system works? I suppose schizophrenia is a load of old cobblers too, then, and as soon as the sufferers of schizophrenia get some exercise and a decent diet, the visual and auditory hallucinations, and belief in the next door neighbour's attemps at mind control with the telly remote, will clear right up!

I'm glad you've sorted this out for us, Colin, I really am. next time I am on my knees, sobbing with the pain of having to open my eyes and deal with another hour of my life, I shall bear in mind your carefully thought out advice about vitimin supplements.

Thanks for that!

OK Colin, I take it you are male and have never suffered PND.

You have made a good point about out smarting nature. With all the vaccinations in the world preventing diseases, nature has taken it's own course and introducued aids. This is just a theory ofcourse.

I am currently on ads after the birth of a child. They have helped me unbelieveabely, although I don't know what will happen when I come off them. I understand they are not adictive. I understand they have helped me be a much better parent over the past year.

Like all amasing things there is probably a price to be paid. Cars and planes are great for humans to get around, but not so great for the environment.

For now I will keep taking my asd's, with their side affects, for the sake of muy childen.

girls...colin is on some sort of mission,.maybe he works for a vitamin company..he has posted the same message on other threads

we ( who have suffered depression) don;t need insulting by this troll...

ignore ignore ignore

Already posted on the other thread that COLPRO's babble appears on and asked if he is for real?

Bizarre and disturbing views sums it up for me.

also deeply offensive and insulting for many people who have been on them or know someone that has - i.e.: a large amount of the population I should think

`PLEASE
dont feed the troll

Oh, and colin, I take a multi vitamin, and mineral appliment every day, as well as a B vitamin complex, a calcium tablet, avitamin C sppliment, and a fish oil sppliment. I also eat the healthy organic food I feed my children and take my childen to the park daily. Regualar swimming and bike rides? Oh yes! A circle of friends? You try it living on a new estate with a tiny baby. Deep friendships at toddler group. You recon? I have a brilliant DH, but yes the pnd got me, unexpectedly with DC3 . I'm all for vitamin suppliments, but heaven only knows nothing but antidepressents would have got me through the past year.

Oh Lynette, don't, you don't have to justfify yourself to someone who has never suffered like you did.

I feel so stupid now-------------------

I've never admited that stuff to anybocy before , even on MN. I'm crying now.

No you mustn't feel stupid! I just KNOW how easy it is to get drawn in when someone is rambling on about something you feel passionately about - and it's the sort of subject, this time of night, that will really upset you if you still feel remotely depressed, because I think a key element in depression is disproportionate shame.

Thankyou colditz.