Antidepressants..bad press

[madcatladyforever]

There has been a lot of bad press in the new this week about the effects of antidepressants.
That they numb your feelings and reduce sexual function etc etc.
However, nobody has mentioned the good effects. I have been on duloxetine for a few years now, they make me feel like I can finally live a life of some kind.
Before I was so traumatised by my childhood abuse and overwhelmed by feelings of suicide, feeling of absolute panic, feelings of worthlessness, anxiety.
At least on duloxetine I feel none of these things, I don't feel much else either but to be honest I don't care. As long as the nasty stuff has gone at least I can get up, go to work, get things done and sleep and that in itself is a pleasure I never thought I'd see.
You have to weigh up what it is you are prepared to lose to get better and I'd rather spend the weekend a bit numb than thinking of ways to end my life to be honest.
Without duloxetine I can't say I'd be alive right now.

Psychiatry gets bad press as well. My mother was horrified when I mentioned that I was seeing a psychiatrist. I wouldn't be coping without him or without the antidepressants that he prescribes. People wouldn't be so judgemental if I were seeing a cardiologist so why is having something wrong with your brain worse?

I find they don't numb my feelings but allow me to experience a range of emotions, rather than just the negative ones. I've had MH probs from when I was a teenager, back in the days when they didn't give drugs to children. AD's changed my life in that I was actually able to function. I think side effects are better than hospitalisation or death TBH!