to want to get off my antidepressants asap after this evening’s Panorama?

[GeraniumGirl]

Anyone else feel the same after watching the programme tonight?

I wouldn't over worry yourself yet. If you want to come off them though certainly do, but in a controlled way.

For a person struggling with a bereavement, the ADs can get them to a point where it's easier to get up in the morning and to function. This can help their eventual recovery. Sometimes people get "stuck" in grief and will suffer more than someone else. Counselling is great but good luck getting that.

I'm on 150mg Sertraline did they mention those?

I've been on various ones for 13 years.

@melinab do you know which magnesium is meant to be best for anxiety / panic (plus some depression)
I've managed to get completely confused with all the different ones.
Well done on getting down so low on the medication - glad things are finally evening out for you. I've used that website in the past too.

@Milly16 which one have you found helpful for anxiety ?

I am really torn. I don't take SSRIs now due to them causing me Sexual Dysfunction, which I found out by myself with no Dr ever advising me this could happen. I am under a Psychiatrist who has tried me on different types of ADs for a fairly short period each time because they were not working. I am now thinking should I just wean myself off completely, but I was off ADs for 10 years and I was often depressed and anxious in those 10 years, I tried every supplement going to help but nothing ever worked, exercise does but it's not a cure.

I think the programme went over things that we have all known for years but what really surprised me were the people that have to live the rest of their lives with sexual dysfunction and taking 5 years to wean themselves off, i was gobsmacked. The companies lying to us is disgusting but not a surprise.

What I think Panorama really missed was it only talked about SSRIs, it was very one sided.

I bet there are a lot of us today questioning the way forward. I don't feel I can talk to my Dr about it, last time I spoke to him he said you've tried most and intimated there was nothing left to try, hence why I am seeing a psychiatrist.

Lol! I was a bit aghast last night when someone used the term bonkers on an anti depressant thread but i see the post has gone.
I've suffered from depression since I was a teenager and was diagnosed ( 5 years ago) with bipolar. was BPD before that. I'm convinced i've got high functioning aspergers- I started masking from teenage years . TRYING to get the psychiatrist to listen is hard! my son and daughter have high functioning autism but ive still got another fight on my hands with the psychiatrist.
i was put on high doses of anti depressants at the end of November and was meant to get a follow up at 4-6 weeks, went to Gp in april and she told me the psychiatrist had walked out!! started reducing one of my anti depressants 3 weeks ago!!!
thinking of you all who have had tough times with GPS, psychiatrists etc

I agree. Didn't see the AD one, but watched the Panorama on UPFs and it was definitely quite superficial - I kept wanting to shout "correlation is not causation!" "Are you finding out who eats these foods and why??" "Have you controlled for socio-economic factors!" at the screen. Exasperating.

That said I am sure ADs don't work for everyone - I appreciate I am very lucky. And it is worrying that for some people the adverse effects can be sudden, nasty and harmful. It's clear that the medics need a better way to find out which drugs will help which people, and which people should stay away from which drugs (way wider issue than just ADs), This is a probably a painstaking, slow and doubtless expensive process to undertake scientifically. And it may well not be in "Big Pharma"'s interests to fund it.

So given that, it would help if doctors were at least more prepared actually to listen to patients telling them what works for them, as that would add to the sum of knowledge in an individual person/substance combination. Far wider issue than ADs though as probably most of us already know from experience.

Thanks everyone for sharing your experiences.

Mitazipine saved my life. Yes it has side effects but I wouldn’t be here without it.

I know about side effects, I know about withdrawal, I know that different people react differently to different medication or therapies but for me personally it is worth it.

@marniemae that's my disease and has been for a couple
Of years

Doseage*. Sorry not disease

Withdrawal from
Venlaflaxine is tough , i tapered off myself but it wasn't easy.
Also if I ever even missed a single dose I would have really awful
Bad dreams , brain Zaps and whooshing , dizziness , stomach pains
I also found my sleep went to crap I was awake more than asleep
I don't know what benefits there have been honestly

I didn’t take my tablets last night so I’ll see if I can go cold turkey. If not, then I can try the tapering down approach.

For the love of god what were Panorama thinking? Op please don’t just do this without advice, cold turkey could be very dangerous.

Please don't go cold turkey, speak to Dr about weaning off. It's dangerous to just stop

@GeraniumGirl PLEASE don't go cold turkey. Please don't.

Just adding in to everyone saying don't go cold turkey.
If you would like to try life without the medication you are well within your rights - but do it the safe way. Slowly and gently.

Please don’t do this. I came off a low dosage of sertraline cold Turkey and the brain zaps and highs and lows were awful. Talk to your doctor.

SSRIs work in a completely different way from tranquilsers.

And this is why the suicide rate is so high. Depression is not a weakness, it's an illness.

they increase suicidality in young people (see FDA Black Box warning)

Depression affects two main functions, mood and motivation. If your mood is low and motivation is high, that's when you are at the highest suicide risk. If your meds improve your motivation before they improve your mood, they can make you suicidal when you first take them I know people who have to go into hospital for several weeks to have their dosage altered for this reason.

hear hear! they've saved my life on 2 occasions.
@GeraniumGirl go easy and be careful, we all want you to be well. Take care xx 🤗

No. And I'm sick of these horror stories. Anti depressant help me enormously. I take them from time to time and have no issue stopping. People would never suggest a diabetic stop insulin if the side effects