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

[GeraniumGirl]

Anyone else feel the same after watching the programme tonight?

Anti-depressants really do work for anxiety - when I'm not on them I get anxiety induced physical symptoms which make me more anxious. They are not appropriate for everyone and care needs to be taken by GPs, but for me they have given me my life back. My emotions can feel a bit blunted- that's the key downside. However, my experience with family and friends is that they do have a significant anti- anxiety effect on most people. I have lost my fear of driving since taking them and that has opened up my world hugely. Can now get on a plane, cope with fears of cancer recurrence, cope calmly with my kids' emotions, feel better about myself etc. Withdrawal is a nightmare though.

I suffered very badly from health anxiety for years - went private for “best” support - he put me on a cocktail of god knows what that did absolutely nothing. Tried every kind of therapy under the sun. The anxiety remained crippling.
Then abruptly I discover ex - H affair and totally out of the blue his decision to leave. Started suffering literal physical pain from it all. GP put me on citalopram 20mg (after initial 10mg). Overnight I improved. Dropped all other meds. Health anxiety evaporated (to the extent that I have had two major surgeries alone with very little anxiety). I got through the worst period of my life on citalopram. It was no placebo.
Last year as I was in a good place spoke to the GP about coming off. She said cut to 10mg. After a couple of days I felt dreadful - even started dreaming about medical stuff - being operated on, people dying etc. Resumed the 20mg - all back to normal.
As a PP has said - if I was not on this my stress levels would be causing me untold damage. Clearly I would rather not be on it, but from my perspective citalopram is an absolute game changer.

Sadly removing all anxiety triggers is not possible or even desirable for most people. Nor can everyone spend all day in nature

There are many people who are happy healthy and alive because of anti depressants. If the take away from this program is people wanting to give up their medication, then it was obviously doing something wrong.

I've been on several different types of antidepressants, some have done nothing for me at the highest doses and some have worked to stabilise me a bit. They are not magic pills and I still have depression, I still have bad days where I struggle to function, and I have many days when I think they're not a single thing. I am currently on venlafaxine and my god the withdrawal symptoms are horrific if I even take them slightly later than usual. But when I take myself off the antidepressants I spiral down to crisis very, very quickly.

Talking therapies don't work for me - I've tried many, many times and I will likely be on antidepressants for life. I hate the thought of that and I wish it wasn't the case but my brain doesn't work properly, I dont know how to be happy, and like anyone else with a chronic, long lasting illness I have to take my medication. They DO work for some people - not as well as many people expect them to, and finding the right one is hardwork and they won't work for everyone, but some of us really do rely on them to be able to function. I've struggled with depression, self harm and suicidal ideation since I was 6 years old, I dont know what it's like to not be depressed and anxious but I do know what its like to be in crisis compared to being able to function.

Agree with this!

I was on citalopram - they started me on a 10mg dose with a view to increasing it to 20mg after two weeks. After the two week period I was already starting to feel the effects and asked if I could stay on 10mg (sometimes I don’t think the drs will give you this as a choice)
So it didn’t completely remove anxiety/depression but it made it tolerable. Because of the low dose, it was also really easy to come off them. One every other day for a month and then I stopped with minimal side effects.

I was on 375mg Venlafaxine after an inpatient stay. I felt completely numb to life I weaned myself off and it's the best thing I've ever done. I just have to be really strict with my routine to keep an even keel but I honestly think from personal experience not being on anti depressants is so much better for me and actually sorting out my life (alcohol/sleep/food/exercise/new job) has done way more than medication could.

I don’t think anyone should be thinking they should stop or not be on it if it works. Life is bloody hard, and some people are really struggling. If they work for you and give you quality of life and safety ofc then it is essential to continue.

It’s an intended question I guess for people that are just sleepwalking through life taking meds they don’t need for decades, for something that happened to them years ago and may no longer be relevant.

My MIL got put on Valium after a mild car accident because she couldn’t sleep and was struggling with her nerves to drive again.

The six decades of Valium has done far more damage than the car accident.

Also above is my own personal experience. And this shows everyone is different and will have different experiences

Prozac is known as fluexotine in the UK it's one of the more popular antidepressants, I understand the desire to want to try everything else before taking them but don't be scared off by the name. SSRIs also really don't turn you into a zombie! You are still in complete control over yourself. I think a lot of people think antidepressants change your personality and mood completely and that's just not how they work.

I cut them up but you really should talk to your GP about it.

If you really think you will feel suicidal without the meds then please, please do not come off them without medical advice and support. I came off mine because I was getting unpleasant side effects from a combination of drugs and was told the citalopram was one of the causes. I don’t think that is the case as I’m still getting them on a very low dose. I would go back on them if I felt I needed to.

@EatYourVegetables well said. There are some very troubling posts on this thread, which make me worry for the posters, as well as any potentially frightened readers.

Withdrawal can be horrific.
Finding the right dose & brand can feel impossible.
Money/vested interests in pharma are concerning.
A tablet is not going to generate a lottery win/raise the dead/change your past/grant you 3 wishes/whatever it would take to fix your life.

And yet...

What if you're out of other options? What if our healthcare system is chronically unable to handle anything that isn't to do with patching up our physical body? What if our culture is structured in such a way that your own environmental and personal factors are extremely difficult-to-impossible to change? Pulling your literal and metaphorical socks up is another level of hard when you're in the depths.

I don't have universal answers but I'm pretty sure the solution isn't to stop meds overnight, or reject them outright. There has to be a balance. I just wish I knew what that looked like!

(I say this as someone who has been on & off ADs for decades at the same time as working as a non-medical healthcare professional using non-pharmaceutical intervention to help patients recover.)

A lot of this stuff has been known for years. But it's very disconcerting to discover that doctors are basically making a lot of it up, and are making recommendations based on that.

I find it shocking how many people are being prescribed these kinds of drugs due to something like bereavement. It is perfectly normal to be depressed, even seriously depressed, under those circumstances. And unfortunately a lot of the cultural outlets and customs we used to have to support people in that through their communities are now gone.

But that is a very good example of something where in the end, the individual needs to find a way to integrate the realities of death. Which is the case with many kinds of psychological trauma and illness that are situational. And drugs don't help with that much, they typically mask it, which I suspect is why drugs don't tend to create more resilience in the end.

But it is easier to offer a pill than support, especially support around things that many people don't deal well with themselves.

Restee I agree.

I also think the documentary should be taken in context - of course it's going to make anxious and depressed people more anxious and depressed to tell them them meds they thought were helping might be doing nothing or hindering them instead.

I'm not saying that it's necessarily irresponsible for Panorama to make the documentary (although I haven't watched it yet so will reserve judgement on that).

However, I do think that people who are on the meds (and who are obviously going to be interested in any new findings about the meds they're taking), it's important to keep in mind that the nature of anxiety and depression is obviously going to affect the way one views the documentary and one's own situation and medication choices that the documentary might have commented on.

I always have to 'read' my immediate reactions to things like this in the context of my anxiety, because I find that otherwise, my anxiety (and ADHD, ASD, etc) can take over and I end up making rash decisions that I can come to regret later.

I also have to remind myself to be very wary if I've done a complete 180 on my attitude to something very suddenly or based on one new piece of information, as again I know for me, this can indicate that my anxiety or black-and-white thinking is calling the shots. It might be that I continue to feel the same way once the initial anxiety has dissipated, but I just find it's helpful to be aware of my reactions to things in the context of my own anxiety.

Do you think you would have preferred doctors not to offer you meds? To instead say, whilst some people seem to benefit from them, they don’t work for many people, they are a struggle to come off and we don’t really know how they work.

Most people see the psychiatrist expecting ‘something’. Once patients have had their free nhs psychology (if accepted) then the only tangible thing doctors can offer is meds. People can of course also access social and support groups if available.

I am really interested if people would prefer doctors not to offer them meds in the first place. And if the patients request antidepressants, should doctors say no?

@DemiColon I agree with much of what you say in theory. Our culture has medicalised normal parts of life (your example of grief needing a cure rather than guidance to navigate). But even though I know this, that knowledge isn't really helping me to plough through my own current mire.

Being a human shouldn't be this difficult, should it?!

I agree that they are overprescribed. But if someone goes to the doctor because they are low due to being bereaved, they clearly are asking for a solution outside of their support networks. I can see why GPs feel pressurised to issue a prescription. Especially if counselling hasn’t ‘worked’.

*My MIL got put on Valium after a mild car accident because she couldn’t sleep and was struggling with her nerves to drive again.

The six decades of Valium has done far more damage than the car accident.*

The problem here was not the valium itself, but how its use was managed.
She should been monitored more closely to ensure she did not get addicted. Since that didn't happen, then a managed withdrawal should have been done.
60 years is a long time ago. I have a family member, probably about the same age as your MIL and who also became addicted to valium.

Its use today is, I hope, far better managed.

I am really interested if people would prefer doctors not to offer them meds in the first place. And if the patients request antidepressants, should doctors say no?

Same GP.
I had no idea I was clinically depressed. A good friend encouraged me to see my GP. He offered meds. I resisted for a long time, then did start taking them.
I had a few very difficult years, but am OK now and off the meds (and other MH support).

A friend going through a hard time was upset that she was not offered meds when she was going through a hard time. Instead she was encouraged to do some exercise, which she was reluctant to do.

I think the GP acted correctly in both situations n.b. I obviously don't know what went on between GP and my friend, only what she told us.

I've been on fluoxetine on and off for years.I do feel much more stable mentally on it, but it doesn't help me with controlling my eating disorder at all. Its supposed to be the only one that's the best for bulimia.
Anyone else had any success with any other antidepressant?

@LonginesPrime I'm similar in having to take care to 'stand outside' my reactions to various things to check in with myself and my potential responses. It's tiring but important.

That programme just seems to have been so destructive. I am glad I didn’t watch it. But I now wish I had t read this thread. Good luck all.

The problem is that she was emotionally numb and checked out for that span of time, a life time virtually. It’s very sad. There was no need for them in the first place, she simply needed more time, space to recover her confidence and equilibrium at her own pace.

I don’t know if the newer ADs are any better tbh.