I (F20) have depression and undiagnosed adhd (adult adhd doesn’t exist in my country). I believe my depression was caused by the lack of treatment and educational accommodations for my adhd. So I’ve been on 20mg Escitalopram (Lexapro) for about a year, ever since I almost kms, then I switched to some other SSRI for about a week but immediately got bad side effects and my psychiatrist decided to let me quit SSRIs altogether, but keep some other “mood stabilizing pills” (perphenazine, valporate).
It’s been more than a month since then and my mood has been way better than before, my IBS went away and I stopped being super sleepy and became more productive.
What the hell is happening? Aren’t pills supposed to make you feel better?
(Tho they definitely saved me in the beginning. If you are considering going on medication I say go for it.)
Here is a cat for any kind stranger who decides to answer to my questions:
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This is strictly my own experience, your mileage may vary. I’ve been on the SSRI fluoxetine (a.k.a. Prozac) for a long time now and it feels to me like it (at least when it’s not combined with other meds) dials down the intensity of all my emotions, positive or negative. If you’re in a situation where your negative emotions are strong enough to put you in danger, I can see how that would be a worthwhile trade-off. It also has the effect of making me sleepier / more lethargic.
Thanks
If I wasn’t such a hardcore cyclist, things would be much harder to detect how they impact me in ways I can determine. Basically everything I have taken for depression and pain (from a major chronic spinal injury) only impact my psychology and reduce how much I care about issues. They do nothing to address the core problems. I have a lot more control over my metabolism based on endurance activity. I also have several techniques I use to measure my cognition like a few games that I keep track of for average puzzle completion times. I was on Adderall long before I was disabled. It is the only thing that is a net positive and helps me focus past tremendous pain and stay curious even after a decade of social isolation. I have felt better after getting off of every long term pain and psych med. For psych it was rather limited and just this past year being the 10 year of disability, turning 40, and my primary caregiver going though some troubles that left me existential. I didn’t even see a proper psych for that one. I just told my primary doc and got some Bupropion for a couple of months. I feel a drunk like haze with pretty much all downers. I’m really susceptible to downers in general. Like the few times I smoked cannabis I’m figuratively paralyzed for the rest of the day and can feel the lingering effects for weeks. I’m ADD not ADHD.
But yeah, I pretty much always feel better with no meds versus meds. I also always treat with exercise first, but my situation is weird and depression is totally circumstantially motivated for me.
Thank you for sharing your story. Here is a cat pic:
Hello! I’m in a similar situation.
I was diagnosed with anxiety and put on the same generic for lexapro as you. I found that it hasn’t made me any happier, I just give waay less of a shit about things that used to upset me.
After a few months of lexapro my NP suggested we treat my adult ADHD. For me, starting the generic version of adderall was night and day. It made me feel like I had been asleep my whole life and finally woke up.
My NP suggested that some people experience anxiety as a result of suffering from untreated ADHD, and that I might eventually be able to get off lexapro for good.
I’m glad you’re feeling better! Love the cat pictures too.
Thanks! I will definitely seek treatment for my adhd. Maybe I’ll have to buy and microdose some “street adderal” 😒😖
Ugh that sounds awful. I hope you can find something safe and reasonably priced. 🙏❤️
There is one (1) adhd medication available in my country, it’s not a stimulant like adderal so I assume it would not be the first choice in a country with reasonable healthcare. I’ll try to get a prescription for it through some private clinic. Luckily I work in IT so I can afford it, even though it’s kind of expensive.
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me too thanks
Nursing student here. I don’t have the expertise to comment on a specific med other than some basics on the super common ones we’ve studied, but my in-general take away from my education so far is that our bodies, brains especially, are unpredictable little assholes. Pharmacology is a frustrating field cuz the same med can do 50 different things to 50 different people.
Figuring out which ones work for an individual really is just a matter of guess-and-check. We know what they should do, so that’s a good starting point, but the individual effects and side effects… /shrug.
Keep an eye out for changes, but a month out of positive outcome from stopping a med is best case scenario - yay!!
Thank you! 💖
