It wasn’t so long ago (if you think about it) that lobotomy was encouraged as a method to treat depression and other mental health issues. There’s a lot of mental health issues that still have no appropriate treatment, and there’s no help guaranteed. I’ve only recently become aware that when it comes to psych drugs, everything’s a gamble.
The doctors don’t entirely know what is going to help or what is going to happen as a result of SSRIs. In my case, Zoloft triggered anhedonia and left me with both insomnia and no positive emotions.
I’m sat here after 6 months of suffering trying to figure out what to do. Zoloft has the potential to make this 10x worse, get there’s a chance it could go away.
I’ve just got past the manic episodes after stopping back in March. My heart rate has only JUST began to settle, whereas before, even in rest position it still raced like I just ran a mile. Unless that’s anxiety. I don’t know.
It’s been 6 months now, and I don’t want to restart the cycle if there’s a possibility that everything can return with time. Yet if nothing can return without Zoloft…
It takes 4-6 weeks for side affects to disappear. I was only on them for 3 days before stopping, instead of remaining on them last time the anhedonia and insomnia kicked in.
I hate being clueless. I hate not having answers. The doctors I have spoken to aren’t actively helping me. It’s all in my own hands…
If it gets worse after restarting Zoloft or Prozac, I’m going to update here. Best try these two things before killing myself.
If my emotions return, I won’t want to die.
14 comments
I’m seeing if once Zoloft gets stabilised in my system, whether it could help. Backed out on the first signs of side effects and not has cleared off since stopping in March.
Wonder if it’s a dopamine deficiency…
Anyone else have anhedonia?
The dark ages. Groups torturing and killing others over religion and the way they look, kings/autocrats exploiting the peasants for selfish gains, doctors pouring random concoctions down our throats and when the patient doesn’t immediately turn normal it’s a case of insanity and lockup. We never LEFT the dark ages.
They refuse to believe patients when negative symptoms do occur as a result of psych meds. Despite the countless comments and forum posts over the internet documenting the very same types of adversities. Insomnia, anhedonia, tardive dyskinesia.
Some never recover. Yet when you mention this to a doctor or psychiatrist, neither want to acknowledge anything. Or they claim it hasn’t happened before.
I can’t even get a psychiatrist. NHS makes it extremely difficult to be referred to one, it’s all about saving money.
I used to think medicine and understanding of mental illness was better, but it isn’t. That leaves a cold, callous aura around my person, realising that there’s no way near enough information out there. People can be damaged with no repair.
Of course they’re not gonna acknowledge it. Medicine is a billion dollar industry, they’re just going to sweep this under the rug. No need to tell the sheep that the pills they’re swallowing doesn’t really help them long-term or doesn’t address the underlying reasons for the depression (be it family relationships, divorce, harassment, bullying, oppression, loss of hope, etc.).
It’s an evil, callous industry who enjoys medicating children at a young age. I was forced onto antidepressants from the age of 8, thanks to authority figures who abused their power. I wasn’t even given a choice, it was either take the meds or my parents got told off.
My parents never wanted me on medication either, despite asking if there was any other form of help, we were told over and over that medication’s the only thing that can fix me.
21 whole fucking years living with undiagnosed Complex PTSD for being severely bullied by the kids at school, teachers sweeping the bullying under a rug to look “pretty” for the education system, and my neighbours abusing the Hell out of my family.
I had to pay out of pocket for a private diagnosis, which isn’t easy in the UK. No direct debit, you must have the cash in your pocket. No medical insurance, because the government relies on the NHS to fix everything. Mental health is a joke over here.
Amusingly, it was them who pressured me into reinstating. I had full emotional range before then, was able to sleep, enjoy food, actually laugh.
Now it’s all gone, because I was swayed into thinking, “I’m ill. Must take meds. They’ll make me happier”.
I’m surprised I haven’t killed myself yet, 6 months is a long time to be emotionally flat and have insomnia. It’s destroyed my cognitive function too.
I always thought medication was a strange approach to curing depression. It’s almost always like caffein, where your body adjusts to it and you end up in a constant cycle of upping the dosage..
I understand chemical imbalances exists in some people, and it could be a factor, but typically external conditions affect your emotions the most.
The truth is, I knew this before reinstating Zoloft and losing my emotions. And I still freaking took it, because of a bunch of professionals saying, “You’ve got PTSD! This is why you need meds!”
I never expected them to axe my emotions either, because last time I was on them things were fine. Now though? Shit.
Chemical imbalance theory, I can see this being debunked in the future. Just like ABA therapy to treat autistic kids.
All of a sudden I’m feeling like a test subject…
Well, it does make sense. People self-medicate to fix the negative feelings that well up inside them under normal circumstances. Take heroin – I don’t mean take, take heroin, but as an example. It stimulates the same warm fuzzies that familial bonds and social connections do, but on a more predictable and consistent basis. Antidepressants are supposed to work the same way, but in a much less direct, fuzzier way.
Antidepressants did a 180 on me and gave me no fuzzy feelings whatsoever.
You’re right about how these feelings are caused by natural outcomes. The mental health industry needs to realise this someday, that people with depression aren’t just chemically imbalanced. It isn’t just as simple as genetics. There are reasons why people are depressed, and it’s how to cope with or address these concrete issues.
It’s important to address those issues before EVER thinking about using brain medication. Instead, antidepressants for depression should be seen as a last resort for when therapy doesn’t work.
Antidepressants ruin lives
I’m under the impression you’ve also had a bad encounter with an antidepressant..?
If so, feel free to rant about it here. I’m all ears.
(If I’m wrong though, you’re right about that. Antidepressants can destroy lives).
All of the fancy top hats and cigars … Where Thomas Jefferson owned a library of books on american geography… None of them were wccurate, as he had to discover himself. What is ego anyway.
Staring at a statue of Jefferson gives me enough empathy to imagine a statue of a man that grabbed my ass without my permission – at least when I noticed how much praise Jefferson received for his beliefs about slavery and the medals he gave out to minorities, “peace medals” etc
Empathizing with people who hate his captain morgan statues in public i mean
Where’s the truth about him raping his adolescent slave and bearing children / keeping her as property / seeing her as property.
Anyway, I think after a point of living and waiting for change and depression remains, the gamble is worth the game.
Anhedonia will destroy anything that remained. You’re free to take your own route, but so many sincerely say that depression is far better than anhedonia.