Anti Depressant Adverse Effects Question

[Deleted member 29920]

Effexor gave me horrendous headaches, dizziness and breathlessness. I kinda find it fascinating how we're all effected differently with anti depressants. If only there was a simple "one pill fixes everybody" lol.

 

[Fadeaway]

@Lionheart777 Welbutrin was the scariest of all the anti-depressants I tried. I have never experienced head pain like that before and it physically felt like bombs were going off inside of my head. It was the one and only time I ever experienced anything like it. Anti-deprssants normally just cause me to feel suicidal and anxious on a level that is different than normal anxiety. It's truly a horrible experience which makes flashbacks actually preferable to that. Say's a lot doesn't it. Despite Dr.s instance to try antidepressants over and over they just convince me that my depression is NOT the result of a chemical imbalance but situational. I have tried well over a dozen different ones since I was 15.

Cymbalta was probably the one with the least side effects , hence the one I tried the longest but after nearly a year or so I found it wasn't helping either. I quit cold turkey with none of the usual withdrawal problems too. Could have been a placebo for all I know. Effexor was the last one I tried and it had a negative impact on my behavior on and i was in such a fog I was doing things without realizing it.

 

[Iamsensative]

I understand, i am on effexor but its not great, i cant come off because my depression deepens. But i tried every drug, Rexulti was amazing, i loved feeling normal, not that grey nothingness and the want to feel abd enjoy life. But as all drugs the side effects were horrible. I have permanent cholesterol white spots on my eyelids, gained 25lbs, metabolic disorder was setting in. Even went back to doc and said what could we do so maybe i could go back on. Well the options were not good add diabetes meds to the mix. So back to square one. Yes my body is super sensitive to these meds. I want to try Ketamine but my doc does not agree.

 

[Anarchy]

Hi CJ,
I just did a search looking for an old thread, about continuing to prescribe SSRIs being a dereliction of the Hippocratic oath to "do no harm"

Simply searching for "SSRI" should be unbiased... The results even surprised cynical me, they're almost all one way; =1"]Search Results for Query: Ssri | My PTSD Forum

The thread I was looking for, didn't even come up in the results Ssris - Is Continuing To Prescribe Them A Contravention Of "do No Harm"?

I'm sorry that you are having a rough time,. I know you have had a lot of crap happening in the past few weeks. The only substances that I've heard convincingly good things about are strong chocolate (in moderation - take too much and it's like caffeine for causing anxiety). MDMA,. And some people say good things about the psychedelics, but after reading Oliver Sacks book "awakenings" and his experience of overloaded dopamine systems, I'd be extremely cautious around psychedelics.

Only the chocolate is safely available here.

I think it was Sacks who pointed out that drugs have effects [full stop]

Trying to say that some of those effects are somehow "side". Is just playing silly word games. They're the effects. Unfortunately.

 

[SasTana]

You are not alone! I can't handle them either. My doctor had to refer me to a psychiatrist. Over 4+ years time I tried just about every anti-depressant and anti-psychotic. I was told I didn't really fit the bipolar diagnosis but to have the drugs covered by insurance they would put that down - identifying the diagnosis was due to resistance to antidepressants. Nothing worked... they had all the negative effects you mentioned - plus tremendous weight gain.
Now... when I was trying them I had not told anyone about the sexual abuse and did not have a PTSD diagnosis yet. Every now and again I wonder if the known history and the diagnosis would make a difference in prescribing??? --- because I wish they would work for me!
BUT those medicated years were HELL and I never want to go there again. This is why I exercise a lot. It's the only thing that helps me feel even... oh and I dont drink soda, very little dairy, gluten free mostly- regret it when I binge. The bonus is I lost 100 lbs!! But I'm still rather large and basically feel like a moose around others - stupid thyroid.

 

[Deadman]

Brain chemistry is a very complicated topic. Even the true experts don't yet understand why some meds work for some people and not others. Further complicating the issue is that meds can stop working after an indefinite period of time. Making matters worse many of us self-medicate with food, alcohol, or other substances.

Unfortunately we are caught in one giant experiment. 50 years from now people will look back and shake their heads and wonder what we were thinking. For now all we can do is keep trying to find what works for us.

 

[joeylittle]

why are some like us sensitive and can't tolerate the meds, yet many others seem to be ok with them?

It has to do primarily with the speed at which our bodies metabolize the drug. (This does not correlate with digestive metabolism).

From the Merck Manual , section covering pharmacokinetics:

. Drug metabolism rates vary among patients. Some patients metabolize a drug so rapidly that therapeutically effective blood and tissue concentrations are not reached; in others, metabolism may be so slow that usual doses have toxic effects. Individual drug metabolism rates are influenced by genetic factors, coexisting disorders,... and drug interactions.

There is some progress being made. By isolating the specific enzymes that are primarily required in order to metabolize various drugs (including the spectrum of psychoactive meds: antidepressants, anti-psychotics, mood stabilizers, etc), and then testing for the presence/absence and functionality of these enzymes in an individual, they can do a slightly better job of matching a person to a drug...or, more specifically, matching your liver to a drug.

It sounds like you may be a poor metabolizer, @C j - meaning, there's something in your enzymes that causes you to build up too much of the drug's bioavailability, which will essentially give you the beginnings of an overdose. All the symptoms you describe are quite consistent with SSRI overdose.

That doesn't mean there are no drugs you can take.

Effexor is an SNRI. I'm going to guess you've also tried some form of an SSRI. Have you tried atypicals or mood stabilizers or MAOIs? If you aren't certain, feel free to just list everything (if you are comfortable). It's also pretty easy to google.

The genetic testing that reveals info about your enzymes is something you might investigate before you try another drug. Slowly, the medical community is getting educated. It's kind of unfortunate, because these tests benefit anyone who is on any medication - but the majority of doctors (in the US at least) say they are uncomfortable using it because they do not know how to interpret the results properly. I'm not sure of the position on it in the U.K.

 

[jade53]

Brain chemistry is a very complicated topic. Even the true experts don't yet understand why some meds w...

After what I went through in the early days trying to get anyone to believe that it seemed to be the paxil was making it harder to sleep etc., etc. and then getting off them after putting me on Zoloft, then Effexor and eventually Risperdal too, I've got a phobia about any medication at all now.

I'm convinced the additional brain chemicals were more responsible for the depersonalization episodes I used go through under minimul stress and have serious question over any benefit in most cases other than hit and miss strategies that seem to often be like playing Russian roulette. With all the research and knowledge about the natural production of these "brain chemicals" and inhibitors to their production, adrenal fatigue, cortisol, etc. I recommend looking for a doctor more familiar with that than how to write a prescription.

For example I recently found an article on how having morning coffee without eating first can disrupt normal seretonin production at the same time as spiking adrenalin and cortisol. How many of us are doing things like that and how many doctors even consider before writing a prescription for a psychotropic or sedative.

That said, there's still times I know I could use an anti-pychotic, or a bottle of rye.