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antidepressants/brain damage
Former Member
Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
something which i thought might be useful for a few people here.
i've been on and off antidepressants since i was about 16. various types, at various dosages, and all but one failed to work.
i came off my last course about six months ago, and since then have been to the doctors a few times with symptoms like dizziness, migraines, balance problems, nausea, concentration problems, confusion, speech problems, and after some tests to rule out anything sinister, she has put it down to the anti-depressants.
she did some research on it, and said it's likely to be either something called serotonin syndrome, or some degree of brain damage, caused by the drugs.
apparently there are a lot of people who never return to their former selves, as it were, after taking psychiatric drugs. especially when they started taking them young, like i did, when your brain is still in it's formative stages.
so yeah, just thought some of you might be interested in that.
i've been on and off antidepressants since i was about 16. various types, at various dosages, and all but one failed to work.
i came off my last course about six months ago, and since then have been to the doctors a few times with symptoms like dizziness, migraines, balance problems, nausea, concentration problems, confusion, speech problems, and after some tests to rule out anything sinister, she has put it down to the anti-depressants.
she did some research on it, and said it's likely to be either something called serotonin syndrome, or some degree of brain damage, caused by the drugs.
apparently there are a lot of people who never return to their former selves, as it were, after taking psychiatric drugs. especially when they started taking them young, like i did, when your brain is still in it's formative stages.
so yeah, just thought some of you might be interested in that.
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Comments
I hope whatever problems you are having are only temporary.
Blimey :eek: . I'm glad i am now off of them. Maybe thats whyi am feeling dizzy grr.
Oh. hope your ok kaffrin. my councillor was going to put me on a course of AD once i speak to my GP, you scared me now. i mean shit scared. i dunno what to do. to go on them or not.
anyway i hope your ok and if it gets worse i hope they sort it. good luck,
Was that random? Ah sod it, I'm a random person...
i read somewhere that 90% of people on ADs don't need them and would be better off without them.
they only help you if you have chemical depression (deficient serotonin). if you're sad because of traumatic life events, or something like that they do nowt at all. apart from make you ill. you'd do better with a good therapist, and a lot of patience.
and i havent been the same since taking them
Nobody has ever mentioned to me the side effects of the drugs. My past therapists and psychs. have always just kept perscribing them to me, never even told me why I needed them. Never gave me the chance to do it on my own, they pretty much started me when it was all my parents decisions. The only things I learn about them is the stuff I see on commericals... and thats just pathetic. And by now, and I've tried, it seems pretty much impossible to get off them.
I don't think they can say that, i mean how do they know what someone would have been like if they never took them. You can't tell. Maybe the would be dead!
I personally think thats a very dangerous thing to say, I mean some people would be dead if they hadn't taken them, It really is that simple.
Like everything most things have possible side effects, yes but on the other hand they help lots of people get their lives back together.
I don't think that they should be just given without the councilling or whatever but i think in some cases they are very much needed.
Like my councillor once told me, you can only start to deal with a problem once you have the strenght & thats the tablets do in some cases.
I just had to give my opinion.
Though I will admit the ease at which it is possible to get ADs does scare me slightly- how can a GP know after a ten-minute consultation?
But the pros and cons of any drug must be taken into account- its all well and good saying going on ADs is bad and dangerous, but its not as dangerous as flinging yourself off the Tyne Bridge because you are so depressed.
Though yes, therapy is the best course of action. Though unfortunately those who manage to get therapy are in the minority, certainly on the NHS, and that is why I count my lucky stars that I got it after three months.
im in therapy/councilling atm and its a big help although she still thinks i should go on AD and i think they might help.
ADs are good at stabilising moods, but they arent a cure, which is where many doctors fall down. They dont cure the depression, they just ease it- a pain reliever, not a pain killer, I suppose.
If you are stable then dont go on ADs, theyre not something that should be popped like candy, but if youre not then do.
i meant, quite simply, that all they do is replace missing serotonin. so if you have no missing serotonin, they won't help you. they are not 'uppers'. they don't make you happy. they just stop you being depressed. but they only do that if your depression is chemical. if you're depressed because of something that's happened, they won't sort you out. the only thing that will is dealing with what's happened.
i think in many cases it's a placebo effect. although they do tend to make you emotionally numb, so i can see why people think it helps. but in the end, as soon as you come off them, you're straight back where you started.
take everything i've said with a pinch of salt, if you want, but remember i have no hidden agenda, just a wrecked body and mind, and i don't want anyone to end up like this. it's not fun.
I disagree with the being straight back to where you started, that all depends on if you have received help.
I understand that you are obviously annoyed & that they haven't helped you but they do help lots of others.
All i am trying to say is that by warning others that AD are not good (which is the way you are coming accross to me) is a dangerous thing to do/say.
I'm not having a go, i just feel strongly about this.
And I dont mean you have the agenda, kaffrin, but there are a lot of doctors that are still from the "pull yourself together" school of mental health, and they will say anything to stop giving ADs out.
ADs are good for people that need them, and they shouldnt be discouraged from taking them. They wont help everyone, and theyre like the contraceptive pill in that two people will react very differently to the same drug, but theyre still better than lying in a bath full of your own blood.
They also do NOT "replace missing serotonin", thats not how they work at all. I presume that you were given an SSRI, as in a selective serotinin re-uptake inhibitor, the name says it all really, as the serotinin fires the receptor once its normaly is done, but the SSRI kind of bounces it back and for some of them makes it fire the receptor again. The more firings you have the happier you are.
Yes AD's can be given out too easily, but also the people that need them most are often those who will be least likely to go forward and ask for them and anything like this can put them off.
Our mental health special has a lot of info on drugs and treatments, and yes the best thing is to combine drugs wth therapy,
For those interested... more on serotonin syndrome, however i would stress that this condition is relatively rare:
Ask erowid
Current psychiatry online
article from the independent 2001
If you are worried about this condition talk it through with your GP.
Take care all
Susie