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Quitting Your Antidepressant Medication
antidepressant medication
Suddenly stopping your antidepressant medication can produce horrible side-effects. HealthyPlace.com Expert Depression Patient and author, Julie Fast, discusses antidepressant withdrawl symptoms and how doctors usually help a patient off their antidepressant.
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#4 written by franksherry 1 year ago
The truth is that this advice about not stopping “cold turkey” antidepressant meds is excellent advice. I have experienced this first hand & have to equate the “muscle tightness” to feeling as though my own muscles wanted to “break my bones”! It was horrible & took many weeks of physical therapy to help relax the muscles & reduce the pain.
As far as the study that showed antidepressants being no better than a placebo, that was referring to mild to mod cases of depression (not severe cases). -
#5 written by franksherry 1 year ago
caketheory,
Depression has very real biological chemical reactions in the body. We only are now, beginning to test hormones (eg. seratonin levels) and chemical levels in the body that influence how a person “feels”. I’m not saying I am pro antidepressant meds, because I feel there are many ways we can influence how we feel in more natural/alternative ways first. However, there is certainly a place for meds in severe cases until we understand more biologically how depression happens. -
#6 written by ethicomm 1 year ago
If I failed to take my antidepressants for 3 or 4 days I usually got what I’d call brain flutters and flu-like symptoms. I recently tapered myself off of Wellbutrin and Effexor due to the $85 a month costs. So far the only thing I’ve noticed is being more impatient in traffic plus I had a few down days. Generally speaking it should be possible to stop your antidepressants but I’d think it’s best to talk to your doctor first (unlike me). Good luck to those looking to try stopping.
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#7 written by scottyb453 1 year ago
@franksherry there is actually no evidence that there is a chemical imbalance in those that are depressed. Every study that has supposedly proved to have found a biological origin to depression has been refuted. The chemical imbalance theory of psychiatric disorders is dubious at best. In fact the antidepressants cause a chemical imbalance in the brain.
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#8 written by franksherry 1 year ago
scottyb453 & caketheory,
I’m not saying it is know for certain” what the “cause” of severe depression is but there is definitely chemical changes that takes place in a person’s body who has depression. This is different from saying, a person is chemically deficient or imbalanced and therefore they “need” an antidepressant. Chemicals have been measured to be different in people who are depressed from those who are not. They just don’t know what’s a normal range is for for each individual. - Comment Feed for this Post
This video is a LIE.
Depression should not be compared to “diabetes” because diabetes is a real disease which can be diagnosed by a biological test.
Nobody is given a medical test to prove your depression so its not fair to compare the 2 in this way.
Also Prof Irving Kirsch from the University of Hull did an extensive clinical trial and concluded that antidepressants are no better than Placebo. Next you’ll be saying ECT treatment is of benefit and then where do you draw the line?