Thread: The Dangers of Anti-Depressant Drugs. Big Pharma

He is right in that you need to be careful with the medication. Starting and stopping them, people don't think about it but if you suddenly quit that kind of medication, it can really mess you up too.

Originally Posted by Alric

He is right in that you need to be careful with the medication. Starting and stopping them, people don't think about it but if you suddenly quit that kind of medication, it can really mess you up too.

That's the whole point I'm trying to make, anything that gives you withdrawals like that isn't good. That's like a doctor prescribing your crack or heroin.

Yea your high is good, but what happens when you miss a dose? If a crack addict suddenly stops smoking, he's going to have some serious problems. Just doesn't seem good to be doped up like that constantly. But it's all good to get high as long as the drug is legal...but people look down upon dope junkies and potheads

I mean Jesus, brain zaps?..from something a doctor gives you. That sounds so painful and excruciating....

Originally Posted by Majestic

I mean Jesus, brain zaps?..from something a doctor gives you. That sounds so painful and excruciating....

Well, I've gone through the whole withdrawal process so I can tell you, the brain zaps are shitty but they're not the worst part. The worst part is that starting a few months after you stop taking the meds, and lasting several months or even years, is a feeling of deep depression and a sort of disconnectedness from your own memories. It's tough to describe, but it's extremely painful -- emotionally. It sort of feels like you're dead and you're a ghost remembering the life you once had.

But like I said, this doesn't happen right away, which is why poor fools like Zhaylin (no offense) can be lead to believe that these symptoms are self generated, when in fact they're withdrawals, plain and simple. They do go away, but only if you stay off the meds. Your doctor WILL shove a script in your face, but luckily they can't force feed you those pills.

Anyway, we all know this deep down, but some people are in denial. A couple of years ago I was saying the exact same stuff Zhaylin was saying, but fortunately I got my hands on a nasty psychedelic called 2C-E and it gave me the clarity to see what I was doing to myself. It was a painful journey, but I'm proud to say that I'm off all drugs now and feeling great. Even better than before the drugs, because now I know my battles are behind me.

Originally Posted by Majestic

That's the whole point I'm trying to make, anything that gives you withdrawals like that isn't good. That's like a doctor prescribing your crack or heroin.

Because all drugs that can cause withdrawal do so with the same severity as crack and heroin, right? I'm prescribed Adderall which is mixed amphetamine salts and if I miss a dose or suddenly stop taking it I'm fine unless I've abused it, in which case I'm still fine but I eat a lot and maybe have one day where nothing feels worth doing, so I lay around.

Originally Posted by Majestic

Yea your high is good, but what happens when you miss a dose?

You think people who use medications as prescribed are looking to get high? Sorry, but with anti-depressants especially, you don't really get high... at all. I've taken Prozac (SSRI) and Wellbutrin (dopamine and norepinephrine reuptake inhibitor), both different types of anti-depressants, and neither ever made me feel like it was a drug I wanted to abuse. Not to mention how they make you feel is highly dependent on your personal brain chemistry. For instance, when I take Adderall I don't talk uncontrollably, I don't fidget around or look for something to do, or otherwise geek/tweek in any way. It makes me able to focus, sit still, and if I take too much, it actually sedates me to the point that I fall asleep. If I take painkillers such as lortabs, rather than make me really lazy and just sit and chill without much talking, I actually talk quite a bit and I move around just as much as I would have before taking it. This is obviously not the normal effect, and it's because my brain chemistry is different than most people's due to an imbalance of neurotransmitters in my brain. People who really suffer from depression have an imbalance of neurotransmitters as well, although not necessarily the same ones as me. Taking these drugs balances this level out, which in turn can stabilize emotions.

One thing I will say is that, in my experience, drugs like these and some others (such as stimulants) can really fuck with your head if you or your doctor doesn't know what they are doing. If you can tell something is wrong, tell your doctor, and if (s)he says to keep taking the meds then tell him/her to fuck off. The kind of state you can be put into isn't worth even the time they say you should wait for the meds to build up in your bloodstream. I am not talking about feeling like a zombie or unemotional, I'm talking about being paranoid, delusional, and/or extremely emotional. If something feels very off to you, then talk to your doctor about weening yourself off the meds or look up which one you're taking and see if it's safe to quit suddenly (in my case, Wellbutrin I can quit cold turkey any time I want, no withdrawal symptoms whatsoever; however, it isn't like most anti-depressants so I wouldn't suggest it for something like a tricyclic or SSRI). What's worse about all this is that dosage changes can make all the difference. I was and still am prescribed 150mg Wellbutrin XL (for ADD, not depression), and I'm just fine on that. In fact, if anything, it stabilizes my emotions and makes it more difficult to get overly upset. Bump my dose up to 300mg, and my world is turned into massive gaping shithole in which my emotions are highly volatile. It was very easy to become upset, and once upset, I would continually build on it. I experienced a lot of difficulty with getting happy/positive again once I got upset (even over something tiny).

That being said, with the right drug and the right dosage, these drugs can be highly beneficial. Any talk of outright outlawing them is petty fear-mongering. Until a better alternative that has been well established turns up, I'm perfectly fine with anti-depressants being prescribed.

edit:

Originally Posted by Darkmatters

Hey, I'm very curious about this - I've heard anti-depressants described as disassociatives (is that right?) - in spite of their obvious terrible effects, do they cause a similar disassociation from reality as psychoactive drugs, meaning could there be some benefit in terms of ego-death from using them?

I've taken a lot of different types of drugs (really just to try them, most I don't do any more) and I can say from experience that anti-depressants are nothing like dissociatives. Unless you're experiencing hallucinations or delusions of some sort, in most cases I wouldn't consider them psychoactive either. I could maybe see somebody saying you are emotionally detached, as I said above 150mg Wellbutrin XL daily makes it hard for me to become overly upset. I'm sure some people really do experience zombie-ification from some anti-depressants. That's not to say, however, that it is psychoactively dissociative like DXM or Ketamine.

Originally Posted by Majestic

That's the whole point I'm trying to make, anything that gives you withdrawals like that isn't good. That's like a doctor prescribing your crack or heroin.

Yea your high is good, but what happens when you miss a dose? If a crack addict suddenly stops smoking, he's going to have some serious problems. Just doesn't seem good to be doped up like that constantly. But it's all good to get high as long as the drug is legal...but people look down upon dope junkies and potheads

I mean Jesus, brain zaps?..from something a doctor gives you. That sounds so painful and excruciating....

This is the thing. But instead of calling it addictive, they say it is a dependency.

I got those brain zaps too. I've talked about this quite a bit on here when the topic comes up.

They're bloody horrible drugs with common side effects. They actually have been proven to not help depression or anxiety or anything at all. Except there is some indication that it may help for SEVERELY depressed people, as in they can't get out of bed or do anything at all. And even then it only helps a bit.


On the other hand, there are drugs like Ketamine which can cure everything that SSRI's are supposed to, instantly. And you only have to take one dose every couple of months at the most.

But why would they prescribe that? Big Pharma can't make much money off one pill, once a month doses.

I just wish Alex Jones didn't say this about anti-depressants. Because it's actually true but now it looks like bullshit crazy talk.

EDIT:

Wopps, I see there is a couple more pages I missed. And I see some others have already mentioned Ketamine.

Originally Posted by Darkmatters

Hey, I'm very curious about this - I've heard anti-depressants described as disassociatives (is that right?) - in spite of their obvious terrible effects, do they cause a similar disassociation from reality as psychoactive drugs, meaning could there be some benefit in terms of ego-death from using them?

You may have heard this from me. It wasn't that they were like a dissociative. But they did make me dissociated.
I assume it is completely different to psychedelics or dissociative drugs like DXM or Ketamine.
I just felt like I was in a dream. That is really the best way to describe it. And it wasn't an immediate effect of the drug.
It just happened occasionally. And many others have reported this. Depersonalisation/Derealisation Disorder is the name for it.

So I wouldn't call them dissociatives. It's probably a side-effect which not everyone gets. I also did not get any long term benefit from
the ego-death feeling, like one would with psychedelics for example. Like I can't recreate that feeling and learned nothing from it except that it felt good and made me very calm lol

I don't think it's the way to live your entire life though. But it would be good for a little while, like if there was a drug that could do that for a few hours.