I find the whole class of anti-convulsant mood stabilizers very interesting. They are also sometimes prescribed as migraine preventative medications.
It’s fascinating how these compounds have these multiple indications. It raises question to how the underlying mechanisms of these conditions may interact.
I have high frequency bipolar disorder. So it seems like I was having something similar to a seizure all the time. The problem now is that I feel like I’m in a low flat mood and not as mentally accute.
As someone who recently weaned off of SSRIs after several years on them, I found that thre worked quite well for managing my (at the time I was prescribed) debilitating OCD. That combined with occasional weed edibles (1-4 times a month) seems to have permanently decreased my symptoms, to the point where I no longer need SSRIs. I’ve generally heard that they work much better when applied to anxiety disorders than for depression, which makes me wonder why they’re still prescribed so often for that. My guess is some combination of institutional inertia + minor symtom improvement + profit incentive.
I get that they work and are quite helpful to many people, but I will never take another SSRI in my life again. I hate them things. They make me feel dead. It’s like tricking my mind into pretending everything is okay and jolly by becoming stupid and unaware to the reality of the overall situation. If I feel depressed, it’s for a reason, and the solution is to address that reason, not pretend it doesn’t exist or it’s fine. It’s like if you are in a situation where your leg is broken and can’t heal, would you rather take an opiate to numb the pain or change the situation so your leg can heal? I guess my issue wasn’t necessarily a serotonin imbalance 🤷
That sucksssss. I remember feeling the zaps for a few nights and feeling entirely disconnected from reality. I couldn’t tell if I was awake or in a dream. I would close my eyes and fantasize about whatever I could to pretend I was somewhere else to ride it out. Then when at work during the day, I was pretending that I wasn’t exhausted from severe lack of sleep. I would have to go to the bathroom to take breaks and recover a little and convince myself everything was okay. I even asked someone I got a long with to make sure I didn’t look weird or did anything stupid.
Seems like the withdrawal hit you a lot harder than me, so I can’t even imagine how difficult that was to endure.
I know exactly what you mean about the zaps and feeling disconnected. did you get the thing where you could hear your eyeballs moving? I thought I was actually losing it but after looking it up it seems to be a common SSRI withdrawal thing. aside from the zaps and, y’know, stabbing myself, that was the most maddening part of it for me.
did you get the thing where you could hear your eyeballs moving?
OMG yessss!! But it wasn’t like I could literally hear my eyeballs moving. I wasn’t a sound. It was like a feeling in my ears as if moving my eyeballs would tickle or vibrate my inner ear.
I’m happy the stabbing didn’t result in much worse. Glad you’re still around 🙂
If your depression is for a reason, then yeah, probably not chemicals.
Mine is treatment resistant major depression and very much chemicals. Took me until I was in my midthirties to find the solution. There’s hope even for people with bad chemistry!
That first bit is totally untrue. Do you think our grief is not chemical? That we can’t have neural rewiring occur following the loss of a loved one? Don’t dichotomize experience and neurochemistry. They’re two sides of the same coin.
This is some ableist shit right here. Some of us have real debilitating disabilities. It’s like saying a broken leg is the same thing as being permanently in a wheelchair.
MDD is a real disability. It can and often is precipitated by environmental triggers, and episodes can resolve once the environment is changed. Just because someone experiences remission in such a case doesn’t mean they don’t have a disorder that should be treated prior to another episode. Dichotomizing chemical and psychological/environmental is harmful.
Don’t reframe my statement addressing someone’s specific situation into a blanket comment. That person said their depression had a reason (that could be addressed, and once addressed, the depression was resolved.)
Speaking to that instance, it probably wasn’t chemical, because if it was, it wouldn’t have resolved with action taken independent of chemical treatment, but only with a combination.
I am not the person to try and strawman about depression.
Laymen differentiate between addressing things in their environment that cause increases in things like norepinephrine by the cause, environmentally, and not by the resulting chemical release in the brain.
Referring to both chemical treatment, such as taking medication, and environmental treatment, such as quitting a job that causes you stress (or depression, as in the conversation above) as “chemical” is the kind of nitpicky BS that would only further obfuscate the discussion, serving absolutely zero purpose unless you were the type to want to start a fight over nothing.
You may as well refer to everything the brain ever experiences as “chemical.” It’s would be the most literal interpretation, and would serve zero purpose as a method of communication. Much like your conversation with me.
My point is that such a lay interpretation isn’t helpful, and it may be harmful. Plenty of people with MDD have an environmental trigger prior to their first episode, and have their episode remit after that precipitating factor is managed. Convincing someone that their experience isn’t chemical suggests against treatment seeking during remission, such as seeking therapy, which could help prevent another episode (and one that may not have an environmental trigger). A depressive episode can be fatal. Telling someone that because their prior episode remitted spontaneously or after the environmental trigger changed might prevent them from getting the proactive and preventative treatment that they need to keep them from experiencing another episode and thus keep them alive. Don’t gatekeep depression.
At what point did I gatekeep depression by agreeing with someone else about their diagnosis?
You’re being a little ridiculous right now.
For the second time, stop trying to turn my reply to someone else into a blanket statement. I understand picking needless fights with strangers on the internet qualifies as dopamine seeking behavior. Maybe you should be looking inward.
Mmmmm tasty SSRIs (that don’t work for shid) :3
Not good for bipolar people. I wound up with two different anti seizure medications. One of them makes me horny AF all the time.
I find the whole class of anti-convulsant mood stabilizers very interesting. They are also sometimes prescribed as migraine preventative medications.
It’s fascinating how these compounds have these multiple indications. It raises question to how the underlying mechanisms of these conditions may interact.
I have high frequency bipolar disorder. So it seems like I was having something similar to a seizure all the time. The problem now is that I feel like I’m in a low flat mood and not as mentally accute.
As someone who recently weaned off of SSRIs after several years on them, I found that thre worked quite well for managing my (at the time I was prescribed) debilitating OCD. That combined with occasional weed edibles (1-4 times a month) seems to have permanently decreased my symptoms, to the point where I no longer need SSRIs. I’ve generally heard that they work much better when applied to anxiety disorders than for depression, which makes me wonder why they’re still prescribed so often for that. My guess is some combination of institutional inertia + minor symtom improvement + profit incentive.
Sorry to hear yours aren’t working. You might need something else
I get that they work and are quite helpful to many people, but I will never take another SSRI in my life again. I hate them things. They make me feel dead. It’s like tricking my mind into pretending everything is okay and jolly by becoming stupid and unaware to the reality of the overall situation. If I feel depressed, it’s for a reason, and the solution is to address that reason, not pretend it doesn’t exist or it’s fine. It’s like if you are in a situation where your leg is broken and can’t heal, would you rather take an opiate to numb the pain or change the situation so your leg can heal? I guess my issue wasn’t necessarily a serotonin imbalance 🤷
I still have prominent scars from the time SSRI withdrawal triggered psychosis and I went apeshit on myself with a knife. absolutely never again
That sucksssss. I remember feeling the zaps for a few nights and feeling entirely disconnected from reality. I couldn’t tell if I was awake or in a dream. I would close my eyes and fantasize about whatever I could to pretend I was somewhere else to ride it out. Then when at work during the day, I was pretending that I wasn’t exhausted from severe lack of sleep. I would have to go to the bathroom to take breaks and recover a little and convince myself everything was okay. I even asked someone I got a long with to make sure I didn’t look weird or did anything stupid.
Seems like the withdrawal hit you a lot harder than me, so I can’t even imagine how difficult that was to endure.
I know exactly what you mean about the zaps and feeling disconnected. did you get the thing where you could hear your eyeballs moving? I thought I was actually losing it but after looking it up it seems to be a common SSRI withdrawal thing. aside from the zaps and, y’know, stabbing myself, that was the most maddening part of it for me.
OMG yessss!! But it wasn’t like I could literally hear my eyeballs moving. I wasn’t a sound. It was like a feeling in my ears as if moving my eyeballs would tickle or vibrate my inner ear.
I’m happy the stabbing didn’t result in much worse. Glad you’re still around 🙂
thanks and likewise :)
If your depression is for a reason, then yeah, probably not chemicals.
Mine is treatment resistant major depression and very much chemicals. Took me until I was in my midthirties to find the solution. There’s hope even for people with bad chemistry!
That first bit is totally untrue. Do you think our grief is not chemical? That we can’t have neural rewiring occur following the loss of a loved one? Don’t dichotomize experience and neurochemistry. They’re two sides of the same coin.
This is some ableist shit right here. Some of us have real debilitating disabilities. It’s like saying a broken leg is the same thing as being permanently in a wheelchair.
MDD is a real disability. It can and often is precipitated by environmental triggers, and episodes can resolve once the environment is changed. Just because someone experiences remission in such a case doesn’t mean they don’t have a disorder that should be treated prior to another episode. Dichotomizing chemical and psychological/environmental is harmful.
Don’t reframe my statement addressing someone’s specific situation into a blanket comment. That person said their depression had a reason (that could be addressed, and once addressed, the depression was resolved.)
Speaking to that instance, it probably wasn’t chemical, because if it was, it wouldn’t have resolved with action taken independent of chemical treatment, but only with a combination.
I am not the person to try and strawman about depression.
And how do you think addressing stressors works? Some non-chemical means?
This is precisely the pedantic reply I expected.
Laymen differentiate between addressing things in their environment that cause increases in things like norepinephrine by the cause, environmentally, and not by the resulting chemical release in the brain.
Referring to both chemical treatment, such as taking medication, and environmental treatment, such as quitting a job that causes you stress (or depression, as in the conversation above) as “chemical” is the kind of nitpicky BS that would only further obfuscate the discussion, serving absolutely zero purpose unless you were the type to want to start a fight over nothing.
You may as well refer to everything the brain ever experiences as “chemical.” It’s would be the most literal interpretation, and would serve zero purpose as a method of communication. Much like your conversation with me.
My point is that such a lay interpretation isn’t helpful, and it may be harmful. Plenty of people with MDD have an environmental trigger prior to their first episode, and have their episode remit after that precipitating factor is managed. Convincing someone that their experience isn’t chemical suggests against treatment seeking during remission, such as seeking therapy, which could help prevent another episode (and one that may not have an environmental trigger). A depressive episode can be fatal. Telling someone that because their prior episode remitted spontaneously or after the environmental trigger changed might prevent them from getting the proactive and preventative treatment that they need to keep them from experiencing another episode and thus keep them alive. Don’t gatekeep depression.
At what point did I gatekeep depression by agreeing with someone else about their diagnosis?
You’re being a little ridiculous right now.
For the second time, stop trying to turn my reply to someone else into a blanket statement. I understand picking needless fights with strangers on the internet qualifies as dopamine seeking behavior. Maybe you should be looking inward.