The prison of Anti-Depressants

[_Brackite]

Well, I am currently on an anti-depressant medication.

[_Jersey Girl]

Well, I am currently on an anti-depressant medication.

Are you doing okay with it, Bracki?

Do you feel that the way you experience the world is improved?

[_moksha]

After being on an anti-depressant medication for a decade, a drug holiday can be useful to reevaluate if you still need it. If needed, you will have experienced disturbing mood changes.

Taking your meds when your mood disorder kicked back into gear was a wise move.

Celexa has a bit of a heavenly sound to it, eh? Best wishes!

[_Maksutov]

Peace be with you, Me. I have been there.

I had a meltdown in 2008 and ended up as somebody's experiment. Went through at least 3 different antidepressants, sometimes in combination with each other. I became frustrated with my provider's scattergun approach and I took myself off. Cold turkey. While away from home on business.

My wife could barely recognize me when I came back. I was a total mess. Missed my flight, even, because I became so lost. It was like a big black cloud growing in my brain. I started the meds again and then stopped again. Once you're pushed off bubble, it seems to take forever to come back. Emotional lability? Hell yes. I cried over commercials and crappy movies. I avoided people because I felt like an empath who couldn't turn off their concern for others, who was constantly on an emotional roller coaster over everything and nothing.

In my case my symptoms finally calmed down, I retired from my nightmare of a job and found satisfying hobbies and the company of good people.

There is a cavalier attitude towards antidepressants just as there was toward medication for ADHD. I have seen personally several misapplications of treatment (or were they errors in diagnosis?) and experienced it myself. I think the science isn't there yet and the management of treatment itself is inconsistent and too often unproductive. But that's true of much of our health care. Still beats St. John's Wort and prayer.

[_Doctor Steuss]

I wanted to add this on account of the fact that schizophrenia was mentioned. I have a relative back east who lives with schizophrenia. There was a period of time, when I was in between visits, when that relative had to stop taking their regular meds (weekly blood tests were involved, something not going right, white blood cell count?) so they had to go off them and then on to another type of medication that didn't require weekly tests.

It may have been either his kidneys or liver. When I took lithium for about a year, I had to have regular blood tests (every other week) to make sure my innards weren't dying... some mood stabilizers and antipsychotics aren't easily metabolized, and can be hard for some bodies to process/excrete.

When I found these youtube videos, I believe I had a better understanding of what it's like to live with schizophrenia.

I thought this one was the most informative and powerful:

This is one of my favorites (if such a thing can be a "favorite"). Works much better if you use headphones. Even better if you try to carry on a conversation with someone while listening to it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=afbKXWCQMvE

[_Doctor Steuss]

Today I went back to Kaiser and refilled my prescription. I will attempt this again, only MUCH slower, over a period of two months or so. Again a very sobering experience, but not worthless. It gave me some valuable insight.

Don't be afraid while tapering to stick with a dose for a month (or more) before going down in dose again. While you may not ultimately be able to come off the meds completely, you might find a much lower effective maintenance dose.

[_Jersey Girl]

It was Thorazine, Steuss.

[_Maksutov]

It was Thorazine, Steuss.

I think Thorazine is for interventions, not maintenance.

[_Doctor Steuss]

It was Thorazine, Steuss.

Thank you Jersey.

While Thorazine does appear to like to rough up the liver a bit on first pass metabolism, you are probably correct in your recollection of white blood cells.

Agranulocytosis
Agranulocytosis has been reported at an incidence of between 1:1,300 and 1:500,000. Most reported cases have occurred between the fourth and tenth week of treatment.
Warn patients to report the sudden appearance of sore throat, fever or other signs of infection. If white blood cell and differential counts indicate cellular depression, stop treatment and start antibiotic and other suitable therapy, subject to the expert guidance of a haematologist.

Liver Dysfunction
If bilirubinaemia, bilirubinuria or icterus occur, the drug should be discontinued and liver function tests performed. Routine tests are advisable during prolonged therapy. Due to the extensive hepatic metabolism and clearance of chlorpromazine, caution should be taken when treating patients with hepatic impairment. Dose reduction may be necessary in such patients.

https://www.ebs.tga.gov.au/ebs/picmi/pi ... 6114622483

[_Jersey Girl]

Yeah, my relative had to go off the Thorazine (which served them quite well) and that led to a tailspin, couple of hospitalizations while switching to a new med. Doing very well now!