Antidepressants without certain side effects
Tyri0n
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I am on Trazodone which helps with going to sleep, depression, and anxiety. I had a "brain fog" side effect for the first few days, but now I seem to not have any side effects at all. I have only been on it for a week though, so I am hoping it stays that way.
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AQ -48
EQ - 6
Your Aspie score: 164 of 200
Your neurotypical (non-autistic) score: 29 of 200
Nothing is permanent in this wicked world. Not even our troubles. ~ Charles Chaplin
I take a very tiny dose of Trazodone (along with melatonin) to get to sleep but it doesn't do much other than that. I triad taking a the full doze of Trazodone and it was awful, felt like my head was buzzy/light-headed/dizzy all the time.
I need to go on some sort of meds to calm myself down, since my short-temperedness and high irritability and agitation is just too much for me to just change overnight. But I have developed this fear of taking meds because of the side effects. I know I won't know 'til I have tried them, but I still feel anxious of the risk. I know I'm not the only one feeling this way about tablets, and neither are you. It is common for people to feel nervous of taking meds because they don't know what it might do to them.
Most anti-depressants seem to cause sleep problems, digestion problems, and/or appetite/weight issues. And at the moment I am a good sleeper, have a healthy digestive system, and have a good appetite with no food intolerance and I'm at a healthy weight. I think I'd rather stay anxious and stressy than to lose any of those. Plus meds don't work miracles, so it's no good saying the ends will justify the means because ''meds will change me into a less anxious and stressy person and so will decrease anxiety and stress of loss of sleep/unbalanced digestive system/food intolerance'' or whatever.
I also worry that anti-depressants might make one of my other symptoms worse. I don't want my social skills to get worse, although I'd rather make common social faux pas BUT mentally not care of what others might think and just be confident in myself, than make less social faux pas but be extremely self-aware of anything I might do wrong and worry all the time of what other people think of me. It seems whoever you are, people go for confidence, charm, and charisma. OK, sorry, went a bit off-topic there.
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I take a very tiny dose of Trazodone (along with melatonin) to get to sleep but it doesn't do much other than that. I triad taking a the full doze of Trazodone and it was awful, felt like my head was buzzy/light-headed/dizzy all the time.
How much are you on? They started me at 100mg at bedtime which seems like a small dose even for starting out. Not sure if it's helped me with anything other than sleep so far, but like I said, I have only been on it for a week and they said I won't notice anything for at least 2 weeks.
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AQ -48
EQ - 6
Your Aspie score: 164 of 200
Your neurotypical (non-autistic) score: 29 of 200
Nothing is permanent in this wicked world. Not even our troubles. ~ Charles Chaplin
What about lithium?
Lithium isn't strictly an anti-depressant - it's a mood stabiliser aimed at people with bipolar disorder, so I wouldn't recommend it unless you suffer from manic phases as well as depressive ones. It also causes weight gain in a significant number of users.
I've been on Zoloft, Prozac, Dothiepin, Effexor, Citalopram and Amitriptyline (not concurrently, I might add)!
I've found Amitriptyline to be by far the most effective and the one with the least troubling side effects. It does cause drowsiness, but that's no bad thing if you're an insomniac like me.
Tyri0n
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Joined: 24 Nov 2012
Age: 37
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Most anti-depressants seem to cause sleep problems, digestion problems, and/or appetite/weight issues. And at the moment I am a good sleeper, have a healthy digestive system, and have a good appetite with no food intolerance and I'm at a healthy weight. I think I'd rather stay anxious and stressy than to lose any of those. Plus meds don't work miracles, so it's no good saying the ends will justify the means because ''meds will change me into a less anxious and stressy person and so will decrease anxiety and stress of loss of sleep/unbalanced digestive system/food intolerance'' or whatever.
I also worry that anti-depressants might make one of my other symptoms worse. I don't want my social skills to get worse, although I'd rather make common social faux pas BUT mentally not care of what others might think and just be confident in myself, than make less social faux pas but be extremely self-aware of anything I might do wrong and worry all the time of what other people think of me. It seems whoever you are, people go for confidence, charm, and charisma. OK, sorry, went a bit off-topic there.
Off-topic? No. You actually expressed most of my concerns too. I was lifting and running constantly while on Zoloft and got buff but still fat. It has taken more than 1 year to knock off most of the belly fat to the point where I actually feel good-looking again. I thought of myself as ugly after gaining all that weight, which definitely did not help with anxiety or depression. Now that I finally feel attractive, I would not want to ruin it.
I take a very tiny dose of Trazodone (along with melatonin) to get to sleep but it doesn't do much other than that. I triad taking a the full doze of Trazodone and it was awful, felt like my head was buzzy/light-headed/dizzy all the time.
How much are you on? They started me at 100mg at bedtime which seems like a small dose even for starting out. Not sure if it's helped me with anything other than sleep so far, but like I said, I have only been on it for a week and they said I won't notice anything for at least 2 weeks.
lol. I take 25mg before bed and it puts me to sleep. I'm also over 200 lbs. I could not handle 100mg. I must be exceptionally sensitive to the stuff.
I'm on Celexa (citalopram). Celexa is an SSRI that's used to treat clinical depression and anxiety. I'm on it for both and I don't have any side effects. The only problem is when you don't have it for a while is the withdrawls from Hell.
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Officially diagnosed with nonverbal learning disability, social anxiety disorder, and dsythymic disorder.
btbnnyr
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Tyri0n
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So does it cause weight gain? That's what I want to avoid. It was super difficult to lose the Zoloft belly I developed and get toned again.
Forbidden_Donut
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Joined: 25 Nov 2012
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I'm on Zoloft w/ Buspar, and can definitely say I've gained some weight back. I was on Lexapro previously and it knocked my appetite right out. Lost a TON of lbs. on that. I don't even remember why I was switched tbh. But take that with a grain of salt since I would consider myself a stress-eater and going through all this diagnosis BS has been a nightmare.
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Aspie score - 176/200
NT score - 38/200
Generally, said side-effects should be worth it for the disorders you're taking the medication for. Weight gain is probably a small price to pay for helping depression, mania, anxiety and/or psychoses.
If such isn't worth it, then the underlying disorders probably aren't too bad and don't need treatment.
Lithium or anymood stabilizers are not helpful with classic depression. Lithium is used to treat mania more than depression, so if you are prone to depression it could make the depression even stronger. In general, SSRIs are best to avoid. Neuroscientists have found that people on the autistic spectrum already have brains that have trouble processing seretonin evenly; not only can this lead to hard-druglike highs, it can cause physical allergies that if ignored can lead to death. People on the autistic spectrum are believed to have a higher risk of extreme side effects from SSRIs than that of the general population . For some reason Prozac seems to be an exception to this rule. but is recommended in small doses. Alternative antidepressions that are dopamine enhancers are way safer in regard to side effects. Some of the can however make dysprexia worse and reduse seizure resistance on some people, so do thorough research on them. Then there are benzopines. They are usually prescribed for anxiety, although so
e have been found to alieviate depression in people as well. They actually can be used to lessen the affects of dysprexia.
So does it cause weight gain? That's what I want to avoid. It was super difficult to lose the Zoloft belly I developed and get toned again.
Nope...for me it essentially makes me not give a s**t and I have motivation. Not to mention less panic attacks and crying episodes of me feeling like I'm worthless.
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Officially diagnosed with nonverbal learning disability, social anxiety disorder, and dsythymic disorder.