Are SSRI's worth the side effects?

Post Reply New Topic

My therapist keeps suggesting ssri medication due to my severe lack of trust in others and resultant depression. I know he has no authority on the subject, my question is what SSRI's feel like and do to a person. I feel like I lucked out and found a good therapist, one who actually cares so I want to give his opinion as much consideration as possible; However I have an extensive relationship with drugs (none of which prescription) and have a good idea of how I'll react to certain things if I get some comparison.

-How powerful are the nausea and negative body sensations?
-Is the impact on sociability profound enough to warrant prescription?
-Does your mood ever drop dangerously?
-have you experienced withdrawals?
-The sexual side effects - Just how severe?

Most importantly - What is the most noticeable effect?

Different people react differently so I can only tell you what I experienced of sertraline(zoloft).

-How powerful are the nausea and negative body sensations?
Not too bad if you ease into it and probably won't last too long.

-Is the impact on sociability profound enough to warrant prescription?
It won't really make you all that more sociable but may make you a bit more relaxed.

-Does your mood ever drop dangerously?
I would get more hyperactive and have trouble focusing when my perscription got too high. I dialed it back and that seemed to fix the issue.

-have you experienced withdrawals?
Not yet.

-The sexual side effects - Just how severe?
Without going into too much detail.......I have no problems with the keeping it up part but the actual release is a bit more difficult (but still possible.) It's actually improved my performance and endurance in the bedroom. My sex drive has lowered a bit but it was pretty high to begin with and now it just seems about average.


One thing I should really point out is that I'm only taking 25mg which is 1/4 of what my Doc perscribed to me. It's enough to slightly even out my mood from my normal general melencholy. I took 50mg for a while and it started negatively impacting me a lot more (loosing focus, erratic moods, general drowsiness/laziness) I switched back to 25 and those issues have lessoned. I'm literally terrified of what could happen to me at the full 100mg my Dr perscribed. It's kind of scary really the way people pop these sorta pills like candy.

My recomendation would be to only take a small dosage (whatever the starter dose is) and don't raise it for at least a week or two. If you start felling less sad it has worked and don't raise it.

Its great to hear an answer thats complete and not just a horror story, thank you

I already smoke weed as a medication for the same reasons, would ssri's be as effective? Lets compare your 1/4 dose to one bong rip - .3g of bud keeps me calm for at least an hour and a half, and allows me more socializing. Id much rather keep smoking pot than take prescriptions.

I'm taking an SNRI (venlafaxine), so I am not sure if this is germane. But I just told my psychiatrist I may be prehypertensive, even though I am a healthy 24 year old non smoker. My blood pressure has remained elevated even though I have lost 15 lb in two months. She said that if my primary care physician and I determine that venlafaxine is a significant contributor to my hypertension, and I either go on atarovastin or off venlafaxine, she'd take me off venlafaxine. Then again, I do some other things to control my anxiety.

I'm on an SRI. It's not an SSRI but it's similar. For me it's worth it. My OCD was giving me very self-destructive compulsions and my medication relieves those compulsions so I don't have to act on them and possibly ruin my life. It's definitely worth it for me.

SSRIs aren't like weed. SSRI's are a potentially dangerous synthetic substance that alters the chemistry of your brain. It's not an immediate or temporary effect (like getting high) but a subtle and persistant one that last 24/7 as long as you continue taking it. I finally decided to take the plunge after I realized my life was actually sort of awesome and I still wasn't any happier. Sometimes, no amount of personal fullfillment can make up for a seratonin deficiency but just a small amount was able to change my overall mood. My suspician is you're probably in a similiar place as me. A super small dose may be all you really need to balance you out.

Another side effect I tend to experience is very vivid and lucid dreams. I used to dream very rarely (or at least be unable to remeber.) Now I dream every night.

Fluoxetine, 20 mg.

I really haven't had any physiological problems with it. I expected nausea and et cetera-- I don't know if it happened and it was so mild compared to what I'd been going through that I didn't notice, or if I was too thrilled at getting the damn risperidone out of my system and finding out that I was still alive in here to care.

It doesn't make me any more social. I am not social. What it does do, is take the edge off the anxiety enough that socializing is appreciably easier if I choose to do it. Also I'm more likely to leave home, thus meeting people with whom I might choose to socialize.

Yes, but there's always a reason in what's going on in life or how I'm choosing to think to explain it. Antidepressants won't fix that. I find myself ending up thinking that way less often. It's not any better when it happens, but it is less frequent and of shorter duration.

No withdrawals.

Sexual side effects are hard for me to discuss. I haven't had a healthy libido for years. It's better on fluoxetine than it was on risperidone-- that was, "Go ahead and do what you need to do; it really doesn't matter to me. Please don't bend my hips very far, because it will hurt so much I'll vomit." I still don't have any desire for sex, but I am capable of faking it. I can't remember the last time I had an actual orgasm, but I am capable of faking it. I can work myself up to being interested in doing it as a demonstration of love and attraction, and I can enjoy the emotional aspects. About the orgasm, frankly my dear, I don't give a damn.

I'm not as scared. I don't have as much trouble with involuntary hyperfocus. I notice that, on good days anyway, I can have three things going on at a time and be aware of all of them instead of only one or two.

I don't catch myself hyperfocusing or perseverating on past or possible negatives as often.

And for some strange reason, I can suddenly win at games like rummy or Monopoly. Search me. I think it has to do with more diffuse focus.

I was on 50mg of citalopram, but I'm coming off it and managed to cut down to 20 so far (10mg soon).

It generally creates a sense of equilibrium in your moods and stops self-harming and suicidal ideation once you get to a high enough dose. Now that I'm cutting down, I've started feeling much more edgy and getting morbid thoughts again. I really feel like a goblin is trying to drag me down into hell again, sometimes. Citalopram got rid of that goblin.

It is not a very easy drug to come off, I'm finding. I think I'm managing.

The digestive side-effects are horrible at first. Really bad. They never totally go away, either. The nightmares can be quite bad, too - but they're mostly just kind of weird.

The increase in appetite made me gain a lot of weight - which I'm starting to lose now that I'm cutting my dose.

The sexual side effects on citalopram specifically aren't that bad. It just takes longer to get off and that's it. You might notice a drop in sex drive at first, but that depends on how horny you are in the first place (chances are not if you're very depressed). I had no sex drive when I was very depressed pre-medication and now I have one that's more or less average. That's due to being treated for depression rather than the meds, though.

I'm on Lexapro, 30mg
-How powerful are the nausea and negative body sensations?
Never had those on any SSRI...
-Is the impact on sociability profound enough to warrant prescription?
SSRI's don't really make me more sociable. I think they help with anxiety a little, but not enough for it to jump out at me.
-Does your mood ever drop dangerously?
No.
-have you experienced withdrawals?
Uh, I don't think so.
-The sexual side effects - Just how severe?
Very severe. I've been on a lot of SSRI's and Lexapro is definitely the worst for sexual side effects. It's reduced my sex drive to about 1/4 of its normal intensity, and orgasms barely feel like anything. It's not a huge deal for me, though. I'm single, so...
Most importantly - What is the most noticeable effect?
An overall lessening of anxiety, I guess. It takes the edge off life, so to speak. I don't quite remember what it was like when I first started, and I don't remember ever feeling a huge difference, but my parents claim it's helped me.

Venlafaxine here. 150 mg. Last time I had this high a dose, I had a manic episode, but this time no such luck (on the manic episode I lost quite a bit of weight which I need to do again). All it's done for me is keep me from being so quarrelsome. I still feel the same but I don't express myself as I'd like to. I missed my dose yesterday and all I've done every time I've opened my mouth this morning is offend people.

Thanks to everyone for their insight and helpful info

A small dosage might help me out but I dont know if I want to medicate myself further; I started smoking pot medicinally six years ago and its been great to me so far but its starting to lose its effects since I do abuse it.

Some of these drugs sound pretty brutal in their action and effect, at least I know enough to say no to some of the worst if I do decide to give it a shot.

Has anyone been using reefer to help them?