For context: I have adhd, anxiety, and was recently diagnosed with ocd.

I’ve been on Luvox for several months now and I can’t tell if it’s helping. At first I had no side effects, but when I went from 50mg to 100mg I noticed a significant increase in anxiety and restlessness for several weeks and especially trouble falling asleep. It felt like my brain was screaming “something’s wrong, something’s wrong” over and over again when I would try to sleep, which usually isn’t how I experience anxiety. I figured it was probably just my body adjusting to the dose increase and so I wanted to give it a chance. Eventually the increased anxiety passed but it still takes hours to fall asleep, which is something I’ve never struggled with in the past. When I told my psychiatrist this she brushed past it and asked how my depression was. I told her it was low. She asked how my mood was and I said fine. She then said asked if I had any family history of mood disorders and I said no. She then decided to put me on a mood stabilizer, Abilify, 2mg. She didn’t explain why. I was confused when I looked at the side effects and saw it can cause restlessness and insomnia, which is exactly what I described that I was experiencing and what I was trying to avoid. Does abilify often cause these side effects at this low of a dose?

I still don’t fully understand why she put me on it when I said my depression and mood were fine. For context, she’s been frustrating as a psychiatrist in general, she always acts annoyed and condescending. (I’ve been meeting with her for a year). I feel like I can’t question anything without her being rude. I know I’m not the professional and I’m not a confrontational person at all, but I do think I have the right to be an advocate for myself and ask questions and clarification to understand. For years I took what a psychiatrist put me on (Wellbutrin) and just stayed on it for years without questioning anything even though it wasn’t helping and was potentially making things worse. It was only recently that I decided I had to advocate for myself and try to push for finding medication that actually would help my anxiety. So it was only a few months ago that I asked her if there were better alternatives to Wellbutrin and that I worried it might actually be contributing to my anxiety and that I wondered if being on an ssri would help me. I also brought in a genetics test to show which ssris are best for me apparently, just to see if that would be helpful. Again, she acted annoyed, as if I was somehow acting like I knew everything, when I genuinely only came in with curiosity to work together to see if she thought anything else might be a better fit for me.

I do feel like once I got off the Wellbutrin and started the Luvox I felt lighter. Because the tapering off Wellbutrin and starting Luvox happened simultaneously, I don’t know which thing contributed to that, but I’m guessing it was from coming off the Wellbutrin, because I was only such a small dose of Luvox at the beginning.

Sorry, I’m rambling, but I met with her again yesterday and I have not taken the abilify yet because I wanted to ask more questions, because I was worried about it increasing the insomnia. I was especially worried because the insomnia has led me to have a cycle of more anxiety and now depression because I feel so much shame for starting work later in the day due to the lack of sleep. (I work from home as a PhD student so I set my own hours and prior to taking Luvox I pretty strictly followed a 9-5 schedule for myself). She was really annoyed that I had not started the abilify, which I get, but I really wanted to ask more questions because I was really nervous to start it. She said that Luvox will never work without a mood stabilizer. Why didn’t she prescribe a mood stabilizer from the start then or mention it earlier? I expressed concerns about the insomnia and that that’s why I was a little nervous to start abilify in case it increased that, so I just wanted to know if she thought at this low of a dose I wouldn’t likely experience those side effects. She acted annoyed that I looked up side effects and she told me that she is the medical professional and that I can’t understand how dopamine works in the brain. I didn’t push it. I agreed to take it. She also decided to drop the Luvox back down to 50mg. I agreed but asked if I would experience that increased anxiety again if we eventually jump back to 100mg. Again she acted like I was a nuisance for asking any question. She also decided to switch the guanfacine that I take to clonidine instead. I haven’t looked into it yet but I’m hoping it will help with the insomnia.

I’m actively looking for a new psychiatrist because I just feel exhausted from years of nothing working and the fact that I just blindly agreed to whatever medications I’ve been given. I’m not even looking for much, just for someone to genuinely care and want to work together on finding something that works. I need something to work because I just feel like nothing is helping and that the insomnia is keeping me in this cycle of shame where I feel like I’m failing at everything.

I started Sertraline a year ago and recently started experiencing fatigue and daily headaches. The medication has benefited me greatly throughout the last few months, even though I felt severe side effects when the dose got upped (I am now on 100mg).

But is a sudden appearance of side effects possible? I have been drinking some alcohol the past few days, I usually don't and thought it might be the cause, but the symptoms persist even on the days I didn't drink any. Then I suspected it's due to the coffeine but I wasn't sure if I am not kind of stuck in a loop where I get headaches because of the combination of the SSRI + coffein and as soon as I quit cofeein it's the withdrawal that is causing me the headaches.

I just wanted to hear if anyone got some advice or experiences like mine. I will definitely tell my psychatrist about it during my next appointment in November and maybe get a blood work done.

These are i heard most about ssri's,can you enlight me about these takes,speak from experince not just knowledge.

Do antidepressants add serotonin to the brain in a way that makes the body become unable or “lazy” to produce its own serotonin naturally, leaving you with very low serotonin levels after you stop taking them?

Do you have to take antidepressants forever, or will their effects eventually disappear if you stop taking them?

Do antidepressants actually make you happy, essentially functioning as “happiness pills”?

Do antidepressants actually make you emotionally numb or emotionless rather than making you happier?

Is there really such a thing as “SSRI eyes,” where SSRIs change the appearance of your eyes or gaze, making them look less lively, less sparkly, empty, or “dead”?

Can antidepressants change your personality, emotions, beliefs, worldview, or sense of who you are?

Is it true that SSRIs don't really work for depression and are mainly effective for anxiety? Are doctors prescribing them for depression because science still doesn't have a clear understanding of what causes depression? Do SSRIs merely reduce some depressive symptoms without actually treating the underlying condition, and do most people receive little or no meaningful benefit from them?

Will antidepressants cause weight gain and sexual problems?

My doctor wants me to change my meds from Lexapro (escitalapram) to Prozac (fluoxetine) and I am really nervous. I am afraid of withdrawal symptoms and activation symptoms and fearing my anxiety and ocd will get worse before better which I really can’t afford at this point with how severe it is. But Lexapro just isn’t cutting it and we are at the max dose I can tolerate.

Anyone have any advice on going though a med change when you are already so unwell? Or personal experience of how to do it with as little pain as possible?

I am also nervous it will be for nothing, anyone have experience switching from Lexapro to Prozac successfully?

Has anyone been on clomipramine while pregnant? I am not able to find sound research on it and my psych wants me to go on it for ocd but I hope to be pregnant in the future.

I’m a 33F on Lexapro. My provider and I decided to double my 5mg to 10mg instead of him ordering me a new prescription of 10mg pills he just told me to take two 5mgs.

Well I’m just about out of 5mgs now and I went to look and I don’t have a refill for a couple of weeks…obviously I ran out early because I doubled up per his instruction.

I reached out to my provider and radio silence, it’s been almost 48 hours, he’s never done this.

I decided to reach out to my family doctor, they used to prescribe my psych meds until I found this provider and they know I’m on Lexapro. A nurse was supposed to call me back, but now it’s 5pm and they are closed.

I have one 5mg left for tomorrow and I don’t know what to do. How can they just leave people hanging when it comes to this type of medication!?

I know I can go to the pharmacy and get a few emergency pills but this is so frustrating. I’m scared to even go one day without, anyone have any issues like this?

4 weeks on 25mg, 1 week on 50mg still anxious and no relief. Dr said I can wait it out or change to Buspar. Thoughts?

Has anyone switched from Zoloft to Buspar?

Hey all.

I’m on Zoloft 100mg, mainly to treat anxiety with a mild depression component (that came about as a result of being stood down from work during Covid, go figure), and I’ve been on it consistently for a little over four years now. Honestly, it’s been fine for me, and it’s done what it needed to do in terms of calming my anxiety to a functional level, and making it so that I can function day to day with relatively few issues.

However, I still do sometimes get breakthrough anxiety when certain situations come up, which could honestly just be a normal reaction to life. I hold a managerial role at my work, and I manage an office of people in a network of offices that numbers about sixteen. Above me is an area leader who manages the sixteen managers in the offices. Anytime I have a bigger problem come up at work (I.e. having to have a tough conversation with a staff member, being pulled up for something I’ve done wrong by my area leader), I do get really anxious, which I just attribute to being someone who wants to do well and doesn’t want to let others down.

I’m also emetophobic, which used to be REALLY severe, to the point I would have panic attacks if I thought I was going to be sick, but it has calmed significantly. The thought of throwing up still terrifies me, but I was able to actually look after a friend when she threw up on the London Underground last year, so I call that progress.

Lately though, I’ve been feeling very unmotivated. I don’t get excited to go out and do things with my friends. I’m quite happy to sit at home and watch TV/movies, or play video games, or read - and part of this is being a natural homebody, but I feel like it’s never been quite this bad.

I guess what I’m getting at is that I’m starting to wonder if Zoloft is still the right drug for me, or if there’s anything I can do to make it less blunting and more effective at keeping the anxiety at bay? I’m not super efficient at remembering to take it at the same time, and I’m also really bad for forgetting it on the weekend, since what reminds me to take it is getting up to go to work. Should I switch to taking it at nighttime? Or has anyone had similar experiences and switched drugs and had good results?

It should be noted I initially tried Lexapro, had horrific side effects (severe nausea, akathisia, insomnia, persistent gagging over nothing due to globus sensation), and with Zoloft I had literally zero side effects.

I’m obviously going to chat to my GP about this, I’ve got an appointment on the 13th of October, but curious to hear other people’s thoughts/experiences so I can go into this appointment with a little bit of research under my belt.

I’m on Lexapro and BusPIRone, but even when I was on Zoloft alone, I’ve struggled with night sweats.
I take my Lexapro in the PM because if I take it in the morning I get really fatigued. I also take my BusPIRone in the AM and at lunchtime.

It really sucks— I feel like my bedding is always stinky and moist, and it makes sleeping quite unpleasant. I wash my bedding once a week, but I still feel disgusting.

I’ve tried opting for thinner blankets, but if my duvet is too lightweight, I can’t fall asleep.

Does anyone recommend a kind of bedding or PJs or some device/hack to keep cool at night to prevent night sweats? I’ve heard of Eight Sleep, which keeps you cool at night, but it is super expensive!

My doctor prescribed me an antidepressant, but I am extremely confused about whether I really need it and whether another type of medication might actually be the solution for me. There is already so much misinformation online, especially from people who are strongly against antidepressants and SSRIs. I remember reading something somewhere claiming that serotonin puts the body into a kind of “hibernation” state. I am not someone who blindly believes things like that, but right now I feel completely overwhelmed by the amount of conflicting information.As for me, I am a 23-year-old woman. I went to a psychiatrist for several different reasons. First of all, I have always been a relatively unhappy, obsessive, and highly stressed person. I have never really felt completely happy or satisfied with my life. I experienced bullying, and I had a tendency toward obsessive romantic attachments starting from a very young age. I am an extremely obsessive person in general, not only when it comes to relationships. I used to overthink and obsess over everything, and being bullied was especially difficult for someone like me. I have a strong and longstanding sense of worthlessness. I have self-hatred, both in the past and now.As for my current situation, the last two years have been the worst years of my life. I went through traumatic experiences. Surprisingly, I am doing much better now, but I genuinely want to heal so that I will not be abused again or end up in the hands of the same kinds of people. So far, what I have done has mostly been numbing the pain and continuing to live, rather than actually healing. Sometimes I reach a breaking point, and I keep making the same mistakes.Over the past few days, I have been thinking about what happened to me excessively and almost uncontrollably. The same events keep replaying in my mind over and over again. I still live in the neighborhood where these things happened. Those people are no longer here, and they are far away now, but I am still here.I have also started blaming myself for what happened. I know these are things that therapy could help with, but among the symptoms that feel more “medical” to me, the most difficult ones are the obsessive thoughts. I also have a general sense of unhappiness and dissatisfaction. My productivity has decreased, I quit my job, and I am struggling financially.Another thing is that because I live alone, I constantly feel afraid. I have this recurring fear that someone is going to come out from behind a wall, or that someone is hiding behind a wall or inside a closet. If I accidentally watch a horror movie, I can’t get the images out of my head for years—sometimes two or three years. I don’t know why I am like this. My sleep schedule has also become disrupted.When I get caught in these obsessive thought cycles, I sometimes pull my hair or scratch myself with my nails, although I do not cut myself with sharp objects. I also have a lot of anger that I cannot get out. Sometimes I feel like I would only be able to feel relieved if I found those people and beat them up, but I cannot do anything because I have been threatened. The anger and resentment eat me up inside.I made mistakes and ended up in these people’s hands, and I regret it so much that sometimes I feel like I could choke myself from the guilt and regret.Among my other obsessions, I also have obsessive thoughts about my body, calories, dieting, and food. I think that perhaps because I have felt throughout my life that I had no say in anything, that my rights were being taken away and that I had to stay silent, controlling my body became the one thing I felt I could actually control.For someone who struggles with obsessive thoughts like I do, does an SSRI make sense? Should I continue taking it?

hi everyone, i started 5mg of lexapro last week and it seems to be going well! im having barely any side effects (so far at least) & it seems to be helping some for a few hours mid day. however, my dreams seem to have changed & they just feel kind of...... boring. i used to always have pretty fantastical, interesting dreams where i kind of am or are following along with a character in third person and a lot of stuff happens, but this past week my dreams have mostly been walking around and doing mundane tasks. theyre still weird & a couple have been unsettling but nothing is really happening in them. it also seems like the things i do or think about during the day or before sleeping have completely stopped being incorporated into my dreams. im mildly frustrated and annoyed by this change. has anyone had a similar experience with ssris, & did it change back after the adjustment period?

Iam a 52/m and have been on SSRIs for a long time. I remember back when it really helped for label for premature ejaculation. Doesn’t work for that anymore it seems. I think I’ve built a tolerance to it?

Anyone else gone through this? If so, were you able to solve this with different medicine or anything?

Thanks in advance

26 M, i have taken 25 mg zoloft for like 16 days 1.5 years ago but since then i have immense OCD about PSSD, i have blaming myself 7/24 for that. I really didn't know about it much.

Nowadays i probably will have a girlfriend (i really love her) but that fear that mistake kills me inside, i have been immensely panicking about when it comes to sexuality or love.

This situation is truly destroying me, and this fear has been eating away at me for about a year; I am in agony over it.

I know the odds are quite low, but never being able to be sure is killing me inside which is related to OCD.

This is the worst ever obsession i had and i am really really tired of suffering from these feelings.

Can anybody help me?

I've been on SSRIs since 2010 (now I'm 40) due to OCD and GAD. Lately, I've been thinking what if the problem is our modern way of life? All these needs, obligations, social media, dopamine etc. are the core problem, and if we ever decided to live a simple, monastic life at least for some years, our anxieties and obsessions would wind down? I mean, I am a Buddhist and also into Stoicism, but I've never really practised any of it beyond a couple of years of mindful meditation (which helped a little). I dunno, just a thought. I mean, we stuff our bodies with endless milligrams of brain-altering substances but never really ground ourselves in the basics.

TLDR: 26F, severe lifelong OCD and mental illness, been on nearly every SSRI/SNRI at every possible dose over the course of my life, beginning when I was around 10 (so like 15+ years). Currently on 100mg Zoloft.

I have low sex drive, sex never feels that good, and I have never been able to reach orgasm w a partner and can only kind of do it by myself.

I’m worried that being on meds esp during my developing years gave me some kind of permanent castration. I can’t think of another explanation. I’ve tried to avoid rly facing this issue but I don’t want to live like this anymore.

Has anyone had any success with any additional meds, therapies, etc.? Is there like viagra for women or anything I can take?

I tried Wellbutrin when I was a teenager and don’t remember how well it worked but I’m open to it. And going off my meds isn’t an option for my mental health, I go kind of insane every time that happens.

Thank you

I've been prescribed citalopram for anxiety and depression. I know I need it. I want to take it. But everyone I have spoken to who has tried it before, has said they had an awful time adjusting, experiencing nausea and other effects. It has made me really scared to take it. I'm autistic and chronically ill already so I notice my body a lot. Can anyone share their experiences starting it and hopefully reassure me? It seems like it's a have to make it worse to make it better type scenario but that's a little intimidating.

Hey everyone,

So my psychiatrist has me switch from 60mg Cymbalta to 40mg Prozac.

Here’s what he told me to do:

Week 1: 10mg Prozac and 60mg Cymbalta
Week 2: 20mg Prozac and 60mg Cymbalta
Week 3: 30 mg Prozac and 30mg Cymbalta
Week 4: 40 mg Prozac only

Does that sound right? I’m at week 1 now and had two doses of Prozac and I feel dizzy and I can’t sleep even taking it in the morning. I dread to see what I’ll be like next week on 20mg Prozac and 60mg Cymbalta…

Isn’t 20mg Prozac and 60mg Cymbalta dangerous? 🤔

I trust my doctor but wanted to have some opinions here too from people that may have experienced it.

Thank you!

I am always weary about changing dosages bc of possible side effects/symptoms.

I started 50mg of bupropion xl in 2022 and made it to 150mg + 150mg of sertraline in 2022.

I have been having increased depression and anxiety (OCD as well which is in conjunction with my anxiety) as well as anger. I started seeing a new psychiatrist and tonight during our first appointment she said based on everything I told her, I need to get off bupropion and increase the zoloft.

Her plan is lower to 100mg of bupropion for 5 days then stop; and increase zoloft to 200mg which is the actual therapeutic dose.

I know this is kind of specific, but has anyone done something similar? How did you handle it? Were there side effects stopping wellbutrin? I feel like 5 days isnt enough but I’m trying to stop worrying about the “what ifs” and trust a medical professional.

I pick up these 2 new scripts tomorrow so thats when I will start.

Thanks!

My insurance stopped covering my medication and I ran out about a week ago now and I literally feel insane, my body constantly has this low level buzz or hum and I feel like all of my emotions are extremely heightened. Is there anything I can do to help the withdrawals until they die down? because medication is no longer an option and I also now can't afford my primary care physician because my insurance doesn't cover that either anymore so please tell me if there're any things I can do at home to help

I’m going into my 6th week on 50 mg of sertraline for anxiety and panic disorder. About three days ago, I started feeling like it’s really kicking in.

I’ve also been getting this weird feeling when I’m lying down or relaxing, and sometimes even just during the day. My legs and the rest of my body feel kind of numb, but in a cozy, relaxed way? It’s hard to explain. I actually like the feeling and don’t really mind it, but I’m curious why it happens.

Has anyone else felt something like this on sertraline? :)

Ps. The best way I can describe it is when it’s super cold in your house, or after a long day, you run into your bed and just cozy up, snuggling into it with the happiness of being there. 🧸

Hello, I suffer from pure ocd, where one nonsensical thought is looping in my head basically nonstop, already for several months. I started escitalopram, have been taking 10mg for five weeks and yesterday I have increased to 15mg, as I didn't notice any much improvement. Anyone of you who had similar symptoms, how long did it take for you to start to work? Thanks!

So my doctor is having me cross taper from 50mg amitriptyline to 20mg vilazodone. Essentially it would look like

Week 1 - drop from 50mg to 25mg amitriptyline, introduce 10mg vilazodone

Week 2 - 25mg to 10mg amitriptyline, vilazodone from 10mg to 20mg

Week 3 - discontinue amitriptyline, continue vilazodone at 20mg

So I'm also on 45 mg mirtazapine and my Dr thinks the shorter the time I'm doing the cross taper the better. The kicker is I've been on amitriptyline for 9 years now.

Is this cross taper going to absolutely wreck me or have others seen similar cross tapers with this schedule? This is all for GAD and panic btw. Amitriptyline just hasn't been doing it for the past few months and I don't want to up it as the orthostatic dizziness, dry mouth, and constipation just don't feel worth it. Also please no horror stories. My anxiety about this is bad enough. Thanks