Skip Navigation
58 comments
  • Taking SSRIs, I feel like I'm living with an anvil strapped to my back.

    Before I started on them, I felt like I was wrapped around the singularity at the center of a massive black hole. Utterly, utterly crushed; reduced down to the size of something that may as well be nothing. So far past the event horizon that I couldn't even see it anymore.

    At least an anvil can be useful for smithing something practical, hearty, and if one has the skill, something artful.

  • My experience with Zoloft: or the greatest thing that has ever happened to me:

    I have autism, which led to crippling, crushing anxiety and depression. It wasn't until my mid twenties that I broke down. I could barely hold a job, talk on the phone, I couldn't even get a drivers lisense because I had panic attacks behind the wheel so no one was willing to even TRY to teach me anymore. Zoloft changed everything. Within a few days of taking it I was less depressed sure, but the reduction of the anxiety was a miracle. I could take phone calls! I got a drivers license! I was able to get a good paying job and get my life together. It enabled me to get therapy and a diagnosis of autism which really helped me to understand a lot of my underlying problems. I remember asking my friend, after my first successful trip DRIVING to the store, is this how normal poeple feel ALL THE TIME!!??? Not crushed 24/7 by fear so bad it would make me puke!??

    Side effects: I gained a lot of weight and my sex drive took a huge, huge nose dive. If I miss more than three doses I get terrible brain zaps, and can't do anything until I get my meds. Even moving my EYES felt like lighting through my skull.

    Hopefully my mini novel here was helpful, I feel like one of the few lucky, lucky poeple who had such a good reaction to SSDI inhibitors.

    TLDR: took zoloft for depression, instead it ended up being the best anti- anxiety medication I have and I am still taking it. 10/10 would Zoloft again.

    • Zoloft gang here too. I had some mild symptoms of serotonin syndrome when I first started taking it, but they were gone within a couple weeks and it's making a huge difference with my anxiety. I'm also autistic & ADHD

  • Like all of the bad parts of a very low dose of LSD without any of the fun.

  • I take fluoxetine. It doesn't have an immediate physical effect like Tylenol, Gravol, and the like. The effect builds up with time. I would describe it as feeling like "quiet". Fluoxetine gave me the ability to quiet bad thoughts. From there, I had more stability to climb out from the pit of despair and anxiety.

    The first few days (maybe two weeks or so) after starting, I slept a lot. Where I used to go to bed at 11:30pm and wake up at 5am, I was now out like a light at 8pm. My brain was finally quiet, so I could feel my body's exhaustion.

    The next thing I noticed is that I was able to let small annoyances slide. I used to be triggered by stuff like someone playing music too loudly in the bus. Instead of hyperfixating on that sound and ruminating for the entire bus ride, I could now let it fade in the background and think of something else.

    After a few weeks, I noticed less crying, less blowing up at my partner, and less panic spirals. That time and energy I could now put into other stuff: chores, hobbies, socializing. I wanted to be happy and I felt empowered to make it happen, rather than at the whim of the exterior world.

    While fluoxetine greatly diminished my lows, it also muted my highs. In my manic-ish days I felt "happy" for hours, and often hypersexual. Now my happiness was different, like... instead of going on fun rollercoasters and having my heart race, I was now sitting in a cozy armchair with a cup of tea and a snack, and my heart was peaceful. I do have a lower libido, which is tough on my partner. (OTOH I now contribute a lot more to household tasks, so it events out lol.) I do miss the euphoria I used to be able to feel, but I don't wish it back because I know the price I had to pay for it.

  • Like the first ten minutes after waking up from a really hard, hot, nap, all day, every day.

  • So, I want to preface this with "it affects everyone differently". If you are at all curious about it and live in a place with functioning healthcare, you may as well give them a try. Worst comes to worst, you try them for a month and they don't work. Personally, I kinda wish I had tried them sooner.

    Anyway, for me I think that they allow me to feel more of a "range" of emotions. I still have good and bad days, but that's better than bad and terrible days. It's actually interesting to me, because it feels like I've unlocked a range of emotions and need to learn how to manage them like a normal person.

    I also sometimes get this weird euphoric feeling that everything is going to work out and that the world isn't as bad as it seems. I also seem to be better at motivating myself, although still not good at it yet. Since taking them, I've been able to push boundries and do things I wasn't confident doing before. But I still don't exercise enough and eat too much takeout. :P

    However, I do feel that there's a tiredness in the back of my head that inhibits my ability to do intellectual tasks? Someone else described it as feeling like carrying an anvil around, and I can kinda see that. Although I did pick up a really bad habit of bedrotting during my depression, which I have yet to shake off. Maybe if I exercise more regularly I will feel better?

    For libedo... I do feel that it has gone down a lot. Especially in the first few weeks of taking them. However, I also was really worried and obsessing over that part of them before taking them, so maybe I placebo'd myself into thinking I had issues? The biggest sex organ is the brain and all that. A lot of my anxiety and depression was related to sex stuff as well, so that may tie into it.

    Anyway, that's my experiences. Let me know if anyone has any more questions. I like talking about myself. :P

  • It made it a shade easier to overcome OCD - BUT a decade on I feel drowsy, oversleeping, dulled intelligence and creativity, difficult to feel pleasure "driving with the handbrake on" These meds need to have a yearly review factored in - 10+ years of use make it almost impossible to come off (even with good advice and the liquid form (that can taper 1mg change at a time) I had to BEG for in the UK. The standard advice of splitting pills for moving doses means a change far too large to handle (2.5mg is a massive drop). The brain and all its systems get very used to having more serotonin and resist this change with terror, confusion and upset. I'm on 7mg after starting with 10mg then 9, 8... and it gets tougher with each drop (no professional had any advice to give except try to come off in a few weeks :0 ).

58 comments