Is anyone helped by meds?

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Hi,

My doctor would like to put me on some anti depressants because she thinks they will help me. I am very reluctant to take any medications though. Has anyone out there been helped by any kinds of meds?

Lots. Took me a while to find the right combination though. And there are side effects. Usually they're worst at the beginning (at least for me.)

I take 5HTP and I find it helps to stop me thinking about bad stuff so much and lifts my mood a little. It's pretty mild compared to what the doctor will prescribe but the positives are that there are no side effects and it's cheaper than paying for prescription medication.

am LFA-severely autistic & intelectualy disabled and am on a lot of medication that was tweaked to an almost balanced level in an intelectual disability A&T hospital.
for the effects of autism/intelectual disability and the resulting severe challenging behavior,epilepsy and severe major depressive disorder,am on cymbalta,halperidol,diazepam [both throughout the day and PRN],tegretol slow release,codeine [for pain from severe head banging and a spinal nerve injury caused by prolonged rough police restraining and restraining by the staff at the ID hospital],am on a lot more meds to do with other things.

the meds have saved life in lots of ways and also given a quality of life,and changed the presentation of autism from what was once very violent and challenging to a much calmer and more peaceful person.

They helped me, but only after a period of trial and error which was pretty horrific.

I ended up on a combination of Mirtazapine and Setraline. Thus far on my current meds I haven't suffered with any violent parasomnia, sleepwalking, moodswings, suicidal thoughts, inability to concentrate, or sexual dysfunction.

I had all of those things during the trial and error phase. Good times! I'd do it again.

why does she want to put you on antidepressants? What's the reason behind it?

I was put on antidepressants a long time ago and had some nasty side effects, so always try to dissuade people from using them unless they have very severe clinical depression.

Now, from autism i get severe anxiety, and am very hyperactive. Which causes problems at night when i'm trying to sleep. And other circumstances like meeting new people, going somewhere i've never been before on my own, attending interviews, etc. So i was prescribed pregabalin to help calm me down. And it works and there's minimal side effects with it. The first time i took it, it gave me a funny feeling of euphoria. Now i've never done recreational drugs, but from what i've learnt from tv, it's very much like ectasy. I found a journal entry i made whilst under this feeling and it was the funniest thing i had ever read. It spoke about colours and unicorns and the universe. But after that, i've been fine, no side effects at all.

It seems to me the doctors want to put people on antidepressants if they go with anything related to stress and anxiety. They're always trying to prescribe them to me even though mostly I'm not depressed and I've told them that for me these pills create more problems than they solve. Also when I tell them I'm taking 5HTP they often make a negative remark about self medicating and are not interested in hearing that this has been more helpful to me than the medication they prescribed. I don't trust doctors.

I 've been on an anti-anxiety med twice in my life and both times I hated it. Found out later because of another condition undiagnosed at the times, I shouldn't have been taking them. I'm now on a mood-stabilizer/anti-seizure med and life is wonderful.

Am on an antidepressant and anticonvulsant medications (for anxiety). I might have possible simple partial (focal) seizures?

Last edited by Lumi on 15 May 2014, 8:04 pm, edited 2 times in total.

Yes, meds have helped me a lot for my severe anxiety. My anxiety is so severe that if it is left untreated I am unable to function. I would be unable or at least have significant problems with eating, falling asleep, getting up and moving out of bed, being around other people, doing school work, and basically most things that people need to do on a day to day basis.

I have really wondered if I have simple partial seizures as well. When I am overwhelmed I sometimes get muscle twitches and I get this strange muddled feeling in my brain that I can't really describe. I also get flashes in my head. I have severe anxiety and my doctor has explained how anxiety is caused by neurotransmitters in my brain and throughout my body over firing, and that it is sort of on a continuum with seizures. A medication that I can take to prevent a panic attack when I'm starting to feel really anxious, or to stop or lessen a panic attack that has already started. I have noticed that the medication helps when calm my brain down when it gets into that muddled state I just described. The medication is also sometimes used to treat seizures, so this makes me wonder even more about having seizires.

I use marijuana.

I've been on half a dozen anti-depressants in the last 10 years with nothing but side effects and little change or assistance whatsoever. So as a personal choice I've decided to be medication free and be the best person I can be based on what I was given and using my own determination and inner strength.

Daily exercise is the best medication I can recommend to you. Not only is it good for anyone, it's great for us.

**Although there are some people that are severe and NEED medication so this advice isn't for everyone!! !***

Celexa was a big help.

I'm sure I've had partial seizures. I've had two while driving which were scary. Lucky me I didn't crash or wreck or hurt others or their property. Both roads were straight, it was late at night, and no other cars were around. Jamais vu occured both times where I didn't know anything about what was going on and slowly my brain recognized where I was, what I was doing, and who I was. I had one at a party in front of others and that was weird.

I went to see a neurologist at the behest of my psychologist and they found nothing. It wasn't epilepsy or any structure anomaly in the brain like a tumor or scarring. During the EEG, I had a nightmare on the sleep part which woke me up, but nothing abnormal as far as brain wave patterns. The med I'm on for my mood issues is also an anti-seizure med so I'm hoping that I never experience a seizure again.

Sedatives be the good stuff, man.

I've always found that my meds have helped me. I can stay on top of the over-stimulation enough that for the most part no one can tell that I'm any different to them. To be fair though my symptoms are quite mild anyway and I've had 33 years of assimilation practice