Brintellix has started working 2 months in
I am a 32yo male diagnosed with ADHD & ASD1, I have been taking concerta for years but recently I was diagnosed with depressive disorder and given vortioxetine, 10mg. I'm now on month 3 of taking it. The situation got worse, and then it got way better.
· Weeks 1&2: Minor nausea, minor placebo effects, nothing special
· Weeks 3&4: Negative effects started building and peaked here. Bad sleep, depression got worse, I regressed as a person. No self-care, no ability to enjoy things
· Month 2 (weeks 5, 6, 7, 8): Negative effects slowly started to disappear. Sleep fixed itself, no nausea. Positive effects started building
· Month 3: Good sleep, good mood, desire to self-care, desire to clean, simple joy, less rumination, it takes less for me to recover now
This is all my personal experience. During weeks 3 and 4 I thought of stopping, but I was able to hold on because of success stories that I read in this subreddit. So I held on. And just like other people said, after some shaky times the situation just started to flip completely. I've been running on fumes for a long time, but right now on month 3 I feel closer to other people. I ruminate less, things do less "mental damage" to me, I can recover quickly, I can look for a job, I can study.
My life is still very much the same as it was on the outside, but it's very different now inside of my head. Take this as anecdotal evidence, not medical advice. The stories of "it got worse and then it got better" do indeed happen. And if it's not with vortioxetine for you, you will get there perhaps with another med.
Don't give up your quest for a better life, however painfully slow it feels. Progress can be made. It can be better. Have a good day