u/zepruska

I could have sworn Spravato was helping me around the end of my induction phase, and things were still going OK for a few weeks into my maintenance phase. But my depression has worsened again, and my provider said I might have to go back to doing it twice per week, though they'd have to contact my insurance to see if that would be covered.

Has this happened to anyone else? I'm trying not to get discouraged.

See title. I landed on Trintellix in April after several failed trials of other medications. I was experiencing really bad brain fog which is my psychiatrist recommended it. In conjunction with Spravato, I think it's helped a little, but I seem to have hit a wall and my psychiatrist now wants me to go up to 15 mg (and later 20 mg).

For context, the last antidepressant to truly work for me was Lexapro at 20 mg. So I'm hoping the high dose of Trintellix will work this time around. Any and all encouragement would be helpful 😊

For context, I have GAD, and was on Lexapro from 2012-2025. It stopped working for me and I've tried numerous other antidepressants since then, with little success. I've been battling heightened anxiety for over a year and depression for about 7 months.

I've been sleeping very poorly during this time. Sleep onset has been tough but the real challenge has been staying asleep. If I don't take anything to help me sleep I'll be up almost every hour, and then once the sun comes up, I'm awake for the day no matter how exhausted I am. It's starting to have an effect on my well-being during the day; some mornings it feels like my brain won't fully "boot up" and I've also been having some visual symptoms that my eye doctor believes are related.

Needless to say this is extremely frustrating, especially as someone who used to be able to sleep whenever and wherever without issue.

I have no doubt that this is intertwined with my anxiety and depression, but I recently had a sleep study done just to rule out apnea, as both of my parents have it. The results just came in and while I do not have apnea, my REM latency was shown to be extremely short at just 11 minutes. The study also determined that I get less deep sleep than I should (8%) and more REM sleep than I should (34%). This is interesting because I've found that I often feel myself starting to dream as I'm falling asleep, only to "jolt" awake shortly after.

Of course, I have a follow-up consult scheduled with a sleep doctor later this week, but I wanted to post this here in the meantime to see if anyone has a similar problem. I feel like most of the medications I've tried have helped me fall asleep but not stay asleep. Obviously addressing my mental health will be top priority and I will share these results with my psychiatrist as well.

For context, I have GAD, and was on Lexapro from 2012-2025. It stopped working for me and I've tried numerous other antidepressants since then, with little success. I've been battling heightened anxiety for over a year and depression for about 7 months.

I've been sleeping very poorly during this time. Sleep onset has been tough but the real challenge has been staying asleep. If I don't take anything to help me sleep I'll be up almost every hour, and then once the sun comes up, I'm awake for the day no matter how exhausted I am. It's starting to have an effect on my well-being during the day; some mornings it feels like my brain won't fully "boot up" and I've also been having some visual symptoms that my eye doctor believes are related.

Needless to say this is extremely frustrating, especially as someone who used to be able to sleep whenever and wherever without issue.

I have no doubt that this is intertwined with my anxiety and depression, but I recently had a sleep study done just to rule out apnea, as both of my parents have it. The results just came in and while I do not have apnea, my REM latency was shown to be extremely short at just 11 minutes. The study also determined that I get less deep sleep than I should (8%) and more REM sleep than I should (34%). This is interesting because I've found that I often feel myself starting to dream as I'm falling asleep, only to "jolt" awake shortly after.

Of course, I have a follow-up consult scheduled with a sleep doctor later this week, but I wanted to post this here in the meantime to see if anyone has a similar problem. I feel like most of the medications I've tried have helped me fall asleep but not stay asleep. Obviously addressing my mental health will be top priority and I will share these results with my psychiatrist as well.

I suffer from GAD and have been on a neverending cycle of SSRI and SNRIs since my beloved Lexapro stopped working. None of the ones I have tried have brought me much relief, and it's gotten to a point where I'm getting all side effects and no benefits. My psychiatrist suggested that maybe my brain is just sick of serotonergic drugs and that maybe we should try something with a different mechanism of action. Lamotrigine was one of the options presented to me.

Has anyone gone through something similar and found lamotrigine to be successful where SSRIs weren't? I do not have bipolar disorder but am wondering if this still might be a good medication for me to try off-label. I have also been doing Spravato for two months and intend to continue with that.

I want to go with either Power Windows (how the f*** does he play those bass lines and sing at the same time?!) or Vapor Trails (complete shred fest), but would love to hear everyone else's thoughts. :)

Long post ahead.

I've always been an anxious person. In 2012, my first year of undergrad, I had my first panic attack. I then had several more and fell into depression. My GP at the time prescribed Lexapro, which, in conjunction with low-dose clonazepam, helped drag me out of that hole and keep my anxiety at manageable levels.

Early in 2025, the Lexapro stopped working. I was feeling consistently high levels of anxiety with frequent physical symptoms. I was already on the max dose of Lexapro, so I asked for a referral to see a psychiatrist. I was matched with an NP who told me to taper off Lexapro over the course of a week (which I now know was WAY too fast), then start Prozac.

This began a long journey of medication trials. Prozac made my anxiety even worse. I didn't like the NP's communication so I sought a second opinion from a psychiatrist who switched me to Celexa. I tolerated it better but it gave me brain fog, so she switched me to Pristiq. Around this time I started losing interest in things, and my sleep was worsening. so Lamictal was added. This did nothing, and I spent much of the winter going through emotional "crashes" that took days to recover from.

Finally, my psychiatrist said let's try Lexapro again, maybe my body will accept it as it once did. Nope. It helped my anxiety a bit but my depression (and sleep) got even worse. Also, I began getting scary visual symptoms: photophobia, eye strain, and a sensitivity to movement, feeling like my eyes were "overstimulated."

I got off the Lexapro and switched to Trintellix. I also began Spravato; this was about two months ago and I'm still doing it, and it does seem to help with depression but not anxiety. Crucially, my visual symptoms are starting to affect my quality of life; I have a hard time watching TV, playing video games, scrolling my phone and doing work on my computer, and driving makes my eyes fatigued as well. Both my work and leisure are being impaired, making it even more difficult to deal with the anxiety and depression I've been experiencing.

My sleep remains poor, too. I used to be able to sleep as long as I wanted and take naps whenever I wanted. Now if I'm up around 7 a.m., that's it, I'm done sleeping no matter how hard I try.

So my psychiatrist wants me to wash out all serotonergic medications: the Trintellix, the Buspar I was trying, and the trazodone I've been taking to help me sleep. She thinks that my nervous system is just fed up with them (I think I agree) and that ideally, my vision and sleep will return to normal once my body re-adjusts.

But I'm scared, particularly of the clonazepam. This is the only thing that's been helping my eyes "relax," but I am terrified of becoming addicted. Part of me even wonders if these symptoms came on as some kind of benzo-induced withdrawal. My psychiatrist says take 0.5 mg twice per day if that helps, but I just can't bring myself to do it.

Also, I figured I'd have to taper off the SSRI eventually. But I've been on some form of SSRI for almost 15 years. And I'm worried that a washout will only further destabilize me.

I've been going through this crap for over a year now. And I'm even worse now than when I started. I just want to feel like myself again, but I'm losing hope that it will ever happen.

TL;DR: feeling hopeless about the state of my mind and body and losing faith in the field of psychiatry. Any support or encouragement would be MUCH appreciated.

I mean, yeah, I'm a fanboy, but...what other band has pulled off what the guys (and gal) are doing right now?

Only two nights into the the tour but it's looking like a monumental achievement.

I know there are a few things that keep trazodone from being a first-line treatment for depression (the sedation, obviously), but have any of you tried it at the higher doses and found success? I'm not sure how common it is and I'm guessing only the more experienced psychiatrists will try it, but I was just curious. I also know there is an extended release version but it doesn't seem to be available everywhere.

After a year-plus of failed SSRI/SNRI trials and an increasingly dysregulated nervous system, my psychiatrist wants me to try a washout of all serotonergic medications. Her reasoning is as long as I'm doing Spravato (which I have been doing for about two months and intend to continue), I'll have at least something that helps me for depression.

I see the logic, and while I'm scared as hell to try it (I've been on some form of SSRI for almost 15 years now) I think it is worth a shot. However, I keep seeing that Spravato is intended to be in conjunction with SSRI treatment, not a replacement. Did any of you completely ditch SSRIs and still find Spravato to be helpful?

From the new album, "The Dreams We Leave Behind, Open the Door"

This had been released as a single a couple years ago but it's on the album with a slightly different mix and it fades into the closing song. Great song regardless, this is one of my favorite post-rock bands of all time even if they never reached the heights of their debut.

https://sunlightascendingmi.bandcamp.com/album/the-dreams-we-leave-behind-open-the-door

Marc Byrd: "This is for Martin Richard, an 8-year-old boy killed in the Boston Marathon bombing. He appeared to reach for his mom in his final moments. His story and the grief his family went through really hit us hard. The unspeakable cruelty we inflict on one another… it’s absurd. Who needs supposed “acts of god”, we’re doing ourselves in just fine. We fall silent during these times so we create to console ourselves."

https://www.clashmusic.com/features/track-by-track-hammock-everything-and-nothing/

Twice a day? Three times a day? I was taking it for a couple years under the direction of a general practitioner, but stopped because it didn't seem to be doing anything. Now my psychiatrist wants me to try it again at a higher daily dose (30 mg and above) with possibly taking it three times per day instead of twice.

I've seen some stories on here about people adding 0.25 Rexulti to their SSRI and it helping their anxiety. My psychiatrist has mentioned Vraylar several times but the side effect profile is scaring me. Has anyone had experience with either of these medications, specifically when added to an SSRI at a low dose? I don't want to get into polypharmacy buuuuuuut Buspar is also doing diddly squat.

Been on this drug for almost 2 months now. Started low in early April and slowly went up to 10 mg, where I've been for about 4 weeks. While I am starting to see some positive changes in my depression (I actually want to do things again and I'm looking forward to the plans I make), anxiety has taken over as the primary issue.

For what it's worth, my depression only came on after months and months of heightened anxiety (I have GAD and it was starting to snowball after several failed trials of other antidepressants) so I am no stranger to this. However it seems like this time around the anxiety is getting worse every time I increase the dose. For example, week 4 on 10 mg was worse for my anxiety than week 2 was.

My psychiatrist added Buspar last week (I'm wondering if this is also contributing) and has given me the green light to take a small dose of clonazapam twice daily. I really don't want to do that, but this anxiety is almost crippling at times. Lately I've been having visual problems (photophobia and an "overstimulated" feeling in my eyes when looking at screens or driving) and while several eye doctors have told me my eyes are fine, that makes it no less debilitating - I can barely work or go anywhere.

Has anyone gone through something similar? I really don't want to increase the dose again, but I also don't want to switch medications for the umpteenth time. I know 4 weeks on 10 mg is still very early but I feel like I'm stuck.

Holy shit, this is so good. It's like Love in the Void but somehow even better.

This band never disappoints, EVER.

Backstory: I've been going through a revolving door of antidepressants after the Lexapro I had been on for over 12 years began to fail last spring. Since then, I've been on Prozac, Celexa, Pristiq, Lexapro (retrial), and now Trintellix. They've all given me more side effects than relief, and I've also been battling depression since last November or so: random breakdowns, poor sleep, a complete lack of interest in things I usually enjoy, all that good stuff.

Having struggled with anxiety much of my adult life, I thought I had experienced every symptom possible, but this is a new one. A couple months ago when I was on Lexapro for the second time, I had an emotional "crash" shortly after increasing my dose. Unfortunate but not unexpected. Shortly after that, I suddenly became very sensitive to light, particularly screens and brightly-colored objects. I also found motion (mostly when driving) to be unsettling for my eyes.

This was 2 months ago. Since then, I've seen multiple eye doctors and gotten a clean bill of health on my eyes. One of them found a very minor astigmatism but offered no advice beyond "check the side effects of your medication." Another said my eyes were slightly dry but that shouldn't be causing my issue, which has gone from light sensitivity to eye strain and even pain. I constantly feel like I need to be squinting, looking away, rubbing my forehead, etc. and it's become incredibly bothersome.

My psychiatrist first told me to go back down on the Lexapro, then switch to Trintellix, then try cutting out the trazodone I have been using to help me sleep. None of these suggestions worked.

I am 99% sure that my eye strain is due to either anxiety or the medication(s) I'm taking (or both) since several eye doctors have basically told me I'm fine. But it's really getting to the point where it's affecting my quality of life. Here's what I've tried:

• FL-41 and blue light blocking glasses (helps a tiny bit, but not nearly enough)
• Eye drops (not helpful at all)
• Heated eye mask (not sure if this is helping or not, I've been doing it twice daily for 2 weeks)

The only thing that gives me some relief is taking a small dose (0.5 mg) of clonazepam. I am extremely wary of its addictive properties and have already been needing it more than I'd like, but my psychiatrist says if it helps to calm my eyes, I'm free to take it daily for a couple more weeks until we figure something out. I don't like this strategy at all.

Has anyone else had a problem like this? I should add that I have never needed glasses before in my life. But I can't watch movies, play video games, or even drive around without feeling some kind of discomfort in my eyes, and it's getting extremely worrisome. It just fuels my anxiety further...

Thank you in advance.

I've been slowly titrating from 5 mg to 7.5 mg to 10 mg. I've now been on 10 mg for 3 weeks, and my psychiatrist wants me to stay there for at least 6 weeks before making a decision. Fair enough.

Since increasing, though, I've thrown up at work several times. I don't feel sick and I don't even feel particularly nauseous. It just comes on randomly. I do take the Trintellix before breakfast so I'm wondering if taking it with food would help with this? Has anyone else had this issue and did it go away?

I think I already know the answer to this ("it depends") but figured I'd pose the question anyway. I saw in a Dr. Tracey Marks video on treatment resistant anxiety that while 20 mg Prozac is often good enough to treat depression, 30 mg or 40 mg is recommended for anxiety. Meanwhile, many users on r/trintellix report that 10 mg helped their depression, but their anxiety remained untouched until they went up to 20 mg.

This is just a case of differing anecdotal reports, right? I thought SSRIs were usually more effective at treating anxiety than depression, so if that's the case why would you need a higher dose for anxiety than depression?

I've been on Trintellix for about a month and a half now, having cross-tapered from 10 mg of Lexapro and titrated up slowly. I'm now up to 10 mg on Trintellix and I do think it's helping my depression (in tandem with Spravato), which is good - that's what it was prescribed for.

I'm still dealing with anxiety, though, and over the past week or so it seems like it's getting worse. It's affecting my sleep (I'm waking up in the middle of the night feeling keyed-up and jittery) and during the day I'm just feeling wobbly and "off."

I've only been on 10 mg for about two and a half weeks, and my psychiatrist wants me to stay there for at least a couple more, which of course I will do. But in the meantime, words of encouragement and reasons for optimism would be appreciated. 😄 It seems like I've gotten this "activating" side effect from every SSRI and SNRI I've tried, though how long it's lasted has differed from drug to drug.