r/antidepressants

Hey guys, I'm not satisfied with my GP support and I'm thinking of using AI to start weaning again. Did anybody do that? Would love to hear your thoughts on making that effective.

Hi everyone. I’m currently on day 10 of agomelatine/Valdoxan 25 mg and I’m starting to feel really hopeless about it.

So far, I honestly don’t feel any antidepressant or anti-anxiety benefit at all. I basically feel like I’m not taking an antidepressant. The only noticeable effect is that it makes me somewhat sleepy after I take it at night.

I have severe anxiety, especially very physical anxiety, as well as depression/anhedonia and emetophobia. I also struggle with functional/anxiety-related swallowing difficulties and dysphagia, which become much worse when I’m anxious. My anxiety can get extremely physical, with things like throat tightness, nausea, pounding heart, etc.
My mood has also been fluctuating a lot. I’ll have several days of horrible physical anxiety, then the anxiety suddenly decreases and I become extremely numb, empty, anhedonic and depressed. That’s when suicidal thoughts sometimes appear. I’ve actually experienced suicidal thoughts when starting previous antidepressants too, and I’ve also experienced depression and suicidal thoughts outside of medication, so I’m not sure how much of this is the agomelatine versus my underlying condition.

My doctor told me that having zero improvement by day 10 is completely normal and that I should give it more time. But it’s really difficult because I feel so bad right now and I can’t see how this is going to change.

For anyone who has taken agomelatine:
• Did you have absolutely no improvement during the first 1–2 weeks?
• When did you first notice that something was changing?
• Did your anxiety improve eventually, especially the physical anxiety?
• Did your anhedonia/depression improve?
• Did you feel worse before you felt better?
• If you had no improvement at day 10, did it still eventually work for you?

I know everyone responds differently, and I’m not asking anyone to guarantee that it’ll work. I just really need some realistic experiences from people who were in a similar position and eventually got better. I could really use some hope right now.

I've been struggling with anhedonia for a very long time. I think it isn't complete anhedonia, because I still feel mild pleasure from some things, and I still like video games, but I hate like living like this. I feel trapped. I want to enjoy all aspects of life, not just waiting for the end of the day when I get to play some games.

One of the drugs I've heard of that people said helped them was Wellbutrin. I've heard mixed things though, with some even saying that it can WORSEN anhedonia. This scares me. I DESPERATELY want to live life to the fullest, but the possibility that this horrible condition could get even worse scares me so bad.

Hey y’all 😞 I’m already on Sertraline 100 mg, and I JUST got prescribed Quetiapine 50 mg for my sleeping problems. I’ve already looked into the common side effects, and apparently the increased appetite/munchies can be pretty intense with this medication.

Anyone here who maintained their weight or didn’t gain a significant amount while taking Quetiapine, particularly at 50 mg? I’d really like to hear from people who managed to avoid significant weight gain and what habits or routines worked for them.

I’m especially nervous because my appetite is already increased from Sertraline, and I really don’t want another medication making me constantly hungry. My appearance doesn’t suit me when I’m heavier, so I am lowkey stressing the FUCK out. Thank you so much!!!

In April 2022, when I was 19 years old, I was prescribed 7.5 mg of mianserin twice a day for 3 weeks, followed by 7.5 mg once a day for 1 week. During that time, besides other side effects such as a fleeting attention span, blurred vision, and hypersomnia, I noticed that I could no longer become sexually aroused. I simply could not get turned on or horny. I told the doctor about it, but he convinced me to stick to the plan and complete the full 4 weeks of treatment.

Now, more than 4 years have passed. I am 23, and my ability to become sexually aroused has never returned. There was no window of improvement—not even a short one. I have not taken any drugs since mianserin.

For the past 4 years, I have been considerably athletic and active. I used to run around 60 km per week year-round, maintained a clean diet, and had healthy sleep habits. I have never been a smoker or a drinker. Yes, I have had my downs—I am talking about my mental health—but I have also had my ups.

I visited a GP recently and told him my story. He ordered a comprehensive hormonal panel and bloodwork. All the results came back perfectly normal. The doctor recommended that I see a psychotherapist, as if the issue were purely psychological.

Honestly, I am starting to give up hope. I thought about seeing a good psychiatrist, but I feel like it would probably be much the same as seeing the GP. The way I see it, the only way out for me is to forget what it was like to experience sexual arousal. Otherwise, I feel like the emotional pain will haunt me for the rest of my life.

I honestly have no expectations or hopes in posting this, but I really wanted to talk to somebody about it.

Is it impossible to have an orgasm while taking anti depressants?

I'm (24F) coming here because I'm at a loss and want to hear other people's stories and experiences to see if anyone can else has experienced anything similar.

I've been on and off different meds for years and have had on and off bouts of depression. I'm diagnosed with MDD and recently suspected of struggling with OCD, so I tried Prozac for the first time.

Within a few days I felt good again. And then, I felt AMAZING. I was so inspired and motivated. I finally wanted to do art again. I didn't hate my job and I wasn't overwhelmed and I wasn't working myself into these constant awful thought spirals. It was early on and I really wasn't trying to get ahead of myself, but how could I not at the same time. I've been dealing with this particular bout of depression for over a year now. I've been seeing two therapists and have seen two different psychiatrists during this bout alone. I was feeling like all of my research and hard work was finally starting to pay off. I had worked so hard to do as much as I could before resorting to meds but it became necessary for me and finally I was seeing real results!

And then it tapered off. I started feeling bad again. I was taking the same meds, but after two weeks of feeling great I just started to feel blah. My psychiatrist recommended that I should up my dose from 20 to 40 mg bc of the potential OCD. That I may need more but it seems like this is the right med for me. We upped my dose, and I got worse. I was holding out hope for a while that my inspiration and motivation would come back, but I was crying more and feeling very overwhelmed over minor things. My partner could see I was getting worse and urged me to stop taking the medicine after I confessed I was researching institutions to check myself into. I was feeling scared of myself and panicked and like I needed more serious help.

When I relayed all of this to my psychiatrist and she seemed so confused. At this point, she was already on her way out of the practice and decided to decrease my dose and set me up with someone else within the practice who may have different recommendations. I have also been given IOP and PHP resources.

Unfortunately, because of the way my prescriber wrote my script, I wasn't able to get the refill I needed to properly taper off my dose before going out of town so I went from 40mg to 20 for less than a week to now nothing. Now I feel maybe the worst I've been yet this round. I'm so fatigued and no amount of caffeine can touch it. I dread doing anything and it's really impacting my daily functioning. I've only been off for about 5 days now, so I know the withdrawals are hitting me, but this is so awful.

I just don't understand what happened. Did I not give the meds enough time to work? Should I have stuck it out? Was my initial benefits some kind of placebo? I feel that if placebo was enough to help me I would have come across that a lot earlier in this journey. Did my extracurricular activities (regular cannabis smoking, one time use of 🍄‍🟫) ruin the opportunity I had with this drug? I would love to hear if anyone has had similar experiences and what worked for you or any advice you may have.

TL;DR Prozac worked great for me at first but the good effects tapered out and wore off after about 2 weeks. Increasing my dose made me feel even worse. Have you heard of anything like this?

I’m on a low dose Currently on week 4 of Wellbutrin. To clarify I’m not using this to treat anxiety

How long did it take for your anxiety to subside?

Today is day 20 of taking 10mg of Prozac and it’s been a wild ride. The first few days I felt amazing, then all of a sudden I got a big wave of all the side effects. Dizziness, sweating, extreme depression and anxiety. I almost quit because of that but thankfully it levelled out now.

However, for the past 4-5 days, I’ve been STARVING. Like it’s not just an appetite for some candy, but actual primal HUNGER. I would eat something and immediately after I’m starving again. My stomach hurts and I even get nauseous because of it.

And I really really don’t want to gain any weight, I’ve actually been on a weight loss journey. So now I don’t know whether I should stick to it and hope it will go away or if I just quit. Because it’s so bad that I can’t focus and live my life normally. This hunger is killing me

do you think it will still work?

should i start Zoloft

I have been on Lexapro 20mg for 16 years. I am reducing to 15mg. Using drops to try to reduce withdrawal. So I went to 19mg 7 days ago. I am very tired and dizzy.

Did anyone experienced side effects after just 1mg reduction?

I took Lexapro for 2.5 years then switched to Zoloft for a couple months then settled on Celexa for 2.5 years. So a total of 5 years on ssris. I weaned off over the course of 6 weeks (October 2024) per my doctor (20mg to 0mg) during my first pregnancy. I have been unmedicated since and I am halfway through my second pregnancy and struggling… bad. I don’t think I’m in protracted withdrawal as my symptoms feel pretty much the same as it did before starting the medication but only slightly worse. But that could be bc I’m a new mom and my life has changed drastically. I’m also just overall more irritable and I have sensitivity’s towards some OTC meds that I don’t remember having prior to ssris. Anyways I plan on reinstating on Zoloft after giving birth but I’m terrified it won’t work.
So what I’m asking is if anyone has reinstated years after stopping and did it help? Only positive stories please. I’ve read enough bad ones already.

I’ve been on Prozac for about 2 months now. I did 10mg for the first month and then increased to 20mg, which I’ve been on for about a month.

At first I was doing REALLY well. I felt happier, more motivated, less anxious, and overall like it was actually working. But about a week ago it suddenly felt like something completely changed.

I’ve been experiencing:

- Extreme exhaustion and sleeping 11+ hours

- Vivid/intense nightmares

- Very little motivation, especially in the evenings

- Agitation/anxiety

- Lower/depressed mood

- Feeling like I just want to sleep all the time

- Not wanting to talk to friends or family

- Not even wanting to listen to music or do things I normally enjoy

- Periods of extreme hunger

And today I suddenly started experiencing heartburn

The exhaustion is probably the worst part. I feel like a completely different person compared to how good I was feeling a couple weeks ago.

I’m getting on a call with my psychiatrist to talk about all of this, so I’m not looking for medical advice or planning to change my dose based on Reddit. 

I’m mostly curious whether anyone else experienced something similar after initially doing really well on Prozac. If you did, what ended up happening? Did the side effects eventually settle down? Did your doctor increase your dose, decrease it, or switch you to something else? Did you eventually start feeling good again?

Prozac was helping my anxiety/OCD a lot at first, so I’m really disappointed and confused by the sudden change. I’d especially love to hear from anyone who had a similar experience and eventually found something that worked.

I desperately need help. I have anhedonia and I've been like this for longer than I can remember. It is by far the worst depression symptom. I haven't had fun since early childhood. NOTHING brings me pleasure. I can't be happy like this. It makes me feel like my life is not worth living. I feel like a zoo animal trapped in an enclosure that is too small. I feel so scared and hopeless. Please someone tell me if it's possible to recover from this.

Hi all! I have been on quite the journey the last two years to find the right medicine for me after my trusty Celexa stopped working (took successfully for 12 years). My most recent experience was Pristiq from October to about May and had some good success in the beginning but then something was a bit off and I wasn’t feeling it. So we switched to Zoloft and per my genesite test, I would need higher doses of it but I’ve had awful back pain, neck pain etc on it. I am well aware of the difficulties to come off of Effexor but has anyone gone this route? I obviously don’t plan to come off the Effexor for some time if it’s helping but just wanted to see opinions. I have my psych follow up tomorrow.

Hello Friends, I am a 61 year old woman with a long history of MDD, OCD, and GAD from a traumatic childhood that included sexual abuse.

Most of my life have been on SSRI's - since my 20's, and those have gotten me by, but lately the constant anxiety, dread, and underlying depression are getting to me. I am having trouble sleeping, and taking 50 mg Trazodone for that, but it's not helping. If I take any more, it affects my memory. I am also on 20 mg of Lexapro, which is helping with motivation and energy. However, I feel anxiety and depression every moment.

I have already been on Paxil, Prozac, Trintellix, Viibryd, Zoloft, and short trials of Latuda and Abilify as augmentation. Paxil, Prozac, and Zoloft each worked for years, but then pooped out. Trintellix and Viibryd greatly increased my insomnia and anxiety. Ability worked for a while, like 2 months, and then pooped out. I also spent a lot of money I should not have in those 2 months. Latuda helped until I had a breast lump, and the breast doctor said I had to go off it because it increases Prolactin, a risk for breast cancer.

My question is has Caplyta helped you with any of the above diagnoses? And has anyone been able to stay at 10.5 of 21 mg longterm? I hate high doses of medications.

Any advice or support would be greatly appreciated. Sometimes I wonder who I would be if I had a normal childhood, but I know there is no point in thinking that way. Meds, sigh.

Is a full recovery to the pre-SSRI state possible after stopping them, just like with benzodiazepines?"

I started taking 50mg setraline today but I’m scared of how it will affect me over the next few weeks.

I’ve gotten myself to read some positive posts about it but I’m scared it’s going to make me grumpy, empty, unsociable, worsened anxiety and suicidal thoughts.

I just want some reassurance that this is worth it.

I’m at a key stage in life where I need to find work placement etc and I just have really struggled the past week doing so with repetitive intrusive thoughts, anxiety, etc

Please

Will my neurochemistry and receptor sensitivity return to their original baseline after stopping SSRIs taken for a year?"