SSRIs work, but serotonin isn't the cause

I follow this fellow mostly for his Covid information, but in this video he talks about depression.

The TL;DR is that depression doesn't seem to be as related to serotonin as previously thought. New information intimates that there is no difference in serotonin levels in people with or without depression. SSRIs do work for depression, but the medical community is realising they don't know why they work.



https://youtu.be/TZhgvr2rbwE

There is still a lot that we don't know.
We do know enough to realize that we were mistaken about what we thought we knew.

Such a wonderful mechanism and yet we don't yet fully understand it. I have faith that one day we will understand it and 'maybe' treat the ups & downs, depression & anxieties that hold many of us back.

I took Prozac and tried other SSRI's for over half of my life but they just made my life worse. I had some really bad nightmares on Prozac. I took it for like 17 years. I refuse to take SSRI's ever again. Personally I think they damaged me and I have symptoms of neurological disease. My hands and feet go numb frequently and in the freezing cold my arms and legs go totally limp. My mind also feels really slow at random times. Some days better than others. I blame SSRI's for causing me these symptoms. I feel like I have been seriously damaged by them. Not to discourage somebody from taking them. I'm actually scheduled to go to a nurse at the place I've been getting counseling, for getting new psych meds soon. But I'll probably get the rx and not take it. I might take them if they're mood stabilizers like Abilify. But not the SSRI's. Those things have seriously damaged me, physically. I just know it. I will probably seek a diagnosis for MS or Parkinsons and I know that SSRI's caused it.

dusty333 wrote: My mind also feels really slow at random times.

I think I've heard that accusation before. I've resumed escitalopram because of job-related stress, that's something I'll have to specifically watch out for, I suppose.

Snaga wrote:

dusty333 wrote: My mind also feels really slow at random times.

I think I've heard that accusation before. I've resumed escitalopram because of job-related stress, that's something I'll have to specifically watch out for, I suppose.

I've had health and mental health fallout from over a decade of Prozac. If you're taking it less than a year, might be less. I've actually gotten back on Abilify which I took for a few years and it actually has helped me alot. But it's different from Prozac cuz it's an Antipsychotic. Abilify has helped me with racing mind, anxiety, delusional type coping mechanisms (relationship fantasies), it's also helped me get my appetite back. And (not to be graphic but) it's stopped me from having compulsive sexual urges. So I've changed my stance a little bit . How ever I have found Abilify to make me extra sleepy at times during the day. I suspect I have MS or some unknown Prozac/psych med induced neurological condition.... I'd just be careful about taking SSRI's for years... Oh and I was suicidal too.. Because of how long i took Prozac. It changed my personality. But I am finding Abilify to be helpful. Is Escitalopram , Lexapro or Cymbalta. I never took those for long, bad side effects. Prozac has a weird anxiety inducing effect tho. I find the non typical AP's to be most helpeful in my case.

dusty333 wrote: Is Escitalopram , Lexapro or Cymbalta. I

Generic for Lexapro. Other than some minor sexual side effects, I tolerate it well on 10mg/day. It takes enough of an edge off my anxiety that I'm better able to function. Maybe even a little with my OCD, though that's not a for-sure. My main resentment is that while taking it I have to be more careful of alcohol consumption, and I find potential interactions with OTC medications such as cold meds and ibuprofen to be rather onerous. Also that it forces me into biannual blood tests.

I also take a dose of Trazodone at bedtime, off-label for insomnia, though I have hopes that also being an antidepressant, it makes me a little less like Eeyore.

I went on both these, because I presented at the doctor with heart palpitations. I do find that they help with that. Again, just enough to keep the worse of my anxiety at arm's length. And I can't imagine either of these being long term worse than the decades I took Benadryl every night as a sleep aid- there are indications that might have increased my risk for dementia. Time will tell, though if it does I suppose I won't be terribly aware of it after it sets in will I? Meh. Is what it is.

I forgot I was replying to the admin. lol. I used to take Lexapro. I found going to church and praying to be helpful for my depression and nighttime insomnia. After I went to church alot I have been sleeping less and been waking up early in the morning. And I feel less depressed. But I still AM depressed and have had intense anxiety and panic, I started feeling better before I started Abilfy but it has helped with my appetite and completely cut my compulsions, and reduced my anxiety. But I think that God also healed me from that. I dont want to get on any SSRIs. Im still worried that even taking abilify will damage me more but it has a good effect on my mental health and appetite , and the compulsions i had were distressing. so taking it might have an overall better effect on my health than not taking it except that if i quit it, all of that might get worse? And iw as having crippling anxiety constantly. I dont know if i was like that cause I'm addicted to psych meds since Ive took them almost all my life. I think my brain was used to taking them. That's the problem I have with them. And then who knows what conditions they may cause in the long run. Like neurological diseases, heart disease, etc. Especially if your body is addicted and you quit and start again and took it for decades. I'm worried about the long term effects.

I agree about long term effects, especially if someone can expect to live many more years. Being old has its advantages- I'm not worried about 30 years from now, I expect to be worm food So I can take a slightly more relaxed attitude.

But yes there's some nasty things out there, especially if anything's an anti-psychotic, I feel. At least, I knew someone one some older generation stuff for moderately severe schizophrenia, and some of that stuff just melt your brain- or at least, that's what the mass of long-term effects translated in my mind as: Melt Your Brain.

So I totally get that. Seems to me it's a compromise- the least amount of meds needed to 'take the edge off' and allow a person to function and to not be too miserable. I don't want to just take a pill for this and a pill for that; but if I can take a pill or two to keep me from flying into pieces, then give it to me I'm ready. I take Lexapro generic, and Trazodone for insomnia- off label and it's an older medicine but it's originally an antidepressant as is the Lexapro, and while the latter's for my anxiety, maybe I feel a little less depressed on it. I'd like to think so, anyway. I did quit the Lexapro for a while- cold turkey, in fact. But when I started feeling stressful, I resumed it gladly.