Happy Pills

increase your thyroxine levels artificially.

It's one of the better SSRIs in terms of side effects, but it gave me anorgasmia. Basically what describes.

Depression can often affect cognition, especially with older people, so Lexapro could have some minor benefit. As others have said, you might enjoy reading more, which could also improve your ability to concentrate.

I used it for 3-4 months and it got me out of a rut. My doc says short term use can be very effective, but if I have to go back on again he'll probably recommend me to just stay with it.

Good luck senpai. Lots of hate about prescription drugs on Veeky Forums I've noticed but trust your docs over weebs.

Trust me Lexipro is one of the better ones. At least this doesn't make you as nauseated, or have awful side effects.

Gained 30 pounds, lost the ability to have an orgasm, felt like a zombie all the time, then had a psychotic break out of nowhere. (I don't want to relive that last part) Had to discontinue the Lexapro cold turkey rather than tapering off because the side-effects were endangering my welfare. Withdrawals were awful. I sat in the middle of the floor literally every waking moment of the day gripping a shotgun. My family had to come over and basically force me to drink liquid calories and go to the bathroom just to keep me sustained.

Don't fall for the SSRI meme. They can help some people in the short-term, but fucking with your brain chemistry is serious business.

do anti-depressants kill creativity?

letting your mental illnesses run rampant is Veeky Forums as fuck, you're doing it wrong

Everything you do changes your brain chemistry, everything you eat, every activity you perform, alters the way your brain behaves when compared to its previous state. Depression itself radically alters the way your brain functions.

Besides that, I myself wouldn't particularly recommend SSRIs, as they aren't particularly effective. Mind you, if you have long term depression, SSRIs are a necessary first -line before you can try more powerful antidepressants.

Not necessarily, if you have significant depression that's likely to harm your creativity much more than ADs.

>Everything you do changes your brain chemistry, everything you eat, every activity you perform, alters the way your brain behaves when compared to its previous state.

None of these things are comparable to popping drugs that drastically and persistently alter your brain chemistry. Don't try to diminish my experience with this nonsense. Lexapro nearly fucking killed me.

>one chance at life
>be born with clinical depression
( ._.) ( ;_;)

SSRIs are, relatively speaking, really tame drugs. Many people report no significant effects, either positive or negative. I'm one of them, I have taken four different SSRIs, all with no effect. Compare that to a drug like morphine. Hell, now I'm on one of the old MAOIs, and though I'm seeing a lot of improvement on it, I've had few negative side-effects. Your experience of SSRIs is very atypical.

Yeah this is atypical AF. Depression runs in my family and all of us have used lexapro - with mostly positive results.

I'm on Lexapro because I was spiraling hard almost 2 years ago and couldn't even pick up a book because any emotions just destroyed me.

Things are good now but I've lost a lot of my motivation. I'm able to think much clearer though because the stress of trying to be perfect is gone. Cheers

Great obstacles are mere opportunities to be a better you

To all the pussies ITT: depression isn't real. Like it is real in the sense that boredom and pain are real, but it's not an illness so much as it's a crutch for weak little babies. If you were a strong man you would overcome it, but you're inferior and you like being inferior because it's easier.

Want a cure for your "depression" (faggotry)? Pick a barbell, put your dick in a woman, and act like a self-respecting man for once in your pathetic life. Life is SUPPOSED TO BE DIFFICULT, learn to deal with the pain instead of running to your therapist to justify your inferiority with pills and conversations about your "anxiety" (pussiness).

I blame Kurt Cobain and Spongebob for this generation of faggots

lol, shit tier b8 m8

>tfw can't find an antidepressant that makes me ok with needing a pill to not want to die
Nice

I'm being completely sincere. Maybe some people get sadder than others more easily, but that doesn't mean they have to be a faggot about it. Faggot.

effort spotted

on zoloft
feels great
i love my life
if this is what normies feel, I've been missing out

Why don't you ask a doctor, asshole.

Because a doctor's input on specific mental side effects/lifestyle affects will be more general that that of a board full of people of that lifestyle, some of which take the same drug?

rude

well hey thanks guys pic related, obviously results are varied but I definitely want to keep reading and not lying it bed all day wondering why people don't just shut up and let me sleep

desu user I've been working on a book since june and have been using personal/familial research with depression to help build its main character, so I've been a bit hesitant to take drugs to 'make it go away' but feel like that's better at least than wanting to kill myself

Step 1: Don't do SSRIs

I'm not sure how anyone can rationalize taking anti-depressants other than complete short term thinking. You plan on taking SSRI(s) indefinitely as they are not a cure for depression?

SSRIs help tons of people, stop spreading desinfo

Hospice helps lots of people too senpai, what's your point?

I was on Lexapro since early 2010, but have been trying to get off of it because the FAA makes it a real pain to get a medical when you're on it (and this is after their great loosening of the rules!).

Mostly I seemed to get edgy when off of it for a few days, and it seemed like my libido peaked at night when it weakened. Might just be a placebo effect, I'd like to think I haven't rendered myself a semi-eunuch.

m8, just do what i do when i smoke solo: smoke slowly, slow enough to always have a good sense of how high you are. when you start to get near the point of dumb high or just too high for your liking, ash the joint or spliff and save it for later.

it's nice, and it's an exercise in self control and being conscious of your mind state. you might fuck it up for a bit when you first start trying, but after a while you'll have a very good sense of yourself.

Was on Zoloft for anxiety moreso than depression. Lasted a month and got the fuck off of it. I didn't want to take an SSRI to begin with, and the side effects made me want to kill myself (the worst was waking up every single night and having a 2 hour panic attack until 5am). Kinda made me realize how much worse I could be while on it.
My anxiety stems from a general weariness of other people and believing that daily life is an illusion and I get sudden urges to be a total dick for no reason. Like interrupting a professor to tell him that he's a short little faggot with shit taste. Even if I don't believe it, I long for the feeling to say something drastic. Sometimes I plan out murders of my acquaintances despite knowing I would never follow through with it. Existential anxiety feels juvinile as fuck, and as a philosophy grad student I've come across enough ideas and came up with my own that I can subscribe to to discredit my own thoughts. But it's there nontheless. I think my rational side and the irrational side are at such great odds that that's what makes me anxious more than anything

I'm the second poster in the thread, and I also just want to say I've been there where you are, user. After the first major portion of my life was full of success and (mostly) good things and happiness, I went on a downward spiral for several years that included rampant abuse of many different drugs including stimulants, depressants, hallucinogens, dissociatives, basically anything that anyone on this board could possibly name. I was barely staying alive, living on maybe $5-10 a day besides what I spent on alcohol and drugs, had no sense of personal hygiene, was couch-surfing with a brief stint of complete homelessness mixed in, several arrests for relatively minor offenses while (including 5 in as many months) barely escaping arrest on a couple of much more serious charges, etc. etc. etc.

Today I have been clean and sober for over a year minus three nights of drinking and one relapse with opiates, I enjoy decent and stable living conditions, have begun a fruitful and fulfilling career (one that is more just an extension of living the life I want to live rather than a career, I just happened to get paid to do it), re-established healthy relationships with most of my family, follow a very healthy diet, etc. etc. etc.

I still battle with depression, anxiety, and other mental health issues, but it is all tolerable now and I no longer have any real suicidal thoughts.

There is hope, user. Unfortunately, nobody here can really give you the answers you seek. For me, I had family who still were willing to help when I finally asked for it, and then I lucked into my career which gave me the seeds of a sort of meaning and purpose to take care of myself again. Once I had been sober for an extended period of time, I returned to meditating which I had practiced many years ago, and more recently began to explore yoga. These practices have given me motivation to pursue an all-around healthy and purpose-driven lifestyle like nothing ever has. I am confident in the belief that I generally act in my own best interest and in a way that benefits others and the world around me.

You have to find your own way. Just know that your journey to the life you want is going to be long and difficult, and will include setbacks. In the end, when you find youself waking up glad to be alive, glad to get up and go about the things you will do during the day, knowing that you are having a positive impact on yourself and the universe, it will all be worth it, and the hardships you have faced and overcome will only serve to improve your ability to have such positive impacts.

I wish you the best, user, and even though I don't and will never know you, I love you.

/preachy blog

I was on it for a while, only thing I saw it do for me was that it made me feel nauseous for a while after taking it. Other than that, I did not notice that I had any greater concentration. It did increase my quality of life, so there's that.

I quit Prozac because it made my dick numb and I lost interest in literary fiction 100%

>and I lost interest in literary fiction 100%
sounds like it did cure you then, minus the horrible side effects (of dick going numb)

well hey thanks user it means a bunch. I'm currently in kind of a lull right now, student health center at my college is making me take this semester off for mental health so I'm kinda just at home wondering what to do with being sad and staring out the window all day. projects have been helping out, between writing and programming, and although I've been sedentary for the past year I haven't picked up much weight but am looking to start exercising as per and just picking myself up even if I'm not (hey oh boy I'm super happy) on the inside

brought up medicating and other shit on this board in particular just cause I feel like it connects most closely with a theme of depression amongst writers and other authors I see often on other threads. I'm curious to see how other might use it as an engine rather than a crux--low feelings authors have either invested in creative nonfiction work or in other fictional characters. working on a project like that personally hasn't helped me feel any better in terms of mood really, in fact at some points it's made me kinda break down, but it keeps me going for some reason

lol. no, webmd will be general. drugs don't work the same for everybody which is what the md is aware of and works with, dummy.

Great post man! See you after practice. We're still slammin brewskis on friday, right? Haha, I'm going to get so waisted and get some pussy.

>thinking that depression is sitting around feeling bad about myself when it actuality it's just a forever emptiness that persists even when I'm exercising, succeeding in endeavors, being social, etc. and I'm never satisfied or fulfilled or happy with anything I do even when I'm being active and productive

Was mis-diagnosed with major depression at 15. Honestly Lexapro made me feel really "hollow" and hear voices sometimes. I stayed on it however because I was a dumb kid and thought that this was the price I had to pay in order to function.

I wouldn't recommend it. I'm off meds now but I probably need some again to get this bi-polar taken care of, since nothing is helping. Good luck user.

>Veeky Forumsfag
>married
>PR day
>literally have the physical and mental manifestations of being at the very top of a roller coaster you didnt want to ride in the first place all day because you dont want to fail PR
>hit PR
>feeling doesnt go away until you have a drink later that night

>It must be spongebob

Post this again in another thread but replace sponge bob with some other cartoon that supports the feminisation of men narrative and your bait will be improved enormously.

Someone should post it in a /sug/ or something.

...

>tfw doubled my dosage
>tfw I don't feel different
>tfw I'm getting more done
>tfw it's not enough

I came to this board to yap about this script I'm working on, in the hopes there was some kind of writing general. No such luck, it seems.

>I lost interest in literary fiction 100%

I was on Paxil and it made me lose interest in basically everything I once enjoyed.

I've been on Lexapro since 2013. I was never sure whether I lost interest in things I loved because of it or because of depression itself. I had panic attacks and used to go pee every 5 minutes. It was hard to live, but I'm better now. I managed to read and write a lot these years. My doc says we may cease the medication next year if I feel like it's time to (I used to take 20 mg a day, 5 mg nowadays). One thing that bothers me is this odd feeling you are completely hollow inside and you feel like you can't feel love or hate at all, it's just an endless indifference towards everything around you. Also, it was really hard to reach an orgasm too. It was weird because I could manage to make girls cum but I couldn't. Good luck, user.

50mg of sertraline and promazine every day, didnt shit for me, at least i want to feel less stress and aversion toward activities around peoples

started taking lexapro about a year ago for MDD. awful side effects for the first month or so (constant headaches, nausea, dizziness, drowsiness), then they calmed down and I was a bit more stable, but it's also made me unbelievably numb, empty, foggy, and unable to concentrate. tried upping my dose and didn't feel much difference in productivity or interest in things.

I felt decent (i.e. not vaguely suicidal, enjoyed doing some things, etc) while I was on it and supplementing with meditation, weed, and regular exercise. due to legal shit, I've had to be substance-free for a few months and honestly, I'll say I felt loads better about everything when I could smoke. just the lexapro doesn't seem to be cutting it, and I'm probably going to look into switching meds. I have no interest in reading anything anymore, and I used to want to read constantly

I'm on this.
A big common symptom of depression is lack of concentration, and of course motivation. If depression is treated, then there is obviously there is at least a chance that these things will improve. Something that will help is practice. The process of reading and absorbing that info easily is definitely something that needs to be exercised to maintain, like anything else really. I used to have the same problem and I found that that principle helped more than the lexapro honestly. But if you have other severe symptoms associated with depression then you should go on it. Another thing, I don't think that love of literature and the arts is associated with depression because you have to be depressed to enjoy it (I'm not sure if that was even what you were implying, but just in case) but rather because the same qualities in a person that draw them to books will often come with a tendency to get a bit depressed - you just need to try and master that part of you, or come to terms with it.
I don't know if this will be important to you as it isn't really to me, but I've been on antidepressants since puberty and I've never had an orgasm in my life so...consider that if it's a big thing for you lol.
Also: weed isn't going to help you concentrate, what the fuck are you thinking? it's a motivation killer. if you want drugs that will specifically help with concentration have a look at whats prescribed to people with adhd and stuff like that

i remember that classic spongebob episode where squidward had catatonic major depressive disorder and had to get electroshock therapy

OP: experiences on lexapro are varied with mixed results, as you would've read in this thread. if your sympyoms are severe, then give it a shot - everyones biochemistry is different! i would suggest doing everything you can to try overcome it using other methods before altering your brain chemistry tho.

Lexapro (or Cipralex) is often used in small doses to cure premature ejaculation. So it causes anorgasmia in a ton of guys which is the biggest reason people stop taking it.

I agree with the feeling of indifference you develop while on it. It reminded me of when I used to get stoned all the time, I just stopped caring about things. It was nice though, because part of the reason I was depressed was because I cared too much, I attached too much significance to things, and I was an anxious wreck. So it got me out of a mental rut I was in.