Psychiatric medications - thread

[Vynce]

Just out of personal interest I'm fascinated to hear about your experiences with any kind of psychiatric medication therapy for any kind of mental illness.

- So anything about how you take, deal with, feel with, live with medications such as:

Antidepressants, Anti-psychotics, mood stabilizers, anxiolytics, sleep medications, stimulants, pain killers ect. 

I'd like to hear from you, what has helped, has not helped, and how such medications change your personality and life situation first hand.

Because, I believe many people see major mental illnesses as a one way street into suffering. But many new medications and therapies have developed over time.

I'm curious...

[Yimpa]

Same substance; used in completely different ways.

I take the lowest dose of stimulant (the kiddie dose). I am very sensitive to them. This wasn't always the case, though. I used to depend on the opposite (highest dose, and then some), only to realize that that was ruining my life. 

[Nivsch]

In 2010 when I was 22 year old, I started to take antidepressants, due to anxiety, after family members convinced me to do. It helped at the beginning, but after couple of years the effect kind of wore off, when after ten years on them, in 2020, I felt even worsening (worse even than before the meds) what I suspect was due to tolerance and over adaptation of the brain. Very difficult year with a chronic feeling of anxiety and disconnection to myself.

This is why I started taper it off gradually to heal that overadaptation effect, but I found out the current phase I need to do it is by reducation of 1.8% (yes, less than 2%) every month and I have more years ahead of me of tapering.

Most people, and even 99% of doctors don't really understand AD withdrawal and how our body needs YEARS to re-adapt to the absence of the drug and how slow it often has to be done, even when I know that I dont need those drugs any more in the essential aspect.

It won't be an exaggeration to assume that many people today are walking around and their mental difficulties are much worse due to some version of long term withdrawal symptoms they don't even know about.

Edited April 8 by Nivsch

[Vynce]

22 hours ago, Nivsch said:

In 2010 when I was 22 year old, I started to take antidepressants, due to anxiety, after family members convinced me to do. It helped at the beginning, but after couple of years the effect kind of wore off, when after ten years on them, in 2020, I felt even worsening (worse even than before the meds) what I suspect was due to tolerance and over adaptation of the brain. Very difficult year with a chronic feeling of anxiety and disconnection to myself.

This is why I started taper it off gradually to heal that overadaptation effect, but I found out the current phase I need to do it is by reducation of 1.8% (yes, less than 2%) every month and I have more years ahead of me of tapering.

Most people, and even 99% of doctors don't really understand AD withdrawal and how our body needs YEARS to re-adapt to the absence of the drug and how slow it often has to be done, even when I know that I dont need those drugs any more in the essential aspect.

It won't be an exaggeration to assume that many people today are walking around and their mental difficulties are much worse due to some version of long term withdrawal symptoms they don't even know about.

Actually interesting.

I heard that in people with depression, ADs can be tapered off in weeks or months, but with anxiety it might be very different.

But then again: which makes this field even more interesting is that EVERYBODY has different experiences with mental issues and their respective medications.

Have you found a new or better approach for your anxiety - Or is it gone by now? Maybe you'd like to share more about that

I'm actually in a relatable spot right now. Because I'm currently tapering off of Pregabalin super slowly - maybe 6 months more. (because of poly-neurological pain) but since its a strong anxiolytic it can cause some solid states of angst, if I was to miss a dose. Soo interesting, how all this can be manipulated through some micrograms or some lofty molecules.

[Nivsch]

On 9.4.2025 at 10:53 PM, Vynce said:

Have you found a new or better approach for your anxiety - Or is it gone by now? Maybe you'd like to share more about that

I had a cognitive breakthrough three years ago that made my two opposing sides of my ocd which is the rational brain and the emotional/reptilian/amigdala to connect and for the first time to talk with each other. From that moment my ocd has reduced by 80-90%.

Edited April 14 by Nivsch