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I found this article on the addictiveness of antidepressants and found it to be very interesting. After reading it I wanted to see what your opinions are...
Has anyone ever made the decision to stop using antidepressants? What was it like for you? And why did you decide to go off meds?
I made a decision because I thought mine was just postpartum depression and I thought I was cured. I had memory loss, I hit a huge depression, and it was hard just to do the most ordinary things. I will say some people don't have chronic depression and can be taken off medicine. I wouldn't do it without a doctor's care. My doctor was willing to let me try reducing mine (taking me off some of my meds) this summer and it was hard at first then evened out. Mine is chronic (bipolar) and I never want to go back to those things I described. The more stable I am, the less I need some of the things that helps some of the other symptoms (like alert meds, sleeping meds, (sounds contridictory but I needed it for a while, now I don't) etc). The ability to come off differs with different individuals and their history. Also it is better to taper off than cold turkey. I went from 4 meds to 1 med. That's a huge improvement for me. When I stopped everything, I was a mess.
P.S. I didn't feel those symptoms immediately after going off the meds. It took time. I was probably having a major episode and nothing to reduce it. I thought I was cured..I was medicated.
I have depression, gad and anxiety attacks.
I went on zoloft in '93 and by '99 I went off of it. I was ok for a couple of years and then wham in 2001, it all came flooding back and worse. I went back on zoloft and it stopped working on 05. I started lexapro a few months ago and i'm doing ok.
I realize I might be on medication the rest of my life. It is heredity and I have to accept it. I hate the side effects, the libido problems the dizziness, the increased appetite... but I have to feel good... in order to live!
This is such an individual thing. I think that ALL drugs are potentially addictive, depending on the person.
I had a depressive episode almost a year ago and have been on Lexapro since. I was on 40 mgs and just decreased to 30. My plan is to slowly wean off.
BUT, if I need to go back on it, I will.
There IS a place for these drugs. Ideally, they are used temporarily, but each person needs to be considered according to his/her needs and there are no black and white answers here.
I'd been on Paxil for about 3 years when I decided to go off to conceive. I was sick as a dog for a week or two even with weaning. It was bad. I have since changed from Celexa to Lexapro and Lexapro to Wellbutrin without any problems.
I wouldn't know if they were addictive or not. I have to be on medicine for the rest of my life. It is a fact that I have had to come to accept.
Besides any "addictive" sort of symptoms could just come about from the illness taking over again once the effectiveness of the medicine has left one's system.
IMO, it depends upon the reason for the medication. If it is to be used temporarily to help with situational depression, then use like that. But there are very real cases where the medication has to be lifelong just as for any other chronic condition (I too am bi-polar). I worked with my doctor to find medications that would not make me gain weight and that worked for me. It is tempting to just stop taking them at times, but then I remember what it was like when I wasn't taking my meds and boy do I NOT want to go there again! That's not addiction, but managing my illness. (Would anyone say a diebetic is "addicted" to their insulin???) But even if this was not the case for someone, I still would NOT recommend going "cold turkey" without a doctor's supervison. And, like the article says, it's important to have a doctor with knowlege on how these medications work and how they are to be stopped.
I was on and off various antidepression meds for years. None of them I ever had much luck with. half of them I was allergic to (wellbutrin gave me such bad hives I had to go to the ER)
Addiction and Antidepressants...
