Published on 12, July, 2020
Hi, can anyone suggest an antidepressant that works for them? I’ve tried all sorts but the only one that works for me is venlafaxine but I had to come off it as I get the worst night sweats and they were destroying my sleep. I am now currently on clomipramine but this only helps with my OCD symptoms and doesn’t do much for my depression or anxiety. SSRIs don’t seem to work on me. Anyone found one that works for them?
thank you
The truth is what works for one person won’t for another. There are some people that anti-depressants just don’t really work well on, me being one. The issue is that depression caused by a situation or circumstances can’t really be treated with medication, whereas chemical imbalances in the brain, the likes of serotonin, neuroadrenalin etc etc are where anti-depressants work best, so if they aren’t working for you, you might want to consider alternative approaches such as cbt, talk therapy and lifestyle changes. That’s what I found to be more effective. (I was previously on Sertraline 200mg, then got switched out to Mirtazapine 45mg then fluloxatine but I had a hellish time with the last one). On a side note, I did find pregabalin good for anxiety but doctors are becoming less willing to prescribe this now. It’s not an anti-depressant, nor is it specifically designed for anxiety - rather it’s side effects proved good for people with anxiety.
>The issue is that depression caused by a situation or circumstances can’t really be treated with medication
That's a good point, I know what you mean - psychiatry tends to be a bit indiscriminate about that.
One thing that is useful in that case, for me, anyway, is B vitamin supplements. It doesn't make things seem any better (nor does it affect anxiety), but what it is miraculous at is getting me back on my feet when I'm too exhausted to cope with them, so that I don't get as fazed by them because I feel like I'm strong enough to manage them. Might be worth a try?
For me, the most standard kind, providing just the Minimum Daily Amount of each one, isn't enough - it needs to be a fairly high-dose one, something on the scale of Zipvit's B50 or Healthspan's High Strength B Complex. Different people sometimes need different doses, though, from what I've heard - you may have to experiment a bit.
It actually makes logical sense, because apparently the brain uses up B vitamins and it actually uses them up faster under stress. I'm guessing what happens is that if you're dealing with an extreme amount of nuisance every day for a long time, it consumes so many B vitamins that the normal amount you can get from food, can't keep up and you run out. That's why you feel like you have nothing left to deal with the latest crisis - you literally haven't got anything left, specifically you haven't got any B vitamins left. Anyway that's just my musing.
Of course, you shouldn't have to face so much stress every day that your body can't withstand it without cheating, but so long as you can't avoid it, this does get rid of some of the worst of the effects. Besides, if there's anything you can do to get rid of any of the problems it might give you the energy to actually do that. That's a rotten vicious circle - where you're in such a mess that you're too tired and despairing to be able to do much to get out of the mess. So if you've reached the stage of exhaustion where a dropped sandwich is enough to make you bury your head in your hands and wail "I can't go on!", I'd say it's well worth a try.
It's easy to test out, anyway, because (unlike SSRIs) it's very quick-acting - if it's going to do anything, you'll be feeling a lot better within a day or two, in fact with me it's usually only a few hours.