Are there any antidepressants that don't make you feel like ***? (sensitivity to side effects)

I know the feeling of going onto antidepressants that make things feel worse or have unpleasant side effects. I've been on fluoxetine for around 2-3 weeks and the side effects (hopefully short term) have been quite unpleasant (diarrhea, depression, tiredness, vivid dreams/nightmares and a weird numbing sensation around my body). I haven't experienced any of the sexual side effects but they've been described as unpleasant.

From what I keep being told and keep reading about that things (at least for the first few weeks) will get worse before they get better when you start taking fluoxetine. The only thing I can recommend is try sticking with the medication and contact mental health support/doctor/mental health professional immediately if it makes you more suicidal.

Nope, I'm getting off this *** as fast as I can. We have hyper sensitivity to side effects that would outweigh the positives. I haven't seen a single anecdote of someone sticking with the meds and being fine at the end of it or not having side effects. 

Jakey said:

I haven't seen a single anecdote of someone sticking with the meds and being fine at the end of it or not having side effects. 

Bur there are plenty of people saying coming off them fast made things worse - please check with your GP on how to do this in a way that isn't going to make things feel worse than they are.

I'm really starting to warm to you Jakey. You actually seem to be looking for a solution, not platitudes. D consider reading the book I recommend in my bio, it will provide you with very useable information, that you can use to end your unwanted viginity. At least it worked for me, my relationship management skills improved dramatically after I read it. If you are traumaticaly poor as some of us are, pm me a send to address and I'll buy you a copy off ebay, and get it sent.

It's about £3 out of my pocket, but helping people is way more satisfying to me than 3/5ths of a packet of under the counter cigarettes... 

Other things that have worked well for me, are:

Living with a cat,

Learning about the life of Jesus Christ, and trying to emulate as much of it as I can,

Learning about the real virtues and practicing them as discreetly as I can manage.

Learning what I am good at and what I am not.

"Happiness" which we all seek, is an untrustworthy and fleeting emotion, I've found that pursuing "contentment" to be more useful.    

Forget "romance" that's neuro-typical stuff, and largely a case of appearance trumping substance, and when the initial rush of a relationship (which is as intoxicating and debilitating as pretty much any drug I've tried) ends, then you want your partner to find you too useful and supportive to discard...

Those are skills I picked up from external sources, and used to replace the very poor skills that my early life training & autism had inflicted on me...

Don't get me wrong, I still have my bad days, (most of last week to be honest!)  but I have some tools to manage that the most effective being that I realise that I am at the end responsible for my own problems, and I have enough honesty and self actualisation now to decide whether my issues are caused by my own attitude, or weakness of character, (in which case I do as little as possible, because when I am "off balance" and focussed on my own misery I know I have a tendancy to make poor decisions) or whether the problem is external, in which case I can choose to either run away or confront it.

I wish you the best Jakey, and I do hope there's a useful takeaway for you somewhere here in this post.

I hate to be blunt like this but it's the hard truth and I mean it in the nicest way possible. Those helplines are not helpful, they're never autism friendly, and they never actually help. Really the best help comes from the heart. Not a trivialization of mental health issues which is what those helplines are. 

There are some good mental health helplines - like the charity ‘Mind’. You could try talking to them maybe? I think there’s one called ‘Shout’. Could be worth a try?

It doesn’t sound like you’re having fun, bud, but we’re still here and we’re listening.. I don’t know much about withdrawal, but try to stay hydrated, we literally do care..:)

Again, I can't contact them because it's the NHS. They literally don't care. They want me dead. 

They might advise you to stick with it, but if you make it clear that you've made your decision, they'll tell you how to taper it down because while they might believe continuing to take it and waiting for the side effects to get more bearable would be best, if your plan is to just stop cold that's worse.

Withdrawal sucks really bad. I have never experienced side effects as bad as the effects of withdrawal. 

Yeah... they'll just tell me to keep taking them. Stop giving me bad advice please. The NHS is useless. I can't use the NHS, point me elsewhere. 

Yeah... they'll just tell me to keep taking them. Stop giving me bad advice please. The NHS is useless. I can't use the NHS, point me elsewhere. 

I'm really starting to warm to you Jakey. You actually seem to be looking for a solution, not platitudes. D consider reading the book I recommend in my bio, it will provide you with very useable information, that you can use to end your unwanted viginity. At least it worked for me, my relationship management skills improved dramatically after I read it. If you are traumaticaly poor as some of us are, pm me a send to address and I'll buy you a copy off ebay, and get it sent.

It's about £3 out of my pocket, but helping people is way more satisfying to me than 3/5ths of a packet of under the counter cigarettes... 

Other things that have worked well for me, are:

Living with a cat,

Learning about the life of Jesus Christ, and trying to emulate as much of it as I can,

Learning about the real virtues and practicing them as discreetly as I can manage.

Learning what I am good at and what I am not.

"Happiness" which we all seek, is an untrustworthy and fleeting emotion, I've found that pursuing "contentment" to be more useful.    

Forget "romance" that's neuro-typical stuff, and largely a case of appearance trumping substance, and when the initial rush of a relationship (which is as intoxicating and debilitating as pretty much any drug I've tried) ends, then you want your partner to find you too useful and supportive to discard...

Those are skills I picked up from external sources, and used to replace the very poor skills that my early life training & autism had inflicted on me...

Don't get me wrong, I still have my bad days, (most of last week to be honest!)  but I have some tools to manage that the most effective being that I realise that I am at the end responsible for my own problems, and I have enough honesty and self actualisation now to decide whether my issues are caused by my own attitude, or weakness of character, (in which case I do as little as possible, because when I am "off balance" and focussed on my own misery I know I have a tendancy to make poor decisions) or whether the problem is external, in which case I can choose to either run away or confront it.

I wish you the best Jakey, and I do hope there's a useful takeaway for you somewhere here in this post.

I hate to be blunt like this but it's the hard truth and I mean it in the nicest way possible. Those helplines are not helpful, they're never autism friendly, and they never actually help. Really the best help comes from the heart. Not a trivialization of mental health issues which is what those helplines are. 

There are some good mental health helplines - like the charity ‘Mind’. You could try talking to them maybe? I think there’s one called ‘Shout’. Could be worth a try?

It doesn’t sound like you’re having fun, bud, but we’re still here and we’re listening.. I don’t know much about withdrawal, but try to stay hydrated, we literally do care..:)

Again, I can't contact them because it's the NHS. They literally don't care. They want me dead. 

They might advise you to stick with it, but if you make it clear that you've made your decision, they'll tell you how to taper it down because while they might believe continuing to take it and waiting for the side effects to get more bearable would be best, if your plan is to just stop cold that's worse.

Withdrawal sucks really bad. I have never experienced side effects as bad as the effects of withdrawal.