Happy Pills Yay, or Nay?

[GeezerSteve]

Okay then. +1 that you should stay away from that shit.

Answer: Maybe for someone who can be helped, but only with good solid professional assistance. SSRI's and other psychotropics have helped millions, but they can really fuck up some people if the dosage aint right. A good bud -- an MD who by all outside appearances had life by the nuts -- committed suicide by hanging during an episode of working with his shrink to dial in his meds. [/non-snark seriousness] Years before DT took his life, I dated a chick who got really nice and calm but lost 30 IQ points on an SSRI.

[Core Shot]

I would take SSRI's again if I ever had to go into combat. I've never experienced a complete lack of empathy or compassion like I did when I was on them. I could have hypothetically watched someone slowly feed my girlfriend into a wood chipper and I would have keenly watched and remarked "messy, but it certainly got the job done. I'm glad I got to see that at least once.," and gone on with my life as if nothing had ever happened.

So yeah, I'm staying away from that shit forever unless I'm in a situation where I've been conscripted to kill people, in which case, I'll take that callous detachment.

Glade master. We’ve had our disagreements

But that was fkna awesome.
I’ve had a few girlfriends I would send into the wood chipper.

Hugs. Bro.

[Buzzworthy]

Depression meds are one thing.
Just don't, I repeat DON'T start benzodiazepines!
Lost 20+ years of my life having my central nervous system drugged way more than anyone should ever have to deal with. It was a hard ride to get off these drugs.

[old goat]

"Alcohol and pills, it's a crying shame, you think they might have been happy with the glory and the fame. But fame doesn't take away the pain, it just pays the bills, and you wind up on alcohol and pills." Fred Eaglesmith, "Alcohol and Pills"


One thing that happens as you get older is you lose the highs and lows. I don't miss the lows, sure miss the highs, but you can't have one without the other.

[Toadman]

We all have some differences in our body chemistry and how we react to different drugs. If you go down the path of an anti-depressant, it might be a long journey. Best to talk to your doc and talk it through.

[stuckathuntermtn]

SSRI's like Prozac, Paxil, Zoloft, etc, are pretty mild. Plus, you can get some good stamina with them. Yes, that kind.

[XXX-er]

"Alcohol and pills, it's a crying shame, you think they might have been happy with the glory and the fame. But fame doesn't take away the pain, it just pays the bills, and you wind up on alcohol and pills." Fred Eaglesmith, "Alcohol and Pills"


One thing that happens as you get older is you lose the highs and lows. I don't miss the lows, sure miss the highs, but you can't have one without the other.

my 40's were a bit of a rough go after I was fortunate enough for mrs XXX to leave me in my 30's which was also a rough go but I also considered the lows were just the spice of life so you had to handle the heat

I supose I did even stop ( as opposed to quit ) smoking pot for 4 years

the closest I ever got to anti-depressants is this shitty MD put me on a low dose of paxil cuz he read that it would help with shoulder pain but all it did was put me to sleep

I seen Fred playing solo unplugged on a farm with a bucnh of tree planters and that was a treat

[old goat]

my 40's were a bit of a rough go after I was fortunate enough for mrs XXX to leave me in my 30's which was also a rough go but I also considered the lows were just the spice of life so you had to handle the heat

I supose I did even stop ( as opposed to quit ) smoking pot for 4 years

the closest I ever got to anti-depressants is this shitty MD put me on a low dose of paxil cuz he read that it would help with shoulder pain but all it did was put me to sleep

I seen Fred playing solo unplugged on a farm with a bucnh of tree planters and that was a treat

He does a great show. First time I saw him he had Washboard Hank with him--in addition to the washboard he had a colander on his head and various pot lids strapped to his body in various places--all of which he played. Watch him and you won't need antidepressants. Fred is like Richard Thompson--funny as hell between grim songs.

[muted]

That is how it was explained to me. Anxiety is present or forward looking, depression is present or backward looking.

Anxiety forms from past experiences, almost like PTSD is how it was explained to me. Depression can often be thinking how there is no hope for the future. I think it's all a mix of everything past/present/future.

[Core Shot]

SSRI's like Prozac, Paxil, Zoloft, etc, are pretty mild. .

I disagree. It’s tripping balls for me. Tried Prozac in the eighties. Paxil around 2005.
Fucking docs say you can’t feel it until a few weeks buildup. Liars. I felt it within a few hours.
Even saw my pupils pulsing in the mirror.

It shouldn’t be handed out like candy, by general practitioners or pediatricians.

It does work when combined with talk therapy with a shrink, by several studies.

=====
Interesting sidebar about anxiety.
I’ve never considered myself anxious, but the Way you define it, yep.
Overall. It’s thinking too much. I need a lobotomy

[Bunion 2020]

OK, between this thread and the I heart my wife it should be clear that NO ONE has life by the balls.
It looks that way from the outside. All the more reason to give each other some benefit of the doubt.

[Whiteroom_Guardian]

I'll throw my $0.02 out there.

I think there is a time and place for them, but for the most part they are wildly over prescribed. I was put in various SSRIs from about 12yo through my 20s. On them and off them at various points. It's been over 5 years since I have taken any type of anti-depressant (last was effexor).

I have been doing a ton of work on my personal growth since 2011. First being getting completely sober. Part of that journey included the effexor for the first few years. Therapy, groups, lots of exercise, etc. In early 2015 I think I decided I wanted to go "deeper." I wanted to face reality as it really was with no safety net or crutch of a pharmaceutical. I wanted to feel the lows when they came and the highs too. My experience over all those various times on different SSRIs or SSNIs or whatever is that they just sort of numb you out to various degrees.

Not a xanax type numb, but it's a much sneakier kind of numb that you really cannot realize until you get off the stuff and have months of a clear head and can look back and be like, "Whoa, I still felt feelings but the sadness wasn't that bad and the good times were not as good as they could have been."

This is just my experience. Sometimes we need to feel the lowest lows to gain the desire to grow and change to make the future better. Now when I laugh or feel love or cry or ride my bike or ski powder, etc it's as real as it was when I was a child again.

I think the problem with the over prescribing of these kinds of drugs is that most people see it as a shortcut.....and it makes pharma companies and the docs who prescribe them shitloads of $$$.

I will say this because I was one of them and know many people like this: They exercise a little, they don't really do the real honest intensive worth with a therapist, etc. They still pound IPAs.....maybe not every night, but more than they probably should. They smoke alot of weed. They refuse to really be strict on a diet low in carbs/sugar/inflamatory agents, etc.......but they go to their doc and get slapped on a pill and away they go.

My point is this and I know I am coming off as a callous know it all. I'm not. I just have done a lot of the alternative pretty hard work to fight my way through a life of depression to get to a place where I am really pretty damn happy now and coincidentally in the best shape of my life at 36 years old. Most people take the easier way. I did it for a long time.

If you are suicidal or having major changes in your life there is a time an place for these meds. I am no doctor. Everyone is different. I don't want to steer anyone away from something that may save them, but I will say that my life with a clear head fueled by good food, lots of exercise, and work/therapy on the stuff that I thought made me depressed is 1000% better than I ever felt while on any of the various meds I took over the years.

Our brains are pretty damn amazing and can be healed and brought into a state of balanced chemistry if we give them a chance. Most of the time I am guessing.

[XXX-er]

I duno what it is suposed to do but paxil for my encapsulated shoulder ( painful ) just put me to sleep, I would have to pull over 3 times in a 3 hr drive for a powernap in any case i didnt use it for long, that MD retired and i got a better one


any body try meditaion/yoga ?

I went to a silent retreat before xmas these were all smart wellspoken, people mostly proffesionals, power moms ect

at the end they pass around the talsiman in a circle signaling the end of silence and you can share your experience ( or not ) fully a third were the cryers and broke down completley sobbing so it defintely had an effect

there was a roughneck pipeline contracter who told me "this is a lot like being in camp welding pipe, you can't hear anything in the welding tent cuz of noise from the evac fan noise so we hand signal for 12hrs and in the mess hall nobody speaks cuz they are all listening to their music "

[old goat]

I duno what it is suposed to do but paxil for my encapsulated shoulder ( painful ) just put me to sleep, I would have to pull over 3 times in a 3 hr drive for a powernap in any case i didnt use it for long, that MD retired and i got a better one


any body try meditaion/yoga ?

I went to a silent retreat before xmas these were all smart wellspoken, people mostly proffesionals, power moms ect

at the end they pass around the talsiman in a circle signaling the end of silence and you can share your experience ( or not ) fully a third were the cryers and broke down completley sobbing so it defintely had an effect

there was a roughneck pipeline contracter who told me "this is a lot like being in camp welding pipe, you can't hear anything in the welding tent cuz of noise from the evac fan noise so we hand signal for 12hrs and in the mess hall nobody speaks cuz they are all listening to their music "

silent retreat sounds appealing. Silence is highly underrated.

[Whiteroom_Guardian]

I meditate every day. Twice a day if I get motivated. I have always wanted to do a real deal silent retreat. The idea of it scares the crap out of me and that's exactly why I need to do it.

I have toyed with a legit vision quest experience as well. That scares me even more.

[RootSkier]

Have never taken anything.

Is there a drug that makes you feel things more? Had some dark times in my life and now I don't feel much of anything at all. I'm not looking to turn off negative emotions, I'm just trying to feel any emotions at all. Everything is buried and locked away in a vault and I lost the access codes a long time ago. Whatever defense mechanism I have against negative emotionshas cut off post positive emotions as well.

The only thing that has kinda sorta helped is shrooms. I feel/process emotions during a trip and then feel great for 3-5 days after a trip. Feels like I've let out about 15% of what's been buried over 4 or so trips in the past 1.5 years.

Have you considered taking a shitload of acid?

[XXX-er]

I did a 2 day weekend retreat and the same folks do a 5 day in the summer at a rustic ranch in the mountains, both are really cheap/ pretty basic, vegetarian cuz its cheap, take turns pot luck/ cook/ wash yer own dishes cuz " we are not running a spa here " one of the org people told me after a trip to Bali that was an eye roller

I've seen 10 day Vipassana advertised I think their model is the more retreats you attend the more they charge you

I'm not sure with the covid how a silent retreat would go off but pretty sure you can go pretty high $$$$ end if you want

a buddy of mine planted trees with a guy who was doing a 1 year silence, he hummed all the time so his vocal cords didnt atrophy

its drug free, no body is trying to feed you coolaid, I wasnt one of the cryers but I did feel a noticable sense of well being so I could recommend a silent retreat, I was just kind of ticking along pretty good for 3-5 days

and then you are stuck with yourself ... again

[Core Shot]

I did a 2 day weekend retreat

and then you are stuck with yourself ... again

[Core Shot]

Buckaroo always cheers me up.

[m2711c]

If the complexities of everyday life are too banal or trite for you, I would recommend activities that steer you clear of thinking. Maybe, potent indica and lots of teen shows on Netflix. Soma also helps.

Perhaps volunteer at a homeless shelter. Live in urban America without a wad a cash. Foster a crack baby. There are lots of ways to complicate your life without taking pills that don't get you high.

[m2711c]

or...Praxis Rx.

[Cono Este]

After being on Zoloft for two yrs, getting off it was a real bitch. My only solution was to smoke a large amount of weed all month. It worked.

I think sometimes it would be great to have, like when you lose a parent etc, something major, but you can’t just stop after taking it.

When my dog died, I took lexapro for 2 weeks and quit. My balls went numb. I felt it’s power within 24 hrs.

I wish there was an alternative for short periods when stuff sucks.




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[skiballs]

MDMA, had a good connection for some really clean powder. An 8ball lasted about three months, depending how much I shared or gave away. Never felt like doing it all the time, but it would sure kicked the blues away once in awhile, and makes sex even better.

Working on growing my own shrooms so I can have that kind of occasional outlet, and don't have to deal with oddball connections.

[XXX-er]

a buddy of mine up here went to private school with a Kenedy down there

sez the kenedy always had a connection for the purest mescaline which was awesume !

[k2skier112]

This the wrong place to asses your mental health

My health IS mental