For those of you who were on antidepressants...

I had been on antidepressants for a whole decade. I weaned off them completely last October. Overall, it hasn’t been too bad. I’ve got plenty of energy (don’t sleep near as much), no mood swings, and no feelings of nausea. However, I’ve found that it is really affecting:

- the speed of my thought process,

- my ability to think of the relevant words i want to use (I often take a longer time to say what i am thinking because i am fumbling for the word i want to use?),

- short term memory loss in that I struggle to recall simple things that may have only occurred the day before or earlier that day,

- my ability to remember things is terrible (I have had to have my PIN replaced 2 times due to "mind blank").

I just feel like so much of the time i feel completely blank, with no thoughts at all. Like my brain is empty. It is the strangest feeling. Kind of like a zombie and that I have just completely tuned out and checked out? I absolutely hate it.. :(

I am so concerned about this as it is affecting my work and life in general. I just want to be able to feel again. I’m reluctant to tell my doctor as I’m afraid he will want me to go back on them or prescribe some other type of antidepressant. Does this feeling eventually go away? Has anyone else had a similar experience?

Definitely talk to your doctor about it. Did you come off them yourself or did a doctor help you? It's important to make sure you come off of drugs the right way - they're not all the same. My mother was on something for over a decade and she had to ween off over the course of six months, not one or two.

There are other solutions besides going back on antidepressants. That is a looooong time to be on anything and ween off of. Play it safe, and if you're feeling not right make sure you address it before it gets worse. Take care of yourself - you are the only one who can.

Asking for self -help medical advice from a community built around escapist fantasy is a bad idea. Talk to your doctor, and maybe see if you can get by with therapy alone. And please remember that there's a difference between feeling an emotion and being able to actually comprehend them. I know for me this distinction is blurred sometimes, and my meds help me feel things to a more rational degree.

Stay safe, and good luck.

So, as someone who just started antidepressants recently, I'll say I've been feeling zombie-ish for much of my life. Maybe it's just from feeling constantly tired or anxious idk. The lack of focus/memory makes me feel like I have an attention disorder uhhhh

Depression is no joke. Even when you're not sad, the effects of your shaky brain chemistry will still be noticeable. Your lack of concentration is a direct symptom of depression and pretty much every mood disorder.

I'm hella bipolar, and I've been on anti depressants (which people like me should never be on.... dammit doctors..) so my experience is definitely different in regards to meds, but in regards to depression, we're pretty similar, and my focus is absolute TRASH most of the time when I'm in a depressed period. This is just a fact of life for people with depression.

If I was to give you any advice it is to NOT stop treatment.. A lot of people do this, and this is what usually kills people with depression.. Not the treatment itself, but the on and off nature of it. In the US people often lose coverage for their meds, so they stop taking them.. Then all the symptoms come back and they blow their brains out because it's just WAY too much to handle.. Getting on and off antidepressants is dangerous and you should not do that unless you have a REALLY good reason to do so.. Which people with chronic depression do NOT have a reason to.

Deal with the side effects of your drugs.. Get back to your doc and let him put you on a path back towards medication. Do not just start up again without talking to your doc, anti depressants are not safe meds and should not be noodled with.

I've had multiple friends who have been on anti depresants, then they feel better and go "yaay! I'm cured! I don't need these meds anymore!" they get off it and they crash harder than they ever have.. All their horrid symptoms are back, foggy mind, forgetfulness.. No feelings, not even sadness, just nothingness. Zero energy, sometimes even empathy just fades and you become darkness... Just trapped in a cloud of negativity... And then you feel bad about being such a negative shit, and guilt starts replacing other emotions and you're just ... yeah, downward spirals move real fast sometimes.

What you're feeling is perfectly natural for people who suffer from depression but don't medicate. People think sadness is depression, sadness is just a tiny sliver of depression.. More crippling than sadness is the lack of any emotion. It literally nixes your will to do anything, even eating food is a chore at times.

I don't want to just tell you what to do.. But I can not stress this enough: Consider going back on the meds.. Consider changing meds if you've had little luck with the previous ones. On average, people try 3 antidepressants before they find the one they stick with.

Good luck. Hope I didn't come across as a pushy doofball. :)

@rejizzle: it's never a bad idea to get more peoples opinions IMHO.

I've never been on anti depressants (came close once) so I can't really give any advice other than if you are this concerned I would just talk to a doctor about it.

Those are common temporary side effects of alcoholics who give up the drink cold turkey. Not sure if its the same thing as what would happen to giving up anti-depressants. They (medical professionals) call it "wet brain."

See your doc about it, hopefully for those symptoms its temporary as I mentioned.

I got off my meds cold turkey, and had these awful cold flashes in my brian, felt like a shock or something. went through whrilwinds of emotion and certainly felt scatterbrained. I leveled out after a month or two but kept my doctor in the loop. definitely talk to a medicla professional just in case, we're not doctors. good luck duder

Talk to your doctor, maybe he might prescribe something for focus, rather than an anti-depressant.

I was briefly on one of each, but they never really helped me. I'm not in contact with that doctor anymore and I've been trying to get in contact with a new mental heath professional. Your current symptoms remind me of how I feel in my day to day life. I was recently diagnosed with brain tumors that effect my focus and socialization, so I'm wondering if medication will help me on top of my usual epilepsy meds.

Just adding here for anyone that is reading this out of potential interest in treating depression....I started with Celexa and fucking HAAAAAAATED it, and ended up working with the doc and trying a few meds and ended up on a certain dose of Prozac that definitely saved my marriage. I did get off, but there are a lot of meds/dosages that can vary WILDLY between people, dont give up.

@darthtraitor: I came of anti-depressants a few years ago to go onto anti-psychotics and had much the same experiences (now weaning off them so I get do it all again).

It will go away on its own over time. The longer you were taking them, the longer the recovery period is. Brains don't like being tampered with. It's adjusting itself back to what it wants to do at the cost of some discomfort and confusion. I would say, mention it to your doctor but don't take anything to cover it otherwise you will be in the same spot when you want to come off the new drug.

Well done for going med free though, it takes a lot of strength so hats off to you.

Don't take drugs, kids.

I'm sure you gotten all of the answers you need, but if you are looking for extra anecdotal info - I was on Cymbalta and something else (it was a generic, counter Cymbalta-symptom prescription. Hydroxyzine maybe?) for anxiety and depression for about 2 years. Weaned off over a period of 5 months, but still had the withdrawal symptoms for another 9 or so months after that. Mine were the opposite of yours - hyperactive thought, physical buzzing, etc. But I imagine the principle is the same.

But definitely talk to your (or a new!) doc if you are worried. Stress can't be good for depression/re-occurrence of depression, and you wouldn't want to get worse to the point where medication is the first choice treatment option. [Edit, because you said you don't want to be on meds, not that meds are inherently bad! They helped me tremendously at the time.]

Good Luck!!!!

@inresurrection: I did ween off through a doctor and through the course of 4 months. I was taking 90 mg (3 x 30mg) cymbalta. I’ve been told that I wasn’t on a strong dosage, so weening off shouldn’t be an issue.

@rebel_scum: I did give up drinking completely (cold turkey) last April because of alcohol abuse. I do wonder if that could have anything to do with it.

If you take any advice from this, please go back to your doctor and be completely honest with them, and your fears of them giving you further anti-depressants.

They are there to help. Form a plan together, and keep in regular contact so they can make adjustments as needed.

@mostlysquares: Yeah my reading comprehension has become absolute shit. I constantly have this feeling of pressure in my head that compares to congestion. I’ve thought about going back on antidepressants. I’ve been reading a lot of comments, like yours, from people who were on antidepressants which has cemented the notion that I need to stay off them and keep reminding myself of that. Besides, I don’t want to have to rely on antidepressants any longer. The fact that I’ve been taking them for a whole decade is scary to me.

Fortunately, they haven’t completely nullified my emotions. I will admit, I thought it would be a lot harder to get off antidepressants. Anyways, thanks for taking the time to comment and give some sound advice. It has really helped me just talking this out with someone.

Yeah, always talk to your psychiatrist about dose amount and try and be as open with them as possible. Read up on side effects, etc.

Yeah bingo mate. My boss just came out of rehab and she said that's what the docs told her.

It sounds like there might be more of a problem there than just the chemical change from the anti depressants. As so many other people here have stated, you should seek advice from a doctor. And honestly, I'd get more than one opinion just to be sure, seeing as some doctors are quick to assume stuff. You gotta find the doctor who is the right fit for you and your treatment.

Prayin it all works out! Don't give up!

How you feel now is how I felt when I was on anti-depressants. When I got off them for several months I had “brain zaps” afterward but not for as long as you’ve been having symptoms.

Have you ever looked into hypothyroidism? Brain fog is a big symptom of that and I could see how anti-depressants could cover that up.

So ...you're not a spambot?

Weird.

@rebel_scum: Did she ever ‘get back to normal’? And if so, how long did it take?

@haneybd87: I’ve been told that’s what I have. I’m currently seeing an endocrinologist. If you don’t mind me asking, are you speaking from experience? Wanna know if I’ll actually see results.

@darthtraitor: I am speaking from experience. Getting my thyroid under control helped a lot of things. Looking back it’s pretty obvious it was ruining my life in a lot of ways. I also wouldn’t be as fat as I am if it wasn’t for that. It’s pretty easy to maintain my weight without trying too hard now, it’s losing it that’s the hard part. I wish I had gotten it under control a long, long time ago.

Talk to your doctor...he's not your mom.

@haneybd87: That’s awesome man. Congrats. Glad it worked out for you. Gives me some hope. Glad I’m getting it taken care of.

Well its only been a month or two for her so it's still on-going. The doc said it will take a couple of months. That's all I know sorry.

When I was on antidepressants (for anxiety disorder) my judgement was definitely affected. I kept making mistakes at work, and it was seriously affecting my career prospects. I have distinct memories of having arguments with my boss and getting frustrated to the point I'd get upset.

I decided to gradually take myself off them after a while and whaddya know, I was the perfect employee and I got promoted twice in a few short years after that.

I still have anxiety whispering in my ears but I can keep it under control... if I really need help I've got some herbal stuff that probably doesn't work but hey.