Patients Struggling to Find Effective Meds

“In psychiatry, it's a lot of trial and error with medications. However, something that is not talked about often is misdiagnosing patients. I think that, if after trying 5 different types of medications and doses nothing is working, then the diagnosis might not be the correct one. It's easy to say someone is "anxious and depressed," it's much more difficult to say someone has a personality disorder or a more complex functional issue, to which the answer would be antipsychot”

“The realm of psychiatry is so wide there are way more diagnoses than what we typically hear about. Don't hide any of your symptoms. Be up-front and tell your psychiatrist you would also like to get medication to get your inattentiveness/hyperactivity under control (I don't know what sub-type you have). I am saying this because it's hard to grasp from a Reddit story if there's something more underneath. A psych can get to help you, but that would be through 1. honesty 2. a good me”

“I’m diagnosed ADHD, anxiety, depression, OCD. I’ve been on several different medications over the last 3 years, antidepressants, stimulants, anxiety meds, and except for some side effects (like nausea and high heart rate), I could honestly have been taking sugar pills the whole time. Little to no noticeable changes in my mood, focus, or anxiety. I know they aren’t supposed to be magic and just make things easier, but nothing has been any easier. If my conditions are resistant to medication, genu”

Maybe seek out a second opinion?

“I have ADHD but was never been medicated for it. Executive function. I cannot get organized and sit and study. Never had an issue in HS or undergrad because the classwork was so easy. I didn't have to pay attention. And there was structure. I am having a terrible time studying for the MCAT. Dr. put me on clonidine which isn't a great idea because of lupus I already have severe fatigue. I don't take it and it never helped. After four years of not studying for the MCAT he gave me a rx”

Some claim regular meditation as a solution

Sounds like it’s time to go back on the meds

“TL;dr - I’ve had ADHD for my entire life (40), and major depression. Done all the SSRIs (no help), did IV ketamine 10x through a reputable clinic, did TMS through another reputable clinic - and have always had ADHD. I’m always sad or grey. It’s the same to me. Meds didn’t work but made me fat. Did ketamine and it helped a little. Did TMS and it helped me in therapy (I go twice a week). I’m off all depression meds and feel ‘better’ but maybe 10%. Been on Adderall for 10+ years. It’s definitely be”

“I started Citalopram, an SSRI. I have been struggling with depression my wole life but never acknowldged it. It made me waste myself and my life in an awful relationship my whole 20s. I missed life, it's done. I took a different type of antidepressant for months and it only sedated me. Now I'm around two weeks on this. I can't think of anything else then what a pathetic waste I am. There is no way I'll ever feel differently because I have always felt like this. I have no idea how”

“At one point in my life, I was over medicated, and no doctor believed my medication regimen once I decided to switch doctors to gain better insight of my meds and mental health as a whole until I showed pharmacy records and eventually, the psych provider has lost his license for overprescibing psychotropic drugs. My list of meds from 2020-2023... Mental Health Meds: Elevil/Amitriptyline 150 MG Tofranil/Imipramine 50 MG Effexor XR 75 MG Viibryd 40 MG Wellbutrin SR 100 MG Latuda 80 MG Clonidine 0.”

“That's a lot. I would consider looking for a new doctor if your current one doesn't take your concerns seriously.”

“No, every time I ask them to assess and diagnose they have referred me to talking therapy and not given me anything further to go off I don’t think they believe that I have problems because I can’t get jobs and keep them for one year ish”

“posting to see what other People’s experiences are with the doctors and any specific meds been trying for six years to get help with my mental health and each time I am given the same assessment which comes to nothing i really Want to try meds as my mood swings are debilitating and affecting my life massively I’ve tried two meds already from the GP but neither helped how do you get them to listen to you and not just pass you from pillar to post and prescribe random anti depressants?? the waiting”

“It’s not a traditional anxiety med, it’s actually a nerve pain medication. I was initially put on it for restless leg syndrome and extreme insomnia, then I realized it was a game changer for general anxiety and my doctor was willing to let me switch to using it that way. I take 150mg twice a day as needed, and I’ve been on it for a little less than a year. The only issues I’ve heard people talk about is tolerance, but I haven’t experienced that. It is a controlled substance in some states, so so”

“I read about a study that said it can help with depression so just wondering? submitted by /u/Impossible-Ice2506 [link] [comments]”

“I'm only 17. I've been taking Lithium (mood stabilizer) Olenzapine (anti psychotics) now they're making me take Fluoxitine (antidepressants). And they might add Lamotrigine. I'm so tired of being bipolar. It crushes me from the inside and doesn't make me feel like a human being but a machine. I failed the year for the second time. I should be a senior, but I'm back as a sophomore. The amount of teasing I'll probably get is enough to make me want to drown myself in smo”

Yeah, for bpd. Made me gain 40kg, severe acne and piss my pants

“I don’t know why I thought I could go on without medication, but I seriously can’t. I have cptsd, depression, anxiety and adhd. I was in a good relationship for the most part but I nuked it because of my constant anxiety and stress. I couldn’t drive at night because I was so anxious of getting in a wreck and would have panic attacks on the road where my hands would go numb and I would feel the need to pass out. Meds and exposure has eradicated that. I’m not emotionally disregulsted and I don’t t”

“I perceived her lack of trust in the medical system as a sign that she was simply trying to get Ativan/attention So she gets mistreated as a result, trusts the medical system even less, and thus continues the cycle. See the problem here? Thank you for reevaluating your biases.”

“I usually take 250 mg of Luvox a day with a bunch of other meds. My psychiatrist wants me on Prozac, so I started that today, 25 mg and 225 mg of Luvox. I’ll do this for 2 weeks today. I can’t tell if it’s bc of the taper but I feel wonky. I have no motivation (never do but it’s extra bad). Hoping to hear from someone with a similar experience. submitted by /u/Fancy-Stress4194 [link] [comments]”

Hello, I am looking for peoples opinions on a situation. Hx 21yo F dx depression 10/12 Prozac 20mg daily 4/12 working really well. I feel great. In previous GP appointments the suggestion…

“I’ve had a rough day today with a migraine on top of my background buzz nausea. The aversions are honestly stronger than the nausea, if that makes sense. It’s more like my brain says something will make me sick, so the rest of me rejects it. It’s only been nausea so far, but it’s near constant except for a few instances. I get frustrated with what I have and the fact that I’m still hungry regardless. Does B6 curb aversions, too? I just want to eat something normal without cringing most of the ti”

have you been on medication for it?

“My dog started Prozac about 6mo ago and I have not noticed any change in his fear and barking towards new people. I have noticed that he seems less interested in play and he seems to have lost a little of his spark- about 4 mo in. While I do find that he calms down more quickly when people enter our home- I don't see enough of a difference to justify keeping him on prozac. Our vet reccomend increasing the prozac and it has only been 4 days- but he has lost interest in almost all play. I am h”

“Has anyone noticed any differences when splitting the total dosage of fluoxetine between morning and evening? My dog, 65 pound GSD mix was on 20mg twice a day. The vet recently recommended switching to 3x20mg once a day. My dog has a pretty sensitive stomach, and I have to force the pills down into her throat. Since she’s also on gabapentin twice a day, and some heart meds, I’d rather to not have to give her all of the fluoxetine pills at the same time. But we can do it, if it works better that”

“I started sertraline two days ago and my anxiety is over the roof, I’m scared of getting out of bed in the morning. Please replies just with positive comments 🙏🏼 submitted by /u/edieccc [link] [comments]”

“About a month and a half ago, I had a really bad anxiety episode and saw a psychiatrist. I had many physical symptoms like tingling in my hands, itching all over my body, feeling lightheaded, nausea, and more. I’ve managed to get through the worst part, but I’m still not 100% recovered from the anxiety. About 3 weeks ago, I started getting palpitations and sweaty hands after eating carbs or something sweet. I also feel very agitated and anxious when this happens. The palpitations can last for 1–”

“I got diagnosed with ADHD 3 years ago, with endometriosis 1.5 years ago - I was a bit angry and sad about that, but it wasn’t that bad so it didn’t need medication and could have been managed without it, so I was mostly fine, just introducing some lifestyle changes etc. Now turns out that I also have MCAS, POTS and hypermobility (and was like that since childhood apparently, just brushed off symptoms as „everyone is probably like that”). Ten years ago my symptoms got worse for a while, but then”

“Hi. Dont want to go into details. I need to know whether Xanax is good for that. I need to feel numb and go to sleep. I used to take Lorazepam but I don't have it now. And what's the safe dose of Xanax to feel better? submitted by /u/Any_Insect8448 [link] [comments]”

“I’m 32 weeks, this is my second pregnancy (my first turned 2 mid August). I was on sertraline with my first and actually reduced my dosage because I felt so good (reupped post partum). This pregnancy is totally different. First tri my dr increased my dosage to the highest it’s been. That helped until now. I’m apathetic at best, sad at worst. Nothing scary just a crappy feeling. I know it’s my hormones and I know it’s chemical but it still feels just crappy. Looking for encouragement or solidarit”

“I was put on 50 mg Zoloft a week postpartum from crippling anxiety I hadn’t had before. As times has went on it’s been better, but I haven’t been loving the side effects of Zoloft making me feel like a zombie & super tired (doesn’t help being sleep deprived with a newborn). I felt like a lot of my issues was my ADHD kicking in and I was allowed to resume taking 15 mg Adderall…but I feel like its effects aren’t like before with my motivation. I’m 4 months postpartum, and going to ask my docto”

“Are you on psych meds? They are known for making orgasms very difficult to achieve. They are others that don't have that side effect.”

“In 2016, I took my first pill of fluoxetine -- a decision that will haunt me for the remainder of my life. It kickstarted a series of sexual and neurological symptoms known as PSSD (a gross misnomer). Subsequent treatment by doctors worsened my baseline state and introduced insidious immune elements. I regretfully kept trying to live a "normal" life in spite of my symptom profile. Now, all I amount to is some dusty diplomas and a shoe box of old pictures, cards, and love letters. I har”

“Recently diagnosed as bipolar 1, on meds now. We're starting week 2 of the meds so I know there needs to be time for them to work. Currently under the thoughts that they aren't wanted, feeling like something is going to happen and we're not telling them the truth about anything. I'm trying to reassure them of these thoughts but I just feel like we're going around in circles and it's getting frustrating. We're going to do a evaluation for outpatient therapy few days a”

“I never was good at noticing if my meds ever changed anything. I have OCD and anxiety, and ever since I was 12 years old I used to take the same meds everyday from the prescription I got at 12. Then this year I had a panic attack and I ended up fainting twice which scared my mom alot, and she decided I should go try seeing a psychiatrist again, this had happened a lot throughout the years of my mom convincing me to go see therapists again and I always do despite me not liking and seeing no use i”

“Hello , its been 4 years since im struggling with food noise and binge eating .For info , im suffering from depression since 4 years too .I first took fluoxetine it was bad then sertraline which after while it stopped working for me nd caused anhedonia .Now im on 37,5 mg anafranil im feeling better but since the psychiatrist reduced the dose from 50 mg per day to 37,5 mg at night only food noise is back im starting to feel desperate and i dont think that i will heal one day from food noise cuz w”

“I [m16] have been feeling really low for the past week. Though it was side effects of the medication I am taking since I just came out of an acute manic episode that ended in me being hospitalized. But I fear this is not it I constantly have this feeling of emptiness and numbness in me that persists the whole day. All I do is lay in bed, cry and smoke, I barely eat or drink water. I thought it would be a good idea to go hangout with my friends but I didnt even have the energy to take care of mys”

“I am in the thick of trying to recover from a worsening PPD/PPA. I am on day 5 of Zoloft and it's caused worsening anxiety, but I also get glimpses of real joy and calm in the day. But the anxiety has turned into near-panic attacks so I can't keep going with the 25mg dose. Today I am deciding to cut my 25mg dose in half at the suggestion of my psych and I can't help but feel like this is a huge setback. I just want to hear some success stories from people who went through this. My PP”

I love Wellbutrin

“Looking for advice from people who have taken medication for PPA if possible. I’ve always had anxiety and have been in therapy for a long time, but I’ve been really good this last year or so. I just had my first baby 5 weeks ago and unsurprisingly I’ve been struggling with anxiety post partum, just different to how I expected. I have health/catastrophe anxiety so I expected some degree of that to rear its ugly head (and it has a bit) but more so what I’ve experienced is constant anxiety about th”

“My psychiatrist didn’t think I had bipolar but he also didn’t know all those details”

“I’ve recently started taking Sertraline (50mg, half doses for now) I’m new to meds. I’m on day 2. Day 1 I felt fine. Day 2 I’m having some anxiety. Ik it takes some time to kick in but idk. I feel like it’s doing something but not enough. I was diagnosed with Severe Anxiety and Depression. I think I have ADHD but my Psychiatrist says it could be Bipolar 1. Idk I just want to feel normal. Rn I feel different but not in a good feeling way. I just need some reassurance and maybe to hear someone els”

“I (M23) have been dealing with bipolar for about 6 years now and actively trying to get better. I’ve been in therapy, learning coping skills (helpful and unhelpful), been hospitalized and trying out so many different medications, etc. and nothing has helped long term. What am I doing wrong? What has actually helped? Sometimes I feel like it would be better if I just killed myself and didn’t prolong my own suffering. I have been suicidal for the better part of 10 years. What’s the point? I’ve del”

“She wasn’t on all of them at the same time. She had side effects to many so she refuses to take them or wanted to switch, and became hyper fixated about becoming addicted to benzo’s, leading to the NP weaning her off Ativan and onto Valium because Valium is longer acting. The NP testified that she told Lindsay she wasn’t addicted. I think the fact that Lindsay sent in a MyChart message every single day to that NP demonstrates mania imo, couple that with the obsession over becoming addicted when”

“Long story short, I'm diagnosed with depression, generalized anxiety, and OCD. And not only do i have the diagnosis, but these things genuinely impact my day to day. It took some experimenting with zoloft, luvox, prozac, and wellbutrin over a period of time, but wellbutrin ended up being an absolute game changer for me. I was using Brightside at the time. I didnt mind the frequent appointments while I was working through the medication trial and error phase, but eventually we settled on well”

“I'm addicted to weed and tobacco (grabba). I smoke all day from the moment I wake up until I sleep. I feel like shit and waste so much time. I don't even get high like that, basically just numb and hurting at this point. When I come off, I just get restless and my mind start racing as soon as I'm more clear sober (usually like 2-3 hours after smoking). I only get to that point if I leave home, but then I immediately get the urge to smoke and deal with numb it out. I have some psychol”

“I'm medicated, but you wouldn't know it some days haha. My mental health tanked as I anticipated it to when we started our permanent remote back around mid-July; many days have just blurred right into each other. I woke up on a Friday not entirely sure if it was Thursday or Saturday. It's a hard cycle to get out of once you're in deep, so trying to get a grasp on some work/home boundaries before shit really hits the fan.”

“I was previously on Etoxifen and SSRIs for my bpd, for four months, however it didn't help much. Now I've been prescribed with SSRI+SNRI+Benzo. I hope it helps! submitted by /u/emmarobbins [link] [comments]”

“putting aside their evidenced based uses and recommend durations, how do you feel about common meds like flexeril and ydroxyzine being used indefinitely questionable treatments? if a new patient establishes with you and says they've been on flexeril for years for their chronic back pain or they've been on hydroxyzine "for sleep" for years do you just go with it? does it really matter at long as there's no apparent issues? do you yourself start these meds for common complain”

“sorry that sucks, but its still not enough. did you try atypical antipsychotics? or anticonvulsants? or ketamine? or psychs? or non-medicinal methods? it takes a lot more work and effort to get meds that work for you than people expect, and doctors do not want to explain. it took me at least 1 dozen meds at different dosages to find the right combo. mental health is complicated. medicine is not solved.”

“so i was recently diagnosed with adhd (im 19 f but turning 20 on monday) and i got diagnosed back in april but i was properly medicated this week. its almost 4 in the morning rn but on day 3, i feel like the meds are starting to reveal other symptoms. like i think i might be autistic, and i feel like the meds are shedding more light into my body. certain things i used to ignore i cant anymore. one of it being pain. i used to do 8 hr shifts (some way longer) for years and had mild pain at best. b”

“Thanks,I am also thinking that I should at least visit once sure go to a psychiatrist as soon as possible 😔.”

“I’m professionally diagnosed with schizoaffective bipolar type, PTSD, and as of recently, ADHD. I’m also diagnosed GAD, but I think that one needs to go. I also have a septum ring, teal hair, tattoos, and am goth/alt. I’m also queer. Does that do anything to minimize my mental illnesses? No. I find that, when you spend a lot of time on TikTok, you’ll see a lot of that demographic you’re talking about either diagnosed with illnesses or self-diagnosing, but there’s plenty of your average-looking p”

“Thank you very much for the kind comment. I just made an appointment with a psychiatrist in regard to a possible change of medication. I am hoping that helps. I have been trying to get back into painting, it’s just difficult to focus on and get started without motivation. I wish you the best as well.”

“Maybe talk to a medical professional in regards of changing the medications you may be on. If you feel like this , something isn't working for you. Also lean on friends and family. We as humans are not designed to handle such events alone. I think trying new hobbies that may bring peace to you would help as well. I wish you the best in overcoming this.”

“I've been dealing with anxiety long term 27M and I finally went to a psychiatrist as an adult. I'm starting a new job next week and my anxiety has gotten so bad recently I had to try and get help. We talked med options and what I'm going to try next... when my refill is due. Which is a full week after starting this new job. I reached out about something more immediate and got a single reply, but now I'm sitting here with worsening anxiety especially about starting the new positio”

“I want to share my story in case someone else recognizes themselves in it. TLDR: SSRI + postpartum + severe sleep deprivation + undiagnosed bipolar 2 completely broke me. I (31F) have loved my wife (32F) since I met her at 21. Anyone who knew me knew I adored her. Loyalty, love, and protecting the people I loved were who I was. I struggled with depression and anxiety for years also had periods of insomnia where I barely slept but wasn’t tired. I didn’t know that could be a red flag. Before IVF/p”

“I have pots and am weening off of venlefexine after being on it for 6 years. It bottomed out around May. I had to drop out of nursing school, relationship with my gf is hanging on by a thread, can hardly work, starting off (again) at a community college in less than a week. What began as insurmountable anxiety, turned into depression, along with this came suicidal thoughts, then the plans, and now the attempts. I keep chickening out, but my craving has only grown. Since the 2nd of this month, I&”

This was exactly my thought…