I went to my primary care doctor, and he put me on a dose of Cymbalta, starting at 30mg, and then moving up to 60mg. I took it the first day and after that day of hell I said FUCK that.

At some times I felt "alright" but most of the day I felt "cracked out", sort of like a coke high/comedown of meth or something. I stopped after that first day.

A week later I told myself that I need to take this stuff, tried again, and had the same effects. I said fuck it and stopped all together.

I was talking to my mom about my issues, whom also sufferes from depression. She advised me to go see a psychiatrist. And I immediatly did.

He put me on Effexor 37.5mg for a week, then up to like 60 mg for a week, and then finally up to 120 mg.

Everything seemed normal for the first two weeks, but once I hit the 120 mark BAM the same exact feeling I had from the Cymbalta. I stopped immediatly and contacted him today, and am still waiting for his response.

I was wondering if anyone has any experiences like this or tips that they could share with me.

I feel depressed as hell and don’t know what to do anymore

anyone please help..?
120 mg of Effexor taken daily is a very high dosage, even 60mg should be more than enough unless you are severely depressed, and you don’t sound as if you need that high of a dosage. Effexor is one of the stronger anti-depressants too.
When you double your dosage that soon after starting the medication you will no doubt feel like you described. And trying various dosages of different brands of anti-depressants within a short period of time is not good for your serotonin levels.
With anti-depressants it’s best to get your body used to a certain dosage taken at the exact same time once or twice a day (depending on how often your doctor prescribes you to take it). It took me about a month and a half to stabilize on 20mg of Paxil taken once daily, and I feel that 20mg is almost more than I need.
You should give your body more time to get used to a dosage of about 20-40mg and after about a month or so you should then decide if it should be upped or not.
It’s very important to take it at the exact same time every day, if you forget to take it at your set time do not take it later during that day but instead wait until the next day and then take it at your set time. You will likely experience negative results if you take the pill at different times throughout the day.
It’s also important for you to find which time of the day is best to take it. It’s different for everyone, I take mine at 8:15 every morning.
thanks for the advice so far man!

I’m going to talk to my psychiatrist about lowering my dosage to around 60 mg daily..

any other advice on my issue?

please and thank you all so much
I just made the jump from 37.5 to 75mg of Effexor a day on Tues. morning. I’m feeling better and less deprressed for the most part but still dealing with a break up due to my other issues so it’s all kind of convoluted. I don’t have any negative side effects at this point.
When you feel that you know you’re taking too much. Talk to your doc about bringing you down. Go slowly because Effexor has some nasty withdrawal symptoms.
nicely timed that this thread was bumped today

I just started taking Efexor today 37.5mg for the first week, then jump up to 70mg. Taking it for mild depression and anxiety problems, in conjunction with some councelling.

Will update later when/if it all starts happening

Damo

*Real nasty withdraw symptoms.
I’ve been on 150mg of Effexor for over a year. For a while there we tried 225mg, but that knocked me on my ass.

I don’t seem to recall many side effects when starting the drug or with its continued use.

I do notice that, when I miss a dose, it sucks HARD. I feel like shit. I keep hearing the withdrawal from this stuff are nasty, and I believe it. Not looking forward to going off the drug, whenever that might be.
it took 6 weeks of slowly decreasing the dose on effexor to get my wife off of it. I think she was only taking the 75mg pills and they dropped her down to the 35mg pills and it basically made her want to kill herself because of the stabbing headaches, diarrhea, and just feeling like shit that it gave her.

we ended up breaking the capsules open and counting out 5 of the little "dots" each day until she got down to zero. there are like 250 dots in each capsule

effexor also turned her into an emotional zombie. Nothing made her happy, nothing made her sad. she was just blah

I was up around 300mg of effexor a day, about to bump upto 350 when I quit it cold turkey.

Was that apparently a high dosage? I found that it would make me fine, then plateau after a few weeks to months and the only way to get past it was to increase it. By plateau I mean it felt like I missed a dosage but milder, and if you ever did miss a dose you know exactly what I mean.

Best part of the drug, if you feel nothing then there is nothing to be sad about.
Well im on my 3rd day, and I’m constantly getting waves of nausea, as well as laying in bed and constantly agitated and cant lay still …. I know it will pass tho .. im hoping
+1 for effexor withdrawls sucking. I wouldn’t wish that stuff on my worse enemy.
For those that have taken efexor, how long did it take for any effects/side effects kicking in?

I’ve been feeling a little bit of nausea the first few days, .. just jumped up onto 75mg today … and I feel like I’m not having any emotions at all, .. I dont know if its just the dose going up, or what.
Bumping this one again.

2 months in, and starting to go a bit backwards now, .. last couple of week (still on the 75mg XR) ive been noticing the anxiety and stuff really coming back. ALso my hunger is really coming back too (previously was not eating as much and really loosing weight).

Off to the doc again tomorrow, my psychologist is thinking that my body is becoming used to the dosage and reckons to double it to 150mg.

Still feeling like a bit of an emotional zombie tho.
I may be joining druggie crew tomorrow but I dont think so. I am talking to my doctor/psychiatrist again though tomorrow. We’ll see what comes out of it.
Good luck with it, …. i gotta say up until the last couple of weeks I was doing really well on this, … just going back downhill now tho
primary care shouldn’t be prescribing antidepressives.

my primary care provider put me on a low dose of effexor for 6 months two years ago.

the results? I put on 50 lbs, feel very few extremes of emotion and realized that I wasn’t depressed, I just hated my job.

have you tried going outside and getting regular exercise?
I have tried that yes.

I’ve suffered from depression before, and have family history of it.

Certainly seemed to be working until a couple of weeks ago
up to 150mg a day now ….. man its making me feel sick, … only lasts a day or two tho from previous experience

120mg is no where near a high dose, where the hell do you get your information? 150mg is a maintenance dose.

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Been sleeping alot lately

and sex doesn’t feel as good. not as much sensation.

Are these normal effects? I’ve been on it for about 3 weeks. What do I do? oh by the way I cant talk to my dr. please dont ask why.
Well these are indeed the described side effects from prozac, drowsiness and fatigue. My question is why did you go from 10 to 20?

You might not be able to talk to your doctor about it, how about talking to another doctor? But anyway all anti-depressants can have side-effects. You might want to go back to a lower dose again, or change the type of anti-depressant you are taking.
Watch your sleep. If you can’t stay asleep/fall back asleep for normal periods you’ll be wiped out like you wouldn’t believe. Happened to me. Had to stop working because of it.

Keep an eye on your side effects – they can sneak up on you & really fuck things up. Potentially. Just keep paying attention & try to anticipate what’s coming next.
If you can’t talk to your doctor then you need a new doctor.

Ultimately, talking to your doctor and getting him to try different medications is the solution you are looking for.

There is NOTHING wrong with changing doctors. In the end, you have to be honest with your doctor. If you just don’t trust him or don’t get along with him then you need to kick him to the curb and find another.
You can’t rely entirely upon your doc for treatment options, tho. You have to know what you want & tell them what that is every visit or they’ll just ask you how you’re doing & put you back out the door.

Always give your doc feedback along with telling them what you WANT/NEED out of your treatment.

If your doc can’t respond adequately then they’re not working for you.
Go to a psychiatrist, not a doctor for depression meds. GP’s generally are clueless about them. psychiatrists deal with them all day, every day, and they know them well. I made that mistake for 3 years.

I’m on 80mg daily Prozac and 30 Buspar now and it seems like its just starting to have an effect on me- for the better.
Depression can sometimes be a symptom of something else. Looking beyond depression can sometimes yield more successful treatment.
Not to freak you out, but you should look up something called inorgasmia. A truly frightening side effect linked to many ssri’s. Most anti-anxiety and anti-depressants have sexual side effects. Kind of cruel joke, it’s like, ‘hey I feel great now! But suddenly I can’t orgasm or don’t ever want to have sex!’

Also, defiantely don’t ask a doctor about anxiety and depression. There’s no shame in going to a therapist. You want a specialist when it comes to matters of the mind. A doctor will only throw meds at you. Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) is HUGELY effective in treating this stuff. And then you can get off meds and have amazing sex again!

thats the problem it makes me want it less and it doesn’t feel as good. i feel like i get depressed more on the weekends then any other times.
I wonder why the weekends are worse? Maybe you have time to sit and think/worry too much? Don’t fall into the trap of believing that if you think it out enough you’ll suddenly hear a "Eureka!" depression and anxiety grow with inactivity. This is coming from someone who knows all too well!
You can do it without meds. I weaned myself off of zanax, and it was very hard. But I did it, and my anxiety is way better than when I was on it. And I like sex again, which is huge.

Also remember that a big part of enjoying sex is having healthy self esteem. If you feel like crap about yourself, you won’t really want anyone to share that space w you.

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or

Ask

Your

Doctor

okay mr i dont have any friends

Okay, Mr. Lexapro.
I’ll help you out. What are you being treated with it for? Depression, anxiety, or both? Does it make you feel jittery? If it does, it may take a bit to get used to or you may need to try a different medication. Obviously, if it makes you feel jittery and it’s something you don’t want for drawing, take it after. If you take it later at night it could possibly keep you up.

I personally have no experience with lexapro, but it’ll become clear what the issues are and you can treat them yourself by taking it at a different time or talk to your doctor about other treatment. Keep in mind, as it sounds like you’re inexperienced with medication for depression and anxiety, that you may feel a lot better for a week or two and then you’ll go back to how you were feeling. This happened to me a few times and I needed to change medication, but you should stay on it for at least a month to a month and a half to really know.

im taking it for high blood pressure

Okay, well, take it a prescribed unless there’s an issue. If so contact your doctor.
I just got off it after taking it for 2 years. It really didn’t help me much because I tried to kill myself three times at Christmas.

I just got switched to Abilify today. Does anyone know anything about it? Any side effects?

Google. I have no personal experience. Though, don’t stay on the same medication for two years if it isn’t working.

People with "issues" do crazy things.

yea dude im just asking if people took it in the morning or the evening….he gave me a choice…..im not retarded man, nor is anyone else in this thread…use your "common sense"

You know how to works. How am I supposed to know what you’re using it for.

And no, fuck stick. You didn’t ask if people took it in the AM or PM. You asked when you should take it.
Doesn’t matter when you take it. It’s an SSRI which needs to be built up in your system in the first place. But I would take it at the same time everyday.

It actually can matter, as SSRIs can have an energizing effect, thus keeping you up.

Google didn’t tell me much. I took the Abilify last night and slept good for the first time in a long time.

It’s a good medication for that. Melatonin 1 mg or 2mg (1 to start) works very well for most people as well for sleep.

Abilify was pretty tame if you ask me. I didn’t notice anything unusual on it.

Re: Lexapro, it’s either in the AM or PM as obvious. My doc told me that with prozac, some get a bit wired and need to take it in the AM or sleepy.. take it in the PM.

Try taking it on a Saturday AM or any other non-work day and if it makes you sleepy, that’s your answer.

A doctor just gave me abilify today and I’m terrified because now I think I’m crazy.

An Abilify is used for a lot of different things.

i just started abilify and sleep like shit, even if i take a temazepam (30mg) or a 2mg xanax. i always wake up at set times. tho i was just recently off of geodon, and that causes sleep problems when you go off of it.

Yeah, unfortunately everyone is so individual that some of these things just don’t work. Try Ativan or Melatonin if you’ve already done Lunesta, Ambien, Sonta, etc — all those.

A lot of different types of crazy.

It’s not used only for psychiatric problems.

don’t sweat it, ability is REALLY good stuff… really good.
What makes abilify really good stuff?

What else is it used for besides schizophrenia and bipolar mood modulation?

Just because it’s good stuff doesn’t mean I’m fine.
Lexapro did practically nothing for my social anxiety. my doctor just switched me to Cymbalta
Depression, Schizophrenia, Bi-Polar, Sleep Disorder, Obessive Compulsive Disorder, Post Traumatic Stress, Dementia and Alzheimers, as well as disorders which cause abnormalities of perception, such as depersonalization. It has many uses given it’s an atypical antipsychotic. Don’t let the word "psychotic" trick you into believing it’s used on "psychos." It has nothing to do with "crazy." It also has value in cases of Parkinson’s.

It doesn’t mean these should be treated with Abilify. Many are off-label uses, but clinical experience has shown many of these to be useful.
so i turn 21 next month, is it okay to drink with lexapro…..

Call our doctor to confirm.

Generally, no… but I’ve done it on prozac and a load of other shit and lived to tell about it.

Thanks for the list, I was unaware of some of these.

I still can’t get over the stigma of being on a drug that helps what were termed "crazy" people fifty years ago. I know the sophistication in understanding different conditions has increased greatly, but even when I was a kid (20 years ago) there wasn’t a wide spread understanding and tolerance of these people. At least not in the circles I grew up in.

And now to be experiencing many of the symptoms of the conditions from the above list…quite a blow to my ego. I thought I was healthy and smart and strong. Now I see there is something wrong with my brain/body beyond the superficial or the easily curable and it’s kicking my ego-ass.
herbolove.com

Superior to antidepressants.

All natural. No side effects.

Also, to come off of drugs:

theroadback.org

Prescription mood drugs = brain damage. Taper off of them slowly and take mood max + exercise instead.

Abilify was only approved 5 years ago and released to the public.

There still isn’t much understanding today, but today we understand the biological implications as the process behind most of the conditions that treat these diseases.

The biggest obstacle for patients has always been social isolation, with family frowning upon the patients condition, or a lack of understanding.

I suffer from an actual infectious disease which is surprisingly looked at in the same way.

I thought the same thing, I thought I was invincible as a kid, then reality struck and I became ill. The truth is, you do whatever it takes to survive, and using the environment in all it’s methods — whether technology, whether advances in medications, whatever — use all tools in order to survive.

That "is" smart, that is also strong compared to someone who abandons that concept and ends their life before allowing the use of external tools.

If you’re leg is broken, you use a cast. If you’re wounded badly, you suture the wound, if you’re suffering a lack of sunlight and experiencing debilitating depression, we use artifical sunlight. If you suffer a psychiatric condition caused by either biological, genetic, or psychological factors, we try to reduce or solve the problem using medication, psychotherapy (or other types of therapeutic intervention).

Smart people use whatever means are necessary, and the strongest are usually not necessarily the most fit, but the most adaptable. So adapt…..

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There was another dude there who I perceived as socially superior showed up. Its weird, I thought the dude looked like crack head, but i for some reason (buckle up) the girl perceived him to be more attractive to me, which I know is probably a fabricated self-fulfilling prophecy. I don’t know man, it just wrecked my shit. It’s weird, like if there is any guy around with any one aspect superior to mine: shirt, jeans, shoes, belt, hair, money, knowledge, or car; then I feel inferior and determine there is no reason for me interact with these women, because they’d all prefer "the other guy who’s better."

My male and female friends with me told me I was insane, and I didn’t even really think the guy looked better than me, but I perceived that the woman would enjoy everything about him more than me. WTF is wrong with me?

Remember that the whole situation was 100% in your head, which is a good thing, because you have the power to change it.

Very often I see average looking guys with no jobs hooking up with beautiful women.

Judging by your post, I would say you are worried too much of the outcome, especially if that means getting rejected. Consciously, you probably know if they reject you that it’s simply something you did, not who you are, but subconsciously, you probably take it pretty hard and feel inferior.

The only way to get over it is when you are faced with the situation again, tell yourself "I don’t care what happens. Stop thinking and just go," then get up and go talk to the girls. Approaching, like ANYTHING else in life, comes easier with repetition and practice. To sound like a motivational poster, you’ll miss 100% of the shots you don’t take.

Those guys that you let make you feel inferior are probably normal guys with many of the same insecurities as everyone else. When they put on those nice jeans, belts, or shoes, they are thinking "Will girls like this?" Had it been you who went up and talked to the girls first, those guys would have been thinking of you the same stuff you thought about them.

I work security at a country bar/club called The Electric Cowboy, and one thing that completely changed my world is I’ll overhear the best looking guys/girls in the bar doubting themselves even more than the worse looking people. It’s pretty common to see the shy good looking guys in the corner with their beers while the average looking guys are out on the dance floor dirty dancing with some hot girls. Most people assume "Those guys are just too cool for any of these girls," but the truth is, the whole time they are over there they are thinking "Man, we need to get laid."

I’ve been rambling for a while now, but the point I’m trying to get across is that you’re looking far too much into the exterior stuff (looks, possessions) and not enough into the interior stuff (ability to make her laugh, confidence, intelligence, compassion…etc).
clubs are so tough for anyone, especially someone with self-esteem issues

why don’t you try meeting girls in everyday places and getting numbers, then doing dates?

its so easy if you just keep it simple

additionally, i see many men who meet girls at clubs and get numbers, but most of the time it is difficult to get these girls on dates. there are always exceptions of course. but in general i think clubs are better for meeting girls and fucking them that night, and getting numbers in the course of your daily life is much better for actually dating

My day game is far superior. I didn’t really have a problem with approaching women after my great embarrassment excursion about 3 months ago. Then, suddenly its back and its incapacitating. Suddenly, I’m frozen again, and cannot talk to them because they don’t want another annoying fuckstick running his mouth about a bunch of bullshit they don’t care about. They want someone fit, masculine, financially exquisite, with a normal sense of humor; not a fat, ugly head-ed, child with shitty cars and nothing to talk about.

I don’t think its a self confidence issue, its an issue where I’ve perceived this absurd reality which is a total fabrication, which justifies a lack of effort.

Im definitely hearing you on this part. It fucks me over a lot
If you were confident in who you are, you wouldn’t be having these problems. Spin it and call it what you will, but it is a confidence issue.

If you were confident in who you are, you wouldn’t take notice to these other men. When you look at these guys and say to yourself "Why am I not like that?", then you are obviously not confident with yourself.

i need to find a way to flip the switch.
8 approaches, 2 numbers…I’m back on the horse…lol.

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I go through extreme mood swings each and everyday. Multiple times – daily. Probably at least 3-4 a day. It’s taken an extreme toll on my personal life with friends/relationships/and family. I fall into these moods of extreme negativity for weeks on end where I’ll take anything I’m conversing about with my friends and twist it into some negative bullshit that people eventually get sick of. On top of that are my daily mood swings.

I’ll be extremely happy at random for about a half an hour, and I’ll feel extreme anxiety, and I’m a very outgoing person with a GREAT sense of humor, the life of the party if you will, but I’ll feel like my mind is racing and I can start talking extremely fast like I’m in a rush. After about a half an hour of that I start feeling like a literal cloud is forming in my head and I begin to get a headache…I get very tired, HIGHLY easy to irritate and out comes my pessimistic, doesn’t want to be around anyone, side. I can go back and forth with those two moods a few times a day, but I’ll always end up drained from it and very pissy.
I constantly look for things that are wrong with others, and I’ve completely pushed away any and all girlfriends I’ve had because of this. I won’t trust them, I’ll explode over complete nonsense, and the worst thing I do – I’ll accuse them of doing 100 things they didn’t, just because when I’m in that mood I’ll refuse to believe anything positive could possibly happen.

I’m not a physical person whatsoever, so luckily this doesn’t escalate to me throwing punches or whatever, but it still hurts alot of people that stay in my life – which I thank them for, but just don’t understand how they possibly could.

I talk to myself way too much. Once I get some negative thought swirling I just basically lose all touch with logic and reason and spiral into a continuously building list of all these negative things that could possibly be an outcome of whatever situation I’m thinking of – I won’t look at ANY positives – then I almost trick myself into believing them with no basis whatsoever, and then accusing the person/people, and yelling at them for it.

I seriously feel like I am what the definition of a madman would be, and it sucks. I can talk myself out of my episodes when I’m alone, but if it involves someone else, I just completely lose it right away and after I blow up and yell about a bunch of nothing for 10 minutes, I’ll start cooling off and talking logically again.

I’m so tired of it. I just blew up on the girl I love and ruined our plans for st. patty’s day for something completely fucking stupid. I’m gonna lose her very soon if this doesn’t change, but I don’t want to change for her – I want to change for me. I’ve dealt with this for at least 9 years, and enough is just fucking enough. I can’t tell you how tired I am of yelling at people and feeling empowered by it, but then after logic sets in, immediately going in to apologetic pathetic mode to try and say I didn’t mean anything I said and make up for it, which is true..I really didn’t mean any of the stuff I say when I’m in that mood – I just completely lose my mind.

I have an appointment on Monday the 24th.

I think I’m Bipolar type 1 disorder..the extreme one, but everyone has a funny way to self-diagnose their own problems eh?

I’m just fucking scared I’m gonna really mess this relationship up. I already have to an extent, not to say she’s been an angel either, but when I can keep my moods at bay, we really do just fit together naturally. I just can’t stop myself from having all these negative thoughts..and it’s just a mess.

I guess that’s my immediate scare, but as I said I want help, not that I’m getting help because she thinks I need it.

My ‘in the future’ scare is that I’ll never allow myself to be happy, as it seems that’s what I’m afraid of. It’s like my mihd goes "holy shit, you could actually feel happy for once, I better get out of control so there’ll be no such thing".
Good luck. I’m glad you are going to see someone. Please update us with what he/her has to say and if they give you any medication.

Thanks, and will do. I’m just seeing a psychologist, but she’s also a registered nurse – so she has the ability to prescribe medication if she thinks it’s an extreme case. I really do feel that I’m going to fall into that extreme

Just focus on the positive for now. Keep thinking that she will be able to explain something to you that you didn’t know and you can grow from it and resolve problems.

Everytime I try and focus on positive things, my negative side, and the stress of working/college/trying to hold a relationship/keeping my friends on my good side just collapses everything.

I wish I had the money to just go on a week vacation..maybe just getting away would help me out.

Being on medication will be a godsend if it corrects this problem. I just hate going through the process of finding which medication will actually work for me I was on zoloft before – shit sucked..I was a robot.
Well I had my first therapist meeting yesterday. I have bi-polarism that runs through my family and she said it is largely a genetic thing, and due to that I most likely won’t be able to get better without getting on a medication to help get my mood levels straightened out.

She referred me to a psychiatrist who I’m seeing in 2 weeks. I said I hated anti-depressants as they make me feel like a robot, and she said she would think I’d benefit from a mood stabilizer, not an anti-depressant, and they are fast acting and wouldn’t make me feel like a drone.

I looked up some things and it looks like Lithium is the most popular mood stabilizer, however, it’s side effects are fucking scary and I really don’t think I want to try going on it. It looks like it’s basically toxic to the kidney’s and they’ll have to be closely monitored to make sure Kidney failure doesn’t occur, and fuck that.

I really don’t fall into a depression at all, I just have a million thoughts at once and all these irritable and distracting traits, so hopefully I can just benefit from an anti-anxiety drug, instead of going on something as serious as Lithium.

Lithium:

Common side effects include muscle , twitching, , (bone loss, , , etc,), kidney damage, (polyuria and polydipsia) and . Many of the side-effects are a result caused by the increased elimination of potassium.

My mother was a complete nutcase when my father started having an affair with the neighbor – and rightfully so, however screaming her head off in a tirade of swears and horrible things with me present wasn’t the best for me.

I’ve forgiven both of my parents for what they’ve done, and I have a good relationship with both of them now.

Seeing them fight and my father having affairs with different women and my mother crying on my shoulder when I was in 7th grade definitely set the tone for my relationships though. I don’t trust them, I push them away, when they start to go away, I have them come back. Rinse and repeat. They eventually start to go away and stay gone after awhile though. I don’t blame my parents for it, I blame myself for not being strong enough to overcome my trust issues and just let go of my fears and take a real shot at being happy. What’s the worst that could happen? The girl actually does betray me, and I move on and find another one of the billions of fish in the sea

Now, if only I could somehow make myself believe that and act on it.

Thats silly goosery. Your parents took you on an emotional rollercoaster of mood swings that probably set the tone for much of your life. Logically its easy to say that "oh, a relationship is nothing scary" but if your gut and the back of your head is telling you differently, you start to get anxious and panicky because you "KNOW" something is wrong, even though it clearly isnt. Thats the magic of phobias, and you parents did a good job giving you one. Its great that you forgive them and have a good relationship now, but it isn’t your fault you had the fucked up childhood, its theirs. You don’t need to be bitter at them for it, but you can certainly place the blame in the right place rather than on yourself.

And oh yeah, try out whatever your therapist recommends, but if after 2 months you don’t like it, tell her and have her ween you off. Therapists are trained to direct you to a psychiatrist for certain illnesses, and psychiatrists are trained to give you drugs for those illnesses. Personally I found talk therapy much more useful and couldn’t stand the drug side effects either (I was on anti depressants). Lots of excersize, eating good food (subway does not equal good food), and having a routine in many situations can do as well or better for mood correction.

Having a friend that is there for you no matter what, a SANE friend who takes things in stride, is also a huge plus. Get an outside friend and keep him/her away from all your other friends to keep them away from all the drama so that they can get a different perspective on it. They can help you laugh off a lot of those problems because emotions are contagious and their easy going attitude about your drama will rub off.

Great job at actually going to see someone to help with this! Lots of people here talk about it, but never do – props to you!

Hopefully the psychiatrist you’re going to see will be able to work with you to find a medicine you can both be comfortable with – something you’re ok w/ the side effects of (all drugs have some) and something they think will help you. Its a delicate balance.

I wouldnt count any rx out from info on the web just yet. Many, many rx’s and even OTC drugs have what look like scary side effects, but often times those dont occur as much as you’d think. The drug companies have to list the possible side effects and "common" often means that "when people had any side effects at all (something thats not frequent) these are the side effects they had" rather than "it was common for all people on this drug to experience these things." Besides, you’re going to be under the care of a trianed professional, with their guidance and watchfulness. If they prescribe anything, they’re going to know what to look for and what to tell you to look for as far as problems go.

Basically, try to go in with an open (and positive, which I know is hard) mind about it. This is your chance to get better and cope – take it by the horns!

i would however advise against lithium. that will turn you into a drone. stay away from geodon (worse withdrawl symptoms than heroin). i personally take abilify, but i am type 2. i’m not sure what they give for type 1, but i imagine it’s similar. I’ve been prescribed most meds for add, adhd, bipolar disorder, seizure disorder, lots of other fucked up stuff. they didn’t knw what i had when i was growing up, so it was always a cocktail of different meds, and i think it fucked me up personally. i do still take a bipolar medication though, and it helps a lot.

Do you have a primary care provider? Start taking notes on when this happens to you, document how you feel, and what you’re thinking. I think this is manifesting as Manic Depression, or as some say — Bi-polar disorder. This could have multiple causes, so it’s important to find out where to start. The primary care provider would be helpful, a therapist would be helpful and finally a psychiatric evaluation from a psychiatrist would be useful.

You may have mental health problems alone, or you may have other circumstances causing these mental health problems, and it’s important to find the root cause.

You’re doing the right thing by coming forward like this. I know exactly what you’re talking about. I went through the exact same thing. My problem isn’t probably the cause of yours, but the symptoms were the same in terms of that particular mental dysfunction.

Chances are the issue is a result of your past experiences, and those can be uprooted and worked through. I would not suggest Lithium. Rather Lamictal would be a good starting point, combined with a medication to relax you. An antidepressant may be useful, like Cymbalta
if you are not 100% honest with the therapist, itll be a huge waste of everyones time. Remember that.

It was stupid of them to do, but I can’t erase it and have to somehow get out of that train of thought.

I will try any drug prescribed for me for awhile, you’re right on that. I don’t have time to exercise whatsoever.

I also don’t have an outside friend I can go to. I’m stuck alone in my head with this, with no outsource whatsoever except a therapist – which is much better than nothing. I wish I could have a friend like that, but sadly I don’t, and I’m definitely not going to find one that’ll want to just deal with all my emotional problems.

thanks, it’s been long enough..and it’s just time to do it for myself. Lithium is a very scary drug, but I will be willing to try it if it’s prescribed for at least a short amount of time. I am doing all I can to stay positive about the situation, one of my worst attributes is I’m impatient as all hell, so these 2 weeks until I get in is going to feel like a damn eternity.

I will definitely bring up the fact I do not want to be turned into a robot, so if lithium does that, hopefully it’ll be ruled out. I just want one pill. Not a mixture of 10 things. I don’t believe in medication too much, except for extremes, and where I’m at right now, I’m extreme and look forward to getting on a medication to help me learn how to feel more ‘normal’ if you will.

I do, and I remember all of this stuff in my head. I rambled on for about 45 minutes straight of everything that’s going on to my therapist the other day and had much more to go, so I definitely won’t be leaving things out. I don’t feel depressed. I go into mania’s when i just talk a million miles a minute and can’t stop the thoughts that flow in and out of my head. I experience the normal stress/depression as any college student would with a failing relationship in my hands.

I saw my primary care therapist and she referred me to a psychiatrist for an evaluation in about 2 weeks. It’s just holding on until then.

I definitely believe a handful of it is genetics, and another handful is what I experienced from my parent’s relationship in terms of not being able to trust and general negative outlook’s on relationships as a whole.

Hopefully the psychiatrist won’t want to start me on such a powerful medicine either, but after evaluation if she thinks it’s best, I will give it a shot.

I’m 100% honest. It’s a good thing, and also can be a bad thing. In this instance with my therapist, it’s definitely a good thing

No of course not. You don’t want to involve this person in your emotional problems at all, so that the relationships remains drama free. If shit comes up within your cicle, this outside person will be oblivious to it and probably won’t really care. He or she will change the subject to something more relevant to them or something more fun. This will help you cancel those negative thoughts and simply look at the situation at hand. Now you have someone you can have some fun with so that when you go back to your original circle you haven’t been festering bad thoughts about them for the last few days. Many people maintain several circles casual of friends because it can make for much mroe stability and keeps them from focusing too much on problems within one group.
Xin, be aware that Bi-polar disorder doesn’t mean you suffer from the depressive episodes constantly, or much at all. Different people report having almost non-stop mania, some report much more depression, but the polarity is still present.

Everything you’re doing is right. Keep going. Also do some research yourself to learn what you can.

I see what you mean, and yeah…that isn’t happening at this moment either. I’ve always been kind of a homebody and I have closely knit group of friends.

When I’m in school or work I’m just there to focus on what’s at hand and get out. I barely even look at other classmates/coworkers.

I definitely can fall into depressed episodes, but it’s usually after an extreme fit of mania and it leaves my head hurting and I just get tired. I don’t get depressed in the sense of moping around, crying, and withdrawing myself from entertainment.

I understand what you mean though, and thank you. I’m doing my best. I just have to make it until my next therapy session before I’ll actually feel like progression is being made. I’m very impatient for it. I’ve been like this as long as I can remember and I’m very anxious to feel what it’s like to let myself be happy. Hopefully whichever relationship I end up in, in the future, it will be much more fulfilling and alot less worrysome.

Lamictal + antidepressant is a bad combination. lamictal isn’t a mood stabilizer, which you need in order to take an anti-depressant while bipolar. i learned this the hard way. I would strongly advise against lamictal and an anti-depressant. lamictal mixed with a mood stabilizer is how it’s usually prescribed for bipolar kids, i tried it last year. it didn’t do anything for me honestly. i got off of it after a month.

IMO this would be good to work on. Putting all your eggs in one basket by having only one social group means you rely on them for all your social needs. When they don’t perform to your needs and expectations (they are only human afterall) its easy to get flustered and angry because it feels like your whole world is coming down and you may start to resent them.

Emotional stability comes from knowing that if something goes wrong, you will able to deal with it, and that usually comes from maintaining relationships with multiple groups of people. You can have one group that is your main group of your closest, longest time friends, but you need contacts outside of that group to give you perspective.
For an overview OP, it would be useful to read this article from Wikipedia on Bipolar disorder in order to get an overview of what we’re discussing. The link is in the reference below the first paragraph.

Reference:

Reference:

I suppose I really don’t know where to begin at this point in my life. In about a year or so I see this being more possible.

Right now I’m a fulltime student mon-thurs and work 8 hours a day on saturday and sunday. My only day off is Friday, and that will be filled up with doing some service learning at the Hunger task force soon for my sociology class.

I have no time to even really see my close friends, much less go out and try to make new ones. Also, I’m at a Technical College right now, and let’s just say the experience is very much like highschool…and it isn’t a good place to get new friends like a 4 year university can be. I’ll transfer to a 4 year in about a year, so I’ll probably fall into a few people then.

yeah lithium will fuck your kidneys up to all holy hell, too.

abilify is good shit… seroquel is as well but that tends to make people fairly sleepy.
Lamictal sucks dude… didn’t do jack shit for me, and apparently it’s the same for a good number of people who take it.

Another friend took it and got the sudden seizure from stopping it abruptly.

The medication requires higher doses to work in some people. Most people aren’t patient enough to wait 6 months to reach 400mg. I’m not saying that’s you, but in general that’s the case as I’ve observed.

It says on the container as well as the pamphlet that the pharmacy is obligated to give the consumer, do not stop this medication abruptly or seizures may result.
I’ll try what’s recommended but I will voice my concerns with Lithium. I do not like the fact that I’ll have to have my kidney function closely monitored.

I was thinking to go on a mixture of 5htp and St. John’s Wort to deal with possible depression spells. They are a natural supplement which have been proven to be just as or even more effective than anti-depressant medications, without nearly any side effects.

If I can get on those, and then maybe an anti-anxiety med that will calm me down and stop me from thinking too much and freaking out – it may be the best route for me, with the least amount of side effects.

I’ll bring this up to my psychiatrist as well, and see what she says. Though, buying supplements won’t make her any money, so I highly doubt she’ll recommend that route
Little info on 5htp:

6. Can 5-HTP be taken with St. John’s wort extract?
Yes. In fact, the two seem to work very well together. St. John’s wort extract has been shown in over 25 double-blind studies to be as or more effective than antidepressant drugs in the treatment of mild to moderate depression. In more severe cases, I recommend using 5-HTP along with St. John’s wort. Be sure to use the St. John’s wort extract standardized for 0. 3% hypericin. The dosage for this extract is typically 300 mg three times per day. When using it in combination with 5-HTP I recommend 50-100 mg of 5-HTP and 150-300 mg of St. John’s wort extract three times daily.

7. Has 5-HTP been studied in the treatment of depression?
Yes. In fact, there is excellent documentation that 5-HTP is an effective antidepressant agent. 5-HTP often produces very good results in patients who are unresponsive to standard antidepressant drugs. One of the more impressive studies involved 99 patients described as suffering from "therapy resistant" depression (3). These patients had not responded to any previous therapy including all available antidepressant drugs as well as electro convulsive therapy. These therapy resistant patients received 5-HTP at dosages averaging 200 mg daily but ranging from 50 to 600 mg per day. Complete recovery was seen in 43 of the 99 patients and significant improvement was noted in 8 more. Such significant improvement in patients suffering from long-standing, unresponsive depression is quite impressive prompting the author of another study to state "5-HTP merits a place in the front of the ranks of the antidepressants instead of being used as a last resort. I have never in 20 years used an agent which: (1 was effective so quickly; (2 restored the patients so completely to the persons they had been and their partners had known; [and] (3 was so entirely without side effects" (4).

8. Are there any studies where 5-HTP was compared directly to antidepressant drugs?
Yes, there are several. 5-HTP is equal to or better than standard antidepressant drugs and the side effects are much less severe. The study with the most significance was one that compared to fluvoxamine, a "selective serotonin re-uptake inhibitor" like Prozac, Paxil, and Zoloft. In the study, subjects received either 5-HTP (100 mg) or fluvoxamine (50 mg) three times daily for 6 weeks (5). The percentage decrease in overall depression scores was slightly better in the 5-HTP group (60. 7% vs. 56. 1%). More patients responded to 5-HTP than fluvoxamine and 5-HTP was quicker acting than the fluvoxamine.

The real advantage of 5-HTP in this study was the low rate of side effect. Here is how the physicians described the differences among the two groups:

"Whereas the two treatment groups did not differ significantly in the number of patients sustaining adverse events, the interaction between the degree of severity and the type of medication was highly significant: fluvoxamine predominantly produced moderate to severe, oxitriptan [5-HTP] primarily mild forms of adverse effects. "

The most common side effects with 5-HTP were nausea, heartburn, and gastrointestinal problems (flatulence, feelings of fullness, and rumbling sensations). These side effects were rated as being very mild to mild. In contrast, most of the side effects experienced in the fluvoxamine group were of moderate to severe intensity.

Ideas all worth considering. Let the doctor do his/her job, listen carefully and then voice concerns. Write down your questions and concerns on paper and bring it with you before you get to the appt.

You’d be surprised, doctors are changing and natural treatments are beginning to become increasingly useful. The issue with supplements and herbs is simple — it’s the company who makes the product and processes it that counts the most. If you buy Saint J W from one company it could be absolute shit compared to if you bought it from someone else.

So search out the best companies based on customer reports. Once you find a good company with consistent appreciation from customers you’ll recognize which products work the best.

As far as self treatment, remember — we’re all fundamentally responsible for our own health care. It’s our bodies, but it’s critical to be well educated and if possible to be well advised by a treating physician. In the end, it’s you popping the pills, your diet, sleep or whatever symptoms you have.

Will do, and that’s nice to hear at least. I was under the impression that most doctors didn’t like their patients going out and buying natural stuff because it doesn’t make them as much money than if they just went on a prescription med.

I have a very good vitamin shoppe down the street from me that people seem to really enjoy so I will most likely start there and see how it goes.

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I’ve talked to him and tried to help him as much as I possibly could, but his needs and such have gotten to the point where I feel helpless trying to help him out.

I discussed this with him completely honestly and directly, and talked him into seeking professional help. But he started to balk at how to actually go about finding someone to help him out…

So, here I am. Anyone know of any resources I could use to find him someone, or give him more options on how to find someone?

He’s in Salem, NJ, if that matters….

Thanks in advance…
First, find out if he has insurance. If he does find out which therapists he can see under his insurance plan.

Once you figure that out you just have to pick. Most people (myself included) will tell you you have to try and least more than one therapist before you find one you like.
ok, cool. i didn’t even think of the insurance thing… That is a good place to start.

thanks.
But seriously, tell him not to be discouraged if it takes a while to find one he likes. When I was in therapy I shopped around and saw around 6 therapists before I settled on one I could trust.
There’s a million therapists out there, and I do believe there is only a handful that will truly fit what you’re looking for.

Go shopping as if you were looking at a new car. Find which ones are affordable through insurance, and then it’s time to test drive. Ask them their credentials, ask them if they have any personal experience in what it is they are a therapist for, and anything else you may want to know. If they are hesitant on talking about themselves, keep on test driving and looking for new ones. You want to be able to confide in these people, so they should have no problem with sharing their personal battles, if any.

Good luck, hopefully he doesn’t get discouraged if he has one bad experience from a therapist and blanket labels all of them as bad, which sadly alot of people do.
My experience is that a good therapist is one who can identify your issues and challenge you to deal with them — or at least admit to having them — without making it obvious which direction he’s going in. A good therapist will help you realize what your issues are and put you in situations where you have to deal with them, instead of just telling you what they are — because if he tells you what they are, then you can just blame your problems on them and continue to be dysfunctional.
yeah, thats kind of what i’m worried about…

He is one of those people who has pegged therapy as something for mentally ill people. and of course, doesn’t consider himself to be in that boat…

He also was in the Army for a good number of years, and for whatever reason, he was STRONGLY discouraged from seeking help outside of the army’s facilities…

So i’m sort of hoping to get a good one for him right off the bat so he gives it a fair chance…

Nothing could be further from the truth and this is just an excuse on his part. Welcome to the wonderful world of trying to help people.

Most people would rather bitch than make real changes in their life.

So get him to go to the Army doctors/psys. I mean if the Army will pay for it, why not?

Give this idea up. You can’t save him….you aren’t the hero going to ride into town on the white horse and solve all his problems.

You can be supportive and help him on his journey but finding the right therapist for him is something he’ll have to commit to doing on his own. He may have to leave one or more of them behind while he looks for one he can get real with. It can be really difficult to find this therapist but you can help encourage him and support his efforts but you can’t do it for him….no matter how much you want to….it’s simply something that we must do alone.

Most people that I’ve met, that give up on therapy, give up because either it’s too difficult for them to change, they would rather stay with a mediocre therapist than looking for one that will really challenge them or they’d rather bitch than change.

The Army has crap for mental health services, btw.

Insurance companies’ websites will have something like a Doc Find where you can search by location, specialties, gender, language spoken, age, where they graduated, etc. [I'm an insurance agent, so I had to run these searches for people day in and day out].

Someone with prior military service or with experience specific to people who are/were in the military and specializing in depression/anxiety/etc in his age group would be a good place to start. He’s going to need to try out different ones to find the best match.
8 different theories that psychologists can specialize in:

Behaviorism
Cognitive psychology
Developmental psychology
Functionalism
Gestalt psychology
Humanistic psychology
Psychoanalytical psychology
Structuralism

I suggest researching the different types and finding the one(s) that seem to fit your friend’s personality the best. If he’s the kind of person who likes to talk out his feelings and feels that his past experiences have greatly influenced who he is and wants to work through that- then a Behaviorist approach would do him no good and he’d swear off therapy forever. If he had this type of personality, a Humanistic or Gestalt therapy would be his best bet. The majority of people who swear that therapy is a bunch of bullshit and it doesn’t do any good are the people who are in the wrong type of therapy.

Have him do his research and see who is accepted by his insurance.

If you go to a PhD or a PsyD, they will most likely have a degree in clinical psychology with extra training (and a certificate) to prove what field they are specialized in. Make sure your friend interviews the Dr. before they decide to work with them or not. You should always interview your docs.

3 months without marked improvement is a good sign that the approach isn’t working and it’s time to try something else.

Good luck to your friend!!

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In June of this summer I started to get to know my now ex-girlfriend. Up until June, I had kissed two girls for a grand total of about 10 seconds. I had held hands with a girl for one awkwardly long walk. That’s it. That was my complete dating history up until that point. No real girlfriends, no experience, nothing at all. (By the way, I was 19 in June)

My first problem is that I essentially compare myself to the guy she had recently broken up with when we started dating. He was just a complete douche-bag, constantly lied to her, hit on other girls, just one of those guys that everyone pretends to like but no one would care if they never saw him again. Now, I would like to think of myself as a wonderful upgrade, but I can’t help but give way to the thought of "if she would date him, who wouldn’t she date?" That isn’t quite coming out right, but hopefully someone gets my point. (If not, I’ll try to clarify later..)

I realize that this is such a dumb thing to be paranoid about, but it still gets to me. If I had made a poor decision in dating someone, I wouldn’t have any problem to tell my S/O to forget it and that they had no right to judge me on who I had dated in the past, etc. Hypocrite much? Ha.

Another thing…again relating to her ex. For whatever reason, my mind just wonders. It’s something I’ve had trouble with, but being in a relationship has made it much worse. I find myself thinking about her and her ex’s (being intimate. Although she was a virgin when we started dating, they still did everything except for actual sex). I don’t find it hot or as a fetish or anything like that, if anything it makes me sick to my stomach.

While this is concerning by its self, I know it will probably only be worsened with anyone else I ever date. She was a virgin when we started dating, so to have these kind of thoughts while dating a virgin….I can’t imagine what my mind is going to do when I date someone who has had multiple partners. In my mind I see nothing wrong with having multiple partners and I certainly don’t think it’s wrong to be having sex with your S/O. Yet again, it would probably just make me angry if my S/O had a problem with me having sex before her. (It would be wonderful if I weren’t such a hypocrite, eh?) Also, I think I would prefer to be with someone who’s had more experience, which simply doesn’t make sense when compared with what I just said.

There are so many more instances like this, but it would be a bit redundant to list them all. Most of them involve her either doing nothing wrong (such as my last example) or her doing something wrong and me holding it against her no matter what she does.

On a side note: I struggled with depression when I was 14~16. I was on a wide variety of pills and went to see many different doctors. Amongst all of that, I still spent 3~4 weeks in psychiatric hospitals. But since the conclusion of my junior year in high school (I’m a junior in college now) I’ve been gradually getting better. I haven’t been on any medication since I was 16 (now 20) and I haven’t spent any more time in the hospital or anything like that at all. This summer when I met her, I was the happiest I had ever been, but now, with my mind doing the things I’ve described here, I’ve gradually started to become depressed again and for the most part, I’ve driven away the one thing that’s been able to make me a happy person since my original depression started.

I don’t know whether or not I should try seeing another psychiatrist, but when I was seeing them a few years ago, I believe that they probably made me worse off. I was always quiet in the sessions, so the psychiatrist usually spent most of the time talking, which lead to them pointing out things that I hadn’t necessarily noticed. This often lead me to come out of the sessions like "Oh. Fuck. I’m worse off then I thought!" I am much more mature now, but as insecure as ever….so I don’t know if they would actually prove to be beneficial or if the past would simply recreate its self.

And to reiterate one last time. I know these things are petty. I know these things are not my concern. I know I am an incredible hypocrite. I know I am insecure. But I also know that because of my mind working the way it has been working, I’ve driven off the one thing that actually made me happy.
i’m sorry i only read about half way through, but pertaining to the wondering about the other girls she’s been with and what not, i use to be that way, same situation first girlfriend was a virgin but i still was bothered by the minor things she did with ex’s. however i can tell you that after my second girlfriend, i don’t think about any of those things anymore, i don’t know if its age or expierence or both, i’d say wait it out and see what happens. if it persists long enough, sure maybe therapy is in order. but i really don’t think therapy is the cure to all things.

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I get really anxious when I’m with a girl I desire. I’m not talking about super attractive or girls I think I can sleep with, women that I look at and know instantly that she’s cool, and I want to be around her right now, and probably tomorrow. I can only assume by this is triggered by some cue which I interpret as favorable qualities (sexy, femininity, composure, and straight dark hair), and it makes me flip. I triggers something that makes my heart pound, and I short circuit into a mechanism where I want to leave the situation.

When I look back on those incidents, I realize that I should just relax, slow my speech, and tell the woman what I want to tell her. "You seem cool, lets go do XYZ this week. Give me your #."

I compensate by leaving the situation, or freaking out enough that its a self-fullfilling prophecy, like "there is no way this woman really wants anything to do with me, she’s just sitting here, listening to my shit, hoping I’ll leave but she’s just like me, polite and caring, so she doesn’t want to crush me. She won’t answer when I call anyway."

Can anyone lend some advice on this? I can change behavior, but I can’t seem to change over-powering, self-destructive though.
Well everything that you do in life requires a positive attitude. A plant needs time to grow, if you stamp with anger on the seed, screaming ‘you will never grow’ and killing thus the seed and possibility to become a plant. Then you can never accomplish any growth. Give yourself a chance each and every single time you try.
It’s the "fight or flight" response… at some point in your life your brain associated this with attractive women, so now when you are near an attractive woman it goes off and since you can’t fight her, you want to flee.

I don’t know how to tell you how to learn to control this, or how to "reprogram" your brain. I haven’t figured it out myself.
Didn’t we just have a thread like this a few days ago? Man, you’re setting some very unrealistic expectations on yourself.

From reading your posts, and this is just my observation, it seems like you will deem anything less than a girl saying "You’re so incredible! We are perfect for each other. Let’s fuck," as a failure (I’m not saying you would be unhappy if you didn’t get sex. I’m just making a point).

Those thoughts would not exist if you did not care so much about what the girl thinks of you. Who cares if she thinks you’re lame? You’re not going to be able to make everybody happy all the time, so why care? The Dalai Lama is probably the most peaceful man alive, but every move he makes disconcerts China. John McCain, Barack Obama, and Hillary Clinton have millions of people who love them, but they have the other half of the country that hates them. They don’t back down from who they are (usually — sniper fire can be traumatic), and look how successful they are in life. Abraham Lincoln was a man of virtue, and the South hated him. Martin Luther King Jr. was a peaceful man with a wonderful dream, and plenty of people hated him.

EVERYBODY gets criticized. All of those people I listed are comfortable with who they are (except Hillary), and look at what they became.

Nobody is liked by everybody all the time. Be okay with not being liked by every single girl. Who cares if she thinks you’re annoying? That is simply her opinion, and the majority of the girls probably won’t think that. If they DO think that you’re annoying, I would bet that 99% of the time it’s because they can sense how much you care about what they think.

Through approval-seeking, you’re giving your power away. It seems like your self-worth is in the hands of the girl you are talking to.

It is okay to be you, man. Most of the girls you talk to are too busy worrying about what you think about them to have critical thoughts of you.

sorry. I work on this shit every day. I’ve been thinking about it so much that I’ll probably get fired soon…but there’s nothing I can do about it. I’m not sleeping, I force myself to eat, and haven’t turned on the TV in a couple weeks. I’m old, and I’d like to change myself now so I can enjoy what I have left in the data realm. Sitting up in my apartment alone is not what I want.
It’s about self confident. You automatically assumed that if a girl has attractive qualities, she’s better than you. So you go into a mode where you feel like you lost even though you haven’t even begun. Try to think of her as a person who’s no better than you or anybody. Instead of focusing on your flaws, think about your great attributes. It’s all in your head, there is nothing unattractive about you on the outside. You have the money and good look but if you don’t have confident, they mean nothing. If you think you are better than them, they will pick it up. And it goes the other way around too.

I understand what you mean. As a brand new single Dad, full-time employee, and full-time student, I don’t have much time to go out and socialize as much as I used to. I get extremely lonely sitting here in my house. I still try to make it a point to go out once or twice a week though. Sometimes it doesn’t happen, like right now

The only reason I mentioned the "Haven’t we already had this?" is because I would hate to see you fall into the trap of only talking about this stuff and not actually putting it into action once you’re around people. It can be easy to read get advice and have it make sense to you, yet once you get in social situations the anxiety rises and remembering all of the stuff goes out the window.

I’m not saying that’s what happens to you, but just be aware that it’s a possibility.
nah, that’s what happened to me. I went out and talked to girls like crazy on saturday, monday, and tuesday, then it hit me on wednesday. I look at all these pictures and shit around the house that reminds me of the last girl, and it crushes me. I’m not wired for the dating mentality, and when women leave, it hits me hard and I don’t know how to "stand-up" or generally not be crushed.
can anyone recommend an e-book that will inspire some sort of self-confidence so I can get over this fear and the feelings of depression from women leaving me and thinking I have no options?

I can’t even move, but I want out of this shell. fucking shit I want out of this fucked up feeling all the god damn time.

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2. contratictory emotions? I haven’t been right emotionally since last Feb. I posted...

i know i do
Sometimes I feel like im losing the game of life. Sometimes certain days are easier than others. But it doesn’t feel like im gonna be able to catch up.

It’s called growing up. Nothing you do does matter; someday the universe will collapse in on itself, or else all the usable energy will be spent, and all that will be left is a bunch of rocks and gas floating around in a big black nothing — much like it is now, but without any sunlight.

The only reason to do anything, ultimately, is because you’re alive and it’s boring if you just sit around waiting to die again. Welcome to the real world; now you know why so many people feel compelled to believe in God.

I hear that. Sometimes I feel like no matter how much I do, I just cannot get ahead. This probably stems from the fact that my life pretty much revolves around school, and I’m always inundated with work and such… It’s still a disheartening feeling though..
The meaning of life is to love and help others, love is the only thing that can fill up the black hole void that we have in our souls. The earth is a place for us to learn and grow into becoming stronger souls, its a sort of training course, and that’s why it is so hard. Choices in life make you either happy or unhappy, you have to set out a loving path for yourself that will make you happy.
not anymore but oncea upon a time over time i found something that always made me happy and now here i am you just have to find the same but i searched for many years still got other questions to answer i guess its just a part of life good luck
You are choosing to focus on what you want instead of what you can change.

Have I ever been where you are? Oh yeah. Did I find a way out? Yep.

NOTHING, absolutely NOTHING is forever. Not even your currently shitty mood. It will pass, you will have more money, you will get some of the things you used to want, you will lose some of the things you have now.

Change is inevitable. The sooner people accept that the better. One cannot stop change from happening…all one can do is change the way they choose to react to change.

If you don’t like some aspect of your life….change it! Now most people can’t change everything overnight so they just give up. It’s like if they can’t go from being a lazy couch potato to living in a mansion driving a benz and having all the ladies falling all over them TOMORROW, then they just aren’t interested in changing.

Funny thing is, most people can easily amass large amounts of wealth is they would just realize that they currently don’t know shit. Then seek knowledge in all the areas they are deficient.

Most people in life have to work hard to make a nice life for themselves and their family. Most people think they can’t learn….but that’s just BS. The reality, most people are simply too fucking lazy to learn.

If you’re too lazy to change your life….you really don’t have a reason to bitch. Am I right or amirite?
I used to feel like that but, this past year a lot happened in my life that made me b put stuff in to perspective. One of my dear friends was killed because someone else wasn’t paying attention and hit himt and his wife. What made it worse wase that it was his Birthday. His was survived and he left behind 3 kids. Some of the things he told me was take care of your family and things will fall in place. I’m not saying you need a family or anything like that to find happiness but that’s what did it for me. I don’t have much money nor do I want to be rich. AS long as I see the smiling faces of my kids, it makes my day worth it.

You need some love. That’s all.

Girlfriend. Life life to the full.

Join a basketball team or something.
I feel ya OP.

To all the people that say he/we all need to change give out some examples or something.

what part of, "If you don’t like some aspect of your life, change it." do you not understand?

Ok…fine….you need someone to lead you by the hand. Ok.

So if a person is constantly broke and doesn’t like that they need to change it. Then the question is how? Well there are literally thousands of ways and they range from short term fixes to long term fixes and everything in between.

The absolute fastest way to have more money, take on a second job. Waiting tables and bartending are some of the best paying jobs per hour for younger people. When I was young, I worked 2 jobs and it was awesome. I always had money. Job #1 was at a hotel working as a pool/spa/lawn maintenance guy. Job #2 was working at Kinkos as a copy clerk/computer dude.

This was over the summer and I’d get up at 6 am to work the hotel job then go to kinkos at 2. I was home every night by 8pm and usually asleep by midnight. I did this the whole summer and made a fortune.

A different summer, I mowed lawns. This is also an excellent way to make money.

Look if you don’t have enough money in your life and you live in America, you’re simply being lazy. There are plenty of examples of teenagers starting businesses and supporting themselves.

Most people are too lazy to make these changes tho…..they are also too lazy to think differently about their problems and simply want to whine and complain. This is usually because mommy and daddy spoiled the kids and never taught them to think for themselves and to make their own way in the world. This is a common problem but it’s entirely within the person’s ability to change. Like I said before….most ppl are just too lazy.

maybe if you read the bible, you would change your mind….

ofcourse, without Jesus Christ in your life your bound to feel hopeless

Godisreal.jpg
I was raised Catholic. I read the New Testament cover-to-cover. I’ve also read the Upanishads and the Bhagavad Gita and the Tao Teh Ching. I haven’t read the Quran yet, but my father has.

Believing in a God that will swoop down and save you from a finite existence is just a way for the human mind to cope with a capacity for abstract thought that is usually very useful, but allows it to comprehend its own eventual death. It’s a coping mechanism, nothing more. You may call a lack of faith in Jesus "hopelessness", I call it "realism".

As for whether that keeps me from doing things because I know they will all be irrelevant someday, it doesn’t have that effect at all — and if you think that giving your soul to Christ somehow exempts you from having to deal with that same problem, then you clearly haven’t given proper consideration to the fact that you (supposedly) believe that God will end the universe in the same way he created it someday, and everything you did in the universe will mean nothing. So the issue of "why bother doing anything if it will all be washed away" is still relevant, regardless of religious persuasion.

- – -

Before you suggest that I should go to church a few times as well, you should know that I’ve gone to church many times in my youth, and I never felt further from God* than when I was sitting in a pew, singing hymns.

okay, so what if there is a God and when you die you burn in hell for eternity

its a free gift into heaven, why dont you just take it
Yeah, it is starting to be come more and more prevalent in my life. I have been suffering from some nebulous health problems, which are causing me to sleep up to 14 hours a day. I have been trying to go to school, keep good grades, stay on track towards graduating in a decent amount of time, and do the things I really enjoy.

The only thing which I have been able to keep constant in my life, which I love to death, is my training. But, because of whatever is going on with me, it is suffering as well. If I could, I would train 2x’s a day. Right now, the half hour after training is the only thing I look forward too. It is the only time of day, where I am not physically and mentally exhausted. Once the bliss leaves, I go home and I sleep or attempt to study.

My health has destroyed any possibility of a social life as well. I am either behind in studies, trying to crank out some reading or homework, or usually asleep. I do not have a SO, or sex drive, or desire to go with the buds to catch a drink, because I am so fucking tired. Masturbation is a chore.

I tell my doc, my depression is secondary to my exhaustion. Their solution: let’s up the dose of your effexxor… right, I was already taking 300mg’s before the onset of this shit. I am already approaching the upper limit of the dose. Now, I am in withdrawls from that shit as well. FUCK. I can really identify with the lines in Fight Club of wanting to destroy everything beautiful in this world, because I am not able to enjoy them, so why should anyone else?

My life is shit. I want hormones and if I have to resort to steroids, fuck it so be it.

Not sure if this is sarcasm or not, I agreed up till the godisreal.jpg then i started to

But in all seriousness I believe part of that hole can be filled by god.

damn dude.. I feel for ya. Its shit like this that makes me feel like my bitch ass should never be unhappy.

Hearing it from others is lot more difficult to chew on comparing with realizing it myself. I am more depressed now. Life is so meaningless. Eventually what do we gain from living a few decades?

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anyone ever mixed the two….any difference?…next day feeling? let me know guys
mixing alcohol with any medication is going to intensify the alcohol’s effects.

If you’re taking Lexapro as an anti-depressant, it can also magnify your depression.

I know someone who is going through some drinking issues while on Zoloft at the moment. After drinking a bit one night she had a black out, she was concious and walked home with her friends fine, but she doesn’t remember the night whatsoever.

If you do it, just be aware of the signals your body is sending you, and maybe drink a little less than you planned on. Be careful, make sure you are with someone that can take care of you if you get to that point, but have fun!
You’re going to have one hell of a hangover and you’re going to get fucked up real quick. Have fun and don’t get alcohol poisoning
I’ve been completely shitfaced numerous times on Zoloft and Effexor and I didn’t notice any difference in my intoxication or tolerance.

It’s going to depend on the person. My best friend was on Lexapro for a while and became the greatest lightweight of our time lol.
When I first was put on antidepressants I kept on drinking. I went from having terrible hangovers before taking meds to having absolutely no hangovers after I started taking the medication. Weird but good side effect, I guess.

You can’t get someone to get you beer tonight so you can test it out? Just have like one or two and see how you feel.
When I was on lexapro I still drank all I wanted and never noticed any difference.

yea, thats my plan tonight….

thats good to know…drugs really do effect everyone diffrently
well ive had 4 beers and smoked some weed…and I feel great………….and tired……..oh yea and hungry
Awful, you really should consult your physician. I wouldn’t recommend taking liberal advice off the internet when it comes to your health on this particular issue.

Just because someone doesn’t have symptoms after drinking on medicine doesn’t mean they aren’t doing liver or kidney damage. Your body is already processing the medication through a specific pathway, and if alcohol effects become intensified, it means your body can’t remove it as quickly, thus putting a lot more pressure on your organs. Liver damage often has no symptoms early on or when minor damage is done, but do it over, and over and not be aware you’re hurting yourself, would end unfortunately — you get the point.

I wouldn’t be unwise about this.

uhh. my doctor said it was okay……did you get that part

Then why are you asking us all if it’s ok?

lol

wat?
i black THE FUCK out when i’m drinking.

ps, on 20mg

Your doctor is incompetent suggesting drinking a 6 pack, or a pint with alcohol in them but go ahead, do it your way. While Lexapro and Alcohol don’t directly interact as drug upon drug, they do interact on the liver and kidneys.

Here is another reason not to drink. You were prescribed the medication because it’s an anti-depressant. Alcohol is a depressant. Anyone prescribed an anti-depressant should not be consuming alcohol or pot otherwise it of course can twart the use of the drug.

If you drink rarely, it will not be serious, such as having a small glass of red wine at dinner, or a beer here and there. The liver can handle a certain amount of abuse.
I’m on 20mg and notice no difference. Just get drunk a little quicker.

how many times do you drink, in say a mouth

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