Don't know whether to take antidepressants

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I've always noticed in myself I have these rapid mood changes, to the point where its stopping me enjoying my life and I am feeling more depressed, and I have become more anxious and paranoid about the people I live with, so I went to my doctor and they recommended and have now given me some antidepressants (its called Sertraline whether anyone knows that) They said it would help with my poor sleep, make me feel less anxious and my mood would be more constant - not so up and down if I take them but I would have to have them for 6 months.

A big part of my anxiety is trying new medicines out especially tablets. My parents didn't recommened me to take them because of the side effects and thats what worried me most. I felt if I took them I would be much more anxious in public in case I have a side effect eg. vomiting or diarrhoea. But my mood changes are very real and make me miserable. But doing CBT and thought challenging has helped me many times, with no medicine.

Do you think I should try them or are they a bit dangerous? And what has anyone's experience with them been like (such as Sertraline) Does it affect the autistic mind different to a NT mind?
Thank you

I just started Sertraline about a month ago for anxiety and so far so good, though I really don't know if it's going to work. Post election anxiety was what convinced me to go ahead and try antidepressants. I've had GAD for years but the election had me waking up at 4am in a panic. If it works I'm hoping to stay on them for the next four years. I was, and still am nervous about taking Sertraline because you really never know what any med will do. Can't recommend or not recommend but for me the side effects from anxiety seemed riskier than the side effects from the pills.

No one can tell you if an antidepressant is going to help you or not, everyone responds differently. Most side effects like nausea, or diarrhea or headaches resolve within a 2 to 3 weeks of taking an antidepressant. Side effects that are likely to remain are sexual side effects like loss of libido or difficulty orgasming. Not everyone gets every side effect.

Might as well give it a try.

I have struggled with bouts of depression. Haven't yet tried antidepressants, but they're my ace in the hole potentially for future bouts. I'm very glad they're available.

Alright, Sertraline is Zoloft. Or rather, Sertraline is the medication, and Zoloft is one brand name. What I have read is that antidepressants are trial and error in a respectful sense. Meaning that everyone's biochem is a little different, including how medication is metabolized. And it typically takes 4 to 8 weeks to tell if it's going to work, and somewhat sooner to tell if side effects are going to be minor issue.

And important to phase down in steps if and when you stop. Please don't go cold turkey. If the side effects are really crappy, then maybe on your own go down to halfies. Schedule an appointment with your doctor, and just tell him or her, the side effects are lousy, I went down to half a dose. This is a back-up plan, but it's good to have a back-up plan.

Medications such as antidepressants are your personal decision.

Noca summed it up very nicely.

The thing I want to add is that any permanent, long-term side effects are extremely rare. I have heard that some people end up with permanent problems, but this is such a rare thing that you probably shouldn't give it much weight. Like Noca said, you might or might not have any side effects. And if you do, they may resolve in a few weeks.

Because permanent side effects are rare, you probably don't need to hesitate very much about the decision to "try" an antidepressant, especially one like sertraline. Some of the heavy anti-psychotics they give the very mentally ill (schizophrenics, etc.) do have permanent side effects, such as tardive dyskinesia. But sertraline is not like that.

One other thing to mention is you shouldn't suddenly quit taking them. This can cause a problem. So if you decide you want to quit your trial of the drug, ask your doctor for a tapering-off schedule.

Good luck. This might be very helpful for you!

Worth a try, though it may take a while to find the right one. You're right that side-effects are a concern, but like the actual desired effect of the drug, they're slow to develop and fairly subtle. Severe side-effects are rare, and not usually anything that'd lead to a public scene. If your doctor is any good, they'll check up to see if it's causing you problems.

My own experience of being treated for anxiety: the third antidepressant I tried worked. Not sure why they took me off the first one. I was in a very bad state at the time and after three months I didn't know if it was helping or not. Maybe they could tell. The second antidepressant, I quit taking within two weeks because suddenly I had a wierd taste in my mouth and noticed I was getting angry a lot. Not, like, destroying-rage anger, but enough that it felt like a bad development. Hard to tell if the drug was really to blame, but I didn't want to take the risk.

The third one did a lot to stabilise me, and got me in a state where I could actually engage with psychotherapy. (The psychotherapy itself was less than great, but that's another story.) The best thing about it, though, is that it made me capable of sleeping more than 4 hours a night on a regular basis for the first time since I was 9. I'm still taking the stuff.

I've refrained from putting the drug names in because reactions to them really are very individual and i'd hate to cause someone "nocebo effect" problems! ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nocebo ) I've known people on forums swear by the second drug I took, and others say that the third drug I took just made things worse for them.

I have been taking Sertraline for just over a year now and it has helped me a great deal. The only side-effect I've had in the whole time is mild constipation at the beginning. My anxiety is reduced and my mood is stable and good. Of course everyone responds slightly differently but generally I think this is a good safe drug.

I take Sertraline and have had no side effects.

When I first started taking antidepressants (Fluoxetine), my depression was making me almost suicidal. I STRONGLY recommend taking the antidepressants if you have been prescribed them.

When drugs are tested, a group of people is split, and half are given the new drug, and half are given a placebo. Unfortunately, when the drug is supposed to be psychoactive, the control group can tell they are only getting sugar pills, so they don't even get the placebo effect. The drug companies like this, because it usually means that the test results show improvement with the drug. Sometimes, there is independent testing, and instead of sugar pills, the control group gets another drug that is not used as an antidepressant, but does make you feel weird. In those tests, there is generally no difference in overall benefits. The pills are only something that makes you feel like you are about to change, and the doctor sends you off with a list of expectations. You think about nice changes coming, and they do, with far less time and effort from the Doctor.
Do not trust Anything from a Limited-Liability Company! They are just as focussed on greed and willing to lie as any psychopath, because that is how their internal laws are set up. To them, the ideal Doctor visit is one that ends with a prescription for an addictive drug with many side effects that require more drugs, but which will only kill you very slowly, after spending the maximum possible percentage of your wealth on drugs.
If there had ever been a hopeful pill for AS, it wouldn't have taken fifty years for us to get in the DSM, with a chance to avoid a damaging misdiagnosis.

I have had two depressive episodes of depression which were so severe that My doctor's help was needed. The first one the distress of the depression was such that on the train journey back from the holiday I abandoned I had rather terrified myself by realising I could make it go away by opening the train dorr and leaving the train while it was running g through the fell at 100 miles per hour.

The doctor I saw (aged 32) had been our family doctor since I was seven. I took his advice when he prescribed an antidepressant, an old generic, very well known one.

I recall around three days later the tears which for the first time were of relief rather than despair. Those were the first sign the medicine was starting to work and the mood starting to break up. A specialist subsequently amended the prescription to a more recent but still well known one.

I took them for 18 months. I kept in contact with my doctors. It had been my old family doctor who Started the treatment and I returned to my home and my usual doctor after about four weeks. Much of the last half of the time was coming off the medicine which had helped me, every few weeks reducing the does, or stretching the time between pills, watching the immediate change and then any recovery over the next week or so as my own body took up the the work the medicine had been doing.

The second episode five years later went slightly differently. I had experience to draw on. I had been studying mindfulness type practices and much more aware of thought processes. This episode still took around a year to pass, but this time my doctor and I let the combination of rest, mindfulness and picking up work carefully again to the healing work, and we would keep medicine in reserve. If it became too much, if I felt I was getting I'll again, then the medicine was there to assist me if it was needed. This combination proved right for that second episode, just as much as the medicine had proved right in the first.

i've stopped taking the escitalopram i was prescribed.
they just made me more sleepy and foggy headed (also was bad for my erections but at the time low-T was starting to do that anyway).
they did help when i was having strong suicidal thoughts though, but around people the effect on anxiety was rather minimal i think.
they also had negative effects on my mental health at the doses i was on at one point i think.
i think anti-anxiety meds (benzos not ssri's) are better but they're harder to get prescribed.

I really don't want to discourage people with faith in a certain pill, because we can learn to recover from many catalysts, but I'm reminded of the difference between recovery times for a cold with and without medication - none. One friend of mine got very depressed one week and went to a doctor. After hearing that he was a philosophy student, the doc simply prescribed two weeks off, and it worked.