QAC 57 - Depression and Anxiety, meet Antidepressants | Sertraline | Mental Health

[@caspianh8967]

It's good to see you Vesper. I wish you well in your journey to good mental health.

[@karamello24]

zoloft is more of a mood stabilizer than antidepressant

[@anacunha7667]

karamello24 what makes you say that, if you don't mind me asking?

[@QueerAsCat]

thanks, Kat. it's good to be back.

[@QueerAsCat]

indeed, karamello24, what makes you say that? everything that i have heard and read classes zoloft as an antidepressant and i'm fairly certain that it is marketed as such.

[@anacunha7667]

karamello24 QueerAsCat that's exactly why I ask. I'm going to nursing school and in my pharmacology class the therapeutic classification of setraline is officially an antidepressant. It is used for depression and anxiety disorders, but often and mainly depression, as a first line drug. So I am genuinely interested in why you think/know that, trying to make sure I know my pharm.

[@xmusikkaosx]

you inspire me so much and i wish you nothing but the best it's so human to go through hard times and I think it's both strong and courageous of you to be this honest and open about it stay strong, you are amazing ♥

[@QueerAsCat]

thank you for your incredibly kind words, you're far too kind. never forget that you're amazing yourself and i wish you nothing but the best as well. thanks again.

[@brendabaum6442]

Good explanation about the effect of antidepressants. They don’t eliminate every problem. They help me push back the dark clouds so I can function.. I really hope you have more manageable days.🌤🌤🌤🌤⛈⛈⛈🌤🌤🌤🌤☀️☀️☀️☀️☀️☀️💛💚💙💜❤️🖤💗

[@caroleh4900]

Thank you so much for this video . You seem a really lovely person . You are very pretty too . I hope you are doing well . I notice this is 3 years ago . I like you am loathe to be on tablets for my anxiety and depression . The last few years I was OK in mood . I used exercise and meditation ,mantras. Read lots of research based books on happiness . Thought i had a handle on my moods . Then zoom . Three weeks ago I just started having panic attacks and 2 days later I started sertraline again . It hit me hard. Because I really thought I had control and it would not happen again. I do think sertraline is very good though . Just waiting for it to work . Takes about 6 weeks for me Good luck with everything and thankyou

[@JayQueery]

There's a book that I highly recommend to anyone who has depression or anxiety. It's called "A Mind of Your Own: The Truth About Depression" by Kelly Brogan, MD. I got it from Amazon. It's about how mental illness is often a symptom of inflammation in the body and the damage antidepressants can have over time. I'll probably get shit for this recommendation but please hear me out. There are plenty of success stories, people recovering from disassociative conditions, hallucinations, anxiety, etc. (There are interviews on her KZbin channel). I personally no longer suffer from an anxiety disorder, depression, and ADHD. I only mean to empower people with this and to help heal. You do you either way. Deep down I knew I wasn’t happy with how I felt and I was not willing to accept my conditions as a life sentence. Because my symptoms were not always as bad as they got, it didn’t make sense that I was meant to be that way for the rest of my life. I wanted to do everything I could to feel better and be side-effect free. I never thought I would live life without anxiety either. So I just want to spread what I learned in hopes of helping others. I’m aware this isn’t a cure-all for everybody and I’m also not trying to put people down if they don’t feel the same way I did. Like I said, you do you. Kelly Brogan has a channel and I also recommend following Dr. Eric Berg and a channel called “High Intensity Health”. Take care.

[@QueerAsCat]

thanks for the recommendation. to be honest, i'm skeptical of pretty much everything, including books like this one, but i will look into it regardless. i appreciate the suggestion and am glad to hear that you've found something that has helped you. best wishes~

[@JayQueery]

Thank you. Yeah this started me down a journey of research since last September or so. This book didn't give me all the answers but it definitely helped. I try to base my findings using government studies, not some random doctor with 10 of his patients. lol

[@hemuli3817]

I've been on 30 mg of fluoxetine for depression for about a year now. It has really helped me and it started to work pretty quickly. Then again I had been going to therapy for some time already. I've never really had much side-effects which I'm very happy about. Now I'm doing fine without the therapy with just the meds because I learned a lot about myself and how I think and react to things and events. Even if you won't do therapy it could be useful to dedicate some time to going through your thoughts and emotions and maybe even find some resources that tell what means therapists use. Wishing everything good for your mental health journey. And it's good to see you back!!

[@QueerAsCat]

thanks for watching and commenting! also, thank you for sharing your experiences. glad to hear that you've found things that work well for you. i may or may not pursue therapy in the future, but at the same time i've always felt like making my KZbin videos like this one has been its own form of therapy for me. glad to be making them again. :) all the best to you as well.

[@maiynnai]

I relate so much to this video and all the comments. I finally went to therapy at 33 until now (35 now) when post-natal depression exacerbated my various mental illnesses. I have super intense internalized ableism and it really makes it challenging to get help. I haven't tried medicine yet but I'm going to. therapy and medicine together help achieve the best results. I'm really happy and proud of you. I hope you are feeling better and definitely take care of yourself.

[@QueerAsCat]

it's enough to have to deal with ableism from society at large, but to also have to deal with one's own internalized ableism on top of that.... yeah, it really is challenging getting past that. i'm glad that you have and are getting help through therapy. thanks for the well wishes and take care yourself!

[@wills6825]

I was pretty resistant to treatment as well, but I wound up going the opposite route to you (therapy first), so I had a longer time to get used to the idea of medication. When I finally did start on meds, I'd been doing weekly therapy for 5 or 6 months and felt like I was doing the absolute best I could with coping mechanisms, but the act of "coping" was totally exhausting. Starting meds was enough to bring my anxiety down to a level where I could manage it and actually have more of a life. I still felt kind of weird about it, but I've adjusted over time--and it helps that I know a lot of other people who are also on antidepressants. Makes it seem more normal.

[@QueerAsCat]

thanks for sharing. :) i often hear that therapy and medication make a good combination / are complimentary to each other when it comes to treating mental illness and even though i've only just started on medication, i think i understand better now how one could compliment the other. it's nice to hear someone's personal experience with this because, as you said, i helps to know a lot of other people who are also on antidepressants and makes certain things feel okay. wishing you all the best!

[@prettyp0is0n86]

yo your video was insanely funny! i’m all depressed over here but your personality had me cracking up.. i’m all jacked up and need help.. thx for sharing your info.. xo ✌🏽

[@TheVeryAngryShrimp]

Good to see you back. I wish you well on your journey :)

[@QueerAsCat]

thanks. it's good to be back. :)

[@felixxferd]

I was really happy when I saw your thumbnail again - Vesper is back! Also, tons of respect for you for tackeling the beast of medication and doing what you know is good for you, even though it might not always feel like it. I really hope that the first step was the hardest and things are looking up for you from now on.

[@QueerAsCat]

aww, thank you! i appreciate you watching and for the really kind words. best wishes to you. :)

[@loveisvulnerability]

Hey there. Great to hear from you and thank you for sharing your process with this. It's so important to destigmatize the experiences and worries and hopes that go into mental health. Like you said, there's no shame in taking a pill. Your eyes got dry, and you ran out to get some eye drops. You're dealing with new levels or extended periods of depression and anxiety, so you get some pills. It feels good to listen to your body and take care of it. I hope you'll lose some of the second guessing and all that and if therapy is right for you that you're able to give it a shot. I was on sertraline for 6 months or maybe a bit more. Tried another on top of it at one point but it wasn't a good fit. I also had some anxiety drugs--lorazapam, but it stuck around in my system longer than I wanted. Eventually I went off the sertraline. But I'm glad I was on it. I'm glad I tried it. I needed to do something even if it wasn't quite all I wanted it to be. I now have another anxiety med--xanax--that I have in case of an anxiety attack or just because I feel too wound up or can't sleep or need to just fucking relax. I don't use it often though. It took years for me to process all that was contributing to my depression and anxiety. I still have both, but both are more manageable and much less severe because I was able to gain skills in therapy and find out some of what was making me so unhappy and work toward changes. This isn't always the case for folks. For some, there's a chemical issue they have to deal with their whole life. For me, whatever chemical issue I have is manageable. What is a persistent problem though is working out my underdeveloped muscles of figuring out what I want and need from people and in life. The sertraline was part of that process for a time. Best of luck with this! You deserve all the happiness you and the medical industrial complex can scrape up! The side effects are killer at first and I think when you alter the dosage. But for me they were mainly digestion related and all disappeared after a week or two of being at a stable dose.

[@QueerAsCat]

hi! thanks for watching and commenting. :) i like your comparison of getting eyedrops for dry eyes to getting pills for depression / anxiety. i hope i can get past the self-doubt and self-criticism as well.... would be nice. thanks for sharing your experiences. glad to hear that you were eventually able to manage without the pills. there is hope for me yet...! maybe. either way, it's nice to hear that some people have success with only using the pills for a limited period of time, eventually managing without them. regardless of whatever ends up happening for me, hopefully i can see whatever it is through and learn how to better manage my mental health in the long term. best wishes to you as well! and thanks again.

[@skigirl1689]

I was so reluctant to take meds...started then ended up in the hospital with a severe major depressive episode. Took me about 2 years to be ok with the meds. I'm currently going through a recurrence and it took me a month to decide to try to change my meds as they can quit working. Four days on the new med, and I am still unsure if I made the right decision, but I was at my wits' end.

[@TsukiNoMahou]

Good to hear from you! I have a six-year experience on antidepressants. I was in a very dark place when I started with escitalopram at first. Interestingly, it started working within just a few days and at first I felt great - I had a lot of energy and everything seemed brighter. Unfortunately I developed some sort of mania which did a lot of damage in my personal life and in the end I crashed down. Then I was given lamotrigine to stabilize my mood. Later on I was prescribed bupropion. I stopped with lamotrigine at first and later on with escitalopram. Because I developed serious anxiety last year, I found myself with a new medication, this time with vortioxetine. I stopped taking bupropion shortly after that. I've also tried sleeping pills and queatipine. I seriously think antidepressants have both saved my life but also made it more complicated - they have given me much needed strength and back-up but they haven't been problem-free either. Despite my maniac state some years ago I was never diagnosed as bipolar but some SSRI might cause mania which seems to have been the case for me. I've also had moments in my life when I've felt numb and very uninterested in anything particular. Antidepressants tone down negative peaks but they can also take away the good ones so that everything seems a bit dull. On top of that I feel like I've lost a part of me in the midst of these mind-altering chemicals because when I stopped with escitalopram I changed emotionally and started feeling/experiencing the world around me differently. But if there is something I definitely don't miss is mania, that shit sucks. I was a completely different person then and it's hard to understand myself either why I was like that. I hope your journey with antidepressants goes well. Like said, they're not some "happy pills" and won't solve everything but they're there for an extra guidance. I'd suggest you give the idea of therapy some thought and do some research on the subject because medication only won't solve your problems. You could use the aid of a professional to solve your thoughts and get rid of emotional baggage which drags you down, imo.

[@TheRavenLilian]

For the longest time I was afraid to take medication for my depression, especially because of what I would call horror stories that I would see. Stories about different artists who couldn't do art after they were taking medicine. I think the most frightening for me was a story someone was telling me about taking antidepressants and they just didn't care about stuff anymore. (I think they may have been talking about anxiety now that I think of it.) But they talked about just sitting there for hours and not caring, which for me was terrifying since that was one of the main issues with my depression, why would I want to take something that would make that worse. But over time life was getting more and more stressful and I was realizing that my anxiety was becoming an unreasonable level of paranoia. I was checking to see that the doors were locked as many as seven times in a row. Then I had an episode at work where I started having trouble moving. I had always managed to keep it from affecting me at work. And when I stopped moving I could very easily fall down and I was working with a machine that had parts that were 400 plus degrees Fahrenheit. So I worked myself into a panic to break through the episode and immediately left work telling them I needed to see my doctor immediately. He put me on a combo of two meds that worked great for me.(samples that I took home that day) But unfortunately my insurance didn't cover them and there was a lot more work to find something that would suffice. That was really long. I'm sorry. I hope things get better for you. Yes emotions can be hella illogical. Take care of your self and best of luck.

[@QueerAsCat]

thank you for sharing your experiences. i think it's extremely unfortunate that we (as a society) always hear far more horror stories than success stories... and not only that, it's far more common to hear stigma about both mental illness and treatment for it, in comparison to actual education about mental illness and treatment for it. it's important that people know that sometimes medication can result in negative experiences such as you've described here, but not without the context that comes with knowing that such negative experiences are not the norm and can in fact often be managed or treated. i'm glad that you were able to overcome your fear and give medication a try. i know how hard that is... but not only that, to then have your insurance not cover what you've finally found that works is just... ugh. but you didn't let that stop you, instead you put in a lot of work to find something else that sufficed. i hope i can hang in there like you did until i can find what works best for me.

[@KrisfiberANDarts]

I take my medication at night to use the fatigue to my advantage.

[@QueerAsCat]

i'm going to talk to the doctor about this being an option for me when i see him next. the only reason i've been taking it in the morning is because he suggested that i do it that way, saying that some people find it difficult to sleep at night if they take it at night..... i can only guess that i wouldn't be one of those people.

[@sandtime23]

I was very reluctant to go on antidepressants at first as well. I think a lot of it was, as another commenter suggested, internalized ableism. On top of this, though, once I did start antidepressants, the first few kinds I was prescribed I had no positive effect on me. After about a year of trying them out I was pretty much ready to give up, but then I was prescribed citalopram. To be honest it hasn't helped my depression that much but it's been very helpful for my anxiety, which is highly linked to my depression. Just over a week ago, though, I ran out of my antidepressants, and I went through some pretty intense withdrawal symptoms until I got represcribed. Being dependent on antidepressants is scary in that respect; of course, this doesn't make me regret my decision for going on them, but it's not something I took into full consideration beforehand as I never experienced withdrawal with my past few prescriptions. Good luck, I hope you can get better control over your mental health and that the antidepressants help you out in the long run! It's been good hearing an update from you.

[@QueerAsCat]

thank you for watching and for sharing.it's great to hear from you! i'm glad that you were eventually able to find something that helped you in some way. after having tried antidepressants for a year without positive results, i can only imagine how tough that was.... i doubt i would have been resilient enough to keep trying, so i totally applaud you for that. the intense withdrawal symptoms and dependency on antidepressants... that is exactly one of the things that i was most concerned about re: starting antidepressants. i brought it up with the psychiatrist during my first appointment and he was pretty dismissive of my concerns... :/ hearing your experience with it kind of validates my concerns, so thank you. that said, i'm sorry that you suffered through that and hope that you never have to experience that again. best wishes~

[@gaygem7913]

So I started my anti-depressants about a month ago. Going into it, I was excited. The second I got the prescription, my mind suddenly started coming up with a list of all the shit that can go wrong, and I ended up delaying taking them for a few days because of it. The second I started taking them, it helped my anxiety a lot, and my depression as well. i think it might be worth noting that I'm on a different anti-depressant thats supposed to also help anxiety without taking a different pill. I got some of the bad side effects of course, but at first the good side effects were overwhelming, I felt great. Unfortunately both the good and bad side effects have lessoned, but I'm still not having many problems with anxiety, theres still some, but I haven't even gotten close to a panic attack since I started taking the anti-depressants. With my depression, still there, obviously, it's better then it was without the meds, but at the beginning my anti-depressants completely stoped my intrusive thoughts and allowed me to enjoy myself after dark, unfortunately the intrusive thoughts are back, and night fall often makes me feel kinda shitty again. I miss not having to deal with that, but I'm not sure if that effect would stay with any anti-depressant, I plan to ask my nurse practitioner about it.

[@QueerAsCat]

thanks for sharing! i think this is the first time i've heard of not only side effects diminishing with time, but also positive effects as well. i can imagine how frustrating / disappointing that would be... i hope you can find something that helps you in the long-term. intrusive thoughts are shitty indeed....

[@gaygem7913]

QueerAsCat thanks, it's nice to have my feelings about this validated, best of luck with your own experience with anti-depressants

[@cacuriouson]

My psych was very very very persistent about medication. Not just over one appointment, but for months and she is still continuing. Once I got on SSRIs, she still keeps telling me to take other medication. It is exhausting

[@QueerAsCat]

...that sounds incredibly frustrating in addition to being exhausting. :/

[@creepyweeper]

I started taking sertraline (with as-needed-doses of oxazepam on the side to help manage anxiety) a few months ago now and holy shit the fatigue hit me hard at the start. I would wake up, take my pill and then be completely exhausted within half an hour of waking up. I also had a severe spike in anxiety which made me feel suicide-y for the first time in my life and triggered me to start self-harming, which was... not fun. fortunately, that got better by like week three or four and after that I've barely had much anxiety at all. other than that, the most long-lasting side effect for me has been sweating a lot more than usual, as well as some stomach issues, which I'm still dealing with. it's a bit bothersome, but I think it is slowly getting better, so I hope it'll go away eventually. all that being said, I am so so so thankful for my medication. it's helped me so much. I was always open to taking antidepressants, but like you I was still surprised that my doctor was so quick to prescribe them to me. looking back, I'm glad that he did. I see now just how bad things were for me then and I honestly don't know where I'd be it right now if not for that. like, life still isn't perfect and I still struggle a lot in my daily life, but the effect that it's had is still pretty significant. before I started taking them, I could barely even stand being awake because I was so tormented by my own brain. I didn't do my dishes for weeks on end, I barely ate or left the apartment, I had daily anxiety attacks and no energy or motivation to do anything. it was getting more and more difficult to get through each day and at the end I was barely even living, I was just surviving. but the medication gave me the strength and capability to start addressing my problems, look for support and find healthy coping mechanisms, which is something I don't think I'd have been able to do without it. long story short: it's not a miracle cure, and the road is bumpy for sure, but I'm grateful every day for my medication and the things it's done for me.

[@QueerAsCat]

thank you for sharing your experiences, it means a lot to hear others' experiences with antidepressants (Sertraline in particular). i'm really glad to hear that things have gotten better for you because i can only imagine what it must have been like in the beginning with the increase in anxiety... my doctor warned me when giving me the medicine that Sertraline might make my anxiety worse in the beginning, which is why he also gave me Diazepam just in case. i didn't mention this in the video because i wasn't 100% certain that what i was experiencing was an actual increase in anxiety connected to Sertraline, but yeah.... i haven't become suicidal, thankfully, but i do fidget a lot more and am just generally more restless. sigh. i hope that'll pass for me as most things have passed for you. wishing you all the best and thanks again.

[@yonetchan]

I love you

[@QueerAsCat]

D: ....why, hello there! fancy seeing you here. :)

[@cacuriouson]

Sertraline, or SSRIs in general often do not fully work until 4 to 6 weeks. Starting and switching meds is brutal. Good luck

[@QueerAsCat]

4 ~ 6 weeks seems to be the magic number, as i've heard this a lot. hoping i can stick with it and see things through until i can find what works best for me, even if it means navigating side effects several times due to switching medication.... thanks for the well wishes.

[@MrMasterDebate]

curiosity so what happens if your feeling benefits within the first week ? That's my experience as of now.

[@cacuriouson]

When I got assessed by a psychiatrist, I was asked my gender and sexuality. So it should be normal

[@QueerAsCat]

thanks for sharing! glad to know that it may not be all that unusual for them to ask questions like that.

[@miamilady2278]

QueerAsCat i was also asked about my sexual preference during my evaluation.

[@ashme4388]

I'm so glad you found a psychiatrist that works for you in Japan! I'm living out in the inaka right now and envy you being in Tokyo, at least re: finding mental health care. And best of luck with your medication! I understand the feeling you have about antidepressants; I see the benefits for other people and even encourage people to accept them as a valid method of treatment, but when it comes to ME, there's this mental block. I guess we all internalize a lot more than we realize.

[@KateHedgehog57]

I'm not into therapy, either. I vent to my husband and contemplate things constantly and come to terms with experiences in my life and self all the time. I feel that that is good for now. (I have tried group therapy, and it didn't remotely help) But I started taking Zoloft in May and it has saved my life. I also had huge reservations about medication, yet I had an anxiety attack and panic attack in one day and decided that this wasn't manageable anymore. After being on them for months now, I realize that my anxiety was so bad that it was actually killing me. My body was in a constant state of shock, had all the symptoms of shock, and I was like that for years and years with it only getting worse. Since being on Zoloft, I'm able to function like a human being. I can digest my food, I'm not always cold, my feet aren't freezing, I have energy and I can remember things, plus tons more. I love your video and I'm sorry about the rant, I swear I thought I had a point when I started it lol. But I'm glad that Sailor J suggested your channel because I already know that I'm going to be enjoying your videos. You're a gem of a person and thank you for existing.

[@MrMasterDebate]

My doctor gave them to me recently for chronic fatigue. I've actually seen a lot of improvement in the last week from it. I hope it continues. But I only really got side effects on the first two days. Maybe I'm just lucky ?

[@LICKITY_Splits]

Great video

[@HerbDinoOhNo]

You know, I've actually never heard someone sit down and describe their experience on mental health-related medication, and I've always been super curious about it as someone who's considering using it themselves, so this was very interesting. You're right! It's totally okay to take a pill to take care of yourself. I'm glad you've been able to start doing that and hope the side-effects lessen further. I'm thinking of starting therapy soon, if my insurance will cover it. I've never done longterm therapy for some reason (okay, money has been a factor), even though I've known for a long time that I should. I think I'm afraid of opening old stuff up again, of having to admit certain things to myself, but I also recognize how helpful/transformative it could be. It can be hard to work through our own hang-ups about these things, but sometimes very necessary. I've gotten the sexuality question from school counselors before. It's strange they ask about that, and also strange that they ask about orientation but not about gender.

[@marlene1546]

Just wanted to say have felt the same way about antidepressants but have had no choice but to take them because of the battle with anxiety and depression my doctor explain it to me like if you I diabetes you had to take insulin to live it's the same if we want to live somewhat normal we need medication to help us through it I'm not sure if my medicine is helping or not right now is a very hard place to be also I had very hard menstrual cycles as well so I chose to get a uterine ablation you might want to think about that that is an outpatient procedure that makes you no longer have a menstrual cycle but you still have your uterus and everything functions the same

[@dq2623]

How are you now 2019??

[@hex1275]

Setraline did not work for me T-T

[@cacuriouson]

So far I have tried 3 diff SSRIs over the course of 6 months. None of them really ever worked for me. I just took a saliva test that is supposed to tell me what medication would work best for my body. Hopefully the results will finally give me a medication/s that work. I have lost any belief that medication will help me but my life is being ruined by my mental health so im willing to try. Sorry I keep commenting, I was commenting during the video. But SSRIs have done jack shit for me and I am worried that I will need to go on a heavier medication/s

[@QueerAsCat]

got my fingers crossed for you! i really hope you're able to find something that works for you. i can imagine how disheartening and frustrating it must be to have tried three different medications without success.... hear's hoping that things start to look up for you. best wishes and thank you for your comments.

[@computerworksuk]

It took three weeks for my side-effects to pass. I had pretty much all of the ones that you've mentioned apart from the dry eye

[@indigomarshalles886]

I hope its still helping. I hope if its helpful for you that you do another update for us. New sub

[@OtakuGunsoNY]

heh my mom used to tell me that when you wake up at 3 in the morning like that then it means there's spiritual warfare going down or something o-o

[@QueerAsCat]

......... >_>;;;