And are they working?

None.

And no it's not working.

None, don't need 'em. I have inspiration now, though. And it works great.

Currently, I'm only taking Klonopin for anxiety & it doesn't help much, but it still does a little. It lessens panic & anxiety attacks if taken right at the start of them & calms me down quicker during or after one. It also helps me to leave the house at times. I'm supposed to be on two others: Lamictal (a mood stabilizer) & lithium carbonate, but my Lamictal is still at my mental health facility & I haven't been able to pick it up & I stopped taking the lithium because all it did was make me feel worse.

The Lamictal helped my depression dramatically when I was first put on it three years ago. I went from being Suicidal, to feeling fine in less than one week & stayed that way until my doctor added the lithium & lowered the dosage of the Lamictal. Once the Lamictal was lowered, I started getting depressed again.

Vallium,anti depressant, mood stabiliser and sleeping pill.

I've been taking sertraline (generic Zoloft) for the past several months. I think it's helping with my dysthymia a bit, but it's not a dramatic difference. It doesn't seem to have affected my social anxiety at all. I have noticed that my average mood is a little better than it used to be, but I also seem to be having more mood swings. And I'm not too fond of the side effects (loss of libido, shaky hands, and impaired short-term memory/difficulty concentrating on one task).

So, overall I'm not all that impressed with the results, but it is better than nothing. I used to be fairly anti-medication, but eventually my depression got bad enough that I realized it wasn't something I could just get over by sheer force of will. I would still prefer not to have to take it, but it is better than being constantly miserable.

@Gloomba - I was on anti-depressants (Citalopram) for many months, and I don't feel they really helped at all either. But then I've got quite a specific problem besides anxiety and stuff which I've realised can't really be properly treated with them... anyway my point is, even for anxiety I don't think they're of much benefit, but it could just be me. Although I know I'm not the only one who thinks they're rubbish...

Medication/drugs that I've found to be beneficial are benzodiazepenes like Alprazolam (Xanax), Valium/Diazepam - those I feel do work but my doc has never prescribed me any because I have an addictive personality and a history of drug use.

I've been self-medicating on something which is natural and absolutely fine for you it seems, a plant/root called Kava. It tastes DISGUSTING, but I'm a pro at consuming horrid things if it's worth it. I find Kava to be very much like a benzo (it works on the GABA parts of the brain or whatever), except it's not physically addictive and has no bad effects; it seems to be a pretty perfect and safe drug in my opinion...



apple, are you writing in Japanese what you write in English? Or are you switching between the two saying different stuffs? Just wondering, obviously I don't speak Japanese

And are you on morphine all the time? Did your doc/whoever just prescribe you it, or have you for example gotten addicted recreationally before on something similar? I ordered a load of opium pods from a floral arranging shop (lol) a couple of months ago and I'd make tea out of them every day until I ran out, due to me being sick of being inside all the time depressed and bored. As soon as I ran out of them though, I stopped, and haven't ordered any more since

The only medication I'm on Clomipramine for chronic reactive insomnia.
I've been taking it since my early twenties and will stop taking it next year and see if I can manage to get to sleep without it.

@Kollide: here's äpple's post with a translation of the Japanese in brackets:

When I translated 最高, I gave a literal translation, but I should have really translated it as "It's frickin' awesome!" (Yeah, Japanese is VERY minimalist).

Ahhh that's interesting, I've read bits about the language but I've been too lazy to start learning really, a friend of mine is though so maybe he'll push me to get learning sooner... to be honest though I think I've more issues to sort out before really feeling up to learning something new like that.



I have horrific insomnia these days, always was quite bad with sleep anyway but lately, well, there is no point at all in going to sleep , and when there is I find it impossible for a number of reasons. I don't know how old you are now, but fuck, I'm guessing you've been on them for a long time? I hope it's not too much hell weening off mate. I was actually prescribed Zopiclone for sleeping a couple weeks ago and I ated them far too quickly, now I'm back to insomniac hell. To be fair though, I've got no reason to get up most days. Still... would be nice to be able to sleep usually without having to just wait until I'm desperately tired.

@Kollide: the great thing about Clomipramine is that it's not addictive like a tranquillizer. The only problem with going off it is you've got to gradually reduce your dosage; otherwise you end up suffering from extreme dizziness. I hope you manage to get something that helps you sleep since I personally don't think there's anything worse than constant insomnia. Life is depressing enough when you're bright-eyed and bushy-tailed let alone when you're absolutely exhausted all the time. (And yeah, I'm old -- 38 -- so I've been taking the pills forever)

@äppleちゃん：あなたがモルヒネを取る時にはどんな感じを受けますか？それについていつも疑問に思っていましたんですよ。(When you take morphine, what's the sensation like? I've always wondered about it.)

I might look into Clomipramine, thanksh.



Well, I was consuming dried opium pods for many weeks (which actually contain morphine & codeine as well as other things), and have dabbled with opiates (codeine especially) a lot before...

First of all I don't think it's a good thing to get into, as I'm sure you know (I've stopped getting any of it now as I was definitely getting deeply addicted and it wasn't helping me get my life back on track which I need to do).

But warnings and disclaimerness aside - what it feels like... well, poppy pods/morphine/codeine: it gives your body a warm, content feeling. The first few times I did it, it was amazing and for me it was like rushes of just feeling so content and not caring about anything else really. It makes whatever you're doing much more pleasureable - well, obviously it's just the drug binding to your opiate receptors/increasing activity there (I don't remember all the science behind it like the back of my hand or anything ) and yeah, you just have a nice sort of warm cosy mmmmmmmm feeling. Content describes it well enough. Oh, and itchy - this varies in severity from person to person though; I know some people - including myself at times who have had very bad itchy/allergic reaction hellishness from opiates, I found that I ended up needing to take an anti-histamine 10 mins before dosing to decrease/get rid of extreme itchyness. Like I say, that depends on the person whether you get annoyingly itchy or just confortably itchy (also doseage seeing as it's of course a side effect). Oh, and it gives you pin-point pupils!

It's one of those things you have to try to understand... as with most things. After a while though, it wasn't doing me any favours, I was barely even enjoying it as I was having to increase the doseage and the side effects were getting more severe. I kind of lost the real euphoria from it the more I did it and it was pretty much a waste of a period of my life.

I know I'll do it again though, but I'm going to try wait until I've got a job again and I'm back on track, being the person I want to be and doing the things I really want to do.

This turned into an essay. Sorry.



I've never looked into what effect opiates have on the heart too much really, but yeah I'm guessing it can't be good for you. So I'm guessing you use it because your condition is painful?

I'm deeply offended that you put the "more important/odd" stuff in Japanese, as I prefer the more important/odd factors of... stuff [/half-joke]

Hope you can get off the knock-out sweets Saigyo mang! Although to be honest, I'm the sort of person who would just keep taking something forever if it didn't have any annoying side-effects...

(Saigyo, it's very a very tranquil feeling, like a dream...)

それは面白そうです...(Sounds fun...)



(It's wonderful! But I've already had to go the hospital because of it...)

いけないよ, äpple! それは素晴らしいかもしれないがそんな薬物から離脱は非常に素晴らしくないね。本物のマゾヒストですよね！自分を愛する必要がありますよ！でなきゃ...

(That's awful, äpple! It may be wonderful but withdrawal from that kind of drug is most definitely not wonderful. You are SO masochistic! You have to start loving yourself. Otherwise... )

I take citalopram (aka cilexa), dexedrine, yasmin and occasionally trazadone for my restlessness which leads to occasional insomnia.

Recently, my medication (or at least I think that's the reason) has been making me feel dizzy, nauseous and anxious. I'm also getting headaches and stomach problems and my anxiety can turn into panic attacks and extreme paranoia. I feel better when I'm lying down and/or back in my room alone. Lying on my floor really helps. I tend to go there first and slowly make my way back onto my bed.

Even with the dexedrine, my memory and concentration seems to be shot. I feel like I have short term memory loss. And if there's two or more things going on at once, I can't focus and start panicking. Articulating my thoughts is also a major problem. I seem to fumble with my words more. It's easier if I type it since I don't have to think about how to speak it.

Yeah, I'm feeling a little wonky right now

I'm seeing a general practitioner on Tuesday. My psych basically told me to suck it up and keep going on with my daily life. The side affects should go away eventually ( ) and I need to learn to live with my anxiety when it does come.

I always have insomnia It's 5:11am here, wide awake as usual. So basically your medication calls for more medication Hell.



Medication can just make it all worse really can't it, it's ridiculous. I've read so much about people saying "oh it takes a long time to find what works for you"... but time can just make the symptoms worse, I wish my doc would just prescribe me what actually works for me. I've always self-medicated. I've liked the idea of it, even when I didn't really need to. Do you have a history of recreational drug-eatings? Or do you do anything else (other than your meds obv)? I sometimes wonder what came first, the drugs or me for ending up like this? I'd guess a bit of a both... blah



I get that/have had that for a long time also! Admittedly though it's probably got a lot to do with me having overdone it with drugs since I was pretty young, but then I'd also just get anxiety in situations where I'd have to multitask or whatever when I was even just like 13 so... whatever, I didn't need to bring my history into this , but yeah I get that sort of build up of anxiety from trying to focus on particular things too.

I also prefer to write than talk generally... lately I've not been being too careful about what I write anymore though, I used to be obsessed with getting whatever i wrote perfect. Anyway I agree, I can explain much more when writing generally



Meh, I think we should all become doctors and treat ourselves.

I used to use weed occasionally, but now I have stopped. I have a history of drug abuse as well. I used to overdose on advil / tylenol and my prescribed medication for attempted suicides over the years. Haven't done that since March, but it's really fucked with my liver and kidneys. Also, my doctor avoids prescribing me anything addictive. I always get the lower ends of cognitive drugs. I don't mind. I know I have an addictive personality.

I go into sleep cycles. I'll have insomnia for a couple of weeks where my quality of sleep is always horrendous with vivid nightmares and light sleeping. Plus, I only get an average of four hours. I pass out (literally, I don't remember when I sleep. I usually wake up on the floor or in front of my mac) around 3am and always wake up around 7am.

Then I'll spend a week constantly falling asleep. I'm going into that phase right now. I usually get around 10 hours, but I'm always sleepy and tired. I konk out every chance my body gets to shut down. Really annoying. I tend to take one hour naps in the late afternoon and pass out around 10pm and again wake up around 7am.

I don't take my sleep meds though. I'm sick of taking so much medication already and I'd rather not add to the list.

The dexedrine is a bitch in the sense I can't have any caffeine (goodbye coffee and chocolate) nor anything that will raise my blood pressure anymore (no more cough medicine or anything with ibuprofen) nor any high level cardiovascular activities (really kills because I love physical activities, but the excessive sweating and heart problems is too much).

EDIT: I wrote something else here, but have decided to rid of it and just start a new topic about it some other time instead...

True story.

mostly weed and booze......doctors don't belive me when i tell them i can't sleep....they usally ask me if i do other drugs besides weed (like meth, which i am strongly against)......dumb ass doctors don't kno shit about problems of the mind like they used too

Paxil, Wellbutrin, and Ativan.

Last day of paxil was today, though, on to zoloft.

They don't work real well, but man do I start to go bonkers if I don't take them on time. I can feel my body going into withdrawal 3 or so hours after the dose gets delayed. Shit sucks on weekends.

my dad gave me zoloft for headace's when i wuz little and it fucked me up.....(sorry random bursts)

I use to be on Zoloft, but I quit taking that years ago. I now take Risperidone and Busperone (not sure if that's spelled right) and yes they do work pretty good I guess.

Chivalry books .

I've taken alot for about 9 years. I quit taking meds for depression. Never did much anyhow. I take these goodies, all but 1 is for stress etc..

Xanax. 1mg @ 150 month

Seroquel 100mg @ 90 month

Vistaril 25mg @ 90 month

Fioricet @ 60 month (for stress headaches with a barbiturate in it for tension)

I'd blow my lid without my shit..Trust me. I'd never lie to ya'.....