Mr Fritz: introduction

[MrFritz]

Hello everyone, I'm of course new to the site and not all that familiar with how this community works, but let's see how it goes. I'm 34 years old and started taking antidepressants for depression and anxiety issues (particularly for social anxiety) when I was around 18 years old. Looking back, it's pretty clear that I had issues even as a child, issues that I still struggle with today. I've never been a very "normal" person, as I'm frequently and painfully reminded of, having never had many friends or dated and all that usual loner stuff. I feel like all those years of pretty consistently taking antidepressants (there were a lot of them, too many to recall) have left some kind of permanent effect on me, even if I can't prove that beyond a doubt. That's what's so frustrating, in large part -- not knowing whether all the antidepressants I've taken over the years have left my brain permanently altered in some way. All I know now is that I have a really hard time functioning with ordinary, day to day tasks, including work, because of my low energy levels, forgetfulness, lack of verbal fluency, irritability, etc. Pretty short introduction, I know, but that's the gist of it, anyway. Any sort of practical advice/moral support would be much appreciated. 

[ChessieCat]

Hi MrFritz and welcome to SA,

 

We ask all members to create a drug signature.  Please use the preferred format:

 

A request: Would you summarize your history in a signature - ALL drugs, doses, dates, and discontinuations & reinstatements, in the last 12-24 months particularly?

• Please leave out symptoms and diagnoses.
• A list is easier to understand than one or multiple paragraphs. 

• Any drugs prior to 24 months ago can just be listed with start and stop years.
• Please use actual dates or approximate dates (mid-June, Late October) rather than relative time frames (last week, 3 months ago)
• Spell out months, e.g. "October" or "Oct."; 9/1/2016 can be interpreted as Jan. 9, 2016 or Sept. 1, 2016.
• Link to Account Settings – Create or Edit a signature.

 

Once we have information about your drug history we will be better able to offer suggestions.

 

This is your own Intro topic where you can ask questions and journal your progress.  We encourage members to visit each others Intro topics so they can support and encourage each other.