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If such a thing exists, what are the best tolerated antidepressants?

Trichotomous

By Trichotomous
in Symptoms and self-care

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Trichotomous Newbie

Trichotomous

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When I was on paroxetine, I enjoyed weight gain, impotence, fatigue, reduced cognitive functioning, and occasional occasional drooling. Getting off paroxetine has been no party, either.

 

I was wondering if there are more mild antidepressants I can look at, with less severe side effects and especially less tendency to cause withdrawal symptoms?

 

See, I've picked a really bad time in life to get off antidepressants. I'm starting to  believe I need help getting through a major life hurdle coming my way. It's the lack of sleep that has me convinced I'm not yet ready to be free.

 

I was thinking about Prozac (fluoxetine), which I understand can be taken in liquid form to ease tapering. But it could be as nasty as paroxetine, for all I know.

 

Is there any common consensus as to which antidepressants are most mild, well tolerated, and less "addicting?"

Began in 1998 at 20mg/day. Dropped from 20 to 10mg/day around 2006. Dropped from 10 to 5mg/day in June of 2014. Dropped from 5 to 0mg/day in June of 2015. Rough times, indeed.

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rapunzel2 Newbie

rapunzel2

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only thing that comes to my mind is tianeptine.

 

prozac is not mild, believe me :) (addicted to prozac and currently withdrawing for over 2,5 years). 

in 2002- 0,5 tablet cipramil for half a year, ended it uneventfully. in 2006 - citalopram for half a year, ended in horrific state, ditched the drugs CT. 2007-2008 not feeling well but drug free. in 2008 prozac 20mg + quetiapine 25mg. 2009 tried to stop, ended up in hole after couple of months, started zoloft. 2009-2011 zoloft 50mg. went to 25mg in 2011 summer, it resulted in half a year horrible suffering. reinstated, changed drugs, nothing happened. by 2012 beginning suddenly felt great and CT meds. after 4 months came suddenly most horrible human suffering that's possible. was started on prozac and questiapine. started tapering slowly, GFCF diet and Hardy Nutritionals vitamins in 2013 summer. 

current medications: 1) fluoxetine and quetiapine since Aug 2012; 2) Daily Essential Nutrients by Hardy Nutritionals 7 capsules / since May 2013 + omega3; 3) Gluten-free-casein-free diet since june 2013

Started withdrawing slowly since april 2013. Mostly around 10% cuts. 

April'13 - March'14: fluoxetine 40mg -> 19,5mg; quetiapine 50mg -> 40mg
April'14-March'15: fluoxetine 19,5mg -> 14,4mg; quetiapine 40mg -> 22mg

April'15-March'16: fluoxetine 14,4mg -> 7,4mg; quetiapine 22mg -> 15mg

April'16-March'17: fluoxetine 7,4mg -> 5,0mg; quetiapine 15mg -> 7,25mg

April'17-March'18: fluoxetine 5,0mg -> 4,0mg; quetiapine 7,25mg -> 0 (as of 1st Feb 2018)!!!!

April´18-March´19: fluoxetine 4,0mg - > 2,3mg. Jumped off fluoxetine 1,4mg due to pregnancy in July 2019. Oct 2019 severe withdrawal syndrome started.

Took mistakenly a complex for hormonal support that included pregnenolone dec2019-april2020. Stopped it april 2020 and immediately severe akathisia started. Have had life threatening akathisia since, 100% disabled, suicidal, very hard to hold on. 

 

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joy2730 Rookie

joy2730

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As I had to mix lithium which intensifies antidepressants at one stage well u thought I had to mix them but looking back I didn't need them at all, anyway I digress so at the time it was felt citalopram was one of the simpler ones chemically and I did find it easier to tolerate than the others also at t h e time it was the preference for older patients who tend to be more troubled by drug adverse reactions

 

Jan 2023 to July 2023 250mg quetiapine

Tapered off quetiapine again over 2 months - now weight problem

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Altostrata Grand Master

Altostrata

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Sorry, folks, this is not the site to discuss which is the tastiest antidepressant. We do not recommend any of them.

 

Please go to one of the thousands of sites with forums about such things, such as PatientsLikeMe.com or depressionforums.org.

This is not medical advice. Discuss any decisions about your medical care with a knowledgeable medical practitioner.

"It has become appallingly obvious that our technology has surpassed our humanity." -- Albert Einstein

All postings © copyrighted.

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legan Newbie

legan

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Antideoressant should help people . I heared that you have to find the right med tgat work for you .so is it possible that we should find the right one before judging AD . i cant belevie weve hooked like that . There should be fix or solution .

Alcohol for 10 years then benzo for 6 months to help with alcohol then psychosis , and took esctiolpram 20 mg and sulipride 200 mg . quit date 17 -12 -2015

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legan Newbie

legan

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Do we need mood stabalizer to ease the withdrawal

Alcohol for 10 years then benzo for 6 months to help with alcohol then psychosis , and took esctiolpram 20 mg and sulipride 200 mg . quit date 17 -12 -2015

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brassmonkey Contributor

brassmonkey

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From the experience we have gained here and on other forums we have found that there is no "Magic Bullet".  There is no "right combination" of drugs, so we do not recommend any and do not allow discussions about trying to mix and match drugs to find a "cure".

20 years on Paxil starting at 20mg and working up to 40mg. Sept 2011 started 10% every 6 weeks taper (2.5% every week for 4 weeks then hold for 2 additional weeks), currently at 7.9mg. Oct 2011 CTed 15oz vodka a night, to only drinking 2 beers most nights, totally sober Feb 2013.

Since I wrote this I have continued to decrease my dose by 10% every 6 weeks (2.5% every week for 4 weeks and then hold for an additional 2 weeks). I added in an extra 6 week hold when I hit 10mg to let things settle out even more. When I hit 3mgpw it became hard to split the drop into 4 parts so I switched to dropping 1mgpw (pill weight) every week for 3 weeks and then holding for another 3 weeks.  The 3 + 3 schedule turned out to be too harsh so I cut back to dropping 1mgpw every 4 weeks which is working better.

Final Dose 0.016mg.     Current dose 0.000mg 04-15-2017

 

"It's also important not to become angry, no matter how difficult life is, because you can loose all hope if you can't laugh at yourself and at life in general."  Stephen Hawking

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KarenB Newbie

KarenB

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From Anatomy of an Epidemic: 

 

"A study conducted by the World Health Organisation ... [those] who weren't exposed to psychotropic medications (whether diagnosed or not) that had the best outcomes.  They enjoyed much better 'general health' at the end of the year, their depressive symptoms were much milder, and a lower percentage were judged to still be 'mentally ill.'  The group that suffered most from 'continued depression' were the patients treated with an antidepressant."

 

:excl:

 

Yikes.

2010  Fluoxetine 20mg.  2011  Escitalopram 20mg.  2013 Tapered badly and destabilised CNS.  Effexor 150mg. 

2015 Begin using info at SurvivingAntidepressants.  Cut 10% - bad w/d 2 months, held 1 month. 

Micro-tapering: four weekly 0.4% cuts, hold 4 weeks (struggling with symptoms).

8 month hold.

2017 Micro-tapering: four weekly 1% cuts, hold 4 weeks (symptoms almost non-existent).

2020 Still micro-tapering. Just over 2/3 of the way off effexor. Minimal symptoms, - and sleeping well.
Supplements: Fish oil, vitamin C, iron, oat-straw tea, nettle tea.

2023 December - Now on 5 micro-beads Effexor. Minimal symptoms but much more time needed between drops. Symptoms begin to increase.

2024 April - Updosed to 6 microbeads - immediate increase in symptoms for 4 days. Decreased to 5 microbeads.

 'The possibility of renewal exists so long as life exists.'  Dr Gabor Mate.

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