I ended up paying out of pocket for everything, and honestly, I don't regret a single cent because my wife basically saved my life. After that, we ran into this massive headache trying to get an antipsychotic covered through the medical board and insurance assessments—they kept denying us, claiming the diagnosis of major depression wasn't "serious enough" and that we didn't actually need the meds.
Things have changed since then, though, and even Locke is actually cheaper now! 😬
Man, honestly, River Nile basically survives off the two of us. Every time I think about how much cash I used to blow on that Locke stuff, I just lose it. Seriously, a single box of the 200 mg stuff cost me $166, and let me tell you, it barely lasted me twenty days. What a total joke!
It’s not exactly a massive pharmacy list, and honestly, I’m sure some of you geniuses over here are totally blowing me out of the water when it comes to the sheer number of pills you take, but when it comes to dosage, I’m still holding my own because my system is just freaking resistant to everything they throw at me.
I mean, I don't get all that media circus and people crying to the news outlets about it. 🤷
Then again, I was knocking back an anti-anxiety med and two antipsychotics along with it when I first started, so who knows? Maybe that actually helped mask some of the side effects, honestly.
Yeah, and you just couldn't resist, could you? You had to take a cheap shot at me on your way out just to prove how much of a genius you think you are. And then they have the nerve to call *me* the crazy one, seriously... ☕
Besides, I’ve realized she’s actually thinking about doing this once, not planning on a lifelong binge of booze and pills, which is honestly a bit far-fetched if you ask me. And even if it were true, I highly doubt she’d be looking for some random blessing from an internet forum first—unless, of course, she’s eyeing being an organ donor.
Ugh, here we go again, apparently someone’s developed a weird little obsession with my handle. ☕
Look, I’m not trying to play doctor here or anything, but if I had to pick between dealing with mild sedation or facing a brutal rebound effect, I’d take the first option any day of the week. Even the author knows she's playing with fire—stopping a treatment that abruptly can be seriously dangerous.
I'm heading to New York City for New Year's Day, so I want to drink a bit. I don't get to go to NYC every day. To avoid any bad reactions between booze and my meds, I was thinking about quitting for a month and then starting again. I know, sounds stupid.
Honestly, if you ask me, I’d much rather you have a drink or two while on your meds than go cold turkey and drop the whole treatment entirely. That could seriously backfire on you. You might end up feeling way worse once the symptoms come rushing back—that "rebound" effect is supposedly even more brutal than the actual condition you were trying to get into remission for in the first place.
Kenneth Scott41 said:Please, let's keep this civil and without any aggression; I'm just making an ordinary post.
Just a thought... if I'm following you correctly, you started out with just depression, and then it spiraled into a much more severe form where you actually had thoughts of ending it all? Is that right? Hm... what were you being prescribed during that initial depressive phase, back before the suicidal thoughts set in? And I'm genuinely curious, during the time you were attempting suicide, was it a truly deliberate, planned decision, or was it more of a desperate cry for help? How can you be so certain that you would have definitely succeeded?
I have a friend who is currently on antidepressants and antipsychotics, and I have to say, I tried one of those antipsychotics he was on, and it hit me so hard I could barely even walk... honestly, I couldn't move. It was easily the worst thing I've ever experienced. So, are you just taking the Luvox now, without any benzodiazepines?
Come on... it's really important to me that you answer these questions.
You totally missed my point, man. This was my FIRST—and hopefully my absolute last—depressive episode ever. It hit a breaking point when I attempted suicide, which was partly planned out and partly triggered by a massive serotonin shock because my Zoloft dosage was messed up.
Back at the start, they put me on a cocktail of Helex, Effexor, Luvox, and Nozinan as needed. Now, I'm just on low doses of Effexor and Luvox—basically maintenance therapy to make sure this whole mess doesn't come crawling back. I managed to get off the benzos without any drama under my doctor's supervision after being on them for about six months. They had to throw an antipsychotic at me to kill the suicidal urges and the constant insomnia, and since that serotonin shock made any SSRI Ad totally out of the question, I ended up on an SNRI, which is the Effexor.
Look, if I had really intended to end it all, I would've gone straight for the carotid artery. That was the actual plan, but hey, I'm still here. I just cut myself; even in the middle of all that madness, I think a part of my brain knew that if I actually hit the main vein, it’s game over, lights out, cemetery time.
Velafax is basically their latest big push, though I honestly call it 'horse tranquilizer' because man, that stuff hits hard—I really think it might do the trick for you. 😁 But seriously, how are you even holding up with that much benz in your system? Do you ever get that creeping fear that you’re just swapping one addiction for another? Trust me, I know firsthand how brutal that mental dependency gets. I used to be a total wreck—shaking, panicking, feeling like my brain was actually melting if I wasn't on at least half a pill. I honestly owe my psychiatrist big time for being so firm with me when she had to step in; since then, every single time we've tapered my dose, it's been a massive uphill battle, but hey, I'm still standing.
wiredfalcon21 said:All psychotropic medications fry the brain, causing damage that makes learning a language much harder. There, I just wrote your scientific paper for you. For instance, I used to play chess; I could concentrate on the game, stay focused, plan my moves logically, and play quite solidly. Now, there isn't a chance in hell. Honestly, though, I suspect this is just an excuse and that you're simply addicted to these forums. Sorry if that sounds blunt, but I don't mean anything by it—you really are a forum addict. Personally, I struggle with an addiction to cigarettes and coffee.
You clearly have zero clue how a scientific paper actually works—how long it takes to write, the sample size required, how many peer reviewers have to tear it apart before it even gets published, stuff like that...
There’s really no point in me defending myself here; feel free to keep "correcting" me if it makes you feel better. If someone is struggling with their own issues, it's pretty obvious it isn't coming from my end, so I don't see any reason to keep engaging with this mindless provocation and trolling. Good luck to you! ☕
ambermason16, this one's for you, I totally forgot to make the quote stand out! 👋
Heh, I guess it’s just genetics, right? Like, the whole thing about being predisposed to mental health issues... a few of my great-grandparents were considered "a little off" back in the day—which was basically just how people used to describe the "crazy" folks—and now, here I am dealing with F-ove.
I'm curious, though—how did addiction play into your different states? I'd imagine going through withdrawal or trying to kick the habit is an absolute nightmare. For me, even though it wasn't a huge thing, I dealt with that whole psychological dependency on pills. When my doctor told me we needed to taper down the dose, I literally lost my mind with fear. I was freaking out thinking, "There is no way I can do this, the anxiety is gonna come flooding back, I'll lose it, I won't be able to sleep," just total, pure panic. It was terrifying... __________________
P.S. Since my psychiatrist actually floated the idea of us co-authoring a research paper on how psych meds and specific diagnoses impact language acquisition and learning (which happens to be my actual field), I can't exactly sit around being an uneducated idiot, right? 😁
Micek, look, I’m tapering off my meds totally fine. I finished up my psychotherapy, so I don’t have any psychological dependency on the pills or anything. My doctor actually encouraged me to jump in here and swap stories with people right when I started treatment, so that's why I'm hanging out—I just want to be helpful, plain and simple. Plus, I love to read. It's not like I think I'm some genius or a total hypochondriac, and honestly, there's no way I'd ever be crazy enough to be a moderator, so thanks for that! ☕
Seriously though, I have no clue where all this biased nonsense about me is coming from, you know? 🤷
Michael Reed45 said:I actually wanted to ask you—how was it for you when you first started FedEx? 🙂
Wait, do you take the normal dose on day 15? Or are you already on the higher 2mg ones? 😁
There’s 5mg and 10mg versions available, and honestly, I’ve got half a prescription card's worth of those little 5mg pills just sitting in my apartment, though I don't touch them anymore. I used to rely on that stuff back when I was a fresh grad starting my first job and my boss was absolutely terrorizing me every single day, but now? Yeah, I've moved on to much heavier drugs. 😁
Heh, I guess it’s just genetics at work here. Looking back, a few of my great-grandparents had what people used to call being "a little off"—you know, the old-school way of describing folks struggling with mental health issues—and now, here I am dealing with the F-ove.
I'm curious, though, how did addiction play into your own struggles? I'd imagine the withdrawal process and actually getting clean is an absolute nightmare. For me, even though it wasn't for a super long stretch, I dealt with this intense psychological dependency on pills. When my doctor told me we needed to start tapering down the dosage, I honestly lost my mind. I was straight-up terrified, thinking, "There's no way I can do this, the anxiety is going to come crashing back, I'm going to lose it, I won't be able to sleep for a second," just total freaking panic...
Look, don't get mad at me, but from what I can gather, you were an addict back then—correct me if I’ve got that wrong.
Did your mental health struggles start before that stretch of time? I'm assuming there might be some hereditary stuff involved, especially since you mentioned your mom and all those psych meds. Did things just spiral because of the addiction, or how did that play out?
Look, those little things—mice, rats, whatever—they totally mess with how much of the med actually hits your system. And honestly, generics aren't always a perfect match. Like, I tried swapping my Loquen for Seroquel for a day once. Technically they're both just generic quetiapine, but Seroquel is the "pure" stuff, whereas Loquen is the salt version, the quetiapine fumarate.
With Seroquel, it knocked me out at first, then slowed me down, and then by evening, these weird-ass thoughts started messing with my head again. After that, I just took my Loquen, sliced it up, and called it a day! I'm really not buying this whole placebo thing people talk about.
So how come Misar felt like I was basically just drinking water, but Helix actually did something for me, even though they're supposed to be the same thing? ☕
Seriously, why is there such a massive list of SSRIs if they all work the exact same way by blocking serotonin reuptake? Like, why does Zoloft work wonders for one person but feel like a total death sentence for someone else?
Justin Rogers5 said:So if I stop taking it, it just takes two days to clear my system?? Nothing more? I read somewhere else that it takes like a month.
Nah, what you're talking about is just the half-life—basically the window where the amount of the drug in your blood plasma drops by half. With psych meds, that window is way shorter than something like an anticoagulant, which stays in you forever. Like, every 48 hours or so, the concentration in your plasma cuts in half. So if you’re on 5 mg, in 48 hours you’ve got 2.5 mg left, then in another 48 hours it's down to 1.25 mg, then 0.625, and so on until it finally dissolves completely.
It can show up in a urine test for about a month after you stop, though, because tiny traces linger even after it's gone from your plasma.
Sorry, I totally overcomplicated that, but why are you even getting tests done? You worried they're gonna find psych meds in there or something?