Antidepressant stopped working, help!

[michaelmyers24]

Hi, ive been on Setraline 50mg for about 2 months now. About a week ago i got a stomach bug for about a day and i was vomiting all day. i did take a pill that day but i think the vomiting got rid of it from my system and the next day i was getting brain zaps even tho i took another medication.

After that my medication completely stopped working just from missing one dose, i'm so stressed because it made me feel so amazing and id rather be dead then being depressed and anxious again. Did i permanently ruin the chances of it ever working again? and why is taking so dam long to kick back in? it just doesn't make sense

[specialmom]

Let me say that at 2 months, your medication had really just started to fully work as well as you were on a very low dose.  If you had an effect at a lower dose, perhaps upping to a more therapeutic level may help.  I'd talk to your doctor and consider this.  

[michaelmyers24]

oh okay, i thought 50mg was kind of a high dose. What exactly do you mean by therapeutic level?

[michaelmyers24]

Also, the 50mg of setraline im on is making me really tired throughout the day and sometimes its making me really depressed at night, is that my body still getting used to it?

[Paxiled]

Sedation is a common side effect of antidepressants.  Sometimes it goes away, sometimes you just get used to it, sometimes you don't.  Others can get overly stimulated by the same drug that makes you tired.  Zoloft has a dosage usually at 100 or 150mg, but a good psychiatrist will taper you up slowly to mitigate side effects and see how well you tolerate it.  When it works at lower dosages, that's actually better, because the less of a drug you need the less of it your body has to deal with.  But you might need more.  As for making you depressed at night, I'm assuming you were really depressed which is why you're taking it, so the drug might not be the problem -- it might just not be enough for you so it's wearing off too soon.  It might turn out not to be the right drug for you.  Only time will tell.

[michaelmyers24]

now its making me really anxious but happy, also i thought antidepressants built up in the system so how can it wear off?

[Paxiled]

No, they don't build up.  In fact, most of them leave the body in a matter of hours.  What happens is your brain has to change the way it operates naturally when you take these drugs, and that takes time to happen -- it also takes time to un-happen, which is what withdrawal is.  The only ssri that hangs out in the body is Prozac, which sticks around for about a month.  But your brain has to learn to operate in this new way and that takes more or less time and more or less of the drug depending on the person.  Also, people have different levels of absorption of drugs, which accounts for why some work for us and others don't do anything.  And there's also, in every form of healing, a placebo effect that is quite real -- the better you feel the better you feel -- it feeds on itself just as the depression fed on itself.

[michaelmyers24]

oh okay, makes sense. Sorry, i'm just trying to learn about all of this because i'm really interested in it and also i want to better my mental health. Do you think SSRIs are better and more effective than amino acids?

[michaelmyers24]

also, i have this weird drunk feeling all the time, like im spaced out and nothing feels real and my doctor doesn't know what it is and i feel really hopeless

[Paxiled]

Again, are you seeing a psychiatrist or a regular doc?  Because feeling like you do is a common side effect of taking antidepressants.  It's also, by the way, a common side effect of being anxious or depressed.  There's even an official diagnostic name for it, derealization.  So there!  As to your question, drugs are always stronger than the natural substances they were invented to mimic and be stronger than.  Almost all of our medications come from natural substances originally or are trying to create a stronger but similar response.  So the answer is, yes, antidepressant drugs are stronger than amino acids.  Are they better?  Who knows?  For some yes, for some no, but it takes amino acids longer to work.  It's also not the way you'd be treated by a natural physician to just give you an amino acid and be done with your treatment.  You'd be given a combination of herbs and amino acids that work together well, plus therapy, nutritional advice, be told to exercise, meditate, do breathing exercises, etc.  Some people react very well to 5-HTP, but I would guess, because we really have no good head to head studies since you can't patent 5-HTP, that antidepressants work more quickly and with stronger effect.  However, they don't solve the problem, they just treat the symptoms.  When natural medicine works, it's because the imbalance in your system causing the problem has been addressed.  Drugs don't do that, they just imbalance things in a different but more pleasant feeling way.  But they are stronger and quicker.  It's all trial and error, friend.  But I'm not sure why you're feeling hopeless -- you're suffering depression.  You've taken a drug.  Either it works or it doesn't.  Hopefully you'll enter therapy if you haven't already.  Hopefully you'll look at your lifestyle and see if you can't make some improvements that improve your quality of life.  If the drug doesn't work, you'll try a different one.  No reason to feel hopeless other than your brain is accustomed to thinking that way or you wouldn't be trying this drug, right?

[michaelmyers24]

currently i am not seeing a psychiatrist, the feelings of unreal started way before i tried setraline. If anything the setraline makes it better when its working good. Also my medication is starting to kick in again finally so im feeling better, not sure how getting sick would prevent it from working for so long. I just don't understand why anxiety doesn't go away once the stress is gone and you have no reason to be anxious.  

[Paxiled]

Some people have a reason.  Some don't.  It's an illness with no known cause.  It's just no fun.

[michaelmyers24]

Are you from the U.S? here in Canada it takes a long time to see a psychiatrist unfortunately

[Paxiled]

This is one for your psychiatrist, I'm afraid.  Lots of things can cause a med to stop working, but not usually after just two months and not because you got sick.  

[michaelmyers24]

What exactly can cause a med to stop working? i don't have a psychiatrist

[Paxiled]

Who is prescribing your medication?  If it's a general doc, I recommend you get a psychiatrist, as they specialize in these meds and your regular doc doesn't, which can be important in these situations.  Drugs sometimes just stop working -- they poop out.  But that usually happens when you use them for a long time or when something dramatic happens in your life and the drug just doesn't cut it anymore.  Remember, there is no drug that cures anxiety or depression -- they only tamp down the symptoms.  There's also a lot of placebo effect in taking them, as in clinical trials they don't help that many people.  That's why so many have been approved -- it often takes a few tries to find one that works at all and we often have to switch from one to another if we intend to take them for a long time.  Therapy sometimes does cure this stuff, and sometimes it just goes away, but drugs just alter the way your brain works naturally to produce a calming effect that might last a long time and might last a short time.  But not just two months, that's very short, but the brain is a complex organ that nobody understands and who knows what's happening in your case?  Brain zaps are a clear indication of withdrawal, I suppose you could have vomited it out, but that's not an expected result because first, you're just going to take more medication at your next dose and because dugs are designed to bypass normal digestion in order to get past the blood/brain barrier.  But it could happen if you vomit right after taking it.  Because our situation is unusual, that's why I suggest talking to the experts, who are psychopharmacologists, which are psychiatrists that really specialize in using these meds and use them every day, whereas general docs get no special training in mental illness or in pharmacology.  But if you only have a regular doc, at least go see him or her in case this one has got some advanced training in this stuff -- some general docs do.

[Paxiled]

And I'll give you a personal example -- the first antidepressant I ever took worked some, it was better than I was before it, but when I suffered a disappointing breakup it just stopped working at all.  Just like that.  It happens.

[michaelmyers24]

wow, thats scary. I guess the depression from the breakup overpowered what the medication was doing? i feel it starting to kick in again but very slowly. Missing one dose shouldn't have done that, and i vomited about 30 minutes after taking it.

[michaelmyers24]

The setraline is making me feel better in weird ways, like my sense of touch feels better, i feel more emotionally connected to everything i do and i feel like my thoughts are my own and i have a sense of identity. I'm not sure how a SSRI could ever do that. I'm starting to think i have something else that is more complicated than just anxiety.

[Paxiled]

If you're seriously depressed you can lose interest and focus in everything.  Different people have different degrees of depression.  When a drug works as well as this one is doing for you, you must have been quite depressed and crawled into a shell to avoid feeling.  But do try therapy if you never have, because otherwise you won't ever cure it, you'll just be treating it, and as you see, these drugs aren't easy to stop taking and they don't cure the underlying illness.  Many of use just don't respond well to therapy, and if you're one of those then the drug is probably the best you can do, but at least try.  And it is possible you had something more complex than just depression -- again, general docs just aren't that well trained in much of anything so they don't do complex very well.  Most docs don't -- only the ones who really like what they do are into that in any profession, and medicine is just another way to make a living for most people in the field just as it is for people in any other field -- they're not supermen, just human beings.  I'm really glad you found this much relief, though.

[michaelmyers24]

well thank you, its funny because ive been on setraline before a few years ago and it completely cured my anxiety but also made me extremely apathetic. But this time its acting as more of a stimulant but also relaxing me and giving me this weird feeling, like i feel like myself before all of the anxiety. I know what caused my anxiety, it was chronic stress and it made me feel like a different person. Also i'm taking a different brand so i think that might have something to do with it.