This article will go over the pros and cons of taking anti-depressants. Do your research and make your own choice after seeking professional advice from a doctor.
As is noted on the packaging inside is a list of potential side effects. These side effects do vary from person to person, but from my experience and from hearing the experiences of many others, along with empirical research data who had started a regimen of anti-depressant medication (irrespective of the brand or type) had none to quite sever side effects.
I would first like to note that after taking more than 10 different antidepressants, I eventually found the right one. The one that worked for me on a continual basis was also the one that I seemed to have no side effects upon taking. THIS IS NOT TO SAY that the right anti-depressant for you is one that does not have initial side effects but to show you that it can take quite a few trials to find an antidepressant that works for your body.
The main noticeable side effect were nausea, stomach cramps and sleepless nights and over tiredness. These side effects, provided you have been taking the medication on a consistent basis generally lasted no longer than 6 weeks. The reason why we may experience uncomfortable side effects at the beginning of a treatment is that most of these medicines operate on the basis of having a certain half life (the rate at which the medication in the system will start to decay once in the body) Medicine with short half lives generally has less initial side effects, opposed to medicine (in this case anti-depressants) generally have longer half lives and thus are more likely to cause initial side effects before they absorb into the system and work as intended.
Aside from these initial side effects, there are also long term side effects that are quite likely irrespective of the specific medicine but also very from person to person:
-Increased hours of sleep required each day
-Decreased sex drive
-Overall senses to situations are somewhat dulled
-When awake, feel like have less energy even if had a good nights sleep
-Can make you less emotional and reactive but not always in positive ways
-Easier to become self absorbed as outside world causes less overall concern as may be less connected to it
-Whilst still feeling the range of emotions, the desire and will to act on this due to being less emotional can lead to a decrease in ‘actions’ taken as already feel subdued and tranquil
-Propensity to alleviate mental pain but paradoxically cause mental pain due as the medication can make it hard to live a ‘normal life’ and live up to ‘normal’ standards
This may make things sound rather grim, however I believe being aware of what you may be potentially in for before engaging in anti-depressants. As explained above that anti-depressants generally have longer half lives than other medications, suddenly stopping taking them can cause withdrawal symptoms.
-Insert withdrawal symptons
There is a benefit to taking anti-depressants, which if utilised correctly can far outweigh any potential continuing side effects
-Allows the ability for your mind to deal with situations as they occur without completely overwhelming you to the point you are not able to cope and have to retract entirely from the situation. What defines one who succeeds and who doesn’t is not related to their failures, but to how many times they did not give up even when they could. Each time the medication allows you to deal with a situation, you succeed whereas prior you may have felt this situation to be too overbearing
-They allow us room to express our authentic selves where before taking anti-depressants, we may have not been able to calm ourselves down enough to be able to enjoy singular moments without having to constantly thing back to past experiences or create future projections. It is in this mindset that all joy can be find, so if we have to take medication to assist ourselves in expressing and feeling joy how could we possibly deny the opportunity that many others take for granted?
-Allow us the opportunity to operate in the real world without having to use extra mental energy to keep overwhelming/depressive thoughts at bay. This assists us in keeping a living, maintaining relationships, managing a job and fulfilling daily takes required from all of us
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