Anti-depressants!!

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Just got some beta-blockers called 'propanolol', anyone heard of these?I looked them up in google and they seem to be a mild anti-depressent and are used for other things. I told my mum when I got them and she was like 'ok'. Can't say what my dad will say as I havent spoken to him yet. I scored 15/21 for my anxiety on the doctors test, it turned out to be 'severe anxiety'. I was told I am going to be put forward to a specialist who can keep a close eye when/if I decide to take the stronger stuff. I hope all goes well. I haven't tried the beta-blockers yet, I'm gonna try em when my parents are both back home and then they can witness the results for themselves. I just want to be happy, maybe this mild-depressents will do me fine? I've gotta go to college this week, hope this medication prepares me for it.

Oops, that was me, forgot to login.

your on propranolol for depression?

Propranolol slows your heart rate, so it relieves some of the symptoms of anxiety. The theory is that relieving the symptoms makes you feel better and therefore less anxious. It's a treatment that is most often used for performers with stage fright - it has the advantage that it doesn't affect the brain directly. I haven't seen it used more generally.

ive been looking for some place to talk i used to talk to my friends about my problems since my parnets dont understand anything (just wait its a phase itll pass)yea right ive been feeling depressed for 2 years im 16 years old and i really think some form of anti-depressants would do me good anyway i used to talkt to my friends... most of them arnt my friends anymore idk why maybe because no one wants to deal with a depressed friend... so now i have one friend who doesnt understand i problly would kill myself but im to afraid to do anything can someone talk to me i just really want to talk to someone beaucase no one will listen i dont give a shiit if we arnt suppoesed to give away emails but...please someone email me and please talk to me. REMOVED

So far so good. I've been using the beta-blockers everytime I'm about to do something that I think will provoke my anxiety. They are easing the symptoms a little, but I'm still finding things difficult - as I would expect - knowing that they aren't going to completely put those feelings about things I fear to a hault.I'll keep going strong and fighting my anxiety until I'm confident and happy enough to stop taking these beta-blockers. Hope that will happen soon.

Talk here, Anonymous!

Depression is a notoriously ignored and untreated disease; in today's society, it can be difficult for an individual to even admit that they're depressed. However, it is estimated that nearly 17.5 million Americans suffer from depression every year. With today's prescription medication for depression, there is no reason for this misunderstood disease to go untreated any longer.if you whant more information, links to sites that can help or personal advice, email me at [Removed]please register and use the private messaging service for contacting each other

Anon you're so wrong... the last anon to post. If you ask any psychologist if the current "anti-depressants" on the market are effective they will so most likely not. The only effect you'll see is the placebo effect of the medication. The best way to treat depression currently is through psychiatric sessions, not medication. Not to meantion all the side-effects of current anti-depressants now being discovered.

I have to strongly disagree with that last post. Drugs aren't allowed on the market now without being double-blind tested against placebo and being shown to be more effective than placebo. Though there is still a long way to go in anti-depressant research, modern anti-depressants have done very much good."Talking" treatment can be helpful with mild depression, but it's not very effective in severe cases. In general, talking treatments have been overrated by the psychological/psychiatric profession, who of course find them highly renumerative. That is not to say that they are of no value - it depends very much on what is being treated. But conditions with a biochemical basis are generally most effectively treated medicinally.

Do you even know how anti-depressants work? I'm a psych major and I do... Anti-depressants have only been proven to work to at least some extent on people who are seriously depressed, let me explain. The type of people that can't get out of bed in the morning or do anything, because it is such a chore. The more common types of depression most people experience are not effected at all by anti-depressants. Most of the times this is made very evident when people are asked how they are doing 2 - 3 weeks into the meds and they say they are feeling so much better when the meds don't even kick in till about 8 weeks. The way these drugs work is bascially just by giving your brain more of certain chemicals. In prozacs case I forget what they brain chemical it was called that it was regulating but the displacment of that chemical (too much) made people in some cases develope different psychotic illnesses. I highly recommend unless you do experience from the type of depression where your life is 100% impossible to live to any extent, that you do not take anti-depressants and you seek the help of a psychologist. There are different forms of counseling they can provide which have been shown to be effective in treating more mild forms of depression.

In reply to:I'm a psych majorIn reply to: I forget what they brain chemical it was calledI hope you don't get a job that goes with your major.

I'm not far into the program... The quoting was just lame cause you know your wrong.

At least she is doing something with her life!

There are anti depressants that take only 1-2 weeks to start showing effects.

@Anonymous: That made no sense.@Joe: Good for him, I'm sure there's tons of other people who are doing something with their life.

jst hve a good attitude about ur self... listen to music to forget, watch tv...gotta tell u shows like buffy, angel, friends make u forget everything... jst think of it this way.. "wats the worst thing tht could happen?", dnt gve a fuck about wat other people think jst go out d live ur life....

well one things for sure, thats that you know you need help, I wouldnt do medication as I hate taking stuff but I would try getting a different therapist, as for your parents, they would need to sign fo rmedication and such so I cant really help you there

I'd let this go by, except that I think a lot of harm is done by telling people to avoid antidepressants.In reply to:Do you even know how antidepressants work? I'm a psych major and I doThis sounds like a case of "a little learning". I'm afraid I outrank you - I give lectures on antidepressants. It's nice that you know how they work, because researchers in the area are still largely in the dark. The brain chemical you are unable to remember is serotonin (5-hydroxytryptamine). Fluoxetine (Prozac) inhibits its re-uptake from the synaptic cleft, increasing its concentration. However, the fact that antidepressants take some weeks to have their full effect shows that the antidepressant activity is not a direct result of the increased serotonin concentration, but apparently a result of a reaction to it. Furthermore, similar antidepressant activity (again slow in onset) also results from increasing the synaptic concentration of dopamine instead of serotonin, which is useful in avoiding the reduction in libido and sexual performance that is often seen with SSRIs. (However SSRIs have additional benefit against OCD and possibly other anxiety disorders that SDRIs lack; where anti-anxiety effects are also required, a solution to the sexual side-effects may be found in Mirtazepine, which specifically blocks the 5-HT-2 receptors responsible for those side effects.) A final disproof that it's all about serotonin is shown by Tianeptine, which is a serotonin re-uptake enhancer, reducing serotonin levels, and yet with equal antidepressant activity to other antidepressants.

You still didn't disprove my statement on how unaffective antidepressants are for common depression. It is a hit and miss scenerio and most hits are assumed from the quick assumption that the medication is working shortly after one starts taking the medication. Also how is it that you figure there is a lot of harm done by me attacking antidepressants? If anything my statements may make people consider not to take antidepressants due to possible unknown side-affects. I recomend that for anyone that is thinking about taking antidepressants that they do their own research and make a logical decesion.