All the doctors I see and my family are urging me to go on antidepressants

>>18685742
Don't take them, they fucked up the shit out of my sister
Don't take them, I beg of you

Try yoga, meditation and natural remedies

CBT has a response rate as high as antidepressants.

Unless your depression is very severe, you should have CBT therapy as a first line of treatment.

>>18685756
I was once offered 4 sessions of CBT by the NHS, and I had to wait a whole year as there was a long waiting list

>>18685746
what happened to your sister?

I haven't heard anything about it permanently fucking up your libido, as far as I know that's only for the duration of you using antidepressants. Talk to your doctor about your concerns and see if they're willing to prescribe an antidepressant that would better suit you and the side effects you get from them. Not all antidepressants work the same or have the same side effects. This might help you find an alternative that works for you. http://slatestarcodex.com/2014/06/16/things-that-sometimes-help-if-youre-depressed/

>>18685831
People on /adv/ and other places have said their sexual responses have never been the same even after they stopped taking antidepressants for years

Every time I've gone to a doctor about side effects they just prescribe a new anti depressant and I've gone through 4 now.

>>18685849
Talk to your doctor, not people on /adv/. Depression itself can fuck up your libido, not just antidepressants. Hell, aging lowers it too. Read what I linked, write down a list of your concerns. And ask your doctor. Not just about how to avoid certain side effects, have the conversation you're trying to have here with him. He's qualified to answer your questions whereas no one here is.

>>18685862
I'm not talking about libido, I'm talking about the ability to feel sexual pleasure.

I knew more about antidepressant side effects than my doctor did. I even showed him the study of decreased lifespan when taking prozac, which he was unaware of.

>>18685862
http://www.brainhealthhacks.com/2009/01/12/antidepressants-do-they-increase-or-decrease-your-life-span/

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11KB, 401x402px

>>18685742
Well, if your life and your life attitude wasnt a mess, there would be no need for happy pills.

>emotional wreck who cries every day
Take your medication anon. Your current quality of life is shit anyway. You can only improve at this rate.

>>18685742
If you do. Don't let them put you on 200mg of saraquil. They'll tell you its a low dose (its not). A low dose is 10-25mg.

>>18686082
isn't that for psychosis?

>>18685742
I'm taking them, they helped a lot. Med student, by the way. Don't believe the scare stories online. Most of those are written by pharma-conspiracy theorists and people who don't understand cause and effect.

>All the doctors I see
If multiple doctors are telling you something, maybe you should listen to them.

>sex side effects
Yeah, my libido dropped. Came back a little after lowering the dose. I'm guessing it will be back to normal once I stop taking them. Same happened to my friend who is no longer on them. He's fine now.

>study showing that antidepressants decrease life span
And there are studies showing different results. These meds have been around for a while now and there's no reason to panic. Being a mess that you are right now will certainly negatively affect your health.

>>18685871
There's buckets and buckets of studies with all kinds of results being interpreted in all kinds of ways, and all with the extra wonders of human error. One of two studies is nothing, you don't change established clinical practice based on something like that.

>>18685742
Ask one simple question
>would I rather stay depressed like I am now, or deal with some inconveniences in order to beat it?

>>18686082
>They'll tell you its a low dose (its not)
200 mg is a low dose. 25 mg pills exists for gradual discontinuation purposes and similar situations. Going under 200 mg daily wouldn't have much of a therapeutic effect.

>>18685742
Listen to >>18685746 OP

I spent half of my life from the time I was a kid in perpetual withdrawal. These compounds caused permanent muscle damage and hearing loss in myself and multiple people I know. Do not take a goddamn thing.

Struggle and you will win. Get outside in nature. There is a reason why doctors in Finland and other Scandinavian countries literally prescribe their patients time in the great outdoors.

>>18685756
THIS. Changed my life honestly.

I took sertraline for like 2~ months, shit was fucking awful. Didn't really make me feel that much better honestly, made me wake up feeling like absolute fucking garbage. Started affecting my libido and dick pretty bad at the end, at first it was great because it made orgasms intense as fuck but like everyday it got harder and harder to orgasm. Then it got to the point where it was basically impossible, trust me i tried. Only way i could bust before it got impossible was with a vibrator put to full blast right on my dick. I unironically had sessions last like 2-3hrs just trying to cum.

In my experience it did not really help that much. I got my libido for the most part back, but i still feel like shit and never feel refreshed from sleep. Orgasms also feel like they still take longer etc. 2 months is also not really that good of a test though.

>>18687292
OP here, they put me in sertraline and my heart went crazy, it was scary.

Something that affects your heart to that degree musn't be that great for you

>>18687312

Really, had no affect on my heart. Just shows how broad of a drug these things are. Can work great for some people and completely fuck others up. My experience was not that great with it honestly, i was given it for anxiety. It worked to an extent but by being able to numb that bad feeling of spiked anxiety it numbed everything else along with it.

You're more than welcome to a second opinion from another doctor. But from
>all the doctors I see
Frankly, you should listen to them. Try out a low dosage and take other steps to improve your depression as well. And stick with the medication. Truthfully they won't show much, if any, affect for 3 weeks. Until then you could feel even worse.