[pasabagi]

Yeah, re-reading my post, I probably should have expanded on the 'if dosed and chosen properly' part. Obviously, if you take the wrong dose, or have an adverse reaction, it's going to not very fun. I recommend talking to a psychiatrist.

That said, my first go-around with anti-depressants was a hugely overdosed prescription of venlafaxine from an overenthusiastic doctor, which is pretty side-effect-tastic, so my eyes were rolling out of my head and I was falling off chairs for a week and it was still far superior to being depressed.

Not taking anti-depressants because you're worrying about the side effects is like not wearing your motorcycle helmet because there might be a scorpion in it. The risk of dying from depression is really high. The risk of suffering from anti-depressants is fairly remote.

[kayodelycaon]

Granted, I’m bipolar, but every person I know in my online support group has had significant side-effects from antidepressants. As well as a few friends with chronic depression.

Antipsychotics are even worse but I’ll take the side-effects over psychosis and paranoia any day.

[idontwantthis]

For the first several months of drugs I had zero sex drive. I talked to the doctor about it and we both agreed that this was 100% tolerable compared to how I’d been without medication. Also that if my opinion on the matter changed, there were other options. Fortunately that side effect eased on its own.