[paul_houle]

Personally I'm not a fan of antidepressants. For me, Prozac had the side effect of extra-sensory perception: I couldn't do anything without having immediate karmic effects on people I knew who lived hundreds of miles away. I'd be sitting in bed talking to my wife about (essentially unpredictable) events that would happen to take place the next day. People think they might want those kind of powers, but you can count me out. I lasted about a week, but it took most of a month for the metabolites to wash out of my system.

One tablet of lexapro causes my interest in sex to disappear entirely for a week. Personally I think this simplifies my life, but three days of sleeplessness is quite a price to pay.

A friend of mine started taking Effexor, but then we found accounts of how it's impossible to stop taking Effexor: blood-curdling stories about pharmacists who'd dissassemble the pills and reassemble them to titrate the dose down, and who'd still be unable to get the dose to zero. He stopped in three days, before the damage was done.

Anyhow, all of those drugs affect serotonin metabolism, as do the 5-HT2A agonists that some people call psychedelics or entheogens. Alexander Shulgin did a 30-year research program on psychedelic phenethylamines (drugs structurally related to dextroamphetamine, mescaline and ecstacy) and found that certain drugs in that family have a synergism with alcohol much like what the author of that article describes.

[mrtron]

Do you think the Prozac just distorted your perceptions of reality?

Interesting experiences though - thanks for sharing.

[paul_houle]

That's very possible. No matter how I interpret it, Prozac made my life like a Phillip K. Dick novel.

[raintrees]

After a whole lot of stuff coming down at once (divorce, December holiday season, back taxes due) I was prescribed with Prozac. I took it for maybe 3 months, then stopped. I noticed that I became a plodder for the time being, which worked well for all of the crises. I got over the ex, I got through the holidays, and I set up a repayment plan.

But all in all, I had zero creativity. I do not remember coding anything of significance. Pretty much just a maintenance lifestyle. I behaved the same with alcohol and cannabis, so it is probably my specific make-up.

I really enjoy the creative side, and I choose to remain clear. It makes for better relationships for me, all around. I also love what I do, and I seem to get better enjoyment from it.

FWIW...

[petercooper]

Interesting. My father took Prozac for a while some years ago and his creativity shot through the roof. For the whole time he was on it, he became an almost expert woodworker - something he'd shown no interest in before - making some great pieces week after week. Once he came off, within a few weeks he was back to programming again, but no hands-on creative work anymore.

[skinnymuch]

Good post. I think what you just explained is exactly how antidepressants should be thought of for 99% of the population. They are in almost all cases only meant for temporary use. Hell I was suicidal and basically a useless vegetable for a year and surprisingly survived before I got on three different anti-depressants (still on all three right now). But neither my psychiatrist nor I feel like I'll be taking any more than one in a year or two.

So Prozac definitely helped but yeah the creativity thing is a pain. I work like a robot now. I list out a schedule and have to follow it exactly or I get annoyed. I don't like to do anything out of the ordinary now :(

[gregoryl]

I think I lost you there, can you explain this line for me?

  A friend of mine started taking Effexor, but then we found accounts of how it's impossible to stop taking Effexor:
  blood-curdling stories about pharmacists who'd dissassemble the pills and reassemble them to titrate the dose down,
  and who'd still be unable to get the dose to zero. He stopped in three days, before the damage was done.

Edit: Fixed format as requested.

[Zaak]

For me, stopping Effexor after having taken it for a year was 2-3 weeks of misery. I have heard that for some people the withdrawal is so bad that they can't stay off the drug long enough for their body to finish returning to normal.

[asmosoinio]

Could someone please edit this to make it not break the layout? It's a really long line and makes this whole conversation a pain to read.

Edit: thanks!