Further to our previous update, the switch from sertraline to paroxetine seems alas to be increasingly making us far too sleepy and unfocussed for it to be of any long-term use. We've just sent an email to the practice manager at our NHS GP surgery to advise.

We've tried the following classes and drugs on prescription:

  • SSRI - citalopram, sertraline, paroxetine
  • SNRI - venlafaxine

Discounting the older types with typically-worse side effects (tricyclics; tetracyclics; MAOI; SARI; sNRI), our last-ditch options appear to be either vortioxetine (SMS) or St John's wort (herbal remedy) 🤦‍♀️

Please note that NHS England only has limited prescription options for treating depression and/or anxiety relative to the larger number of total antidepressants.

Le sigh  

#depression #MentalHealth #NHS #NHSEngland #SSRI #SNRI #SARI #MAOI #TCA #TeCA #SMS

Comparing antidepressants

Compare antidepressants to help find what is best for you. Our page compares them by type, what form they're available in, dietary considerations and more.

Saw this Maoi, or statue, today on the south coast of Te Whanganui-a-Tara. It was a gift from the President of Chile on his visit to the capital in 2004. These statues were carved by the Rapa Nui people, on what is also known as Easter Island. According to a nearby plaque, their language and their customs resemble those of Māori. This gift was chosen by Chile to acknowledge the link between Rapa Nui and the tangata whenua of Aotearoa.

#Maoi #RapaNui #Aotearoa #TangataWhenua #TeWhanganuiATara

#Maoi is #lifegoals. @BlueZones
Moai—This Tradition is Why Okinawan People Live Longer, Better - Blue Zones https://shar.es/agXX2R
Moai—This Tradition is Why Okinawan People Live Longer, Better - Blue Zones

Elders in Okinawa, Japan, one of the original “Blue Zones” longevity hotspots, live extraordinarily better and longer lives than almost anyone else in the world.

Blue Zones
Why Some Easter Island Statues Are Where They Are

Many of the statues not along the coast are in places that featured a resource vital to the communities that lived and worked there.

Mental Health Update 9/3/19 I had my first Ketamine Infusion on June 23, 2019. Before the Infusions I was taking 12 pills a day. Here’s where I am now. * 1.5mg clonazepam (down from 2mg) * 300mg gabapentin (down from 1.8g) * 60mg duoloxetine (no change) * 60mg Adderall (down from 90mg) After talking to the doctor today, I’ll be completely off the gabapentin in a month. Down to 1.0mg clonazepam. And 20-30mg Adderall. The duoloxetine I’ve been waiting on. We’re doing this gradually so as not to disrupt my recovery. However, it’s still an extremely fast cut in meds. My head gets clearer every time I cut these down. In roughly 2 months, I’ve more than halved the medications. I’ve only had 1 ketamine Treatment since the original. I’ll have another soon. We’re doing them every 4-6 weeks as I come off the pills. Afterwards, I’ll be able to move to 3 months, then 6 months between treatments. By January 01, 2020 I should be down to a small antidepressant. This is not something I ever believed would be possible. I seriously believed I’d have to take all those meds, and still be miserable, for the rest of my life. I’ve taken every medicine under the sun, none truly worked. Some helped smaller issues, or kept me at baseline, but nothing provided the chance to actually live. Now I’m looking at a second chance. A chance to accomplish something without the weight of Depression, Anxiety, Insomnia, and more for the first time in 15 years!! – Jack Recovery feels amazing. Tweet https://kthejourney.selfhosting.rocks/2019/09/12/mental-health-update-9-3/
Mental Health Update 9-3 – K: The Journey

Mental Health Update 9/3/19 I had my first Ketamine Infusion on June 23, 2019. Before the Infusions I was taking 12 pills a day. Here’s where I am now. * 1.5mg clonazepam (down from 2mg) *

K: The Journey
It’s easy to sometimes feel as though we are being ignored. It’s even more true when you’ve got a mental illness. Depression fogs every emotion, not merely the “Good” ones. It grows, with very little help, from sadness and fatigue, until you don’t know how anyone gets through the day. And the anxieties kick in. It reaches a panicked pitch of loneliness and isolation. By choice or by force. When every time you start a new, “better” medication, you receive a warning from the doctor you’ve had memorized for years, Now, remember, it could take two or three months before you notice a change…” This is somehow seen as an acceptable way to treat people within an inch of suicide. It’s hard to imagine how we ended up here. Surely this wasn’t the goal when the first MAOIs were made available for prescription. MAOIs were developed in the 1950s, accidentally. The action was noticed in tests by the patients have a slight increase in energy, motivation, and activity than those on placebo. Tricyclics antidepressants were discovered in a similar manner in 1957 while attempting to create antipsychotic. It’s effects were thought to be almost entirely placebo at first. Imipramine was prescribed for years without any understanding of how it worked. It was hypothesized to work on norepinephrine, then later, serotonin. For 30 years, little changed. MAOIs had weird interactions with even common foods. Tricyclics are still considered among the most effective medications for depression, but they seem to have little effect on suicidal ideation, and can cause major issues in the case of overdose. In 1988, this all changed, when the first of a “novel class of antidepressants,” fluoxetine(commonly known by brand name Prozac) was released in the US. It was the first majorly successful SSRI, the class of medication that would hold America for thirty years to come. SSRIs are the most prescribed antidepressants ever. Dozens of slightly different SSRIs, and SNRIs have come and gone on the market. a few atypical medications have seen popularity in this time as well. Substituted amphetamines, GABA Inhibitors, Dopamine agonists, anticonvulsants, steroids, hormones, antipsychotics, stimulants, all have been used for depression, some in combination with an SSRI. Yet, even with secondary medications supplementing SSRIs, the success rate has been incredibly low. Around 30% of people have no reduction of symptoms, or only experience a partial relief. That’s right. Seventy percent of people [...] https://kthejourney.selfhosting.rocks/2019/07/16/the-struggle-to-be-heard/
The Struggle to be Heard – K: The Journey

It’s easy to sometimes feel as though we are being ignored. It’s even more true when you’ve got a mental illness. Depression fogs every emotion, not merely the “Good” ones. It grows…

K: The Journey
On Sunday, June 23rd, 2019, I start Ketamine Infusion Treatments for Treatment Resistant Depression and Anxiety. I’ll have 2 infusions a week for 3 weeks. Then maintenance infusions occasionally. Ketamine doesn’t work like any other therapy. No SSRI, MAOI, tricyclic, or atypical antidepressant does what ketamine does. Ketamine is the only treatment that causes neurogenesis. That’s the growth of new synapses in the brain. New receptors for serotonin and dopamine and norepinephrine and everything else. Neurogenic action isn’t the only thing unique about ketamine. It works on the NMDA receptor areas. No other medication stimulates this area of the brain directly. Glutamate is probably the word you’ve heard whispered lately. It’s where all the new antidepressant research is pointing. In very high doses, ketamine has been used for years. Hospitals have to keep it on hand for anesthesia. It’s essential for operating on patients without a breathing tube. It’s an essential medicine around the world. It’s also abused sometimes. As many anesthetic drugs are. In Infusion, a low dose of ketamine is delivered at a specific rate, over 20-30 minutes. Many people do report s disassociative experience. Some even find it adds to the therapeutic effect. It’s said that you can look at problems in your life, or think about past trauma without getting emotional. As anyone who’s ever tried therapy will tell you, this is a big fucking deal. Being able to stand aside, and see the reality of things, past our emotions and delusions, it’s an unimaginable thing for many trauma cases. PTSD finds a real miracle in ketamine. Anxieties dissolve to logical detachment. While this state only lasts a few minutes, the benefits aren’t. Both in emotion and judgement, and unique brain action, you can repair every kind of damage caused by long term mental health problems and those caused quickly by trauma. With me luck! – Jack I’m not just Listening Anymore 06.21.19 Some Links to use as Source Wikipedia : Ketamine The Mayo Clinic calls Ketamine Infusion “miracle” Tweet https://kthejourney.selfhosting.rocks/2019/07/16/thoughts-2/
Some Thoughts on Ketamine’s Action – K: The Journey

On Sunday, June 23rd, 2019, I start Ketamine Infusion Treatments for Treatment Resistant Depression and Anxiety. I’ll have 2 infusions a week for 3 weeks. Then maintenance infusions occasionally.

K: The Journey

It’s 6:45am. My appointment is at 10am. I’m feeling good. No food after 4am. Nothing to drink except small amounts of water after 8am. I got a full night’s sleep. Woke up around 5am. Took all meds except Adderall as instructed. Share this:TweetPocketTelegramMoreShare on TumblrWhatsAppPrintLike this:Like Loading… Related

Share this:TweetPocketTelegramMoreShare on TumblrWhatsAppPrintLike this:Like Loading...

#a-slice-of-life #antidepressants #antipsychotics #anxiety #anxiety-disorder #cbt #coping #depression #disorder #exercise #fresh-start #gad #glutamate #habits #infusion #insomnia #ketamine #ketamine-infusion #maoi #mdd #medication #meditation #mental-health #mental-illness #mjgraines #mood-stabilizers #neuropathic-pain #nmda #panic-disorder #patterns #recovery #ssri #suicide #therapy #thoughts #trd

https://wp.me/pb3N3Y-2C

On Sunday, June 23rd, 2019, I start Ketamine Infusion Treatments for Treatment Resistant Depression and Anxiety. I’ll have 2 infusions a week for 3 weeks. Then maintenance infusions occasionally. Ketamine doesn’t work like any other therapy. No SSRI, MAOI, tricyclic, or atypical antidepressant does what ketamine does. Ketamine is the only treatment that causes neurogenesis. That’s the growth of new synapses in the brain. New receptors for serotonin and dopamine and norepinephrine and everything else. Neurogenic action isn’t the only thing unique about ketamine. It works on the NMDA receptor areas. No other medication stimulates this area of the brain directly. Glutamate is probably the word you’ve heard whispered lately. It’s where all the new antidepressant research is pointing. In very high doses, ketamine has been used for years. Hospitals have to keep it on hand for anesthesia. It’s essential for operating on patients without a breathing tube. It’s an essential medicine around the world. It’s also abused sometimes. As many anesthetic drugs are. In Infusion, a low dose of ketamine is delivered at a specific rate, over 20-30 minutes. Many people do report s disassociative experience. Some even find it adds to the therapeutic effect. It’s said that you can look at problems in your life, or think about past trauma without getting emotional. As anyone who’s ever tried therapy will tell you, this is a big fucking deal. Being able to stand aside, and see the reality of things, past our emotions and delusions, it’s an unimaginable thing for many trauma cases. PTSD finds a real miracle in ketamine. Anxieties dissolve to logical detachment. While this state only lasts a few minutes, the benefits aren’t. Both in emotion and judgement, and unique brain action, you can repair every kind of damage caused by long term mental health problems and those caused quickly by trauma. With me luck! – Jack I’m not just Listening Anymore 06.21.19 Some Links to use as Source Wikipedia : Ketamine The Mayo Clinic calls Ketamine Infusion “miracle” Share this:TweetPocketTelegramMoreShare on TumblrWhatsAppPrintLike this:Like Loading... Related https://kthejourney.selfhosting.rocks/2019/06/21/thoughts/
Some Thoughts on Ketamine’s Action – K: The Journey

On Sunday, June 23rd, 2019, I start Ketamine Infusion Treatments for Treatment Resistant Depression and Anxiety. I’ll have 2 infusions a week for 3 weeks. Then maintenance infusions occasionally.

K: The Journey