Experiences - How long did it take for YOU'RE SSRI to kick in?

[vantranist]

SWIM just started his first SSRI 4 days ago, Celexa. The doctor told him he would notice its effects within 7 - 14 days.

What are others experiences with SSRI's and how long did it take for you to notice an effect?

Please state the drug name, what you're using it for and how much it helped as well.

[dcrn]

Welcome to hell. SWIM started taking Paxil 20mg last January for anxiety & stress reasons. Severe anxiety along with panic attacks were caused by SWIM's cocaine use. SWIM did coke for about a year and was a regular user. After some time anxiety and panic attacks were just insane. Doc decided to put swim on this evil shit Paxil. SWIM is now at 10mg trying to taper off slowly and never take another SSRI in his life.

- horrible withdrawls are the worst with any SSRI's.

eksol added 1 Minutes and 23 Seconds later...

Can't edit my post.

Anyways, it took about 1.5 to 2 full weeks for me to feel decent results.

[sylenth]

Originally Posted by eksol

Welcome to hell. SWIM started taking Paxil 20mg last January for anxiety & stress reasons. Severe anxiety along with panic attacks were caused by SWIM's cocaine use. SWIM did coke for about a year and was a regular user. After some time anxiety and panic attacks were just insane. Doc decided to put swim on this evil shit Paxil. SWIM is now at 10mg trying to taper off slowly and never take another SSRI in his life.

- horrible withdrawls are the worst with any SSRI's.

eksol added 1 Minutes and 23 Seconds later...

Can't edit my post.

Anyways, it took about 1.5 to 2 full weeks for me to feel decent results.

smurf has gone on to paxil now & is the first time ever using ssri's. smurf has been on them neally two weeks now & has'nt really noticed too much of a difference, smurf will keep posting the results here of when they start to work.

why does swey say welcome to hell? smurf is becoming worried from reports he has read up on the net, smurf is wondering if he should rather quit while he has a chance to... sorry to go off topic but it would be appreciated if swey could pls provide more info why it is evil shit.

thanx.

[moda00]

Well, SSRIs have their pros and cons and I would encourage further research about any drug one is prescribed, but I do want to say, not to let such comments get in the way of giving it a go, for the OP. I wouldn't want people making such comments and scaring others or altering their ability to accurately gauge whether and how a new drug is affecting them. SSRIs can be a lifesaver for one person and hell for another. I do think they are overprescribed, and believe it is important not to put too much stock in doctors and pharma, but SSRIs, as any meds, do help some people significantly, and despite advances in psychology, much of the medicating is via trial and error.

I think one problem people have with it is that it does cause withdrawal if one stops taking it "cold turkey" but the medical profession doesn't name this or perceive this in the same way they stigmatize, say, opiate withdrawal. So many people feel they were not adequately warned. Also, I think if one does some research into big pharmaceutical companies, people are distrustful of these meds because of the industry and money tied up in their success, and the frequency with which doctors are bribed and rewarded to prescribe (not just SSRIs, but this is very common). One does have to be aware that it can cause severe withdrawal without a slow taper, and make sure one is judging whether it helps based on his/her feelings and the input of those around swiy, rather than just staying on it because the doctor says it is best or hoping it will help eventually. I think around one month is generally a good trial period for a new mood medication to be judged, but it will vary.

In response to the original question, I was put on Zoloft (25, then 50 mg) when I was pretty young, maybe 15 or 16, for about four years? Eventually my family said I seemed happier and more energetic, maybe after 2-3 weeks, but I can't say I really felt much difference, or rather, I couldn't decide whether I was feeling a difference, since my feelings were all over the place anyway. That said, I was pretty out of touch with my mind and body, and swim was just getting into heavy use of alcohol and other substances at that time, so one couldn't really judge it based on that, but I will say she didn't have any noticeably problematic side effects. Later, when she was dealing with opiate and cocaine addiction, she was diagnosed bipolar (which was later re-diagnosed as substance induced mood disorder) and given all sorts of things- mood stabilizers and antidepressants, usually. For awhile, she was upped to 100mg Zofran and felt really edgy, feverish, etc. but on a lower dose didn't feel this, and again, even though she was often sober for a few weeks at a time to get a feel for these drugs, her system was surely still affected and in recovery from the opiates and cocaine so I suppose it's all intertwined.

Anyway, I think it helps a lot when taking a new medication to keep a log- when you take the drug, how much you take, and how you feel throughout the day, and then you will get an idea for any positive or therapeutic effects, negative or neutral side effects, and how and when it takes effect. Wishing you the best of luck.

Reputation Comments on this post:

thanx 4 the feed back & answer to my worry

[vantranist]

Originally Posted by eksol

Welcome to hell. SWIM started taking Paxil 20mg last January for anxiety & stress reasons. Severe anxiety along with panic attacks were caused by SWIM's cocaine use. SWIM did coke for about a year and was a regular user. After some time anxiety and panic attacks were just insane. Doc decided to put swim on this evil shit Paxil. SWIM is now at 10mg trying to taper off slowly and never take another SSRI in his life.

- horrible withdrawls are the worst with any SSRI's.

eksol added 1 Minutes and 23 Seconds later...

Can't edit my post.

Anyways, it took about 1.5 to 2 full weeks for me to feel decent results.

That sucks... but why did u decide to go off in the first place?

[Jacco]

I was put on good ol' fluoxetine (Prozac), starting 10mg/day for 7 days, then 20mg/day for 7 days, and now 30mg/day, for obsessive-compulsive disorder.

I've noticed a large reduction in the number and intensity of the panic attacks I've had, and I'm not as much of a slave to the rituals as I once was. The only downside for me really is that it seems to make me pretty tired all the time and I'm starting to slip behind on college.

It's worth it though, to me. My life was hell when the OCD was at its peak.. I was almost non-functional.

Paxil seems to have more issues with withdrawal than Prozac does, afaik because it has a shorter half-life. Sometimes doctors switch people over to Prozac, then taper the dosage of that to break withdrawal symptoms.

[Spare Chaynge]

Paxil was extremely hard to kick for this swim took a month of lying in bed..It was psychological hell.. He quit cold turkey.

[Jacco]

Originally Posted by Spare Chaynge

Paxil was extremely hard to kick for this swim took a month of lying in bed..It was psychological hell.. He quit cold turkey.

Going cold-turkey on SSRIs with short half-lives is a recipe for disaster. You're always, always supposed to taper off the dose. The neurons have to slowly adjust back to the normal levels of serotonin reuptake, or the serotonin produced will be too little to stimulate the neurons, which have been desensitized by the SSRI. That's probably why all the nasty withdrawal symptoms occur.

[Spare Chaynge]

Yes swim does not advise that as a solution.. His dr explained this to him.. He told the dr to screw herself.. She was right.

Swim quit cold turkey because if he went one more week with out busting a nut(a side effect very common of paxil) his girlfriend was going to break up with him and he was going to off himself.

[doggy_hat]

SWIM was prescribed Celexa(sorry can't remember the drug name) for a short time. The first day of prescription he didn't sleep a minute, or for the duration of the script he only got 2-3 hours of sleep but never felt tired. He had horrible drymouth though, he could drink a glass of water once every 15 minutes and his mouth would still feel like carpet.

As for mental effects, it took maybe about a week for them to be noticed, about 2 weeks in they seemed to have already reached full strength. The drug mostly just dulled him. He no longer felt anger or depression, he became more of a stoic, instead of his reclusive, hateful, distrustful self and never really felt any real emotions. He says he felt like a robot, just going through motions with no thought. After a month he stopped taking it cold turkey, mostly because of the dry mouth.

[Jatelka]

This thread is about how long it takes for people to feel the effects of ssri's not about their adverse effects, or withdrawal experiences.

Let's keep it on topic please

[beena]

When SWIM was on SSRI's (a good few years ago now) she found it took about ten days to two weeks to feel any effect. Also if she consumed alcohol the effects were negated. SWIM had big problems with SSRI anti-depressants too, which is why she now takes tramadol instead as although they're a synthetic opiate/opioid they also have SSRI qualities and unlike prozac, or the like, the mood-lifting effects kick-in within about an hour after taking them and last most of the day usually. SWIM has been taking tramadol for two years now and although they're still working effectively as an SSRI/mood-enhancer she has tried many times to stop (or cut down even!) and the withdrawal effects have been similar (only worse) than other SSRI anti-depressants......
SWIM knows this post has gone a little off-topic also but she felt it was relevant info.

[preza]

Hi I am on lexapro 10 mg for about two months for anxiety and started working for me after the second week. I don't have dry mouth or I don't notice it, but for those with this side effect there are many commercial solutions, i.e. check google and your local pharmacy for "biotene oral balance" and/or "xerostom".

I was suffering from extremely dry mouth (resulting from another medication) and the above two solutions really help.

My only concern with lexapro is the withdrawal and the famous brain zaps that I read everywhere, altho my Doc told me to stop investigating and just show faith on it.

[welshmick]

Cipralex took about 6 weeks to kick in, but then I felt worse - gave them up Cold Turkey. It hurt a lot.


Was then put on Trazadone ........... tapered off these.

I think they are overprescribed, like Benzos in the 70's.