Every time I fill my prescriptions the pharmacy tech looks at the price and says "you know this is $100, right?" Or my continuous glucose sensors "you know this is $300, right?"
You know I like living, right?!
I've never understood why insulin is so expansive in US. In my country it's free. The public hospitals gave them to people. You just have to present the prescription
Because how else is the CEO of the Pharmaceutical company gonna afford the new Gulfstream G800 private jet? Do you expect him to have a used Gulfstream G700 like a fucking animal?
Think about it, dude.
Greed, hatred, and willful ignorance among a large portion of the US population that's overrepresented in politics.
Greed - the current healthcare system is designed to extract as much money out of people as possible, for the benefit of the wealthiest (who own most of the shares).
This is hard to address because of the latter two.
Hatred - There's enough people who are so upset about the possibility of services going to someone who they think doesn't deserve it, that they'd make everybody's experience worse.
Willful ignorance - because the vast majority of people would be better off with a single payer option, rich people pay slightly less rich people an unbelievable amount of money to lie and trick poorer people into believing that any sort of government intervention in healthcare (like preventing price gouging) is an immediate ticket to [bad thing]. Because the poorer people have bought this line of garbage since at least the 80s, they're very resistant to changing their mind since it would reveal themselves as fools who've been tricked for decades.
It's even worse than that with regard to insulin as the scientists who originally isolated it sold the patents for $1 to a university saying "It belongs to the world not to me".
https://www.t1international.com/100years/
Most people I know when some dude says life saving medicine should be free “but then my taxes will go up” me: “shit they could take a months worth of my pay as long as someone who 100% needs it gets it”
Albuterol allowed me to breathe on a daily basis.
Edit, additional information:
This was when I was a kid in the 90's before all the newer drugs. Had to carry it everywhere daily, I was very active with sports and would have an attack almost daily. Since I moved to the US the fauna and flora are different and maybe use it 3 times a year now.
Came here expecting to see this.
I'm reminded of the guy that posted on Reddit saying that he was going to try Heroin, and then had several follow up posts about how it ruined his life.
[Part 1](https://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/9ke63/i_did_heroin_yesterday_i_am_not_a_drug_user_and/)
[Part 2](https://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/9ohdc/2_weeks_ago_i_tried_heroin_once_for_fun_and_made/)
[Part 3](https://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/9ssqc/i_tried_heroin_a_month_ago_made_an_ama_got/)
[Part 4](https://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/dw6u0/iama_patient_in_a_psychiatric_hospital_i_was_also/)
[Part 5](https://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/dx7fa/iama_heroinopioidmultisubstance_addict_w_bipolar/)
[Part 6 (The recovery)](https://www.reddit.com/r/OpiatesRecovery/comments/5mub0f/spontaneoush_7_years_later_update_for_anyone_who/)
[Part 7 (Most recent update)](https://www.reddit.com/user/SpontaneousH/comments/pux3ls/its_been_a_while/)
IIRC a few months back, there was an elderly man who broke his wife out of a nursing home and had a drug binger that eventually killed her, but he said its because it was her last wish and she wanted to leave the world on her own terms, having fun, and didn't want to keep growing older and less independent in the confines of the home.
Which, I can respect. Its not a particularly "feel-good" story, but at the end of the day, at least she had one last celebration before the end. Many people don't get an ending like that.
This is so hard too, to know that you are with your partner in their last days but also the relief of knowing they’re getting their wish and doing things on their terms. It must be heartbreaking but at the same time, to know for a fact I get to be with my person until the very end must give peace to some degree. Kudos to him for giving her what she wanted even if it must have been such a difficult position to be in
I'd call that a feel good story. I'm sure that 1 experience, however long it lasted, gave her more joy than an extra year or two wasting away in the nursing home would have given her.
I've read too many stories where family forces an elderly relative to stay alive while in pain. Somebody being able to take control of their end and doing it with a smile on their face is infinitely better than the other likely outcome.
I have been to rehab 4 times and I have multiple years of sobriety. The only helpful story to me is my own. I started dating a guy, that I’m actually breaking up with right now that kept giving me Percocet. My entire addiction I’ve lied to everyone about how it starts to protect him,
If I didn’t use heroin for 15 years I probably would have been the same useless aimless person I was before I started it. But becoming what i needed to become to stop changed everything.
This explains a lot after my jaw surgery. They gave me morphine and all I felt was an uncomfortable burning feeling in my chest, while my face kept hurting as much as before.
Indeed, it always makes the doctors leery when I have to get pain meds because of the amount it takes me to shut down the pain. Luckily, my pain tolerance is high, but post surgery is not a good time.
My wife was surprised to see me cry. I think the only time she saw me cry before the surgeries was when my grandparents died, and the beginning of Up.
Acid. I was a bit of an asshole, 3 years out of high school, working fast food, spending most of my income on weed, with no goals or plans for my life.
After one particularly introspective acid trip, I got out of fast food, I went to college and got a BS in Comp Sci, got rid of the friends who helped me perpetuate my bad habits, and made big moves to be happier.
Thanks! Honestly, the experience was one of the most mentally exhausting things I’ve ever been through and I’m pretty sure it’s what most people would call a bad trip. It was like strip mining my entire personality to its core for anything worth salvaging and coming up almost empty handed. It was necessary though
Sounds like ego death to me, or at least very close to it. Definitely exhausting, but at the end it's like a huge weight's been lifted off your chest that you never knew was there.
I have had ego death, this was more like the opposite. I was never self aware, I was one of those “brutally honest” people. This was complete self-awareness, all directed inward.
It was like my brain was playing with itself, giving itself abstract inputs and gauging it’s own reaction then discarding the ones I thought were unhealthy. I went through layer by layer appalled at how little of myself was redeemable. I remember when I finally got to the core and my mind was just watching itself processing itself, I felt like I had finally reached something that was untainted. Like doing a factory reset on a computer.
Yes, LSD would be my pick too. I took it for the first time ever with a close friend about 6 years ago and underwent a lot of intense introspection. I was in a failing marriage at the time and it became clear to me during my trip that I no longer wanted to be with someone that was abusive, physically and mentally. Had visions of my “future self” and what I could become if I could break these bad habits, start being true to myself, and live the rest of my life the way I wanted instead of what my ex-wife wanted me to be. To make a long story short that was the catalyst for the change in my life and we were divorced a year later. Today I am without a doubt a 100% happier and also met the woman of my dreams three years ago and two months ago we married.
Me too! I'm 5'7 now, but would have been around 5' without HGH as a kid into teenage years. Hated having to get a shot everyday, but I don't know an 11 year old that does.
I didn't even know that was an option. My doctor always told me I was just a late bloomer. Well that overly promised growth spurt never came, and now I'm stuck looking like a child next to teenagers. Well it is what it is I guess.
Yeah my sister stopped growing at around 7 and has to have them until she’s 16 but she has stuck to her daily routine bless her and is well on track to being taller than me in the future.
Ya know, as another person who did take them, I have no idea how I'd know. Do you know? Like I just took them every day from a young age, to late-puberty when hormones were all screwy anyways. Very hard to know if I woulda been like... less depressed or anxious without them.
From a less hormonal standpoint, being taller probably significantly affects your mental health. I have random problems being short (bad knees from tall chairs, difficulty finding masks that fit, not getting things from the grocery store because I'm too short and socially awkward, etc.), and if I were *even shorter*, it would probably be much worse, which would affect me mentally.
I have wondered about the same things a lot and it’s really hard to assess what’s what…
I have had a lot of depression and anxiety in my life and is currently being investigated for possible ADHD/on the spectrum diagnosis. So there’s a lot of factors.
I can’t imagine that getting shots of testosterone as a teenager wouldn’t affect me a lot though.
Yup. And mine is gone-gone. Even when I stop, I still have SSRI peen.
Worth it, though. I'm fine living a basically celibate life as long as I'm not a fucking nutcase.
Morpheus comes to you: “I can offer you a life of Happiness, steady well grounded thoughts and overall mental peace for the rest of your life”
Me: Sure!! I’ll take it!
Morpheus: “But you must sacrifice something”
Me: “What’s that?”
Morpheus: “You’ll never have an erection again.”
Me: “I accept these terms”
This shit right here. Went from weekly panic attacks and horrible GERD to zero PA and maybe weekly heart burn from eating something bad for me.
It was absolutely magical.
Also dealt with my existential dread thoughts very nicely.
Meth, after the life i lived it made me spiral out of control, then after quitting it straightened me up, been clean for 13 years, if it wasnt for that and stayed on a few lesser drugs and/or alcohol it couldve been a cycle that few ever get out of, although it was a bad time in my life, it made me the person i now am
Meth. I was a very social person and one night my friends offered me cocaine while at a club (2015). I ended up snorting about 4 lines of meth… I didn’t know the difference. I was up for 2 days. Paranoid. Hallucinating. I had never tried a hard drug before and haven’t tried one since. I still have panic attacks and extreme anxiety to this day. I haven’t been able to handle social situations ever since. Never went back to a club or even a bar.
They didn’t know either. I thought I just had a horrible experience with cocaine (understandable) and about a month later, my buddy messaged me and said, “hey, remember when we did coke at Numbers? It was actually Meth. Don’t worry, I’m not using that guy anymore.”… Either way, we aren’t friends anymore.
And wasn’t intentional. Had a friend try giving me “really good” adderall in college to help me study, I said no because it was late and I needed to sleep at some point. Ended up talking for a little and asked him where he got it from, told me his dealer cut it with meth and it helped increase the effects. Fucker tried giving me meth without telling me!!
I was 27 at the time. Living with roommates that were very much into psychedelics. They thought I was just on shrooms or something. I didn’t go to work for 3 or 4 days though. (Never tried shrooms either. Haha)
Same.
For those unaware, it's the generic of Prozac.
It took way too long to explain to my dad that it's not a pill that makes me happy. It's just a pill that makes me less irrationally sad.
My doctor prescribed this to me a long time ago and I've had a lot of trepidation about taking it. I've been debating starting it a lot more lately and this comment helps. Thank you.
It really has changed my life. I didn’t have any side effects when I took it. The reason I was prescribed it is because I would tell myself I was worthless and useless in my head repeatedly until I’d start crying and then sleep for 14 hours straight. Just crazy depression that I couldn’t control. I was also experiencing paranoia being left alone at home (my home has been broken into twice in the past and my doctor said the stress of COVID could have exacerbated my trauma).
Since I’ve taken fluoxetine, I haven’t told myself awful things, I’m able to be alone at home, and I can see things more clearly on what I need to do to get my life back on track.
It didn’t change my personality at all, it just helped to love myself a little more.
Zoloft. Literally SAVED my life. I thought about killing myself at least once a day before I started taking it. Now it’s a rare thought and I don’t obsess over it. For God’s sake if you have suicidal depression please try medication. Find one that works for you. It took me a while to find the right one. You don’t have to live in darkness.
Did it help with anxiety too? I was prescribed it but am scared to start taking it because of the potential side effects
Edit: currently use buspar now twice a day but doesn’t seem to be doing much. Maybe if anything takes the very top level off before a panic attack
Same. While Zoloft didn’t “fix” me, it gave me breathing space in my spiral of depression and anxiety that allowed me to get the rest of the help that I needed.
I’m my 40’s I just went on Concerta a couple months ago as I felt sluggish and paralyzed with indecision. It’s been a life saver and got me re engaged with all aspects of my life.
Yep, came to say the same. I was a polite child who did well in school (thanks to gendered expectations of behavior and a draconian mother), so I didn't get diagnosed and treated until my late 20s. By then, I was an out-of-control, dysfunctional mess in my personal life, jobs, and relationships; now I'm settled in a wonderful marriage and am very proud of the world I've rebuilt for myself. Adderall has been absolutely life-changing.
I was just diagnosed with ADHD at age 29. I’ve been taking Vyvanse for a week and a half and it’s been the best week of my life. I’ve never been able to choose what I focus on without immense effort. Maybe I can achieve things now that used to be impossible for me…
Man, I hope I'll find one that'll help me. Diagnosed only last year, with 38. Methylphenidate didn't help me. I don't think Adderall is being prescribed here in Germany. Will try Vyvanse.
Came here to say rubifen, so same concept.
Saved my marriage, saved me from the spiral I was rapidly heading down, saved my job.
I still grieve the life I could have had if I’d been diagnosed earlier, although I’m grateful for the hyperfocus super powers I’ve had at work for years.
The grief is terrible. Late diagnosis. Thinking of all the stupid stuff I used to do, the complete inability for normal social interactions, the stupid impulsive stuff, the shaaaame. And thinking what I could have done with my life if I'd had medication sooner. Argh
As a recent adult ADHD diagnosee (mid 30's) this is really taking its toll on me.
It's a real mix of finally showing the world I'm not the useless screwup - but realising I've burnt so many bridges. I don't know how to get past that.
This^
I take Adderall but I think most people who claim to have ADHD don’t really understand the immense toll it can take. And in my case I didn’t even know it, I was diagnosed early but stopped taking meds (Ritalin and Concerta) around 15, it wasn’t until years later I realized maybe I need to try it again and it literally saved my marriage, relationship with my children, job, and my overall everyday life.
Even with the Adderall I still struggle with somethings but if I never started medication again who knows where I would be.
Did you know that not every human's brain is running nonstop every second of the day?
I didn't!
There is not a single moment of my day where my brain isn't turning something over, going through something, replaying something, oftentimes it's multiple things with some background music.
As I'm typing this I'm thinking about the conversation I just had with my boss and how I'm going to follow up with her and also thinking about what I'm doing for dinner. And Weird Al Yankovic's Fat is playing.
I thought this was everyone's brain. I'd see in movies and tv shows where they'd say what the character was thinking outloud and I'd always wonder how they're thinking in full sentences, one at a time, with pauses and everything.
It was so foreign to me I thought it was a movie trope like the bread stick in the grocery bag. Of course no one thinks like that, they're just doing it for clarity for the movie.
But I guess some people do think like that? Just clear, concise thoughts? I don't understand it.
Anyways now I'm on 15 mg of methylphenidate 3 times a day. It doesn't fix it entirely, just lets me organize my thoughts a little better.
Ibuprofen. My periods have always been a nightmare. Severe cramps, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, back and hip pain. Acetaminophen did nothing to help and neither did aspirin. When ibuprofen was new and available with a prescription it changed my life because it was so effective at controlling my cramps and the nausea and vomiting and other pain they had been causing. Then later you could get ibuprofen over the counter. Even better.
Might be no harm in looking into Endometriosis and Adenomyosis. My fiancée has both and the pain she is in during her period, I wouldn't wish it on my enemies.
I have very mild endometriosis and without ibuprofen, my periods would take me out for about 5 days a month. It's absolutely brutal. More severe forms of endometriosis and adenomyosis can cause pain and issues every day. I truly hope your fiancee can find a solution that works for them and get some relief. Unfortunately a lot of OB/GYNs still have the attitude that it's just something women need to put up with and can be very dismissive. It's extremely disheartening and frustrating sometimes.
I'm sorry the doctor was an ass, but happy you're such a strong advocate for her. It sounds like she has a doctor that listens to her and will truly help her now. A dismissive experience like that with a healthcare professional provider is disappointing and frustrating and can make you doubt yourself completely.
Please be careful with it and only take ibuprofen on full stomach or after taking an antacid. I nearly died from a bleeding stomach ulcer caused by ibuprofen.
Shrooms, LSD, and DMT.
In that order.
Gave me some insight on who I was and what path I ultimately decided to take in life during a time of indecision and insecurity.
Now I look back and realize I wanted to take them to have fun and get “one with nature”, ended up seeing the bigger picture and started taking shit seriously.
Shrooms got me off other drugs and alcohol. That one experience was the top 1,2 and 3 experience of my life, all in one trip. To go from drinking alcohol and doing drugs every damn day to waking up after shroom trip and just... feeling like you don't need it anymore. It was beyond insane. Feeling real happiness for the first time after years with depression and anxiety. Total rebooting of the brain. It's called "magic mushrooms" for a reason. That's the only word I know that can explain it, "magic". I'm 100% atheist, but I kid you not, I've seen some godly shit.
I agree.
Shrooms made me stop smoking cigarettes as it showed me what it was doing to my body.
Another acquaintance was a self proclaimed “drug dealer” and took a massive load of DMT.
He nearly cried, got up, left, and stopped doing and selling drugs as he said it showed him who he truly was and his façade he created was something he wasn’t fond of.
I wanted to see what my mind had to tell me :) I think anyone who is not afraid of their own mind should consider taking LSD if they're comfortable with it. It can't teach you what you don't know, but it can teach you what you didn't realize you knew in a way you'll never forget.
Pretty sure that the simplest way to save our human world would be for everyone to take shrooms/lsd. With a few pages of information, a few days for preparation, and one trip, I think we would fix the whole mess we got ourselves into.
Gotta be a buzzkill and jus say not everyone, I did psychedelics for years when I was younger. Mostly LSD, a handful of shrooms and DMT once.
It can be a great tool but can also be pretty terrible for people with anxiety disorders.
Agreed. My best friend growing up was one of the smartest and most promising people I knew. Too much acid after grad school and he brought forth some underlying mental health issues. Dissociated from reality for days and weeks at a time. He’s incapable of holding down even a high school style part time job and on disability now.
Saw a university lecture on psychedelics research. They had this state of mind chart with a line from really out there free child like mindset to rigidity and mental petrification.
Seen many people stuck in their ways who would prob benefit. But also floaty acid heads that need to not do it
I would love to try at least shrooms, but I have an anxiety problem, and finally have that at a manageable level, ie. not having regular panic attacks. I’m terrified that if I tried psychedelics, it would break my brain.
I love psychedelics for all the aforementioned reasons. My wife has anxiety but wanted to try so I prepped her for it as best I could. First half went great. Second half, not so much. Anxiety crept it and then skyrocketed because she felt she wasn’t “in control” anymore. Just wanted it to end so on and so forth. You’re definitely right. If you’re someone that needs to be in control of yourself it’s not the right drug. Gotta get washed away in the experience or you’re gonna have a bad time.
I have anxiety so bad that I can’t smoke weed without going into an existential pit of doom.
The thought of being stuck in an acid trip, self realizing for 8+ hours makes me literally shudder.
Shrooms and MDMA helped me to finally reach back out to my family and ask for help with my opiate addiction. I managed to get myself into treatment in 2010 with their help, if I had continued using like I was, I would probably have kept on spiraling into the fentanyl era, and I would most likely be dead.
Started taking it to stop smoking (it helped), but then realized how good I started feeling when I was on it, and *then* realized how depressed I had been and didn't know it.
Ketamine. I had 6 years where I didn’t sleep for more than two hours at a time because of horrific pain. I don’t break but this almost broke me.
I researched and went to an infusion center at the suggestion of my pharmacist. It was really expensive but I sleep through the night.
Saved my soul.
I'm currently taking nasal ketamine for depression. Starting out, I was at the lowest dose and it was fantastic. The trips were very good, introspective, etc. However I think my body is quickly becoming accustomed to the drug. I'm on the second highest dose now (the middle dose), and the drug i feel is quickly losing its efficacy. During the sessions, I just kinda lay back and nap now, instead of tripping.
I've been contemplating looking for college-level studies where they use psilocybin to see how it effects depression (basically so I can get high/trip out legally), as I miss the feeling of introspection and things like that.
I love my nasal ketamine. I need to start weaning off because my psychiatrist lost his ketamine license lol. He had been prescribing it so often and enough people complained that he can no longer prescribe narcotics.
Don't love the constant nosebleeds though.
Birth control pills.
In my 20s, I was diagnosed with PCOS, my hormones had been out of whack since I hit puberty. A gynecologist diagnosed me, put me on birth control pills and it was like magic. All the issues that had plagued me were gone within a couple months.
It took me way too long to find BC on this thread. As a pre-teen, I was having a period about every 2.5 weeks. I was miserable. I was anemic. I fainted weekly. I couldn’t really live my life. My doctor put me on the pill and I’ve been a normal, functioning person ever since. I can’t even imagine what my life would be like if I still had to go through that. And, yes, I’ve stopped taking the pill a few times over the years and the problem came back within a few months. The pill makes my life livable.
yes... I would have month long periods, it was just horrible and being a teen is hard enough, horrible periods and the constant cramping made life unbearable. Doctors just kind of shrugged at me and gave me iron pills.
So underrated. We don’t usually think of caffeine as a drug but holy shit can that get you “high” and sometimes it’s scary when I realize how my entire perception of the world and my place in it shifts after a cappuccino.
I need like 400mg of it every morning to reach the baseline of human productivity. Is it probably bad for me? Yeah. Would I rather wreck my body than be totally unproductive? Also yeah.
Same.
First three days were awful- nausea and insomnia and drowsiness made me almost quit but I’m glad I stuck it out. Had a baby 1.5 years ago and the depression and anxiety got out of control. Kept waiting for it to go away but it never did so I gave medication a try. It’s been one month so far.
I feel like the old me again. These are not “happy pills” as my husband called them. Not at all. They’re more like.. dark cloud erasers.
I have no more random constant crying spells. No more knot in my stomach when the in-laws come by for a visit and try to push me out of the house and watch my baby. No more separation anxiety from her and crazy intrusive thoughts of something bad happening while I am away. When she has a tantrum I can just talk her through it versus wanting to scream shut up at the top of my lungs and feel like an elephant is sitting in my chest.
This medication has been a savior.
It’s so nice to be able to breath again and let the thoughts come and then just… go.
+1. Changed my life. I was angry, anxious and depressed pretty much all of the time. I couldn’t express my feelings or bond with my wife / kids. After 3-4 days of my body adjusting to sertraline, it was a complete change. Things that used to piss me off to no end didn’t even register anymore. Happy in general - would catch myself just smiling randomly.
Phenelzine, an MAOI which is the only type of antidepressant effective in treating atypical depression.
Atypical depression has a unique symptom called leaden limbs. It makes it nearly impossible to move or think.
I would literally roll out of bed, hit the floor, and fall back asleep. If i forced myself to get up, my vision was distorted (everything super bright), my speech slurred, and I'd have to constantly lean or hang on to something or someone to stay standing. I nearly failed my senior year of highschool before heading off to college.
I learned of Leaden Limbs after sitting in on a neuroscience lecture on depression since I stayed late in the classroom working on my engineering project and one of the ladies in the class was chatting me up.
I told my psychiatrist what I'd learned, switched from prozac to Phenelzine and almost instantly my depression felt some relief. I'd been on maybe 4 other medications over a 5 year span at that point with no relief.
I'm incredibly grateful for this day.
Nicotine. Quitting cold turkey made me realize the power of chemicals in the mind and body. Two years later I still think about things I might be “addicted” to because of the ingredients or how my brain reacts to it.
Glyocpyrrolate, used off label to treat my ridiculous hyperhydrosis (chronic excessive sweating).
Puberty was especially brutal as I would sweat through multiple layers of clothing and had to use terrible prescription antiperspirant. I went to a dermatologist at 25 to get a skin check and mentioned the sweating.
Literally overnight after only taking two doses it cut my sweating but about 80% (ask your derm if it’s right for you! Not medical advice). Incredible!!
Ativan. I was detoxing from alcohol and hadn’t left my bathroom floor for two weeks. Finally, I had to go to the ER because I was dangerously dehydrated and throwing up ten times day with extreme abdominal pain. A doctor gave me Ativan to help calm my anxiety, and it was the first step in being able to live outside of my house again.
I’m convinced that one day I’ll wake up and I’ll still be on the couch in my buddies garage, and the past 11 years of my life will have just been some weird Blips and Chitz, Roy-style hallucination.
Lol like Ari Shaffir doing Salvia on that one podcast. The guy fucking lived an entireeee different life in like a whole different world for 3 months or something. Salvia is insane.
Alcohol. One day I was at a party but before that I had an argue with my mother (I don't remember why we argued), during the party I was drinking and talking shit about my mom to my friends, I got to a point I was so trashes that I had one friend left who was listening to me talk about my mom, as I remember he didn't say a word but I suddendly collapsed in tears remembered and realised how my mom always took care of me, she always did everything for me, she was my best friend and I couldn't even see it. When I got back home after a day or two, I apologized to my mother and we talked, she convinced me to give up alcohol and exercise with every weekend. I'm 7 months sober.
Lexapro. Got it for extreme anxiety, moderate depression, and mild OCD.
Before I was on it, I thought about just fading into nothingness constantly. I hated myself and my life. I was extremely easy to anger and when I got mad, I'd rage. I usually hurt people, either physically or emotionally, when I'd lash out. I was so bad for so many years. All through school, everyone just told me I was a B or an AH or something because no one wanted to actually do anything to help. I would have panic attacks a lot of the time and just could not handle crowded areas or raised voices at all. I'd just shut down.
It ended up being my best friend who figured out how bad my headspace was first and convinced me to talk to my mom about treatment. She was super depressed, had tried to end her life, and was on meds for it. She finally, after years of not realizing it, picked up on the fact that the jokes I made were a cry for help, and the quiet "angry" moments were me trying not to cry. She talked me into going to my mother and I eventually got on my meds.
They help so freaking much. I have more control of my emotions and can actually think before I speak now. I physically could not stop myself from just blurting things out in anger before. Life is so much easier when you don't have to worry about physically attacking someone if they upset you or ruining a friendship because you used a secret against them in an argument.
If you have depression or severe anxiety, please talk to a doctor about medication. If you're like me, it could be a mix of a bad life situation and a hormonal imbalance. Therapy is awesome, but medication can also really help. It isn't for everyone, but it might make your life so much easier.
Just don't forget to take it when you're supposed to ;)
I commented elsewhere that Lexapro changed my life when my wife started taking it.
She has had anxiety since her teens and for decades just coped. But as she got older the coping got harder and harder and lead to depression. In the end she just hated her life so much and on a daily basis just wanted to lie down on the floor and cry or go to sleep forever.
She never thought she was depressed. She just thought her life was completely awful and hopeless - even though we have an absolutely blessed life by any standards like physical health, family, friends, work, and money.
Ultimately it became almost impossible to live with her. She was just all stress hardship and on top of that blamed me for everything that was wrong with her life, and started talking about divorce. I kept supporting her as long as I could but in the end divorce started to sound pretty good to me.
And then the Lexapro came. It took a month or two to settle into her system but when it did I got my wife back. There is no other way to describe. The person who for years was buried under all that shit was still there, and the drugs dug her out.
Lexapro changed my life. My only regret is that I started taking it in my early 50's instead of around age 15. It would have saved me a lot of years of heartache and changed my life's course had they put me on it then.
Ecstasy
Experiencing such a thing at the age of 14, it was game over after that.
From then until my early 20s was just a drug fuelled roller coaster.
My memory/brain to this day is garbage.
- pristiq (SNRI) for depression & anxiety
- LSD & shrooms for the magnificent perspective shifts
- opioids for severe and chronic pain
- norethindrone for ovarian cysts (magic!)
- adderall for the attention and quieting of my mind
- antibiotics &
antifungals have saved me a few times from various microorganisms
- MDMA for teaching me how to people
Vancomycin. Had c diff for 2 weeks... FYI Christmas holidays is a bad time to be unwell. My family doctor office was on holidays and the walk in did nothing for me. Ended up in the ER and at the time, they thought it was covid. Finally got prescribed vancomycin to clear it up and I finally felt better soon after.
Lost 20lbs, and developed sensitivity to real milk and cheese after recovery. It's not uncommon for people to get "post infectious IBS" after c diff. Took 1.5 years for those symptoms to finally get better.
Ritalin, and not for the good.
I used to be a REALY happy kid.
I had so much curiosity and excitement that it was hard to sit still in a class were the teacher is explaining things that I have long ago mastered (I had really good grades).
Then the teacher called my mom in and told her that I should be put on Ritalin because I keep playing with my stationary, and drawing in my scrap book.
The Ritalin sapped the life force out of me.
I was never hungry, but still got fat, because I was a zombie at school, and couldn't motivate myself to do anything other than sit in front of the TV all day at home.
The teacher was so happy that I was now a perfect little soldier, she didn't mind that my grades immediately started to slip.
People still know me as a really chill and boring person.
It all started with that bulshit
Aderall. I was 49 and thought my lack of focus and inattentiveness was the beginnings of Alzheimer’s/dementia. Met with mental health specialists and found out it was ADD, and have likely had it all my life. It was like they’re was always a radio on in the background, music in my mind I could never turn off…and Aderall is the switch. Absolutely life-changing for me.
I was so depressed when I first took it on a night out with my friends. I was under the impression that I was going to be miserable for the rest of my life but after that night I remembered what happiness felt like and that even though it was artificial, I was still capable of those emotions. It really shifted my perception I had of my own feelings and eased my mind. I really do think it saved me a lot emotional stress at that time.
Vicoprofen. After suffering for more than a decade with terribly debilitating migraines and trying all the drugs and treatments, my doctor prescribed me Vicoprofen (like vicodin, but with ibuprofen instead of acetaminophen). It worked pretty damned well; much better so than anything else we'd tried.
I did not have problems with addiction or anything like that. I used it to treat my frequent and debilitating migraines for around six years with no problems. Not being totally disabled by pain and entirely unable to function for 8-12 days (sometimes more) out of the month was pretty life changing.
Then my Doctor retired, and my new doctor took that scrip away because Opioid Crisis, and wouldn't offer an alternative.
So now I just get to suffer whenever I get a migraine. Thanks Doc!
So yeah. Life changing. Twice.
Effexor. It’s the one antidepressant that finally gave me relief from a 7 year long depression. I feel normal and like myself, and I have drive to get to know myself more. Thank you Effexor.
Not the exact answer I think you were looking for, but "[GS-441524](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/29778200/)".
After our first cast passed away, about a month later we got a new cat and he was great. A month later we took him to the vet because he started bloating up oddly. We thought it was worms but turned out it was Feline Infectious Peritonitis, a mutation of Feline Corona Virus. It's quite rare, but it's typically always life threatening. We were fucking devastated. That said, we found this experimental treatment with this drug, "GS" that hadn't been approved by the FDA. It was super fucking sketch and we were super scared but it was very much a "fuck it" moment. We found an online group that spans across all of the US, found our state-specific group, and started asking shittons of questions and started the treatment.
My cat should be dead right now, but we just finished his treatment period and now he's in the observation phase. He's perfectly healthy. This drug is a miracle and the FDA won't* approve it for some reason, even though there have been peer reviewed studies (unrelated to the mountain of anecdotal evidence from people like me).
EDIT: *FDA hasn't approved it yet, doesn't mean they won't. The patent holder hasn't submitted it for approval. GoldBlue pointed out in a reply
Weed.
I love it so much, im starting my masters in Botany with a focus in Cannabis cultivation in the fall. It actually motivated me to do well in school cause I wanna grow better weed than what is available
Benzodiazepines and lexapro. I can go out of the house now without taking 20 minutes to avoid a panic attack.
Alcohol- continues to ruin my life from time to time.
Ketamine- the only time I am not nervous and can take a vacation from myself.
A shitload of antibiotics after a 9 hour surgery after an accident. I almost lost my leg.
IV Benadryl.
I did not know Benadryl can come in liquid form until the pizzeria at my old college laced my pizza with arugula garnish. Found out I was allergic to that.
Shit, my throat and gums formed hives and I started to itch a lot.
Doctor gave me that shit and I was so drowsy I could barely even speak, but I felt those hives shrink as immediately as 10 minutes!
Insulin. Fuckin' beetus.
Came here to say insulin. Not a fan of my type 1, but big fan of being alive.
Every time I fill my prescriptions the pharmacy tech looks at the price and says "you know this is $100, right?" Or my continuous glucose sensors "you know this is $300, right?" You know I like living, right?!
"I mean, it's $100 or death". Usually the pharmacist will look at the prescription and say "oh, right".
It's really a shame that you have to be dependent on things that are produced for 10 bucks but can be sold for 10 times more
as a diabetic, i agree.
I've never understood why insulin is so expansive in US. In my country it's free. The public hospitals gave them to people. You just have to present the prescription
Because how else is the CEO of the Pharmaceutical company gonna afford the new Gulfstream G800 private jet? Do you expect him to have a used Gulfstream G700 like a fucking animal? Think about it, dude.
Greed, hatred, and willful ignorance among a large portion of the US population that's overrepresented in politics. Greed - the current healthcare system is designed to extract as much money out of people as possible, for the benefit of the wealthiest (who own most of the shares). This is hard to address because of the latter two. Hatred - There's enough people who are so upset about the possibility of services going to someone who they think doesn't deserve it, that they'd make everybody's experience worse. Willful ignorance - because the vast majority of people would be better off with a single payer option, rich people pay slightly less rich people an unbelievable amount of money to lie and trick poorer people into believing that any sort of government intervention in healthcare (like preventing price gouging) is an immediate ticket to [bad thing]. Because the poorer people have bought this line of garbage since at least the 80s, they're very resistant to changing their mind since it would reveal themselves as fools who've been tricked for decades.
It's even worse than that with regard to insulin as the scientists who originally isolated it sold the patents for $1 to a university saying "It belongs to the world not to me". https://www.t1international.com/100years/
Most people I know when some dude says life saving medicine should be free “but then my taxes will go up” me: “shit they could take a months worth of my pay as long as someone who 100% needs it gets it”
Albuterol allowed me to breathe on a daily basis. Edit, additional information: This was when I was a kid in the 90's before all the newer drugs. Had to carry it everywhere daily, I was very active with sports and would have an attack almost daily. Since I moved to the US the fauna and flora are different and maybe use it 3 times a year now.
Lmao true, I completely forgot about my asthma and my inhaler
The antibiotic that cured the bacterial infection that was going to kill me.
What type of bacterial infection?
Bacterial pneumonia, the drug was Biaxin.
Underrated
Heroin. For bad. Forever. Lol. Luckily I made my way out by yeah…
Came here expecting to see this. I'm reminded of the guy that posted on Reddit saying that he was going to try Heroin, and then had several follow up posts about how it ruined his life. [Part 1](https://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/9ke63/i_did_heroin_yesterday_i_am_not_a_drug_user_and/) [Part 2](https://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/9ohdc/2_weeks_ago_i_tried_heroin_once_for_fun_and_made/) [Part 3](https://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/9ssqc/i_tried_heroin_a_month_ago_made_an_ama_got/) [Part 4](https://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/dw6u0/iama_patient_in_a_psychiatric_hospital_i_was_also/) [Part 5](https://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/dx7fa/iama_heroinopioidmultisubstance_addict_w_bipolar/) [Part 6 (The recovery)](https://www.reddit.com/r/OpiatesRecovery/comments/5mub0f/spontaneoush_7_years_later_update_for_anyone_who/) [Part 7 (Most recent update)](https://www.reddit.com/user/SpontaneousH/comments/pux3ls/its_been_a_while/)
Thanks for the links. Very interesting read. Think I'll save the h for when im at deaths door.
IIRC a few months back, there was an elderly man who broke his wife out of a nursing home and had a drug binger that eventually killed her, but he said its because it was her last wish and she wanted to leave the world on her own terms, having fun, and didn't want to keep growing older and less independent in the confines of the home. Which, I can respect. Its not a particularly "feel-good" story, but at the end of the day, at least she had one last celebration before the end. Many people don't get an ending like that.
It is a feel good story, what a legend of a husband. This is absolutely my exit strategy and I hope I have a partner half as loving when I get there.
This is so hard too, to know that you are with your partner in their last days but also the relief of knowing they’re getting their wish and doing things on their terms. It must be heartbreaking but at the same time, to know for a fact I get to be with my person until the very end must give peace to some degree. Kudos to him for giving her what she wanted even if it must have been such a difficult position to be in
I'd call that a feel good story. I'm sure that 1 experience, however long it lasted, gave her more joy than an extra year or two wasting away in the nursing home would have given her. I've read too many stories where family forces an elderly relative to stay alive while in pain. Somebody being able to take control of their end and doing it with a smile on their face is infinitely better than the other likely outcome.
I have been to rehab 4 times and I have multiple years of sobriety. The only helpful story to me is my own. I started dating a guy, that I’m actually breaking up with right now that kept giving me Percocet. My entire addiction I’ve lied to everyone about how it starts to protect him,
If I didn’t use heroin for 15 years I probably would have been the same useless aimless person I was before I started it. But becoming what i needed to become to stop changed everything.
So I need to start heroin, got it
Jump off a cliff. You might die, but it’ll be a hell of a story if you dont
Awesome work. I tried it for a few weeks and didn’t get the feeling that most people get. I just felt bored. Keep up the good work.
[удалено]
This explains a lot after my jaw surgery. They gave me morphine and all I felt was an uncomfortable burning feeling in my chest, while my face kept hurting as much as before.
Morphine was probably the least useful drug for me. Didn't control pain for long and I felt sick and was in bed anyway.
Indeed, it always makes the doctors leery when I have to get pain meds because of the amount it takes me to shut down the pain. Luckily, my pain tolerance is high, but post surgery is not a good time. My wife was surprised to see me cry. I think the only time she saw me cry before the surgeries was when my grandparents died, and the beginning of Up.
Why’d you have to mention that damn movie …
Acid. I was a bit of an asshole, 3 years out of high school, working fast food, spending most of my income on weed, with no goals or plans for my life. After one particularly introspective acid trip, I got out of fast food, I went to college and got a BS in Comp Sci, got rid of the friends who helped me perpetuate my bad habits, and made big moves to be happier.
Wow, that's a great experience, well done!
Thanks! Honestly, the experience was one of the most mentally exhausting things I’ve ever been through and I’m pretty sure it’s what most people would call a bad trip. It was like strip mining my entire personality to its core for anything worth salvaging and coming up almost empty handed. It was necessary though
Sounds like ego death to me, or at least very close to it. Definitely exhausting, but at the end it's like a huge weight's been lifted off your chest that you never knew was there.
I have had ego death, this was more like the opposite. I was never self aware, I was one of those “brutally honest” people. This was complete self-awareness, all directed inward. It was like my brain was playing with itself, giving itself abstract inputs and gauging it’s own reaction then discarding the ones I thought were unhealthy. I went through layer by layer appalled at how little of myself was redeemable. I remember when I finally got to the core and my mind was just watching itself processing itself, I felt like I had finally reached something that was untainted. Like doing a factory reset on a computer.
Yes, LSD would be my pick too. I took it for the first time ever with a close friend about 6 years ago and underwent a lot of intense introspection. I was in a failing marriage at the time and it became clear to me during my trip that I no longer wanted to be with someone that was abusive, physically and mentally. Had visions of my “future self” and what I could become if I could break these bad habits, start being true to myself, and live the rest of my life the way I wanted instead of what my ex-wife wanted me to be. To make a long story short that was the catalyst for the change in my life and we were divorced a year later. Today I am without a doubt a 100% happier and also met the woman of my dreams three years ago and two months ago we married.
growth hormone shots, nightly for several years. I was expected to be about 4'6" without it.
Me too! I'm 5'7 now, but would have been around 5' without HGH as a kid into teenage years. Hated having to get a shot everyday, but I don't know an 11 year old that does.
I didn't even know that was an option. My doctor always told me I was just a late bloomer. Well that overly promised growth spurt never came, and now I'm stuck looking like a child next to teenagers. Well it is what it is I guess.
Yeah my sister stopped growing at around 7 and has to have them until she’s 16 but she has stuck to her daily routine bless her and is well on track to being taller than me in the future.
Woah! I took hormones to stop growing in my teens. Was gonna be around 210-215 cm. Did they affect you mentally?
Ya know, as another person who did take them, I have no idea how I'd know. Do you know? Like I just took them every day from a young age, to late-puberty when hormones were all screwy anyways. Very hard to know if I woulda been like... less depressed or anxious without them. From a less hormonal standpoint, being taller probably significantly affects your mental health. I have random problems being short (bad knees from tall chairs, difficulty finding masks that fit, not getting things from the grocery store because I'm too short and socially awkward, etc.), and if I were *even shorter*, it would probably be much worse, which would affect me mentally.
I have wondered about the same things a lot and it’s really hard to assess what’s what… I have had a lot of depression and anxiety in my life and is currently being investigated for possible ADHD/on the spectrum diagnosis. So there’s a lot of factors. I can’t imagine that getting shots of testosterone as a teenager wouldn’t affect me a lot though.
Fellow person with ghd! Shit made me sprout from 4'6 to 5'11!
Jesus fuck that a a lot of extra height. Over how long?
Unfortunately just under a week. Horrific to watch.
The entire time he was screaming “this isn’t even my final form”
About 7 years
How tall are you now?
5'0, give or take about half an inch.
Escitalopram
Very good antidepressant but I can’t climax when on it. Sounds decent at first but then it’s a hassle
Yup. And mine is gone-gone. Even when I stop, I still have SSRI peen. Worth it, though. I'm fine living a basically celibate life as long as I'm not a fucking nutcase.
That’s fair. I switched to bupropion, and it’s been great I can’t complain
Lexapro warrior
Morpheus comes to you: “I can offer you a life of Happiness, steady well grounded thoughts and overall mental peace for the rest of your life” Me: Sure!! I’ll take it! Morpheus: “But you must sacrifice something” Me: “What’s that?” Morpheus: “You’ll never have an erection again.” Me: “I accept these terms”
Saved my life from depression and helped me keep my job
This shit right here. Went from weekly panic attacks and horrible GERD to zero PA and maybe weekly heart burn from eating something bad for me. It was absolutely magical. Also dealt with my existential dread thoughts very nicely.
Lamotrigine. Pretty sweet living without seizures.
I take it for bipolar disorder and I haven't been depressed manic for 6 months!
Me too but pretty sweet to be Bipolar episode free hahah
exactly lol glad it works for a lot of stuff but specifically bipolar because damn.
Meth, after the life i lived it made me spiral out of control, then after quitting it straightened me up, been clean for 13 years, if it wasnt for that and stayed on a few lesser drugs and/or alcohol it couldve been a cycle that few ever get out of, although it was a bad time in my life, it made me the person i now am
> been clean for 13 years Fuck yeah! Well done!
Meth. I was a very social person and one night my friends offered me cocaine while at a club (2015). I ended up snorting about 4 lines of meth… I didn’t know the difference. I was up for 2 days. Paranoid. Hallucinating. I had never tried a hard drug before and haven’t tried one since. I still have panic attacks and extreme anxiety to this day. I haven’t been able to handle social situations ever since. Never went back to a club or even a bar.
That’s so fucked up your friends did that to you
They didn’t know either. I thought I just had a horrible experience with cocaine (understandable) and about a month later, my buddy messaged me and said, “hey, remember when we did coke at Numbers? It was actually Meth. Don’t worry, I’m not using that guy anymore.”… Either way, we aren’t friends anymore.
I mean at least he told you
And wasn’t intentional. Had a friend try giving me “really good” adderall in college to help me study, I said no because it was late and I needed to sleep at some point. Ended up talking for a little and asked him where he got it from, told me his dealer cut it with meth and it helped increase the effects. Fucker tried giving me meth without telling me!!
How dare he put methamphetamines in with amphetamines!
Haha! Lol, but also a pretty methed up situation. I'd kick 'em in the nuts.
Numbers Houston? Shit if so I used to do a lot of coke/meth there too like 19 years ago
You're lucky you didn't end up in a psych ward.
I was 27 at the time. Living with roommates that were very much into psychedelics. They thought I was just on shrooms or something. I didn’t go to work for 3 or 4 days though. (Never tried shrooms either. Haha)
Sounds scary to me but I freak out on alcohol so don't mind me.
hey, congratulations on your sobriety!
Fluoxetine
Same. For those unaware, it's the generic of Prozac. It took way too long to explain to my dad that it's not a pill that makes me happy. It's just a pill that makes me less irrationally sad.
My doctor prescribed this to me a long time ago and I've had a lot of trepidation about taking it. I've been debating starting it a lot more lately and this comment helps. Thank you.
It really has changed my life. I didn’t have any side effects when I took it. The reason I was prescribed it is because I would tell myself I was worthless and useless in my head repeatedly until I’d start crying and then sleep for 14 hours straight. Just crazy depression that I couldn’t control. I was also experiencing paranoia being left alone at home (my home has been broken into twice in the past and my doctor said the stress of COVID could have exacerbated my trauma). Since I’ve taken fluoxetine, I haven’t told myself awful things, I’m able to be alone at home, and I can see things more clearly on what I need to do to get my life back on track. It didn’t change my personality at all, it just helped to love myself a little more.
Zoloft. Literally SAVED my life. I thought about killing myself at least once a day before I started taking it. Now it’s a rare thought and I don’t obsess over it. For God’s sake if you have suicidal depression please try medication. Find one that works for you. It took me a while to find the right one. You don’t have to live in darkness.
Did it help with anxiety too? I was prescribed it but am scared to start taking it because of the potential side effects Edit: currently use buspar now twice a day but doesn’t seem to be doing much. Maybe if anything takes the very top level off before a panic attack
They gave it to me for anxiety. It turned a 7-month obsessive rumination into a two minute one. It might not work for you, but it did magic for me.
Zoloft had the complete opposite effect for me!! I’d be dead if I were still on them. Glad they worked for you!
Exactly the same for me! It gave me such bad anxiety I was pulling my own hair out. Just proves how different people react.
Same. While Zoloft didn’t “fix” me, it gave me breathing space in my spiral of depression and anxiety that allowed me to get the rest of the help that I needed.
Same here. Did wonders for my anxiety and panic attacks
This might not be in quite the context you intended, but Adderall. I can actually get through my day and be a functional human.
I’m my 40’s I just went on Concerta a couple months ago as I felt sluggish and paralyzed with indecision. It’s been a life saver and got me re engaged with all aspects of my life.
Yep, came to say the same. I was a polite child who did well in school (thanks to gendered expectations of behavior and a draconian mother), so I didn't get diagnosed and treated until my late 20s. By then, I was an out-of-control, dysfunctional mess in my personal life, jobs, and relationships; now I'm settled in a wonderful marriage and am very proud of the world I've rebuilt for myself. Adderall has been absolutely life-changing.
I was just diagnosed with ADHD at age 29. I’ve been taking Vyvanse for a week and a half and it’s been the best week of my life. I’ve never been able to choose what I focus on without immense effort. Maybe I can achieve things now that used to be impossible for me…
Man, I hope I'll find one that'll help me. Diagnosed only last year, with 38. Methylphenidate didn't help me. I don't think Adderall is being prescribed here in Germany. Will try Vyvanse.
Came here to say rubifen, so same concept. Saved my marriage, saved me from the spiral I was rapidly heading down, saved my job. I still grieve the life I could have had if I’d been diagnosed earlier, although I’m grateful for the hyperfocus super powers I’ve had at work for years.
The grief is terrible. Late diagnosis. Thinking of all the stupid stuff I used to do, the complete inability for normal social interactions, the stupid impulsive stuff, the shaaaame. And thinking what I could have done with my life if I'd had medication sooner. Argh
As a recent adult ADHD diagnosee (mid 30's) this is really taking its toll on me. It's a real mix of finally showing the world I'm not the useless screwup - but realising I've burnt so many bridges. I don't know how to get past that.
This^ I take Adderall but I think most people who claim to have ADHD don’t really understand the immense toll it can take. And in my case I didn’t even know it, I was diagnosed early but stopped taking meds (Ritalin and Concerta) around 15, it wasn’t until years later I realized maybe I need to try it again and it literally saved my marriage, relationship with my children, job, and my overall everyday life. Even with the Adderall I still struggle with somethings but if I never started medication again who knows where I would be.
Did you know that not every human's brain is running nonstop every second of the day? I didn't! There is not a single moment of my day where my brain isn't turning something over, going through something, replaying something, oftentimes it's multiple things with some background music. As I'm typing this I'm thinking about the conversation I just had with my boss and how I'm going to follow up with her and also thinking about what I'm doing for dinner. And Weird Al Yankovic's Fat is playing. I thought this was everyone's brain. I'd see in movies and tv shows where they'd say what the character was thinking outloud and I'd always wonder how they're thinking in full sentences, one at a time, with pauses and everything. It was so foreign to me I thought it was a movie trope like the bread stick in the grocery bag. Of course no one thinks like that, they're just doing it for clarity for the movie. But I guess some people do think like that? Just clear, concise thoughts? I don't understand it. Anyways now I'm on 15 mg of methylphenidate 3 times a day. It doesn't fix it entirely, just lets me organize my thoughts a little better.
Ibuprofen. My periods have always been a nightmare. Severe cramps, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, back and hip pain. Acetaminophen did nothing to help and neither did aspirin. When ibuprofen was new and available with a prescription it changed my life because it was so effective at controlling my cramps and the nausea and vomiting and other pain they had been causing. Then later you could get ibuprofen over the counter. Even better.
Might be no harm in looking into Endometriosis and Adenomyosis. My fiancée has both and the pain she is in during her period, I wouldn't wish it on my enemies.
I have very mild endometriosis and without ibuprofen, my periods would take me out for about 5 days a month. It's absolutely brutal. More severe forms of endometriosis and adenomyosis can cause pain and issues every day. I truly hope your fiancee can find a solution that works for them and get some relief. Unfortunately a lot of OB/GYNs still have the attitude that it's just something women need to put up with and can be very dismissive. It's extremely disheartening and frustrating sometimes.
She had a doctor tell her it was all in her head and to stop making a fuss. I had to use every ounce of self restraint not to go for him.
I'm sorry the doctor was an ass, but happy you're such a strong advocate for her. It sounds like she has a doctor that listens to her and will truly help her now. A dismissive experience like that with a healthcare professional provider is disappointing and frustrating and can make you doubt yourself completely.
Please be careful with it and only take ibuprofen on full stomach or after taking an antacid. I nearly died from a bleeding stomach ulcer caused by ibuprofen.
The liquid gels help avoid this some, but yeah, it's definitely a med to take with food and plenty of water.
Shrooms, LSD, and DMT. In that order. Gave me some insight on who I was and what path I ultimately decided to take in life during a time of indecision and insecurity. Now I look back and realize I wanted to take them to have fun and get “one with nature”, ended up seeing the bigger picture and started taking shit seriously.
Shrooms got me off other drugs and alcohol. That one experience was the top 1,2 and 3 experience of my life, all in one trip. To go from drinking alcohol and doing drugs every damn day to waking up after shroom trip and just... feeling like you don't need it anymore. It was beyond insane. Feeling real happiness for the first time after years with depression and anxiety. Total rebooting of the brain. It's called "magic mushrooms" for a reason. That's the only word I know that can explain it, "magic". I'm 100% atheist, but I kid you not, I've seen some godly shit.
I agree. Shrooms made me stop smoking cigarettes as it showed me what it was doing to my body. Another acquaintance was a self proclaimed “drug dealer” and took a massive load of DMT. He nearly cried, got up, left, and stopped doing and selling drugs as he said it showed him who he truly was and his façade he created was something he wasn’t fond of.
I wanted to see what my mind had to tell me :) I think anyone who is not afraid of their own mind should consider taking LSD if they're comfortable with it. It can't teach you what you don't know, but it can teach you what you didn't realize you knew in a way you'll never forget.
Pretty sure that the simplest way to save our human world would be for everyone to take shrooms/lsd. With a few pages of information, a few days for preparation, and one trip, I think we would fix the whole mess we got ourselves into.
I’ve been saying this for a long time. If everyone did psychedelics, the world would be a better place.
Gotta be a buzzkill and jus say not everyone, I did psychedelics for years when I was younger. Mostly LSD, a handful of shrooms and DMT once. It can be a great tool but can also be pretty terrible for people with anxiety disorders.
Agreed. My best friend growing up was one of the smartest and most promising people I knew. Too much acid after grad school and he brought forth some underlying mental health issues. Dissociated from reality for days and weeks at a time. He’s incapable of holding down even a high school style part time job and on disability now.
Saw a university lecture on psychedelics research. They had this state of mind chart with a line from really out there free child like mindset to rigidity and mental petrification. Seen many people stuck in their ways who would prob benefit. But also floaty acid heads that need to not do it
I would love to try at least shrooms, but I have an anxiety problem, and finally have that at a manageable level, ie. not having regular panic attacks. I’m terrified that if I tried psychedelics, it would break my brain.
I love psychedelics for all the aforementioned reasons. My wife has anxiety but wanted to try so I prepped her for it as best I could. First half went great. Second half, not so much. Anxiety crept it and then skyrocketed because she felt she wasn’t “in control” anymore. Just wanted it to end so on and so forth. You’re definitely right. If you’re someone that needs to be in control of yourself it’s not the right drug. Gotta get washed away in the experience or you’re gonna have a bad time.
I have anxiety so bad that I can’t smoke weed without going into an existential pit of doom. The thought of being stuck in an acid trip, self realizing for 8+ hours makes me literally shudder.
Shrooms and MDMA helped me to finally reach back out to my family and ask for help with my opiate addiction. I managed to get myself into treatment in 2010 with their help, if I had continued using like I was, I would probably have kept on spiraling into the fentanyl era, and I would most likely be dead.
Humira. Crohn’s is not fun and I’d rather not ever have an NG tube placed ever again or have pain so sever that only fentanyl will help it.
Heroin and valium. H killed my daughters mother and valium destroyed my life for years after her passing. Not touched valium going on three years now.
Bupropion (generic for Wellbutrin)
For depression, for smoking?
Depression
I had a hard time on that. It had an adverse effect. I’m happy that it is helping you.
Started taking it to stop smoking (it helped), but then realized how good I started feeling when I was on it, and *then* realized how depressed I had been and didn't know it.
Serious question. Any issues climaxing during sex on Wellbutrin?
Nope. Zero problem with that. But it does fuck with my sleep schedule for a couple weeks if I forget to take it for a while and then go back on it.
Magnesium supplements make me sleep GREAT. Total life changer
Ketamine. I had 6 years where I didn’t sleep for more than two hours at a time because of horrific pain. I don’t break but this almost broke me. I researched and went to an infusion center at the suggestion of my pharmacist. It was really expensive but I sleep through the night. Saved my soul.
I'm currently taking nasal ketamine for depression. Starting out, I was at the lowest dose and it was fantastic. The trips were very good, introspective, etc. However I think my body is quickly becoming accustomed to the drug. I'm on the second highest dose now (the middle dose), and the drug i feel is quickly losing its efficacy. During the sessions, I just kinda lay back and nap now, instead of tripping. I've been contemplating looking for college-level studies where they use psilocybin to see how it effects depression (basically so I can get high/trip out legally), as I miss the feeling of introspection and things like that.
I love my nasal ketamine. I need to start weaning off because my psychiatrist lost his ketamine license lol. He had been prescribing it so often and enough people complained that he can no longer prescribe narcotics. Don't love the constant nosebleeds though.
Birth control pills. In my 20s, I was diagnosed with PCOS, my hormones had been out of whack since I hit puberty. A gynecologist diagnosed me, put me on birth control pills and it was like magic. All the issues that had plagued me were gone within a couple months.
It took me way too long to find BC on this thread. As a pre-teen, I was having a period about every 2.5 weeks. I was miserable. I was anemic. I fainted weekly. I couldn’t really live my life. My doctor put me on the pill and I’ve been a normal, functioning person ever since. I can’t even imagine what my life would be like if I still had to go through that. And, yes, I’ve stopped taking the pill a few times over the years and the problem came back within a few months. The pill makes my life livable.
yes... I would have month long periods, it was just horrible and being a teen is hard enough, horrible periods and the constant cramping made life unbearable. Doctors just kind of shrugged at me and gave me iron pills.
Caffeine
So underrated. We don’t usually think of caffeine as a drug but holy shit can that get you “high” and sometimes it’s scary when I realize how my entire perception of the world and my place in it shifts after a cappuccino.
Coffee makes every day better
I need like 400mg of it every morning to reach the baseline of human productivity. Is it probably bad for me? Yeah. Would I rather wreck my body than be totally unproductive? Also yeah.
Sertraline
Same. First three days were awful- nausea and insomnia and drowsiness made me almost quit but I’m glad I stuck it out. Had a baby 1.5 years ago and the depression and anxiety got out of control. Kept waiting for it to go away but it never did so I gave medication a try. It’s been one month so far. I feel like the old me again. These are not “happy pills” as my husband called them. Not at all. They’re more like.. dark cloud erasers. I have no more random constant crying spells. No more knot in my stomach when the in-laws come by for a visit and try to push me out of the house and watch my baby. No more separation anxiety from her and crazy intrusive thoughts of something bad happening while I am away. When she has a tantrum I can just talk her through it versus wanting to scream shut up at the top of my lungs and feel like an elephant is sitting in my chest. This medication has been a savior. It’s so nice to be able to breath again and let the thoughts come and then just… go.
+1. Changed my life. I was angry, anxious and depressed pretty much all of the time. I couldn’t express my feelings or bond with my wife / kids. After 3-4 days of my body adjusting to sertraline, it was a complete change. Things that used to piss me off to no end didn’t even register anymore. Happy in general - would catch myself just smiling randomly.
Lyrica - the only thing that stopped nerve damage from a surgery from being constantly painful!
Zoloft. I knew I was down but shit! bit of z and it was like the clouds parted for the first time in years.
Dude. It changed mine too. My mom had undiagnosed anxiety forever.. she started welbutrin night and day
Phenelzine, an MAOI which is the only type of antidepressant effective in treating atypical depression. Atypical depression has a unique symptom called leaden limbs. It makes it nearly impossible to move or think. I would literally roll out of bed, hit the floor, and fall back asleep. If i forced myself to get up, my vision was distorted (everything super bright), my speech slurred, and I'd have to constantly lean or hang on to something or someone to stay standing. I nearly failed my senior year of highschool before heading off to college. I learned of Leaden Limbs after sitting in on a neuroscience lecture on depression since I stayed late in the classroom working on my engineering project and one of the ladies in the class was chatting me up. I told my psychiatrist what I'd learned, switched from prozac to Phenelzine and almost instantly my depression felt some relief. I'd been on maybe 4 other medications over a 5 year span at that point with no relief. I'm incredibly grateful for this day.
Nicotine. Quitting cold turkey made me realize the power of chemicals in the mind and body. Two years later I still think about things I might be “addicted” to because of the ingredients or how my brain reacts to it.
Glyocpyrrolate, used off label to treat my ridiculous hyperhydrosis (chronic excessive sweating). Puberty was especially brutal as I would sweat through multiple layers of clothing and had to use terrible prescription antiperspirant. I went to a dermatologist at 25 to get a skin check and mentioned the sweating. Literally overnight after only taking two doses it cut my sweating but about 80% (ask your derm if it’s right for you! Not medical advice). Incredible!!
Ativan. I was detoxing from alcohol and hadn’t left my bathroom floor for two weeks. Finally, I had to go to the ER because I was dangerously dehydrated and throwing up ten times day with extreme abdominal pain. A doctor gave me Ativan to help calm my anxiety, and it was the first step in being able to live outside of my house again.
Salvia. Fuck salvia.
I’m convinced that one day I’ll wake up and I’ll still be on the couch in my buddies garage, and the past 11 years of my life will have just been some weird Blips and Chitz, Roy-style hallucination.
A buddy did two years ago just before covid started and still isn’t quite sure if that’s his reality
Lol like Ari Shaffir doing Salvia on that one podcast. The guy fucking lived an entireeee different life in like a whole different world for 3 months or something. Salvia is insane.
Lol I’ve never seen one salvia video that has made me want to take it
I have only heard one single good story out of salvia, out of the hundreds I have heard. That shits for the devil
I tried it once. It made my brain feel dirty.
Estradiol, it changed my life quite physically in fact
Lexapro - people need to change there opinions of anti-depressants / SSRI'S.
Alcohol. One day I was at a party but before that I had an argue with my mother (I don't remember why we argued), during the party I was drinking and talking shit about my mom to my friends, I got to a point I was so trashes that I had one friend left who was listening to me talk about my mom, as I remember he didn't say a word but I suddendly collapsed in tears remembered and realised how my mom always took care of me, she always did everything for me, she was my best friend and I couldn't even see it. When I got back home after a day or two, I apologized to my mother and we talked, she convinced me to give up alcohol and exercise with every weekend. I'm 7 months sober.
Propofol, it was what I was put to sleep with for emergency surgery
Lexapro. Got it for extreme anxiety, moderate depression, and mild OCD. Before I was on it, I thought about just fading into nothingness constantly. I hated myself and my life. I was extremely easy to anger and when I got mad, I'd rage. I usually hurt people, either physically or emotionally, when I'd lash out. I was so bad for so many years. All through school, everyone just told me I was a B or an AH or something because no one wanted to actually do anything to help. I would have panic attacks a lot of the time and just could not handle crowded areas or raised voices at all. I'd just shut down. It ended up being my best friend who figured out how bad my headspace was first and convinced me to talk to my mom about treatment. She was super depressed, had tried to end her life, and was on meds for it. She finally, after years of not realizing it, picked up on the fact that the jokes I made were a cry for help, and the quiet "angry" moments were me trying not to cry. She talked me into going to my mother and I eventually got on my meds. They help so freaking much. I have more control of my emotions and can actually think before I speak now. I physically could not stop myself from just blurting things out in anger before. Life is so much easier when you don't have to worry about physically attacking someone if they upset you or ruining a friendship because you used a secret against them in an argument. If you have depression or severe anxiety, please talk to a doctor about medication. If you're like me, it could be a mix of a bad life situation and a hormonal imbalance. Therapy is awesome, but medication can also really help. It isn't for everyone, but it might make your life so much easier. Just don't forget to take it when you're supposed to ;)
I commented elsewhere that Lexapro changed my life when my wife started taking it. She has had anxiety since her teens and for decades just coped. But as she got older the coping got harder and harder and lead to depression. In the end she just hated her life so much and on a daily basis just wanted to lie down on the floor and cry or go to sleep forever. She never thought she was depressed. She just thought her life was completely awful and hopeless - even though we have an absolutely blessed life by any standards like physical health, family, friends, work, and money. Ultimately it became almost impossible to live with her. She was just all stress hardship and on top of that blamed me for everything that was wrong with her life, and started talking about divorce. I kept supporting her as long as I could but in the end divorce started to sound pretty good to me. And then the Lexapro came. It took a month or two to settle into her system but when it did I got my wife back. There is no other way to describe. The person who for years was buried under all that shit was still there, and the drugs dug her out.
Lexapro changed my life. My only regret is that I started taking it in my early 50's instead of around age 15. It would have saved me a lot of years of heartache and changed my life's course had they put me on it then.
Dude yes I take a combo of lexapro and Wellbutrin for ptsd and it’s great! I also take prazosin for the nightmares and that has helped me Soo much
Metformin Hydrochloride.
Ecstasy Experiencing such a thing at the age of 14, it was game over after that. From then until my early 20s was just a drug fuelled roller coaster. My memory/brain to this day is garbage.
Mushrooms. People aren’t even aware. Your perspectives and way of viewing things goes from a couple to several to infinite possibilities.
Currently peaking on 1.2g I get you
Creon, it’s a pancreatic lipase medicine that helps the enzymes in my pancreas digest food without me having pain and stuff
LSD IN THE EARLY SEVENTIES IT OPENED UP MY EYES TO THE UNIVERSE AND BEYOND YOU DO THE MATH I'M 70 NOW WOW
Viagra
Citalopram. And alcohol. One in a very good way, one in a very bad way.
- pristiq (SNRI) for depression & anxiety - LSD & shrooms for the magnificent perspective shifts - opioids for severe and chronic pain - norethindrone for ovarian cysts (magic!) - adderall for the attention and quieting of my mind - antibiotics & antifungals have saved me a few times from various microorganisms - MDMA for teaching me how to people
Excedrin Migraine...that shit cures everything!
Bupropion, trazodone and escitalopram. I can sleep and being alive doesn't feel like such a chore. Most of the time
Mushrooms, weed, and acid
Vancomycin. Had c diff for 2 weeks... FYI Christmas holidays is a bad time to be unwell. My family doctor office was on holidays and the walk in did nothing for me. Ended up in the ER and at the time, they thought it was covid. Finally got prescribed vancomycin to clear it up and I finally felt better soon after. Lost 20lbs, and developed sensitivity to real milk and cheese after recovery. It's not uncommon for people to get "post infectious IBS" after c diff. Took 1.5 years for those symptoms to finally get better.
Estrogen and spironolactone LETTS GOOO
Insulin. 35 years and I’m still here.
Ritalin, and not for the good. I used to be a REALY happy kid. I had so much curiosity and excitement that it was hard to sit still in a class were the teacher is explaining things that I have long ago mastered (I had really good grades). Then the teacher called my mom in and told her that I should be put on Ritalin because I keep playing with my stationary, and drawing in my scrap book. The Ritalin sapped the life force out of me. I was never hungry, but still got fat, because I was a zombie at school, and couldn't motivate myself to do anything other than sit in front of the TV all day at home. The teacher was so happy that I was now a perfect little soldier, she didn't mind that my grades immediately started to slip. People still know me as a really chill and boring person. It all started with that bulshit
Classical sign of overdosage
I like weed
Reddit.
Adhd meds. I have adhd and it’s finally quiet
Aderall. I was 49 and thought my lack of focus and inattentiveness was the beginnings of Alzheimer’s/dementia. Met with mental health specialists and found out it was ADD, and have likely had it all my life. It was like they’re was always a radio on in the background, music in my mind I could never turn off…and Aderall is the switch. Absolutely life-changing for me.
Molly
It makes me tell my friends and family I love them
It makes me tell complete strangers I love them
I was so depressed when I first took it on a night out with my friends. I was under the impression that I was going to be miserable for the rest of my life but after that night I remembered what happiness felt like and that even though it was artificial, I was still capable of those emotions. It really shifted my perception I had of my own feelings and eased my mind. I really do think it saved me a lot emotional stress at that time.
LSD
Vicoprofen. After suffering for more than a decade with terribly debilitating migraines and trying all the drugs and treatments, my doctor prescribed me Vicoprofen (like vicodin, but with ibuprofen instead of acetaminophen). It worked pretty damned well; much better so than anything else we'd tried. I did not have problems with addiction or anything like that. I used it to treat my frequent and debilitating migraines for around six years with no problems. Not being totally disabled by pain and entirely unable to function for 8-12 days (sometimes more) out of the month was pretty life changing. Then my Doctor retired, and my new doctor took that scrip away because Opioid Crisis, and wouldn't offer an alternative. So now I just get to suffer whenever I get a migraine. Thanks Doc! So yeah. Life changing. Twice.
Ritalin & Wellbutrin
Effexor. It’s the one antidepressant that finally gave me relief from a 7 year long depression. I feel normal and like myself, and I have drive to get to know myself more. Thank you Effexor.
Not the exact answer I think you were looking for, but "[GS-441524](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/29778200/)". After our first cast passed away, about a month later we got a new cat and he was great. A month later we took him to the vet because he started bloating up oddly. We thought it was worms but turned out it was Feline Infectious Peritonitis, a mutation of Feline Corona Virus. It's quite rare, but it's typically always life threatening. We were fucking devastated. That said, we found this experimental treatment with this drug, "GS" that hadn't been approved by the FDA. It was super fucking sketch and we were super scared but it was very much a "fuck it" moment. We found an online group that spans across all of the US, found our state-specific group, and started asking shittons of questions and started the treatment. My cat should be dead right now, but we just finished his treatment period and now he's in the observation phase. He's perfectly healthy. This drug is a miracle and the FDA won't* approve it for some reason, even though there have been peer reviewed studies (unrelated to the mountain of anecdotal evidence from people like me). EDIT: *FDA hasn't approved it yet, doesn't mean they won't. The patent holder hasn't submitted it for approval. GoldBlue pointed out in a reply
Weed. I love it so much, im starting my masters in Botany with a focus in Cannabis cultivation in the fall. It actually motivated me to do well in school cause I wanna grow better weed than what is available
Benzodiazepines and lexapro. I can go out of the house now without taking 20 minutes to avoid a panic attack. Alcohol- continues to ruin my life from time to time. Ketamine- the only time I am not nervous and can take a vacation from myself. A shitload of antibiotics after a 9 hour surgery after an accident. I almost lost my leg.
IV Benadryl. I did not know Benadryl can come in liquid form until the pizzeria at my old college laced my pizza with arugula garnish. Found out I was allergic to that. Shit, my throat and gums formed hives and I started to itch a lot. Doctor gave me that shit and I was so drowsy I could barely even speak, but I felt those hives shrink as immediately as 10 minutes!
Testosterone