Posted by utopizen on June 25, 2004, at 21:07:46
In reply to How long can you stay on an antidepressant?, posted by BRC on June 25, 2004, at 19:15:53
I think you should be more concerned about remaining stable like the rest of us, not worrying about some hypothetical fear that doesn't really exist.
All drugs are tested for, at the most, a few months. Ambien's maker couldn't afford to do this, so it only did 7-10 day trials (but sleep observations are thousands a patient).
A recent study, published a few weeks ago, found the hypothylmus (sp) -- a major part of one's thought process- to have a smaller mass in patients who were on and off antidepressants than those who were on them. The conclusion? Patients should think twice before thinking they can rough it out without an antidepressant, because the risk of relapse at some point is high and that may risk your brain mass basically.
Depression is thus far more of a legitimate concern to fear than going off a thing that prevents/controls it from relapsing, is it not?
Think about what you're taking it for, and remind yourself the disease is worse than the treatment. Also, it helps to remind yourself that this isn't crack, and you're doing a good thing for remaining committed to your treatment.
Please don't do what I did, which was go off it for the sake of my social anxiety and my 90mg/month supply of Klonopin and Ambien and all those stupid patchworks that help your symptoms but don't stop your depression/anxiety from getting worse and worse over a year's time. I finally went on Remeron a few days ago, and tonight, maybe, it's helping me to be happy for the first in a long time. I hope it stays tomorrow.
poster:utopizen
thread:360481
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20040621/msgs/360507.html