Antidepressants

[YLB]

Hello fellas. I’m still on here soaking up as much knowledge as I possibly can. Maybe I’m not lookin in the right place; but I’m trying to find info regarding being on cycle while being on anti depressants. I started having these anxiety attacks about a year and a half ago, went and seemed help and was prescribed Wellbutrin, and gabapentin a few months ago. Haven’t started them yet Bc they seemed to lessen and lessen with coping skills as well as info I’m picking up naturally online and through other people who have suffered what I’m going through. ( id like to beat this without prescribed medication) I recently had a bad one as contemplated trying them. Can anyone of you shed some light on your experiences or maybe a link or something that can help me understand the correlation (if there is any) between anabolics and anti depressants?

Thank you guys for any info and I love reading this forum; keep the knowledge coming.

 

[StarScream66]

I have major anxiety disorder with comorbid depression. I take a cocktail of drugs everyday, and they really do help me feel better and more positive about my life, my mood, and less negative thoughts and ruminating about all the negative thoughts I have about things from my past.

I had to try about 15 different SSRIs, SNRIs, tricyclic antidepressants and more before I found a combination that works. They actually have a DNA test you can take now that will identify what drugs work best in your body and which ones can be potentially dangerous or not a good match for you. The DNA test is very pricey though, but I think it's worth it. I even tried ketamine infusion therapy (didn't work for me).

I always liked this quote from crazymeds.us:

A lot of people are going to feed you lines about how you can deal with mental illness through therapy, prayer, meditation, and by taking various herbs, vitamins, supplements and amino acids, and by practicing Yoga or similar arts, by changing your diet and various lifestyle changes, and so forth. Well all of those things are really good. I do a lot of those things. Hell, I do most of those things. They are all part of a balanced mental health diet. For some types of mental illness for a lot of people those things alone may be the answer. I'm talking about mild to moderate depression, slight anxiety, moderate compulsions, stuff like that. Not being seriously sick in the head.

If you'd rather live in the 18th century and trust your mental health to the herbal recommendations made by a patchouli-drenched clerk with a lip ring working in some vitamin shop, then this site is not for you. While the addition of vitamins, minerals, amino acids and yes, even herbs, can be helpful in achieving proper mental balance, using them alone is equivalent to just using splints to help heal a broken leg. For a sprained ankle splints are sort of OK. You've got to ask yourself, just how bad is it? Really? Sprained ankle bad or broken leg bad? Go back over your life and think about what you've done to yourself and the people around you. It's part of the 12 Step Method to Stay On Medications, Step 4: Make a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves. You've done some fucked-up stuff, haven't you? Or the extent of your suffering has been so bad that it affects the people around you. That's broken leg bad my friends.

Maybe you really do need meds right now.

Wellbutrin and Gabapentin is an unusual combo. Wellbutrin is usually prescribed to help people stop smoking and works on the dopamine receptors. Gabapentin is a gabapentanoid drug that helps reduce the anxiety levels you're feeling, and a lot of people also take it for pain relief.

TRT has been shown to help with depression, but you need to get your blood levels checked and make sure everything is copacetic in terms of your test, estrogen, cholesterol, blood markers, and etc.

Testosterone Treatment and Alleviation of Depression in Men

This systematic review and meta-analysis evaluates randomized placebo-controlled clinical trials to assess the association of testosterone therapy with alleviation of symptoms of depression in men.

jamanetwork.com

With TRT, you need to make sure you're getting the proper dosage of testosterone not only to boost you back up to your natural levels, but the studies seem to show they need to be higher than normal for beneficial effects.

Anyway, hope that helps you. I would recommend listening to your doctor and not random strangers on the internet (just sayin...) and use what is prescribed to you so you can get in a better place mentally. Best of luck to you,
-SS

 

[Jpflex]

I take a good amount of psych meds myself...it cures my depression and anxiety Doing test might even help your anxiety even more. A good Med for anxiety is lexapro it’s a ssr. Gabapentin works good too but I abuse them and finish my script in a week

 

[LeanEngineer]

I would recommend listening to your doctor and not random strangers on the internet (just sayin...) and use what is prescribed to you so you can get in a better place mentally. Best of luck to you,

I'll definitely agree with this one. If in doubt always listen to the doc when it comes to your body

 

[CroLifter]

All i can advise is:

1) Go with what your doctor suggests i know how debilitating it can be to suffer from anxiety attacks and not being able to function in your daily life

2) if you decide to use stuff anyway stay away from androgenic compounds known to mess with mood (ie. Tren, masteron...)

Keep in mind that messing with hormones... even if you use the most tolerable compounds, just having those fluctuations and low test post cycle can wreak havoc on your psyche...not to mention shitty drugs like clomid (horrible, absolutely horrible experience)

If you have deppressive episodes normally i guarantee that you will be suicidal post cycle if you use clomid

 

[thegodfather]

I started off with Effexor XR back in like 04' and although it worked to pull me out of a dark spiraling hole, it is absolutely hell trying to get off. I had wean myself down to the point where I was opening capsules and counting granules. I think there is a class-action lawsuit against that drug, or there was. Zoloft was much easier to take and also get off of. I've been off pysche meds now for a couple years and manage my anxiety through vitamins, supplements, and mental techniques. Make sure you listen to your doctor and keep them in the loop, but also get a second and third opinion about medications, preferrably from a psychiatrist and not a GP. Some doctors like to hand out stuff like it's candy without fully understanding the implications of it. Good luck!

 

[jswain34]

Id be very hesitant to use gabapentin strictly for anxiety purposes. As one poster already has illustrated by confessing he abuses them - it can be highly addicting. Not only that but the only information i can see available regarding gabapentin for anxiety is specifically regarding social anxiety disorder. This is not “anxiety attacks”, as long as they occur outside of a social environment or outside of you thinking about social environments. Even that is an off label use.

With we wellbutrin - this is also a questionable choice imo. It can be useful in major depressive disorder, seasonal affective disorder, smoking cessation, and as an adjunct therapy to help combat SSRI induced low libido. There are a couple other applications but theyre off label and neither are panic attacks.

Did you specifically state to your provider that you would want to try meds OTHER THAN SSRI/SNRIs in addition to the non-medication treatments you have been working on? Thats the only way I can see they would have tried wellbutrin first, unless they thought there was more of a depressive component to what youre calling anxiety based on the history they obtained from you. Then it isnt as far fetched.

Lastly, I applaud you on working on coping skills and educating yourself on ways to manage your symptoms - these coping strategies are extremely helpful and necessary regardless of whether or not you need medications as well. The combination of working on coping strategies (via CBT or on your own as long as its working for you) + meds is wayy more powerful than meds alone.

I realize I didn’t really answer your specific question regarding anabolics & depression. Like has been stated, if your test levels are truly out of whack it could play a role in causing anxiety, but anxiety/depressive can also lower total and free test levels so it can be one of those chicken or the egg situations.

I would say i dont recommend using AAS as they as well as the PCT process can have an effect on mood. Right now you need try and minimize variables to try and figure out what works in helping you resolve your anxiety attacks.

 

[celc5]

Ask a pharmacist. Good chance they know the drug as well as your physician and u don't have to wait 6 weeks for an appointment to ask and its F R E E!!!!

Btw prescribing gabapentin with anti depressants is a relatively new trend to extend the affect of the anti depressant. I believe it is supposed to help reduce peaks and valleys of the medication levels. But I'm not a pharmacist or physician, don't listen to me or anyone else on this board. I'm just saying its not a far fetched application as implied in some above posts.

 

[jswain34]

Ask a pharmacist. Good chance they know the drug as well as your physician and u don't have to wait 6 weeks for an appointment to ask and its F R E E!!!!

Btw prescribing gabapentin with anti depressants is a relatively new trend to extend the affect of the anti depressant. I believe it is supposed to help reduce peaks and valleys of the medication levels. But I'm not a pharmacist or physician, don't listen to me or anyone else on this board. I'm just saying its not a far fetched application as implied in some above posts.

Unless someone has been tried on and failed multiple more “mainstay” therapy options with well defined efficacies and side effect profiles there’s zero reason to try experimental drug COMBINATIONS without legitimate objective reasons for doing so. Wellbutrin also has a long acting preparation with a half life of >24 hours...

 

[jswain34]

Dbl