Deborah
Rochester,#2Consumer Comment
Thu, May 31, 2018
As someone who was weaned off of a dangerous psychotropic drug much too fast by a "licensed professional" PSYCHIATRIST, I have to say Surviving Antidepressants saved my life. When the withdrawal symptoms started up after the psychiatrist took me off my medication way too fast and carelessly, the "licensed professionals" only wanted to label me with non-existent psychiatric conditions that were only caused by the drug they first prescribed and then they conitnued to try and shove several more dangerous drugs down my throat. Surviving Antidepressants literally saved my life. I was suicidal, scared, and if not for the experts on this website and their wisdom and stories and advice and information I never would ahve made it out of this nightmare. It is because of them and their knowledge that I was able to pull through, get healthy again and recover from psychiatry and big pharma's toxic pooisons.
To the person who is trying to justify the crimes of psychiatry and the pharmaceutical companies by claiming that they usually prescribe "cheap drugs" is way off base. It isn't the price of the drugs but it is that insurance companies pay for it. All of it. Look it up. It's an insurance scam, a ponzi scheme between doctors, psychiatrists and big pharma. It's a fact. That is why the DSM was created, it's basically just a billing code book. If the drugs were so cheap why is big pharma a multibillion dollar industry? Exactly.
I am grateful for this website Surviving Antidepressants, it has saved a lot of lives and continues to do so today and I am so happy that someone has dedicated their time to helping others instead of trying to make money off of them. Unlike "licensed professionals".
Lettu
Hamina,#3General Comment
Mon, July 24, 2017
I have personal experience of antidepressant use. They are powerfull drugs which create physical dependency, they are very hard to get off. The withdrawal is so agonizing you may want to kill yourself, I have experienced it and nearly succeeded in taking my own life. It wasn't the return of depression which made me suicidal, it was the sheer physical pain, the inability to control my racing thoughts, the feeling that my brain is frying and melting and months of insomnia which no sleeping pills couldn't cure that made me want to end my life. I know what depression is like and it's not like that believe me. Depression doesn't create vision and hearing problems, depression doesn't remove your ability to walk and it doesn't create urinary incontince issues. I'm in far worse state mentally and physically now after the medication, than what I was when I started it 10 years ago. During these years of antidepressant use I have suffered migraines, insomnia, apathy, demotivation, agoraphobia, poor stress tolerance and anxiety. It never dawned on me that maybe the medication is the problem, not me. Psychiatrist told me that these meds are safe and I should propably take them for the rest of my life because I have "brain that doesn't create enough serotonin". If that assumption would have been right I propably would have been cured with medication, right? Well I wasn't. Thanks to Surviving Antidepressants I have realised what my symptoms are. Most of psychiatrist have no clue how to withdraw safely from ad's. When my withdrawal hit it's peak I went to see my doctor and she had no clue what to do with me, I think she had a hunch that I'm suffering from withdrawal but had nothing to offer me for help. I surely had no idea what is wrong with me and she should have told me what I'm suffering from, instead she watched me deteriorate more and more. This is my experience with psychiatry and psychiatric drugs. I hope majority of people on psych drugs have a different kind of experience. But I do think that as these drugs are marketed safe and healing, even the destroyment of one life is too much.
Ken
Dundalk,#4Consumer Comment
Sun, January 01, 2017
Playing with the lives and mental health of people they know nothing about. Is a tale true? Or has another Scientologist registered to spread falsehoods? Most importantly will it take a suicide for a lawsuit to shut this site down? I don't care what "great people" are posting. They are playing with fire and misinforming vulnerable people. SHAME!
Anonymous
Massachusetts,#5Consumer Suggestion
Sun, January 01, 2017
The Ripoff Report regarding Surviving Antidepressants states that it is run by people who are not doctors. This is true, and no one who is on the site ever makes false claim to be an MD. The people who are there have knowledge of the drugs because they have had first-hand experience taking the drugs. They have felt the effects of the drugs in their bodies. They have also felt the effects of coming off the drugs. Doctors who prescribe psychiatric medications, for the most part, do not take these drugs. They've never felt akathesia nor have they ever felt driven to commit violence from these brain-altering chemicals. Even the drug companies verify that these are common and very disturbing effects of these drugs.
Yes, I agree many are helped. I was, too. At first. But down the line I found I was spending my entire therapy sessions discussing side effects, such as how I felt about having my entire face covered with pimples, how to deal with shaky hands or what sunscreen was the best. My kidneys are now operating at half mast, because of my own personal choice to stay on drugs because I was not properly informed of the dangers.
A few months ago I had the pleasure of meeting some of the people who run these groups in person. I was immensely impressed with what they were doing. They have a network of support, they pool together their knowledge, and they share their real-life experiences which is more honest data than you will get from any MD who gives you a pill and has never himself taken that pill.
People are given these drugs based on an evaluation and diagnosis and having been many shrinks myself (have you?) I can tell you these diagnoses are given willy-nilly. Often a diagnosis is given in ten minutes or less, or when a patient is physically compromised (dehydrated, drunk, in malnutritioned state, or having just been raped or ended a pregancy). One doc will give you one diagnosis, another will give you another, because each has his own agenda, his own specialty, his own pet diagnoses and Pill of the Day. I've seen entire wards on Risperdal, yep, all the patients taking that stuff regardless of age or situation. I've seen every single patient on PRN Haldol on more than one ward, standard fare. In 2011 I complained of a toothache, they handed me Haldol.
Unfortunately, antidepressants in particular are tough to get off of and doctors don't get enough training in how to take people off, only how to titrate up and keep people on. When you ask to get off, many docs will hesitate to say yes simply because they are scared for their own liability reasons. This is the reason they use scare tactics which in fact has a ripple effect in the media.
I personally used to be on a huge cocktail and I'm very happy to be completely away from all mental health care now. I feel like a new person, and I am grateful to have the opportunity to start life over. When people ask me how to find help, I would not hesitate to recommend this group. In fact, I'd recommend these folks with Real Lived Experience over most MD's any day.
SurvivingADs
San Francisco,#6REBUTTAL Owner of company
Sun, March 03, 2013
At SurvivingAntidepressants.org, we try to send people to doctors to help them with tapering and withdrawal syndrome whenever possible.
I spend a great deal of time and effort to find knowledgeable doctors to refer people to. I have compiled a public list here http://tinyurl.com/7cp8l8v , to my knowledge the only one available anywhere. If I could, I would send each and every person visiting SurvivingAntidepressants.org to a medical doctor who knows about tapering and withdrawal symptoms.
If you read people's stories in the Intro conference http://tinyurl.com/3o4k3j5 , you will see many have gotten terrible advice from doctors and nurses. That is why they're searching the Internet for answers. Believe me, if people could get the advice they need from their doctors, I would be happy to close this site tomorrow.
Thomas G. may note that, whatever his issues with peer support on the Web, he posted a request on SurvivingAntidepressants.org for a referral to a knowledgeable doctor in Florida. I'm sorry we were not able to assist him.
The existence of dozens of peer support sites for tapering off psychiatric drugs is a reflection of the scarcity of such knowledgeable doctors and the need of millions of people for tapering help.
(If anyone reading this can recommend a doctor who know how to taper people gradually off psychiatric medications, please send the doctor's contact information to me through the Contact the Forums Administrator link at http://survivingantidepressants.org/index.php?/members/ After verification, I will add the doctor to the referral list so even more people can get appropriate medical assistance.)
Please note SurvivingAntidepressants.org is entirely volunteer, free to anyone on the Web, and we do not hold ourselves out as medical authorities. Like all forum sites, we have guidelines for behavior and will ban anyone who does not follow those guidelines.