Questions about antidepressants

Basically I’m pretty sure I’m depressed, seeing my GP Friday & hoping to be put on antidepressants (I’ve had counselling before & it didn’t really help).

I would like to know how long they take to work, but the main thing I want to know is will they actually help with my symptoms?

My biggest problem at the moment is just apathy about everything, all I want to do is sleep & I’ve got no motivation at all, I’ve been missing classes at college & not completing work (and I don’t care if I get in trouble or whatever, which is really unlike me). I need to get AAA for uni and I am genuinely wanting to do that course still but at the same time I feel really detached from that, like I know I want it & I know I need to work to achieve that, but I just kind of can’t?

Will medication help with that or not?

Thanks

It varies a lot from person to person and AD to AD. The one thing I would say is just antidepressants are unlikely to work fully. They can be effective at reducing or managing symptoms in the short term, but for long term results I would very much suggest some therapy and general life changes. Those can be difficult to do while suffering fully which is where ADs can come in really handy, but you don't want to stay reliant on the ADs longer than you need to.

Times will be different for different people, but on the whole you will get side effects but, from my experience/ what I've heard, when starting ADs and they will probably last somewhere between a week and month.
You then get the first stages of it working which may make you feel abnormal, but in a different way. For me that was going from sad to apathetic. That could last a few months.
You then get another stage where things are more evened out and "normal". I think getting therapy and working on little life changes helps to get to this point.
And eventually you should reach a stage where you feel stable and well and like it has worked. It's once you reach this point you might want to think about coming off.

How they make you feel will depend on how you feel to start with, but if you don't like it just talk to your doctor. It can take trial and error to find the right fit.

That's a generalisation based on my experiences and there will always be different experiences. Best thing to do is keep communicating with your doctor and work out how things are for you.

So yeah go see your GP, ask about ADs if that's something you want to try and also ask about therapy. I know you have tried counselling before and it didn't go great, but therapy is different. And it might take a while for it to help, but do keep giving it a go. For me I tried a bunch of times and found it pretty useless, but eventually found a good fit that really helped me. That might have had something to do with different therapists, different therapies or just my ADs helping level me out a bit so I was more able to engage.


Another thing I would note is don't put too much pressure on yourself. Mental health is a complicated thing. Some people may find it's a rather quick fix, some might find it takes longer. What matters most is you feeing well, not you being patched up in time for exams. Adding that pressure and stress to things could actually hinder your progress so just try not to be too hard on yourself if things are taking some time. There are always other options with education, but your health is less flexible.

I hope that helps. Good luck

As the previous poster said, AD's work better with therapy/counselling. The medication is effective at treating the symptoms of the illness, enabling you to function on a day-to-day basis and go about life as best you can, whereas talking therapies aim to get to the root of the problem, hopefully lessening the severity of the illness as a whole. None of us can say how your AD's will work or how long they'll take to kick in as every medication works differently for every person, which is why finding the right one is such a trial and error process.

As Kindred has said, it can take antidepressants some time to work. The figure usually stated is 6-8 weeks to feel their effects. I've taken a fair few antidepressants over the years and the most common side effects were nausea, headaches, tiredness (or insomnia!), blurred vision, changes in appetite, and a reduced sex drive. A lot of these wore off for me pretty quick (like 10 days-ish) others, like the increased appetite or reduced sex drive, lasted a fair bit longer.