Can anti depressants cause self harm

[Dillon]

i haven’t been in the best shape the past couple weeks. For some reason I’ve been mad with myself having self hate and being told I’m a bother to others which that part doesn’t bother me until what happened last week. I was so out of it having so much negative thoughts about myself that last week and I was trying to get help from a so called friend who never responded to a text all day since she knew about me and knew how to help me out but she basically told me I was to awkward to talk to and by that point as well I was harming myself by cutting myself which I would never ever do in my life. I now have cuts on my hands and some on my arm.
I didn’t start being like this until I started on this higher dose of meds called lexapro and I really wonder if that is to blame. Have any of y’all heard of it?

 

[pjcnet]

The short answer is yes they most definitely can and sometimes do cause similar issues, they can even cause suicidal thoughts, or in some cases even thoughts of violence as I felt with a now banned antidepressant that caused me severe adverse effects that had a negative impact on my life, in fact a man who was taking the same prescribed drug was even acquitted in court for murdering his family under the influence of them, although different antidepressants can effect different people in different ways. I don't recommend any antidepressant or antipsychotic because they normally have long term adverse effects and they're usually addictive. Sometimes they can appear to work well in the short term, but remember that you usually feel better even with narcotics at first and some of these were once prescription drugs. Don't stop taking them suddenly however, instead gradually cut down because otherwise you could suffer withdrawal effects that are often psychological and sometimes also physical, this is the case even when they're marked as "non habit forming", in my opinion pharmaceutical companies know this and all the adverse effects, but they're far to powerful and are making far too much money out of them. Doctors are often pressured to prescribe them as a "quick fix" because there simply isn't enough resources to give everyone that needs it proper treatment that doesn't involve these often dangerous drugs. Your doctor will most probably suggest changing to another antidepressant instead, but personally I believe you are much better off avoiding them altogether and then seeking alternative drug free support instead for your depression / anxiety.

 

[SusanLR]

The short answer is yes they most definitely can and sometimes do cause similar issues, they can even cause suicidal thoughts, or in some cases even thoughts of violence as I felt with a now banned antidepressant that caused me severe adverse effects that had a negative impact on my life, in fact a man who was taking the same prescribed drug was even acquitted in court for murdering his family under the influence of them, although different antidepressants can effect different people in different ways. I don't recommend any antidepressant or antipsychotic because they normally have long term adverse effects and they're usually addictive. Sometimes they can appear to work well in the short term, but remember that you usually feel better even with narcotics at first and some of these were once prescription drugs. Don't stop taking them suddenly however, instead gradually cut down because otherwise you could suffer withdrawal effects that are often psychological and sometimes also physical, this is the case even when they're marked as "non habit forming", in my opinion pharmaceutical companies know this and all the adverse effects, but they're far to powerful and are making far too much money out of them. Doctors are often pressured to prescribe them as a "quick fix" because there simply isn't enough resources to give everyone that needs it proper treatment that doesn't involve these often dangerous drugs. Your doctor will most probably suggest changing to another antidepressant instead, but personally I believe you are much better off avoiding them altogether and then seeking alternative drug free support instead for your depression / anxiety.

From self experience and working with pharmaceuticals
I am in total agreement. I've never known anyone who had truly good experiences with them and for Aspies they seem to be even worse.

 

[Theta.G]

In agreeance with everyone else above.
Based on studies, real statistics and personal experience SSRI's do tend to cause self harm and depression. Suicidal thoughts or behaviors. In a sizable portion of those who are coerced to use them. Keep in mind It's just the drug... it's making you think these things by disrupting your brain chemistry... It's not the real you, just the effect of the drug. Much like the way a virus acts in a computer. If you decide to taper / scale off keep in mind that once you're fully off of them you'll be back to your normal old self. The light to hold onto when going through withdrawal.

 

[Suzanne]

I cannot answer regarding cutting, but when I was on prozac, it caused unbarely head pain, that would last for 2 days and being very sick and ironically, despite being an anti depressant, discovered only after going cold turkey, that they caused the depression. I was meloncholic at the time of being put on them.

I read that when a person has clinical depression, that these tablets work, but if it is social depression ie something in one's life that has caused it, then tablets won't work.

Take natural medicine now and really does help me.

 

[Iamnotarabot]

Well i have suicidal and violent thoughts almost all the time, id say oncz a week at least for suicidal and violent thought almost every day.
But i never took any medication.

So, i have no experience about it, it looks like this is related to your medication, but...

Mayb something changed in your life recently? Somerhing elde than your medication, maybe you have more stress?

One of the first year of unniversity i also did some self harm during a few weeks.

I have re read the post and apparently you have a lot of stress and being rejected by that person you care about was painfull.

So i would say that this is a complex situation, apparently your med are at least not effective and at worst counterproductive.
But what you are dealing with at the moment also increases your stress and can trigger a lot of bad things.

 

[pax]

Short answer, yes.

I've been on a few antidepressants, and they all had bad side effects. I was on Lexapro, which for me, was one of the better ones. But my doctor took me off it, instead of reducing the dose, when I told her that the higher dose she put me on had given me tinnitus . ( I believe I have misophonia, so having a loud high pitch ringing in my ears was a big deal. ) It didn't make me want to self harm, but gave me a weird feeling of being out of control - like my thoughts weren't mine any more.

 

[Progster]

When I was diagnosed with cancer, I started to take them (Sertroline), and they did help me during that period, and I didn't have any bad side effects, but now I quit them and I've had withdrawal symptoms that have been going on for months. So I would only ever take them if you feel that you really need them or if nothing else will work, and if you think that they are giving you bad side effects, then it's best to come off them.

 

[Chance]

I think yes higher dose may be messing with you...

I seem to be really sensitive to meds. Maybe it's because all my systems are hypersensitive to begin with.
They upped my dose of Wellbutrin and I wasn't me. I felt like I was going to black out. It was afraid of everything imaginable... Its was like what I would picture a drug addict would be on a bad "trip"... Instead a lower dose than what I was taking in the first place was what was needed...

MORE is often not better, but sometimes yes it is needed if a person system can handle it.

Dillion you already notice something is off... So please just be straight up with your practitioner. One other thing is ASD people are awkward so dude you (we, I) have to find LOVE for ourselves in our weirdness...

It's our lot in life I suppose and we can be funny, interesting, strong, smart, wise, and all the other stuff while being UNIQUE, or weird... but self harm and self hate only gets deeper and darker UNLESS YOU demand it turns around. I cant and will never tell you what to do with your meds but you need to address this fast with your Doc... Cutting is not good... LOGIC, LOGIC, LOGIC...

I know depression way too well, but I sort of use it now to implode on itself.
We all want to have friends, and we need to mean something in LIFE...
It's part of our purpose of being here.

Dude fall in love with what you love, be grateful for the simple things (like just being aware something is off), the ability to think, the knowledge that YES this might suck but there is good things and good days coming. I promise they are coming IF YOU say they are!

I KNOW ASD people can be the most negative nightmares on the planet, but we can't stay in that ditch without horrible consequences.

If you can go fishing then go... (I remember you like fishing) : )
Do stuff to take your mind off the dark stuff and get your meds fixed...

If the meds are causing you to harm yourself THEY ARE NOT HELPING you in any way!!!
Make a call and tell them what's up, never be ashamed, because MEDS can do MORE harm than good IF they are wrong for us. What's good for one person may react horribly in another person. It's NOTHING to worry over or feel shame over, but to continue this is not going down a bright path in any manner.

LOGIC always prevails... Follow LOGIC and not the dark stuff...

Don't let this stuff kick you around... FIGHT back and slap it back in the dark where it belongs : )

 

[LucyPurrs]

Antidepressants can be helpful BUT sometimes it takes trying several different ones and different dosages to get the right drug and dosage for you specifically. There are a lot of different anti-depressants to choose from and they don't all have the same actions neuro chemically. Plus everyone reacts differently (individually) to them. Oft times if one doesn't work well another one will, but sometimes people don't have the patience to find just the right one at the right dosage. And they all should be gradually decreased when going off unless there is a good medical reason to stop them abruptly (let your doctor decide about this).

But I agree with posters above who are telling you to get ahold of your physician immediately and report the self- harm which could be due to the antidepressant. THIS IS EXTREMELY IMPORTANT. You don't want to get into self- harm, that is very dangerous.

 

[VioletHaze_03]

funnily enough, I was actually discouraged from taking anti-deppressants for the reasons you talked about. I don't know a lot about this type of medication, or much about medication in general, but i was a bit shocked when i read up on the effects of common antidepressants. Some can actually cause depression, suicidal ideation, self harm and other mental disorders. I didn't take them because it just seemed wrong to me that the problem i was dealing with in the first place might actually be made worse by medication that was supposed to help me. Like the others said, i'd definitely reccomend you notify your physician, or whoever suggested you take that medication as soon as you can.

 

[Major Tom]

My doc prescribed me a higher dose of abilify last visit, I took it for about a week, that whole week I spent in bed angry at the world... I since lowered myself to the regular dose and feel much better. Abilify is an antipsychotic though. He wanted to put me on an antidepressant, but I declined , since all I get from those are terrible side effects. If I missed a dose of Prozac, it made me very dizzy, and when I quit, I made terrible vertigo for at least 6 months.

 

[SusanLR]

Symptoms of High Acetylcholine
This is a link to a page that explains how antidepressants
work. I found it interesting in how it explains what each of the major chemicals involved does to the others.

Prozac is an SSRI creating mainly seratonin increase in brain. It explains the reasons why SSRIs are not good for long term use and lessens it's potential over time.
It decreases acetycholine and when missed or cutting down to get off them you will get acetycholinergic rebound no matter how slowly it's withdrawel.
If acetycholine, dopamine, norepinephrine are not in the exact balance to each other it only increases the problem.
Article is rather technical, but, explanatory.

 

[Dillon]

I just want to give an update. I had decreased the lexapro a few days ago and there is a dramatic difference. I’m not having any bad thoughts or anything in that nature!! So the increase of it was too much for me.