Are antidepressants dangerous?

[1badboy 583]

I have never taken an antidepressant or any drug for mental health, but having said that I got a very bad reaction to an antibiotic once.  Just an 'antibiotic'!  It was the antibiotic doxycycline.  I had bronchitis.  It was weird at first it seemed to give me 'energy' and improved my mood -- then I had a bad episode.  I woke up in the middle of the night VERY upset.  I have never felt such hopelessness -- total despair.  My life was over! I was almost suicidal. I was so upset I could not go back to sleep so I turned on the lights and stayed awake for several hours -- and finally calmed down.  The things I had been upset about were so trivial it was absurd. The next day I called the doctor and stopped the antibiotic.  I had never experienced anything like it before, or since.  I am not an unhappy, or depressed person at all. It was out of nowhere.

Anyway, I have seen some YouTubers discussing feeling suicidal -- they were on the drug Zoloft (Sertraline) -- and it got me thinking about my experience and what friends have told me.

I lived in Utah for seven years, and Zoloft is extremely popular there. You go to the doctors office, and it is crowded with people who are there to get refills on their 'meds'. Utah has one of the highest suicide rates in the world.  

And there are a surprisingly huge number of women, in Utah, diagnosed with bipolar disorder.  All of the 'bipolar' women, I knew,  had taken antidepressants -- become suicidal, or deeply depressed -- and then been re-diagnosed as bipolar.  Their 'bipolar' behavior 'surfaced' after the bad experience with the antidepressants and the discontinuation of its use.  Did the antidepressant alter their brains, and lead to their bipolar behavior?

Their 'bipolar' behavior was characterized by mood swings, and hypersexual behavior -- having sex with many men.  But the women on the drugs - to control their bipolar disorder - still had a strong sex drive, and were still fooling around like crazy. The 'meds' were not working.

 

[Adyguy6970 885]

I've never taken or needed antidepressants, thank goodness, so I'm probably not the best person to comment.  However I suspect that any drug could potentially ve dangerous, especially if misused or taken without medical supervision.  For what it's worth, I don't think you should take any medication that hasn't been prescribed  by your doctor and that they are satisfied you actually need. 

[Kupar 13,388]

I have physical allergic reactions to some antibiotics, but nothing psychological.

It always surprises me how many possible serious, though relatively rare, side effects there are for many commonly taken medicines. They are powerful things.

[1badboy 583]

Apparently the suicidal reaction to antibiotics like doxycycline is very rare.  They think it has something to do with the central nervous system, or it somehow effects the neurotransmitters in the brain.

I know very little about psychiatry and I would not want somebody to stop taking medication that they need, but I wonder if psychiatry sometimes creates bigger problems then they are trying to solve.

They recommend that people under 25 do not use Zoloft (sertraline) because of the suicides connected to its use.  And in Utah where antidepressants are used more than any other place in the country, there is one of the highest suicide rates in the world.

I do not think the suicide in Utah is directly connected to Mormonism, but if wonder if it is connected to the huge antidepressant use that I think is connected to Mormonism.  I do not think that the connection is that Mormonism makes people depressed. I think that the connection is how Mormonism chooses to handle depression.  The Mormons are pretty supportive of each other.  I think it is the drug use that is bad.  Jews support each other, and they have the lowest suicide of all the religions, but Mormonism has the highest.