Husband lost his job half a year ago, fell into depression, went on meds for it. He currently has a new job, is coming off his meds, and while the side effects aren't fun he feels better without them. This has led to another round of Maybe You Don't Need The Pills talk. I've been on meds for the depression/anxiety for about three years now, and from husband's observations, I do not seem more productive or happier. He thinks the meds make me feel less bad about not getting stuff done, but it doesn't solve the basic problem of me not getting stuff done. I sort of agree with him that while I no longer go into catastrophic spinouts over not getting something done, I still rarely feel accomplished or happy when I do get stuff done. I rely a lot on external validation (getting a "good job, you did the thing" from husband or online friends makes me happier). I know that procastination is something everyone struggles with, even people who aren't depressed, and it's sometimes hard to tell the difference between self-care and procastination. And there's a feeling I sometimes get where I am really, really tired of the experience of being me, and I would like to stop. With the pills, it's dulled to a "want to fall asleep for a bit", without the pills, well, I want to stop existing. tl;dr I am on brain pills but still don't feel happy or productive. Do I need less pills, or different pills, or something other than pills.
Hard question. Do you have any other known things (e.g., ADHD)? You might need less pills, or more pills, or different pills. I'm told some people need to try a few before they find one that really clicks for them.
Well, I'm diagnosed with Aspergers and I don't have officially diagnosed ADHD but the descriptions of it sound quite similar to my experiences, and the strategies for managing ADHD help. Initially the pills I'm on seemed like a huge improvement, just from how they brought the bad feelings from being catastrophic and soul-destroying to just being sorta bad. But it hasn't changed the good feelings, they are still intermittent and fleeting and hard to achieve. So maybe different meds are in order.
Different meds sounds like a good choice, as well as maybe discussing with your psychiatrist to see if it's ADHD or perhaps some form of dysthymia or depression? I mean, if it's a case of having both the inattention and the soul-draining bad feelings, it could be both or either or, especially if treating one set of problems did little to assist in the other set. If it helps any, Wellbutrin has been something that's worked on ADHD and depression for me in the past, but that was back in 2010 and I don't know if there's been studies against it or any major complications from it. I just know I see it very rarely discussed on ADHD groups nowadays.
That could be a thing where just tweaking dosage might work, it could be a thing where trying something else might help. Medication responses are highly idiosyncratic.
