“the rock may or may not cause the inability to cum and sleep”
Comment on "looks inside, individually packaged"
ObviouslyNotBanana@lemmy.world 3 months agoSomeone said this and it was such a good metaphor: imagine that you have a machine with a bunch of cogs and gears, and you’re looking down at it from above. You’re trying to fix a gear that is slightly out of phase further down in the machine and to fix it you drop a rock into the machine and watch it fall down.
That’s what we’re doing with SSRIs. We’re dropping a rock that manipulates our serotonin, which gives a bunch of effects but not the one we’re after. The one we’re after is somewhere down the line. We’re not exactly sure which one it is, but we know that if we drop the rock in there it will make the gears align sooner or later.
Noedel@lemmy.world 3 months ago
JasonDJ@lemmy.zip 3 months ago
Friendly reminder that sexual side effects of SSRIs are incredibly common, some medications upto 80%, but it is something that’s typically wildly underreported unless the practitioner brings it up, specifically, first. Not just “any side effects”.
There are multiple treatment options for people who encounter those side effects. They can range from poor libido/drive, to inability to obtain an erection or adequate vaginal moisture, to delayed or absent orgasm. All are common and all are frustrating. All can occur alone or with one or more partners.
If it’s impacting treatment or quality of life or your ability to stay compliant with meds, it’s absolutely worth discussing with your provider. There are other medications or alternative schedules to taking SSRIs.
Relevant article from Journal of Clinical Medicine: www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6832699/
Pazuzu@midwest.social 3 months ago
There’s other antidepressants that don’t do that. Mirtazapine for instance helps sleep, and has not real impact on sex. It’ll make you hungry, though. Buproprion will mess with your sleep but not sex, but you’ll have no appetite. They all have their own unique collection of side effects, well worth looking into other options if the ones from SSRI’s aren’t tolerable
Noedel@lemmy.world 3 months ago
Thanks. I’m just making jokes. Fortunately most of my side effects went away, although I still have wild dreams.
ZombieTheZombieCat@lemmy.world 3 months ago
This is a great metaphor for why psychiatry is pseudoscience
ImFresh3x@sh.itjust.works 3 months ago
SSRIs definitely work for some people. It’s just that everyone’s brain chemistry is extremely different and complex. Doesn’t make it less scientific. Making the best guess is math and science.
ObviouslyNotBanana@lemmy.world 3 months ago
I would say it even works for many people. We’re aware of the fact that it works, and we’re aware of the fact that it effects serotonin. We also know that serotonin isn’t what does the work. There’s something down the line that is affected by the processes of the body that just happens to react in the chain from the serotonin manipulation.
jdf038@mander.xyz 3 months ago
This is one thing where so many people I talk to got unlucky. For me, SSRIs were super lucky in that they helped alleviate depression caused by my anxiety which then helped me find other roots of the anxiety. Turns out undiagnosed ADHD is terrible for your anxiety - got diagnosed though!
Side effects for me have included stomach issues and weight not coming off even as my physical condition improves as I’ve started running again. I’ll take it for now until I start weaning off in the future. I wouldn’t say they were a lifesaver but they helped immensely.
Tvkan@feddit.de 3 months ago
That’s a good metaphor! I’m not sure about the rock though, throwing a rock into a complicated machine doesn’t seem like the best idea. I’d consider replacing it with oil, where it needs to cover the gears at the top first before it can drip down.
ObviouslyNotBanana@lemmy.world 3 months ago
That’s the point of the metaphor. The SSRI is the rock. We’re not exactly sure how it’s gonna land, or what it’s total effects are, but it’s the tool we have and it’s the one we’re using.
LemmyKnowsBest@lemmy.world 3 months ago
ObviouslyNotBanana@lemmy.world 3 months ago
SSRIs are the most effective means we have in terms of medication. That doesn’t mean that they’re the solution. They’re a short term stop gap. The changing of routines and everything that goes on in appointments with psychologists is supposed to be the oil. Many times however that oil isn’t used.
dzervas@lemmy.world 3 months ago
it’s the best thing we’ve got. and honestly, it ain’t that bad
personally the first week it fucked me up but after that, life changing effects. truly life changing.
shneancy@lemmy.world 3 months ago
puts conspiracy hat on
but having a proper solution would make selling meds for a long time harder!
weed has many medicinal effects, and yet it’s illegal in most places
LSD has many medicinal effects, and yet it’s not even allowed to be studied in most places! There’s so many stories out there saying how psychedelics outright cured someone’s depression or anxiety, but no proper in depth studies on them.
I think it’s because nobody is really looking for a cure, well, I bet a lot of doctors are but sadly they depend on funding & legality of their research. The only way for them to do any studies is to get money from the money men & a permission from the goverment (also ruled by the money men), and since they’re trying to look into claims like “one dose of this cheap to make drug cured me of depression!” then the best business decision is to say “fuck off”
Overland@lemmy.world 3 months ago
Some doctor told my dad a while ago that he felt like we weren’t that far off from physically poking around in a mind and hoping that we fixed it- or that we’re closer to that than understanding it.
It’s an old and second hand story. I do appreciate the idea though that we’ve found ways to disrupt the mind that can be beneficial, but that we’re not at the level of being able to do more than throw a cog in the works in a general direction.
For me it makes it easier to accept when the first - or second thing does work. We’re just trying things. It’s not like we know what is gonna unclog the works.
This is getting pretty deep into a metaphor. Sorry
candybrie@lemmy.world 3 months ago
Oil doesn’t fix alignment of gears. Ideally, you need to precisely go in and realign the exact gear. But we don’t have that power. So we’re throwing rocks.