Transcription
What happens if you stay on an SSRI medication for over 10 years?
Well, most doctors will actually tell you that this is safe and it's protecting you from depression. But I actually disagree with this because after prescribing these medications for over a decade, I've seen three very different outcomes and only one of them is good.
The first common outcome is tolerance. This is where the drug simply wears off over time. You get on the drug, 6 months later you need a higher dose and within a couple years you're maxed out. At this point, many of my patients would say, "I don't even know what the drug is doing to me anymore."
The second thing that I see happen is neurotoxicity because the truth is some brains simply aren't built to handle daily exposure to drugs for years. And what I see with the SSRIs is that many people eventually become very tired and start to have brain fog.
Now, the last thing that I see is that these drugs keep on working for some people, but honestly, I think that's the minority and that most people end up in the first two categories. Unfortunately, many doctors when they prescribe these act like everyone responds in the same way, but that's not what I'm seeing in real life. And unfortunately, there's no way to predict who is going to have which outcome when you start these medications.
So, I want to hear from you in the comments below. If you've been on anti-depressants for years, tell us what happened to you.