Taking Antidepressant every other day - effective?

Medications
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I have tried most well known brands of antidepressants for anxiety e.g SNRI, SSRi and TCA.

What I have observed is that within 4 weeks of starting the antidepressant there is zero anxiety

but when I get used to the drug in my system its effectiveness diminishes rapidly.

Hence I can up with the idea to take it every other day to see if it has any kick starting

effect on receptors in the brain or some other chemistry occurs.

There is very little research on this so was wondering whether any of my fellows had had any

luck doing what I am thinking of doing?

Thanks

2

This is a question to ask your doctor, rather than strangers from the internet. They would know whether it’s possible for the meds to be effective if taken every other day.

As an alternative option, I know adding a low dose of Abilify to antidepressants can make them more effective. Is that something you’ve tried yet?

4 Likes
3

Hi

Yes I have tried taking them with and without abilify.

You’ll be surprised how little consultants know about the technical details which I have asked

hence why they pop into their bags for the latest BNF.

I have been what they call a professional tablet taker been on them now for 29 years and it is

my anniversary today :slight_smile:

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I’ve done this,

5

Hi Aliali

Thanks for responding.

Did you have any success from taking it every other day?

Any post would be very much appreciated.

Thanks

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I don’t think this would improve it’s effectiveness, but ask your doctor. There are alternatives, like adding an adjunct treatment like Ninjastar suggested.

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Now you’ve mentioned it
I wonder if stopping your antidepressants for one or two days might make a difference but then taking it again

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For me it was effective, before doing it get a consent from your doctor,

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Thanks.

Are you able to say which antidepressant it was, Aliali?

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Sertraline, venlafaxine,

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Do you still take them for anxiety or found something else that works?

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Not anymore, I take lithium recently, it calms everything down,
In psychiatry, no drug is better than another for all the time, it depends on condition of body and mind, once very good medicine can be a disaster few months later and vice versa,
I couldn’t even bear lithium and now it does wonders for me,

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Do you take lithium for bipolar or schizophrenia?

It is an interesting drug

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I’m not bipolar, I just wanted to be more grounded and feel in my body, I wanted to lower the speed of the train of my thoughts and feel relaxed somewhat and it helped,

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You appear to be well grounded.

I take it you don’t have a formal meaningful diagnosis?

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Schizophrenia, 151515

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Most people I know on lithium are bipolar.

I did try and ask my psychiatrist if I could take lithium for schizophrenia which he declined.

Do you take any anti psychotic in conjunction with lithium?

Thanks

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This is similar to my post. It seems a few people are doing it from the posts. I was wondering the same thing if I was the only one. Glad some light is being shed on this. Gotta ask the tough questions.

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One thing I am noticing from taking AD every other day is that my mood swings from good to

bad and then good again.

This probably gives credence to the fact I have an underlying depressive disorder.

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Long story short it is not going to be as effective as if you were taking the med every day.