I even stayed on the medication during both of my pregnancies, without hesitation-becoming a mom was a big enough change, and I didn’t want any other reason for anxiety to rear its head. The trial of going off medication lasted fewer than three months, and I never considered trying again. Once, I even went to the ER because my panic attack felt like a heart attack, and I truly wondered if I was dying. Even though I continued with coping mechanisms and lifestyle changes like talk therapy, exercise, and a healthy diet, I worried so much I hardly left my apartment. My panic attacks came back with a vengeance within a few weeks of tapering off the pills. I quickly realized my brain needed the medicine. So, with my doctor’s approval, I slowly tapered down from 20 to 0 mgs. The social stigma around mental illness didn’t help, either. I’d been feeling stable (read: panic attack-free) for a few years, and I was curious if I even truly needed the little white pills I’d relied on for so long. After I got married, I decided to taper off my SSRI to see how I’d function without it. But for me, it’s obvious the benefits majorly outweigh any potential risks or negative side effects. I’ll admit, I’ve wondered whether my daily dose of Lexapro contributes to my bigger jeans size or affects my long-term health in any significant way. “There’s really no evidence that people have had serious side effects or adverse effects from being on SSRI medications for too long.” Jin Hee Yoon-Hudman, a psychiatrist and medical advisor at Minded. These medications have been around for decades,” says Dr. Plus, both conditions can be uncomfortable and debilitating on their own. Chronic stress, including that from mental illness, also can interfere with the immune system, leaving people more susceptible to sickness. Depression, for example, is shown to increase a person’s risk of heart disease, stroke, and type 2 diabetes, and anxiety comes with a higher risk of heart disease and substance abuse. Untreated mental conditions can come with risks of their own. (If you are concerned about the side effects of an SSRI, don’t hesitate to talk to your doctor, prescribing nurse, or a provider at Minded.) Now, that’s not to say they’re without potential side effects: Halverson says people might feel nauseous when they first start taking an SSRI, and patients commonly experience changes in weight and sex drive. He says he’s seen plenty of patients taking SSRIs for decades, and he doesn’t know of any data that suggests it’s not safe. Halverson, chief medical officer at Rogers Behavioral Health, agrees. “These medications have been around for decades,” says Dr. And luckily, as long as the benefits of the medication outweigh the potential side effects, there’s no strong evidence that long-term use of SSRIs poses any major problems. While that might be the case for some people, others-including me-will be on mental health medication for the long-haul. Yet many people see antidepressants and anti-anxiety medications as a short-term solution-something they’ll stop taking when they start feeling better. The author, Ashley Abramson, has been on an SSRI for 23 years and has no plans to come off of it. is one of the most common, scientifically proven ways to help people with conditions like anxiety and depression function in their everyday lives. Of the many treatments available, antidepressant medication. Nearly 17% of American kids and teens ages 6-17 experience some type of mental health disorder, and mental illness impacts more than 20% of U.S. With the exception of a couple months, I’ve been on an SSRI since that day 23 years ago-and I have no plans to stop. I was diagnosed with panic disorder and generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) at a child psychiatrist’s office a few weeks later, and I left that appointment with a prescription for a selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SSRI), a type of medicine commonly used to treat anxiety and depression. When the shortness of breath and dizziness passed and my lab work came back normal, the ER doctor suggested I see a psychiatrist for anxiety. The nurse called my mom, who took me to the emergency room. But my body didn’t quite understand what my mind could logically grasp. I knew, intellectually, my mom and dad loved me, and that trading off weekends at their houses wouldn’t change that. I was in fourth grade, and my parents had just finalized their divorce. The day I had my first panic attack, I went to the school office and told the nurse I felt like fainting.
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