What Your Doctor Can't Tell You

Written by craig

When your doc puts you on antidepressants for the first (or fifth, or tenth) time, she or he will tell you not to expect any relief for the first two or three weeks. That's usually not true, but there are reasons why they say it.

Now, I must tell you that the following are my own observations and conclusions, based on purely anecdotal nonrandom evidence from hundreds of people who've been through the experience. If you find this useful, 'enjoy.

From a behavioral standpoint, it's easy to tell when the chemicals kick in. There have been dozens of times when people would come into my office a week or two after they started, and the opening line would be, "They must not be working; I don't feel different." I then ask them to count the number of times they normally cried or exploded during the week before they started the medicines. Then, we compare them with the numbers for the first week on the meds.

The differences are almost always a surprise because what the pills do is not what one might expect. They don't necessarily make you happy, or drug you up, or slow down or speed up things. What they do is let the brain think. You don't so much "feel different" as "feel differently." It's not the presence of "feel-good;" it's the absence of "feel-bad." The noise stops.

'Thing is, it just takes a couple of weeks for you to be able to start hearing, and appreciating, the life around you again.