Can SSRIs help someone who is depressed

[limitless77]

I've been following raypeat ideas for some time now and I know that he is against serotonin, but I'm desperate and I've did some research about SSRIs and from my understanding they don't raise the production of serotonin in the body like tryptophan and 5-htp do, but they keep the serotonin between neurons in the brain . I'm in a really good physical shape around 12% BF at 175cm 72kg , and I eat a lot, more than 3000 calories per day a lot of carbs(white bread ,starch and some sugar) and fats mostly saturated and some olive oil and I try to reach 100g of protein daily so I think I have a healthy metabolism because I'm staying lean and not gaining fat.
but I'm struggling with mental issues depression , social anxiety and ADHD(I've been taking concerts 18mg Wich is an extended release methylphenidate for like 4 days now but I'm not feeling any better) , I used to be really smart but now I struggle to speak fluently and I keep struggling over my words and I don't even have the will to talk , and when I do talk I feel like a retard and I struggle to find words and can't keep a long chain of thoughts when I'm talking about something or trying to prove a point . I can't look people in the eyes ,can't make friends ,have low motivation and self esteem . Currently doing nothing in life , dragging my self to the gym few times a week when there is not a lot of people and walking around town( sometimes after lifting weights or walking I feel motivated and happy for a few minutes) .
Im desperate to try anything that can help me ,I've seen some videos on YouTube on a channel named Leo and longevity where he made a comprehensive series about serotonin and why he takes it eventho he does not have depression or anxiety but he takes SSRIs for cognitive enhancement . So after watching his videos and being desperate about my case I'm thinking about taking an SSRIs to see if it can help me get through this time and hopefully getting rid of my depression and SAD and change my life .
Im thinking about using it just as a bandaid to get my life together , get through university and have a better social life and friends and maybe that can resolve my depression and anxiety.
Any advice or alternatives would be helpful .

 

[Perry Staltic]

SSRIs and SNRIs are 5HT2b agonists, which means they promote fibrosis. I think that though they deplete platelet serotonin, they elevate serum serotonin. Long term use is not a good idea. I want to know how many people with bad covid outcomes were long term users of SSRI/SNRIs.

The relationship of SSRI and SNRI usage with interstitial lung disease | CIA

The relationship of SSRI and SNRI usage with interstitial lung disease and bronchiectasis in an elderly population: a case-control study Ted Rosenberg,1 Rory Lattimer,2 Patrick Montgomery,3 Christian Wiens,4 Liran Levy5 1Department of Family Medicine, University of British Columbia and Island...

www.dovepress.com

Modulation of bleomycin-induced lung fibrosis by serotonin receptor antagonists in mice

Serotonin (5-hydroxytryptamine; 5-HT) is known to increase proliferation and collagen synthesis by fibroblasts. Two receptor subtypes, 5-HT2A and 5-HT2B, have been shown to play the most important roles in the lung. In the present study, the role of serotonin in lung fibrosis was investigated...

erj.ersjournals.com

 

[Ben.]

@youngsinatra can chime in here i guess?

Most on this board will tell you to not take SSRI's and go with a b-complex and tmg+thiamine hcl+nicotinamide combo, getting enough sunshine and fixx gut issues.


Personally, i keep coming back to the conclusion that internal health/gut is responsible for such energy and mentality issues.
How to accomplish that is a whole other issue ...

 

[JamesGatz]

Personally, i keep coming back to the conclusion that internal health/gut is responsible for such energy and mentality issues.
How to accomplish that is a whole other issue ...

Agreed. I only really get depressed when my digestion is in trouble - I don't have a stack to accomplish this or anything special, but just sipping on mexican coke throughout the day and eating pineapple helps keep my gut clean and feel optimal.

 

[rei]

The beneficial effects like increased neurosteroid synthesis are achieved at significantly lower doses than serotonin reuptake inhibition, so if you want to try them go with something like 1/10:th of the low range dose, like 1mg citalopram.

 

[reality]

I would first try remove the white bread and starch

And try high dose thiamine

 

[Perry Staltic]

Every day you depend on a drug to make you feel better is a day lost to developing the skills and discipline necessary to overcome your problems.

 

[Peatness]

I would first try remove the white bread and starch

And try high dose thiamine

+ 1

Mega-Dose Thiamine: Beyond Addressing “Deficiency”

Throughout the past few years, I have been prescribing thiamine more and more often for individuals with a range of different health conditions. I have witnessed major symptomatic improvement in some people who displayed none of the key risk factors for thiamine deficiency, and many times had...

www.eonutrition.co.uk

 

[PaRa]

have you got this ? (Qualify for each)

easy orgasm, high libido, body hair, proeminent veins on arms, seasonal allergie, digestive allergies (not food intolerance)
sweat easily and a lot, cold tolerance, hot tolerance
itchy eyes, mosquito bites very irritating
headaches
veins pulsing heart beating when in the bed
insomnia or sleepy a lot

 

[Explorer]

Every day you depend on a drug to make you feel better is a day lost to developing the skills and discipline necessary to overcome your problems.

What if problems are physically caused by hormone/gut/neurotransmitter imbalances and completely go away once those are addressed and just practice alone does not do much?

 

[limitless77]

I would first try remove the white bread and starch

And try high dose thiamine

can that be the cause of my depression? I've been eating white bread and starch all my life and have no digestive issue with them , but I'm gonna try that , I'm so desperate that I wanna try everything . Any idea for how long should it take to know if the gluten and the starch are the problem? what to replace them with? sugar, fruit and milk? and how much thiamine should I take and what's the reason for that? thanks

 

[limitless77]

have you got this ? (Qualify for each)

easy orgasm, high libido, body hair, proeminent veins on arms, seasonal allergie, digestive allergies (not food intolerance)
sweat easily and a lot, cold tolerance, hot tolerance
itchy eyes, mosquito bites very irritating
headaches
veins pulsing heart beating when in the bed
insomnia or sleepy a lot

I have easy orgasm, sometimes high libido and sometimes no ,recently no, prominent veins on arms yes , I sweat easily and a lot a lot and that's all from the ones you mentioned , I also have pressure in my ears and a feeling in the back of my throat when I get very depressed and cannot cry

 

[lampofred]

Coffee and nicotine are the best anti-depressants, but big pharma advertised against tobacco as they started pushing their own drugs, SSRIs. I think the problems like cancer associated with tobacco are due to combining it with a high meat/phosphate/iron diet. Not recommending anyone should use it, just saying you should research it more.

Also what are your pulse/body temperature? Whenever asked about depression, Peat recommends taking enough thyroid to keep an 85 BPM pulse and 98.6 temperature, high calcium to phosphate ratio, and vitamin D.

 

[miquelangeles]

have you got this ? (Qualify for each)

easy orgasm, high libido, body hair, proeminent veins on arms, seasonal allergie, digestive allergies (not food intolerance)
sweat easily and a lot, cold tolerance, hot tolerance
itchy eyes, mosquito bites very irritating
headaches
veins pulsing heart beating when in the bed
insomnia or sleepy a lot

Do these symptoms qualify someone for being a responder to SSRI therapy?

 

[tankasnowgod]

I've been following raypeat ideas for some time now and I know that he is against serotonin, but I'm desperate and I've did some research about SSRIs and from my understanding they don't raise the production of serotonin in the body like tryptophan and 5-htp do, but they keep the serotonin between neurons in the brain . I'm in a really good physical shape around 12% BF at 175cm 72kg , and I eat a lot, more than 3000 calories per day a lot of carbs(white bread ,starch and some sugar) and fats mostly saturated and some olive oil and I try to reach 100g of protein daily so I think I have a healthy metabolism because I'm staying lean and not gaining fat.

Where did you do this research on SSRIs? Youtube? Blogposts? Pubmed? Google Scholar? Looking at the studies Peat cites? Searching the forum?

but I'm struggling with mental issues depression , social anxiety and ADHD(I've been taking concerts 18mg Wich is an extended release methylphenidate for like 4 days now but I'm not feeling any better) , I used to be really smart but now I struggle to speak fluently and I keep struggling over my words and I don't even have the will to talk , and when I do talk I feel like a retard and I struggle to find words and can't keep a long chain of thoughts when I'm talking about something or trying to prove a point . I can't look people in the eyes ,can't make friends ,have low motivation and self esteem . Currently doing nothing in life , dragging my self to the gym few times a week when there is not a lot of people and walking around town( sometimes after lifting weights or walking I feel motivated and happy for a few minutes) .

If you are struggling with depression, why would you even consider a class of drugs that is known to cause an increase in homicidal behavior, including suicide?

SSRI Drugs Increase Violent Behavior And Promote Recidivism

Despite decades of animal research demonstrating how elevated serotonin in general, and SSRI drugs in particular, turn animals into homicidal, vicious creatures, (and are actually the cause of depression and not the cure for it) mainstream medicine continues to deny that such scary effects are...

raypeatforum.com

They can also cause anxiety and PTSD-

Serotonin (and SSRI drugs) can cause anxiety and PTSD – To Extract Knowledge from Matter

Im desperate to try anything that can help me ,I've seen some videos on YouTube on a channel named Leo and longevity where he made a comprehensive series about serotonin and why he takes it eventho he does not have depression or anxiety but he takes SSRIs for cognitive enhancement . So after watching his videos and being desperate about my case I'm thinking about taking an SSRIs to see if it can help me get through this time and hopefully getting rid of my depression and SAD and change my life .

Lol, doing research on Youtube. I wouldn't trust that, unless it's a source that you know as credible in the first place (eg, a talk that Ray Peat gave that's been uploaded to youtube).

Personally, I would be wary of trusting any "science" from a youtube channel that uses that much Neon in the video thumbnail. It's like a 1980s nightclub where the Terminator is gonna walk in and attempt to assassinate Sarah Connor over there!

Im thinking about using it just as a bandaid to get my life together , get through university and have a better social life and friends and maybe that can resolve my depression and anxiety.
Any advice or alternatives would be helpful .

Okay, it wouldn't be very helpful of me to just criticize what you wrote without offering some ideas.

SSRIs can potentially help with depression in some, but the cost is very high (in raised Serotonin levels), and benefits would likely be transient (at best). The increase in serotonin isn't necessarily the mechanism of action in those that respond positively, as some of the drugs are thought to be antagonists on certain 5-HT receptors. Some are also thought to increase allopregnanalone.

I think it's better to lower and antagonize serotoinin to improve mood, and this strategy personally worked for me. Over the past year, I have noticed that a no starch diet, progesterone, and cyproheptadine have done wonders for my overall mood and well being. I wouldn't touch any SSRI drug with a 10 foot pole after my own positive experience with cyrpo, not that I would have ever considered them after finding Peat's work. Here are some studies that Haidut posted about cyproheptadine's true anti-depressant effects-

Treatment of depression with cyproheptadine - PubMed

We evaluated the antidepressant activity of cyproheptadine HCl in six patients diagnosed with major depression. This was a double-blind, placebo-controlled, crossover trial with treatment order balanced and randomly assigned. The patients received 4 weeks of treatment with cyproheptadine HCl 4...

pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

Cyproheptadine for prevention of neuropsychiatric adverse effects of efavirenz: a randomized clinical trial - PubMed

Cyproheptadine prevention of the neuropsychiatric adverse effects of an antiretroviral regimen including efavirenz has been evaluated in a randomized clinical trial. Twenty-five patients (16 males and 9 females with mean±SD ages of 36±9 years) in a cyproheptadine group, and 26 patients (17 males...

pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

Effect of cyproheptadine treatment on conditioned avoidance response in female rats - PubMed

1. The percentage of conditioned avoidance response was higher during proestrus compared to diestrus. 2. Cyproheptadine (CPH) significantly enhanced avoidance behavior during diestrus. 3. On the other hand, CPH treatment did not alter avoidance behavior during proestrus. 4. Serum progesterone...

pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

I've had similar mood boosting effects from other serotonin antagonists.

 

[tankasnowgod]

Personally, i keep coming back to the conclusion that internal health/gut is responsible for such energy and mentality issues.
How to accomplish that is a whole other issue ...

Well, 95% of serotonin is produced in the gut by bacteria (along with endotoxin), so it's likely a major factor in most, yes.

 

[Peater]

have you got this ? (Qualify for each)

easy orgasm, high libido, body hair, proeminent veins on arms, seasonal allergie, digestive allergies (not food intolerance)
sweat easily and a lot, cold tolerance, hot tolerance
itchy eyes, mosquito bites very irritating
headaches
veins pulsing heart beating when in the bed
insomnia or sleepy a lot

Can you tell me what those signify please?

Line 2 especially, somewhat raised/vascular appearance of hands and inner forearms, developed bread/gluten allergy early 20s, generally no amount of sleep ever feels enough. (Although the past 18 months have not helped my general well-being and demeanor)

 

[Makrosky]

Yes, they work. And pretty good. But they are too risky, I wouldn't take them. Have you investigated tianeptine?

 

[Gustav3Y]

I've seen some videos on YouTube on a channel named Leo and longevity where he made a comprehensive series about serotonin and why he takes it eventho he does not have depression or anxiety but he takes SSRIs for cognitive enhancement .

You have to keep it honest with yourself, he takes way more than SSRI, which all matter in the end, it's not like he only takes SSRI.
Do not fixate on one thing alone when so many are involved.
Notice he takes certain things that he says many people have sides "but I don't".
He had a child but when he did it, he used a "protocol", he needed the protocol to have children? I don't know, I do not know the full story.

 

[limitless77]

thanks for helping , so Im gonna try this , does cyproheptadine have a lot of side effects , I've seen its mainly used for weight gain. and what dosage were you using and how long did it take you to notice change. and what about the starch ? how can starch cause depression and anxiety, any idea?