[SophiaG]

because the body eventually becomes used to it?

I'm wondering if this is true.

[Perna]

Only the body can heal; all medicine is just to help or support. The body is constantly changing and sometimes things become better (heal) and sometimes they become worse or more confused (medicines that cause side effects that require medicines to treat; my stepmother was taking something like 20+ meds at one point and my stepsister and her doctors "weeded" them down to only 7 or 8) or used to a med and the dose has to be increased, etc. but I wouldn't say "failure" happens but probably that the body changes over time and its needs change.

[lastyearisblank]

No, there is a mild poop out effect for some medication, other medication isn't the correct one to start with, and then there's the placebo effect, to complicate everything. But not all medication is useless! Though on the whole I think therapy helps better.

[Ygrec23]

Hmmmm. Personally, I'm convinced that there's much more difference between individuals than is usually believed to be true. When medications are targeted at very specific disease entities and are proven to work, then (to me) the differences between people don't count so much. But I believe we've found out over the past fifty years, and particularly with the SSRI's, that not every medicine works for every person, even if their afflictions are considered to be similar or related. Depression in your brain and depression in my brain may be very different things, unlike e. coli or polio or whatever. And so some people get treated and immediately respond positively to the depression medication and others wander from medication to medication trying to find something that works. And THEY don't yet know really why this is true, but I think it is, and many others do too. You may just not yet have stumbled on the one that works for you. And honestly I'm not certain that the p-docs know any better than we do. So we just have to try them all. Take care!

[SophiaG]

Yes, it seems like such a faulty system though. Test and try for a few months, and then test and try again with another medication for a few months. Hopefully in the future they'll figure out something that doesn't involve months of waiting, nasty side-effects and several switches to get the "right thing".

I think people who suffer from mental illnesses deserve better, more effective, treatment.

[Fresia]

I don't know if it is failure so much as finding the right one, in some cases a tolerance that builds, or a change in body chemistry. I agree, it would be nice if there was a more definitive way to know what will work and what won't. I have now been through so many trials of ones that didn't work and also been on ones that have lasted (decades), as well as ones that lasted then stopped working (call it tolerance or change in body chemistry), that I know the body is constantly changing and we are all so unique. It is very difficult to fine-tune this for the docs and for us to know given our current knowledge. There is research being conducted to look into the genetic component to help narrow down what affects our chemistry and they are learning more in other areas continually to help, but until then, unfortunately we'll continue to be testers to help our own mental health. Hang in there in the process, the right one(s) IS/ARE out there.

[splitimage]

I''ve been on Effexor XR for over 10 years, Celexa for 4 years, Risperidone for about 7 years, and clonazapam for 4 years. All are still working for me, they're actually all working really well at the moment. Guess I've been lucky.

--splitimage

[intergalactictraveler]

I have treatment resistant ultradian cycling bipolar/mixed state and after going through 20 meds of all classes, including a drug for Alzheimer's and many nutritional supplements, neither the doctors I've seen nor myself have hit upon that 'magic' cocktail or bullet. I'm at the far end of the spectrum, out there with Dr. Who. At birth, I had a life threatening gastrointestinal defect and if my dad hadn't found a surgeon to operate on me, I would've died. I do have my moments when I wish I had died.

[CharactorAssassin]

For me the APs failed. I don't give them a chance either. It seemed seroquel worked but I started to get cataracts so I had to stop.

[avlady]

I use the risperidal and clanazapam also and it has been life changing, along with some other meds, but didn't notice any difference until after the clanazapam and risperdal and another one called viibryd. I recently started loritabs too for gedenerative disc disorder in my back and spine. I just had an appointment with my T and she told me she would never know I had had a mental issue with the way the meds are working now.

[sewerrats]

i have 2 friends been on Effexor for years as well, they had a few hicup,s along the way. I hope it continues for them because it will be a hell of a detox if it poops out.

[Cocosurviving]

It can be a vicious cycle of try different meds, trying to
find the right cocktail. I've been on three diff meds (so far)
and only one didn't work.