Ephedrin/pseudoephedrin for depression

Has anyone tried this med for depression?
It really helped me at first (pseudoephedrine mixed with dextrometorphan) but now it seems I have tolerance and need higher doses which is dangerous.
If I dont take this med I am aggresive, out of energy, cant do anything, have no motivation, have anxiety and everything in my life seems horrible.

I want to know your experiences with this drug. Was it helpful or damaging?

Please dont say to me - therapy will help you. Its a ling process and yes therapy maybe can help but I need help right here and right now. I ruin all relationships.

Plase suggest me some better stimulabts if current one is bad. But in my country psychiatrists dont prescribe meds like Ritalin etc. Im scared that my bloid pressure is too high too.

Sorry for too long post and pleasehare your your experiences with stimulants and dosages. Thanks.

I don't think it would be very effective. I find anti histamines, nasal decongestants, nyquil, whatever to be pretty useless for depression and anxiety. You would be better off trying supplements. If you can get the herb ephedra in your country that might work. They outlawed it in the US because it is very bad for the heart. It is pretty stimulating.

That sounds like withdrawal. How long have you been taking it?

Supplements that help depression

5HTP
Fish Oil
Melotonin
St. Johns Wort
L Methylfolate
L Tryptophan

Thanks.
I dont think its withdrawal because I have that mood for a long time (may be bipolar) and I took this drug few times and after taking it I just come back to my current mood which is horrible. Im not able to live feeling like this. Natural drugs cant help damaged brain.

Dextromethorphan is definitely addictive, and dangerous.. "when exceeding label-specified maximum dosages, dextromethorphan acts as a dissociative hallucinogen" (source). This is not a good thing for someone struggling with mood.

It might be very valuable for you to just sort of dry out from these things for a while, to see how you feel without any of it. At least then you can work on things from a truer starting point. You as you; not you+ephedrine, or you+dextromethorphan. These things can stay in our body for a while, and can affect us in ways which our initial experiences with them do not always imply.

And I'm not judging. I understand where the drive to self-medicate comes from. But if you keep going from one dangerous substance to another, it can ultimately be very de-stabilizing.

I abused dxm few years ago and never had something horrible but I did it rarely so maybe thats the point why it was okay. Not really okay, intoxicating... but better then suicide.

St. John's Wort gave me palpitations. I'll never go herbal again.

It gave me horrible nightmares. Same thing happened to a friend of mine.

I have been taking a half shot of NyQuil twice a day for the last two weeks cuz I have been pretty sick. The diphenhydramine doesn't make me tired. It doesn't do anything psyche wise other than I feel a little better sick wise.

I too very much understand the desire to self medicate. I did it for years with drugs and alcohol.

Are you taking any real psyche meds? Have you seen professionals for these issues?

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When I used to self medicate it was a lot better than the old neuroleptics. Then I was prescribed benzos and it was better than self medicating. Now I'm back where I started, searching for anti anxiety relief.

Diphenhydramine was the worst drug I ever taken. I overdosed it. First time I had delirium for 12 hours and it was interesting but every next times I had horrible panic attacks which I never had before and the last time I took it I almost die because I had convulsions and I couldnt breath.

I have been taking psyche meds but no matter if I take them or not I feel the same. Okay Xanax is the only one med who always helped me. All of antidepresants helped me only first week, I became manic and then again completely depressed so I left schoil and didnt go to job and it ruined my life. I dont want to risk anymore taking antidepressants. Antipsychotics never helped me but I had horrible side effects and delusions became even worse.
So I dont believe in psyche meds. My friend also had similar effects of sedative antidepressants, he became manic.
I have been taking mood stabilazers but it was nonsense. I have tried MANY meds being patient of psychiatrists for three years.

I hate alcohol but if other stuff wont make me be normal I have to drink because M too agressive.

When I toik MDMA (extasy) I just felt okay. Not manic ir euphoric but okay like a normal person but I know that it can end with deadly withdrawal but my while life is withdrawal.
Being bipolar is like being on drugs when you are manic and then suffering from withdrawals when you are depressed. Sad but true.

I take Adderall but more for ADD than depression. It does help but if you don't have ADHD or add then you will probably keep needing more and more so it probably isn't the best option. Especially with high blood pressure it's probably not very safe. There are antidepressants that are stimulating like Wellbutrin that some people do really well with. Keep in mind that meds that are activating usually don't decrease anxiety, so you might need something with it to help.

Yeah anti depressants suck. Not so effective and not good if they trigger mania. Fetzima is working very good for me though. It did trigger hypo mania for two months.

Seems to me the mania could be controlled with mood stabilizers or AAP's but then there is still the depression side.

Self medicating and addiction is a very dangerous game my friend. Trust me I have been there. Almost fried my brain for good with meth.

Actually MDMA is being researched for depression. Ketamine (Special K) is being used for it. Small doses and controlled I believe. Not like street use.

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In rare cases amphetamines are used for treatment resistant depression. Not sure how good that would be with bi polar though. I have a friend who told me her diagnosis was bi polar I and this new pdoc gave her dexadrine. Maybe he changed her diagnosis though I dunno. She never asks questions just does what doc says. She's on a bunch of meds but has done very very well the last two years.

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It sounds like you're using cough and cold medicine to help you with your depression .. When I was a kid I used to abuse DXM/cough medicine .. we called it robotripping lol anyways it's probably not a good thing to use to help your depression .. Like I said I got high off the stuff when I was in HS and eventually started using hard drugs and smoking pot everyday and eventually turned into a full blown heroin addict .. Not saying that'll happen to you but just be forewarned. There's not much else I can tell you since my depression is always situational. But the other commenters mentioned herbs and supplements .. Try that! If you Google "national remedies for depression" you'll find a buttload of information .. There are actually some docs who are all about it. Good luck; stay strong.

Dxm is VERY VERY dangerous. My brother almost died from taking too much of it and permanently damaged his mental health. We even think it may have induced his bipolar disorder. Dxm is absolutely the last substance you should ever put in your body if you're having mental issues. Frankly I can't believe it hasn't been banned in th US yet. Cold medicine is bad for you to begin with (it can double the duration of illnesses) and dxm is just toxic.

Ephedra is bad for you too and was banned for good reason. If you need a boost, you should take a combination of ginsing, green tea, and caffeine. It's much safer and effective too.

I think this form of self medication has the potential to be damaging. Ephedrine is dangerous in high dosages due to the potential for heart failure. The DXM is dangerous too, but in a different way. High doses of the stuff are not physically toxic, but the hallucinogenic effects are extremely powerful and have the potential to seriously fry some brain cells, especially if it is used on a regular basis. Believe it or not, in high enough doses, DXM is no less potent than angel dust. Shocking, I know, but entirely true, cough syrup is an incredibly powerful hallucinogenic drug if it is used improperly.

I don;t have too high blood presssure if I'm sober but pseudoepfedrine increses it. I can't take this med everyday because of tolerance anyway...
Yes, I know that there are some stimulants but my psychiatrists used to think that SSRI is the best antidepressants ever. I havent tried newest ones so maybe there is something that can help me.

How do you feel taking Adderal? I can imagine feeling like on amphetamines.

Ketamine has very, very similar mechanism like DXM.
Mood stabilazers didn't help me, I don;t have mania if I don;t take some specific antidepresssants. I just have mood swings but when I take antidepressants it always turns to mania and then my depression becomes worse.

That's interesting how amphetamines could help with depression in long term.

I know about other people tripping with DXM but I never had a trip (maybe one time when I took 20 pills of 30 mg but it was too high)

I'm sorry it happened to you
I dont think that dxm is the worst drug, none of drugs are good.

I will try your suggested combination but herbs never helped me but who knows...

When I was a teenager I used to try overdosing on OTC cold medicine. It usually just knocked me out for 20 hours or so. Never did take enough I guess. I'd take like 30 pills.

In my opinion it is worth trying all the anti depressants and combinations rather than self medicating.
Have you tried the SSNRI's?
Like Effexor, Pristiq, Fetzima
Have you tried Wellburtin?
There are some new SSRI's as well

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Unfortunetely I haven't find good one psychiatrist or all of them like only SSRI and they never prescribed me those what you mentioned but they prescribed me meds which are older then SSRI.
I think maybe it's worth to try but I have lost all my belief in antidepressants.
I have tried many of SSRI and all did the same.

Consider adding trigger warning to this post for those dealing with substance a use issues