anyone take TRT alongside mental health medications like Prozac(SSRIs) and Adderall or vyvanse?

[Arcane]

I hear many people have success stories with mental health when it comes to TRT. Im not going to lie, my mental health has been rough recently. I have been thinking about biting the bullet on seeing a psychiatrist and getting an SSRI prescribed.

Is there anyone here on TRT and also on psychiatric medications like SSRIs and/or ADHD medication like Adderall and Vyvanse ? if so, how has your experience been?

 

[Seagal]

Are you on TRT?
If not, get a blood test for total and free testosterone, albumine, SHBG, estradiol, DHEA, and thyroid T4, T3,TSH.
If yes, what says the lab report.

I believe that's the way you should approach this problem. Low testosterone and hypothyroidism can cause/contribute to your issues.

Do not hesitate seeing a psychotherapist. Do exercise regularly.

My mental health and performance significantly increased with TRT AND reducing medication.

 

[Charliebizz]

I'm one of the unlucky ones. My mental health actually has gotten worse on trt. I've tried everything under the son hormone wise. Nothing helps. Best thing I've done is taken low dose lexapro. 2.5-5mg a day takes the edge off for me

 

[aloetard]

I'm one of the unlucky ones. My mental health actually has gotten worse on trt. I've tried everything under the son hormone wise. Nothing helps. Best thing I've done is taken low dose lexapro. 2.5-5mg a day takes the edge off for me

Only one i could tolerate as well out of the 5 or so I have trialed. Make me very dull/flat after about a year. Really helped with the panic/anxiety though.

I am sorry you haven't been feeling great. I'm right there with you. All the gainz really don't cheer me up. Always want more. Human nature. Hang in there and hit me up if you want to talk.

 

[aloetard]

have been thinking about biting the bullet on seeing a psychiatrist and getting an SSRI prescribed.

Have you considered CBT/DBT in an outpatient program? Really gets you going and forcing those interactions. SSRI are depressants for me. Did help rewire the anxiety/panic I was experiencing though. Long term I couldn't hang with the SSRIs.

 

[excelnelg]

Everyone is unique and everyone responds differently to psychiatric medications so I would be extremely cautious with any anecdotal experiences that anyone shares with you on the matter. It's very specific to the individual. That being said, Adderall and Vyvanse, in my experience, can cause more problems than they solve, particularly if you are prone to mania and are bipolar but don't know it. SSRIs can also trigger mania in individuals who are bipolar. Treatment is often trial and error and often a moving target, but medication can help some people. I'm presently back on a low dose of Prozac that I've learned I can take as needed, no chemical stimulants and doing ok.

 

[aloetard]

Everyone is unique and everyone responds differently to psychiatric medications so I would be extremely cautious with any anecdotal experiences that anyone shares with you on the matter. It's very specific to the individual. That being said, Adderall and Vyvanse, in my experience, can cause more problems than they solve, particularly if you are prone to mania and are bipolar but don't know it. SSRIs can also trigger mania in individuals who are bipolar. Treatment is often trial and error and often a moving target, but medication can help some people. I'm presently back on a low dose of Prozac that I've learned I can take as needed, no chemical stimulants and doing ok.

Nice! Even current pharmacogenomic tests offer little help at this point. Still very much trial and error for us hard cases. Hilarious, I had a Doc one time rave about mirtazipine. Made her feel so good. I took 5 mg one night as a trial and felt like the walking dead for 2 days haha.

 

[Gman86]

Not trying to derail the thread and make it all about diet, like I have a tendency to do lol, but this is a great vid, imo, for anyone struggling with psychiatric issues, including depression/ anxiety. It’s an interview where a psychiatrist, after many years of practicing, found that she can actually do more good for her patients by helping them with their diets, vs medication. She still prescribes medications, if absolutely needed, but uses them more as a last resort, compared to using them as the go to method of treatment, like she did throughout most of her career.

As far as medications go, SSRI’s just don’t seem like an optimal long term solution. I know they can help, and possibly be life saving, for some people, but the mechanism of action just doesn’t make a ton of sense. But I can see how they can have their place, at the same time. Obv this might not be everyone’s experience with increasing seratonin levels, to a moderate/ high degree, but it seems like increasing seratonin too much leads most people to feel somewhat emotionally flat/ numb. I actually experienced something like this personally one time. It was back before I knew that all SSRI studies are either flawed or corrupt, and that increasing serotonin levels have actually never been proven to improve mood to any significant degree. At the time, I genuinely believe that increasing serotonin levels were one of the best ways to improve mood. So I started taking a few supplements that are known to increase serotonin levels. I started taking tryptophan and 5-htp. I don’t remember exactly how many days it took to feel this way, but I just remember feeling very emotionally flat/ numb. Like I wasn’t really happy, but I wasn’t sad either. It was very weird. I kind of felt like a walking zombie emotionally. So I stopped taking them both after realizing the effects they were having on me. And obv that’s just an N of 1 experience, but from everything I’ve read over the years, it seems like it’s actually very common for people on SSRI’s to experience something similar. Again, I can see the benefit in this tho. For instance, if a person is suicidal, due to their depression, I can see kind of feeling nothing/ being emotionally numb/ flat, being better than feeling so depressed that u want to kill urself. So I can see this being a very viable short term solution, in situations like that. Or just if a person is experiencing very bad depression/ anxiety, on a regular basis, I can see feeling emotionally flat/ numb, being better than feeling those ways on a day to day basis. Again tho, based on the way high serotonin levels make most people feel, SSRI’s seem like a poor option, imo, if improved mood/ well being is the ultimate goal. But obv if some people experience this on them, and feel better than they do without taking them, I definitely think they should just continue taking them.

What makes a bit more sense to me, as far as medications and mood go, is medications that increase dopamine. If u look at the symptoms of increased dopamine, and what most people experience when increasing their dopamine levels, it just seems like these meds would give a person a better chance at success, if improved mood was the ultimate goal. Medications that increase dopamine also have the added benefit of improving sexual function, in a lot of males that take them, vs SSRI’s that have the reputation of hurting things in the bedroom. Obv not all males experience this, but it does have that reputation for a reason. Not sure about medications that increase dopamine and anxiety tho. Not sure if they would help or hurt someone that already has some level of anxiety regularly. Based on what I know about meds that increase dopamine, my assumption is that they would probably not be ideal for people that struggle with anxiety regularly. I could totally be wrong about that tho

At the end of the day, I fully believe food equals mood tho. I experience it within myself, and have seen hundreds, if not thousands at this point, of anecdotes where people reported having life long/ treatment resistant depression, and ended up completely resolving it through diet. Again, don’t want to make this all about diet, cuz I know that can be very annoying for some people lol, but I’ll just link a few good examples of what I’m referencing above.

(psychiatrist that helps her patients by assisting them with their diets, mainly)

(38 mins to 38:30 into it guy talks about being on every SSRI known to man throughout his life, but then having zero depression while doing carnivore)

(16 mins to 18 mins guy talks about thinking he just got dealt a bad genetic hand and was just destined to be on pills for his depression and anxiety the rest of his life, until he found carnivore)

And just so people don’t think I’m like this carnivore diet zealot lol, and aren’t open minded, here’s a vid where from 3:50 to 4:50 a woman that’s now on a high fruit raw vegan diet, talks about how food equals mood, and that she now wakes up as happy as can be, and prior to doing this diet, she was so depressed that she would sometimes contemplate suicide.

 

[FunkOdyssey]

I hear many people have success stories with mental health when it comes to TRT. Im not going to lie, my mental health has been rough recently.

I'm personally having my best success with mood and overall well-being using propionate vs. longer esters, and this seems pretty common. Something you might try if you haven't yet.

Not trying to derail the thread and make it all about diet, like I have a tendency to do lol, but this is a great vid, imo, for anyone struggling with psychiatric issues, including depression/ anxiety. It’s an interview where a psychiatrist, after many years of practicing, found that she can actually do more good for her patients by helping them with their diets, vs medication. She still prescribes medications, if absolutely needed, but uses them more as a last resort, compared to using them as the go to method of treatment, like she did throughout most of her career.

This is for sure the most powerful lever you can pull to influence mental health. I would rank exercise a close second, but diet reigns supreme. Why? Because in many cases, depression is a disorder of impaired brain energy metabolism:

Is Depression a Sign of Low Brain Energy?

Optimizing our mood requires optimizing our brain function. Here is why.

www.psychologytoday.com

Brain Energy: New Hope – Treating Mental Health Disorders as Metabolic Disorders — Harvard ALI Social Impact Review

Mental health disorders are costly to society and devasting to the individuals who suffer. By demonstrating that mental disorders are metabolic disorders, Dr. Chris Palmer offers new solutions and hope to address the mental health epidemic.

www.sir.advancedleadership.harvard.edu

 

[FunkOdyssey]

Is there anyone here on TRT and also on psychiatric medications like SSRIs and/or ADHD medication like Adderall and Vyvanse ? if so, how has your experience been?

If you know me, you know I'm not a big fan of psychiatric medication:

The Case Against Antidepressants

I decided to create a new thread to compile some of the evidence against the use of antidepressant drugs to treat depression. In my mind, the most compelling reason to avoid them is that they may worsen the condition over time, so we will begin there. The following paper suggests poor-long...

www.excelmale.com

 

[Gman86]

I'm personally having my best success with mood and overall well-being using propionate vs. longer esters, and this seems pretty common. Something you might try if you haven't yet.


This is for sure the most powerful lever you can pull to influence mental health. I would rank exercise a close second, but diet reigns supreme. Why? Because in many cases, depression is a disorder of impaired brain energy metabolism:

Is Depression a Sign of Low Brain Energy?

Optimizing our mood requires optimizing our brain function. Here is why.

www.psychologytoday.com

Brain Energy: New Hope – Treating Mental Health Disorders as Metabolic Disorders — Harvard ALI Social Impact Review

Mental health disorders are costly to society and devasting to the individuals who suffer. By demonstrating that mental disorders are metabolic disorders, Dr. Chris Palmer offers new solutions and hope to address the mental health epidemic.

www.sir.advancedleadership.harvard.edu

Great point about short esters. Using very short esters, and dealing with less HPTA suppression, than when using longer esters, can definitely make a big difference, in overall success, including mood. I would assume most people would do better, the less HPTA suppression they experience, while using exogenous hormones.

And ya I don’t think it’s even debatable. Every cell of ur body is literally made up of what u put into it, so it only makes sense that what u put into it, would have the biggest effect, in regards to how it functions, again including mood. And ya I agree, behind diet would definitely be things like exercise and sleep, in regards to mood, imo/ my understanding of how the body works.

 

[Gman86]

If you know me, you know I'm not a big fan of psychiatric medication:

The Case Against Antidepressants

I decided to create a new thread to compile some of the evidence against the use of antidepressant drugs to treat depression. In my mind, the most compelling reason to avoid them is that they may worsen the condition over time, so we will begin there. The following paper suggests poor-long...

www.excelmale.com

Same. But I’m trying to take my personal biases out of things as much as possible. But I definitely appreciate others that don’t care as much about that, and just give it to people straight lol

 

[Guided_by_Voices]

Not trying to derail the thread and make it all about diet, like I have a tendency to do lol, but this is a great vid, imo, for anyone struggling with psychiatric issues, including depression/ anxiety. It’s an interview where a psychiatrist, after many years of practicing, found that she can actually do more good for her patients by helping them with their diets, vs medication. She still prescribes medications, if absolutely needed, but uses them more as a last resort, compared to using them as the go to method of treatment, like she did throughout most of her career.

As far as medications go, SSRI’s just don’t seem like an optimal long term solution. I know they can help, and possibly be life saving, for some people, but the mechanism of action just doesn’t make a ton of sense. But I can see how they can have their place, at the same time. Obv this might not be everyone’s experience with increasing seratonin levels, to a moderate/ high degree, but it seems like increasing seratonin too much leads most people to feel somewhat emotionally flat/ numb. I actually experienced something like this personally one time. It was back before I knew that all SSRI studies are either flawed or corrupt, and that increasing serotonin levels have actually never been proven to improve mood to any significant degree. At the time, I genuinely believe that increasing serotonin levels were one of the best ways to improve mood. So I started taking a few supplements that are known to increase serotonin levels. I started taking tryptophan and 5-htp. I don’t remember exactly how many days it took to feel this way, but I just remember feeling very emotionally flat/ numb. Like I wasn’t really happy, but I wasn’t sad either. It was very weird. I kind of felt like a walking zombie emotionally. So I stopped taking them both after realizing the effects they were having on me. And obv that’s just an N of 1 experience, but from everything I’ve read over the years, it seems like it’s actually very common for people on SSRI’s to experience something similar. Again, I can see the benefit in this tho. For instance, if a person is suicidal, due to their depression, I can see kind of feeling nothing/ being emotionally numb/ flat, being better than feeling so depressed that u want to kill urself. So I can see this being a very viable short term solution, in situations like that. Or just if a person is experiencing very bad depression/ anxiety, on a regular basis, I can see feeling emotionally flat/ numb, being better than feeling those ways on a day to day basis. Again tho, based on the way high serotonin levels make most people feel, SSRI’s seem like a poor option, imo, if improved mood/ well being is the ultimate goal. But obv if some people experience this on them, and feel better than they do without taking them, I definitely think they should just continue taking them.

What makes a bit more sense to me, as far as medications and mood go, is medications that increase dopamine. If u look at the symptoms of increased dopamine, and what most people experience when increasing their dopamine levels, it just seems like these meds would give a person a better chance at success, if improved mood was the ultimate goal. Medications that increase dopamine also have the added benefit of improving sexual function, in a lot of males that take them, vs SSRI’s that have the reputation of hurting things in the bedroom. Obv not all males experience this, but it does have that reputation for a reason. Not sure about medications that increase dopamine and anxiety tho. Not sure if they would help or hurt someone that already has some level of anxiety regularly. Based on what I know about meds that increase dopamine, my assumption is that they would probably not be ideal for people that struggle with anxiety regularly. I could totally be wrong about that tho

At the end of the day, I fully believe food equals mood tho. I experience it within myself, and have seen hundreds, if not thousands at this point, of anecdotes where people reported having life long/ treatment resistant depression, and ended up completely resolving it through diet. Again, don’t want to make this all about diet, cuz I know that can be very annoying for some people lol, but I’ll just link a few good examples of what I’m referencing above.

(psychiatrist that helps her patients by assisting them with their diets, mainly)

(38 mins to 38:30 into it guy talks about being on every SSRI known to man throughout his life, but then having zero depression while doing carnivore)

(16 mins to 18 mins guy talks about thinking he just got dealt a bad genetic hand and was just destined to be on pills for his depression and anxiety the rest of his life, until he found carnivore)

And just so people don’t think I’m like this carnivore diet zealot lol, and aren’t open minded, here’s a vid where from 3:50 to 4:50 a woman that’s now on a high fruit raw vegan diet, talks about how food equals mood, and that she now wakes up as happy as can be, and prior to doing this diet, she was so depressed that she would sometimes contemplate suicide.

People interested in the connection between nutrition and mental health should absolutely read the book Nutrient Power by Dr. William Walsh. He covers things like post-partum depression, violent behavior and lots of other things.

More generally, this thread of responses is another example of people starting to solutionize based on way to little information. "Mental health" is a very wide topic and as with every other aspect of health, removing the cause of a problem is always step one. If mental health issues are, for example, caused by some sort of unresolved and/or ongoing emotional trauma, or an unresolved infection like toxic mold, medications may be a helpful bridge to a a solution, but they are unlikely to be a solution in themselves.

 

[t_spacemonkey]

my mental health improved massively on TRT. i tried some vyvanse and dexedrine for focus, and both of them mess up sleep and should not be taken daily, 2-3x a week max IMO. i would also highly advice against SSRI's. zombifying drugs, hell to get off after longer term usage. i've been taking st johns wort for some time which is a great natural mood booster

 

[aloetard]

If you know me, you know I'm not a big fan of psychiatric medication:

The Case Against Antidepressants

I decided to create a new thread to compile some of the evidence against the use of antidepressant drugs to treat depression. In my mind, the most compelling reason to avoid them is that they may worsen the condition over time, so we will begin there. The following paper suggests poor-long...

www.excelmale.com

Solid thread. Way to go.

@Arcane, try switching up your screen name on here (under account details). Definitely gives you a little dopamine hit. Mix it up.

 

[FunkOdyssey]

Solid thread. Way to go.

@Arcane, try switching up your screen name on here (under account details). Definitely gives you a little dopamine hit. Mix it up.

Your custom title "Decent Sized Member" is hilarious. lol

 

[aloetard]

Your custom title "Decent Sized Member" is hilarious. lol

Something is better than nothing I have rationalized. Thanks for more dopamine. You are kind.

 

[Seagal]

Glad I didn't mention nutrition in my post.
Waiting for @Belekas to throw in genetics.
I'm all about a holistic approach.

 

[Charliebizz]

my mental health improved massively on TRT. i tried some vyvanse and dexedrine for focus, and both of them mess up sleep and should not be taken daily, 2-3x a week max IMO. i would also highly advice against SSRI's. zombifying drugs, hell to get off after longer term usage. i've been taking st johns wort for some time which is a great natural mood booster

I personally think that Many overdose ssris. I had al sorts of issues on the common "starting doses" of ssri. I've had some some success with low dose lexapro. But I also think it should be a last resort

 

[aloetard]

@Belekas

Another great name to see. Hope you are doing well, Brother @Belekas ... Sorry I won't derail thread further. But hey, we gotta support each other. More dopamine all around.