SSRI , SNRI and SARI

[chris 71]

im interested if anybody here is on any of these anti depressants slash anti anxiety meds and using cannabis at the same time . and what your experience is .

i recently have been put on trazodone an SARI to give it a try for anxiety i have been suffering from . in my cause i swear up and down that my problem is from a auto immune disease , hyperthyroid disease , i have called graves disease .

but the docs tell me its not that . so i have decided to give it a try . so far i have been taking it for 4 days and i am having some improvements in some areas so it seems , so far anyways .

i havnt had any cannabis at all since a day or two before starting the meds .

i asked the pharmacists if there was anything to worry about if i was to vape or smoke my mmj while taking my trazodone . he said no but im still a little leary and havnt tried yet .

i did do some googling to see what i could find out about cannabis effecting serotonin levels but could only find here say type info .

so anyway does anybody here use cannabis and take any of these meds and have any info or experience they could share . i guess the worst thing to worry about would be if it could cause a serotonin syndrome effect .

but not sure if this is really a issue . and the pharmacist would surely have said if there was no ?

 

[chris 71]

Nobody ??

 

[Abysmal Vapor]

It wont cause serotonin syndrome for sure... but those meds are total shit ,i had a friend treated with SSRI for bi-polar and i can say... it only made thing worse in longterm.. also had another friend go trough a divorce ,cause meds SSRIs caused a drastic shift in personality in his wife,which left him ,after making him put up with that shit for an year..
Anti-depressants are also wont cause SS, but are addictive and bad for your liver.. Also if you stop after long use u may experience epileptic shocks ..
Before starting to pop pills better check with your self if your life is so god damn miserable and at risk.. without them.. cause with them for sure the problems are to follow..

 

[muunch]

If it's just trazodone you're taking you'll be fine.

You may need less trazodone or less cannabis depending on how your body reacts. I think it's peculiar they would prescribe trazodone for anxiety but I'm just a tech and not a pharmacist or dr or physician.

I'll refrain from giving any advice for that reason, but I've found better luck exploring non-pharmaceutical drugs than bothering to put myself through the potential dangers of stuff that is often prescribed for anxiety and depression.

Loads of cannabis, l-theanine and aniracetam daily, plus healthy diet, exercise and mindfulness have been better for me than SSRIs/benzos/whatever other stupid stuff they'd want me to take.

Ironic how medication that's supposed to reduce anxiety got you anxious enough to make a post about it! Anyway cheers dude

 

[chris 71]

Thanks for the reply abysmalvapor and. muunch its not so much the med has made me anxious i have been saying up and down that its the graves disease thats fucking me up .and i still think it is .

it is common for it to cause the symptoms im having but im just soo despreate to get it under controll im finely willing to try what the docs keep recomending. As for the trazodone i kinda picked that one my self because it sounded less worry some compard to some of the others i read About . and is said to be sedating which could be a benifit in my case .

Anyway im totaly sick of dealing with this graves disease crap and im going to an endo apointment on wensday and im going to tell him i want the radiation treatment to just kill it off . then take replacement hormone for the rest of my life . im only thinking i will need the trazodone till then .

Cannabis was helping with my graves disease while i was using lots of it . my thyriod levels were under controll for months with only having to take less then half the antithyriod meds im currently taking . but i went and made the stupid mistake of trying to see if i could quit cannabis for a while and as soon as i did my thyriod levels went out of controll . and now im stricken with anxity that is even triggered by cannbis. Im assuming because my tollerance has been lowered . but i just cant seem to use it now . so thats why im trying the ssri type meds . but i still want to get my canabinoids so just thought maybe somebody eles here might have experience using cannabis while on them . i dont want to if there is any chance of anything getting worse though

 

[muunch]

Not personal experience but I have known people who have mixed them with no ill effects.

Sounds like the cannabis is giving you some serious aid though, so I wouldn't try suddenly stopping.

I wish I could give you more help but I'd just be getting in the way at this point because it's beyond the scope of my knowledge. I almost wish I didn't say what I did in my last post, because I'm not sure it's something that'll just resolve itself over time with diet/etc.

Make sure you tell your docs the cannabis helps. I hope you get some relief, man!

 

[chris 71]

Not personal experience but I have known people who have mixed them with no ill effects.

Sounds like the cannabis is giving you some serious aid though, so I wouldn't try suddenly stopping.

I wish I could give you more help but I'd just be getting in the way at this point because it's beyond the scope of my knowledge. I almost wish I didn't say what I did in my last post, because I'm not sure it's something that'll just resolve itself over time with diet/etc.

Make sure you tell your docs the cannabis helps. I hope you get some relief, man!

Thanks man and yes i have told them all about the cannabis use im sure it is the reason i was able to use so much less meds but its hard to get the docs to belive it

 

[EverythingsHazy]

Those medicines are most definitely NOT total shit. They are extremely useful for many people. Trying to treat certain disorders (bi-polar being one of them), without proper medication, is a huge mistake.

Just because someone or their friend was able tommitigate their symptoms with "mindfulness" and a healthy diet, doesn't mean that is the smart way for most people to treat that disease/disorder. It's very likely that they are a lucky exception to the rule, and/or that their symptoms aren't as severe as those who actually need the medication.

Just because you have a bad reaction to one medicine in a certain class (Ex. Prozac), doesn't mean you won't get huge benefits from another medicine in the same class.

I've said it before, but a Cannabis forum isn't the best place to get educated opinions on prescription medicine and medical treatments. Almost nobody here has professional medical training. You're likely to fall prey to intense biases, including but not limited to selection bias, shared information bias, and confirmation bias.

As for your original question...again, is trust a professional doctor's opinion on the safety of combining any drug with Cannabis use. I'd also mention that changing your Cannabis use at the same time as introducing or getting off of a prescription drug, can make deciphering the cause of the resulting changes you experience. Changing two variables at the same time makes it hard to tell what is affecting what.

 

[MightySexual]

Nicely said, something tells me you might also have a background in the sciences? There are many physicians that fall foul of the biases you mention even, let alone people on the internet.


I wouldn't want to give advice that cost someone their lives potentially. You are quite rights though, uncontrolled levels of thyroxine are just going to make things worse from a mental health standpoint; you should expect to start feeling better when that is figured out by your endocrinologist. Sorry to hear you are going through such an awful time OP, autoimmune diseases are no fun at all!

 

[Abysmal Vapor]

@EverythingsHazy I agree with your opinion,i just wanted to point out that, doctors are not always right,also health care is very poor in my country.. and you have far better chance of figuring shit out with herbal medicines than being a guinea pig to some doctor.. who only prescribes certain meds because the pharmacy company are sending them on vacations ,there was a horrifying reportage recently in the news, about overprescribing certain blood pressure medicine to old people.. there was even was a target list published.. : 100 PC - 2 nights in lodge in a nearby mountain resort, 500 PC - trip to Greece, 10000 PC - Trip to Dubai.. Anyway i am getting offtopic with that so i apologize for it..
I think that it is best that one takes all the info available in account and try different ways of dealing with his problems and moving from one to another until he finds whats works for him.. Sry if i sounded like i hate modern medicine, i just hate pill popping..,but yet again antibiotics have save my life at least ones.
).
I might sounded too strong in my opinion,for sure it is just one side of the coin,but I also had to share the experience of the people i know so you can take in account that there are possible negative outcomes of those meds..

 

[chris 71]

[QUOTE="EverythingsHazy, post: 1149991,

I've said it before, but a Cannabis forum isn't the best place to get educated opinions on prescription medicine and medical treatments. Almost nobody here has professional medical training. You're likely to fall prey to intense biases, including but not limited to selection bias, shared information bias, and confirmation bias.

As for your original question...again, is trust a professional doctor's opinion on the safety of combining any drug with Cannabis use. I'd also mention that changing your Cannabis use at the same time as introducing or getting off of a prescription drug, can make deciphering the cause of the resulting changes you experience. Changing two variables at the same time makes it hard to tell what is affecting what.[/QUOTE]

Well thats kinda funny coming from someone looking for dotors and scientists to chime in on a cannabis forum about its specific effects on white and gray matter in human brains lol .

Im not looking for medical advice from docs about this as its my opinion they dont really have any experience with it them selfs. Gonna be hard to find many docs that take theae meds them selfs and uae cannabis lol . i was asking for experiences from actual people that have real experience using both . i did ask the pharmisist in regard to safty issues and also the docs .

Anyway after my apointment qith the endo yesterday i have decided to not continue the use of the SSRI even though i got a new perscription for a different ine then trazodone that my doc said qas better for anxity and panic .

The reason for my desion is that taking pills in general makes me more qorried and nervous about side effects . and the length of time it takes to get benifits if they are going to qork for you is just to long . in my cause it will just increse my worries and stress .

Iv decided to do what i know best which is try and gwt back into regular exercise and keep trying to reintroduce cannabis as it used to help me greatly .

Im also currently enrolled in a CBT therapy program tommor will be my third apointment with that .

As for the thyriod the endo encouraged me to keep trying the antityriod med for a little longer but left the option open if i want to just nuke it . so onward i go thanks for all the post even hazy im not a tottal cannabis is the end all be all sort but i have personel experience with it and proof in my case and mind , that it did help me greatly as in when on it regular i only needed less then half the meds i currently need to my levels on check .

And as many times stated an mri showing no damage soo ... ,but thanks for the imput

 

[Deleted Member 1643]

Been on Prozac for 25 years while using cannabis. Tried trazadone and many other SSRIs over the years. IME, Prozac was the only one that was effective for depression. Trazadone was added for insomnia at one point. Didn't help with sleep and worsened mood. Not saying you should try Prozac (withdrawal can be very difficult) - point is these drugs shouldn't be grouped together. They're chemically distinct and may not work by the hypothesized mechanisms. Bupropion, for example, seemed to produce heightened anxiety with cannabis.

Another factor to consider is medical competence. In the US, some nurses and assistants prescribe drugs in addition to physicians, and many physicians study at questionable medical schools after failing to be accepted by reputable ones. It's challenging for even the brightest physicians to stay current in their specialties. Sadly, it's become essential for patients' survival to do their own research into both underlying conditions and prescribers' experience.

Hope you find effective treatment.

 

[chris 71]

Been on Prozac for 25 years while using cannabis. Tried trazadone and many other SSRIs over the years. IME, Prozac was the only one that was effective for depression. Trazadone was added for insomnia at one point. Didn't help with sleep and worsened mood. Not saying you should try Prozac (withdrawal can be very difficult) - point is these drugs shouldn't be grouped together. They're chemically distinct and may not work by the hypothesized mechanisms. Bupropion, for example, seemed to produce heightened anxiety with cannabis.

Another factor to consider is medical competence. In the US, some nurses and assistants prescribe drugs in addition to physicians, and many physicians study at questionable medical schools after failing to be accepted by reputable ones. It's challenging for even the brightest physicians to stay current in their specialties. Sadly, it's become essential for patients' survival to do their own research into both underlying conditions and prescribers' experience.

Hope you find effective treatment.

Tottaly agree with you about the docs its truly amazing that i can learn about and have more knowledge. About my thyriod then my regular doc seems to i have learned a lot in the last year and a half and it is truly amazing how many people are mismanaged by there docs . you really need to educate your self to actuly tell the doc what kind of tests and treatments you need and want

Thank you for your specific imput on your experience on combining the two meds for that thanks a lot

 

[Abysmal Vapor]

I really dont want to throw bad advices,cause it shouldnt be combined with SSRI, but i have heard of a case where a guy got rid of the SSRI with the help of Kanna a.k.a Sceletium which is a natural mood enhancer without being an SSRI,It is actually an SRI (check wiki ,it is not synonymous with SSRI) , i personally use it from time to time and really gives me energy and makes my mood go up in way pot was doing at the begging of my use.. ).. I dont feel it is toxic in any way or affecting my health in a bad way,quite the opposite..I feel like it has a future in mood therapies.
Anyway maybe you should look into it once you have detoxed the SSRI..
I am not saying to do it,but i also read the psychedelic therapy is on the rise ,and some are use to overcome some serious psychological conditions like PTSD,Long term depression ,etc.. Check Maps studies about those therapies and microdosing. ) !

 

[EverythingsHazy]

@EverythingsHazy I agree with your opinion,i just wanted to point out that, doctors are not always right,also health care is very poor in my country.. and you have far better chance of figuring shit out with herbal medicines than being a guinea pig to some doctor.. who only prescribes certain meds because the pharmacy company are sending them on vacations ,there was a horrifying reportage recently in the news, about overprescribing certain blood pressure medicine to old people.. there was even was a target list published.. : 100 PC - 2 nights in lodge in a nearby mountain resort, 500 PC - trip to Greece, 10000 PC - Trip to Dubai.. Anyway i am getting offtopic with that so i apologize for it..
I think that it is best that one takes all the info available in account and try different ways of dealing with his problems and moving from one to another until he finds whats works for him.. Sry if i sounded like i hate modern medicine, i just hate pill popping..,but yet again antibiotics have save my life at least ones.
).
I might sounded too strong in my opinion,for sure it is just one side of the coin,but I also had to share the experience of the people i know so you can take in account that there are possible negative outcomes of those meds..

I agree that that trip thing is disgusting and should definitely be illegal.

I've said it before, but a Cannabis forum isn't the best place to get educated opinions on prescription medicine and medical treatments. Almost nobody here has professional medical training. You're likely to fall prey to intense biases, including but not limited to selection bias, shared information bias, and confirmation bias.

As for your original question...again, is trust a professional doctor's opinion on the safety of combining any drug with Cannabis use. I'd also mention that changing your Cannabis use at the same time as introducing or getting off of a prescription drug, can make deciphering the cause of the resulting changes you experience. Changing two variables at the same time makes it hard to tell what is affecting what.

Well thats kinda funny coming from someone looking for dotors and scientists to chime in on a cannabis forum about its specific effects on white and gray matter in human brains lol .

Im not looking for medical advice from docs about this as its my opinion they dont really have any experience with it them selfs. Gonna be hard to find many docs that take theae meds them selfs and uae cannabis lol . i was asking for experiences from actual people that have real experience using both . i did ask the pharmisist in regard to safty issues and also the docs .

Anyway after my apointment qith the endo yesterday i have decided to not continue the use of the SSRI even though i got a new perscription for a different ine then trazodone that my doc said qas better for anxity and panic .

The reason for my desion is that taking pills in general makes me more qorried and nervous about side effects . and the length of time it takes to get benifits if they are going to qork for you is just to long . in my cause it will just increse my worries and stress .

Iv decided to do what i know best which is try and gwt back into regular exercise and keep trying to reintroduce cannabis as it used to help me greatly .

Im also currently enrolled in a CBT therapy program tommor will be my third apointment with that .

As for the thyriod the endo encouraged me to keep trying the antityriod med for a little longer but left the option open if i want to just nuke it . so onward i go thanks for all the post even hazy im not a tottal cannabis is the end all be all sort but i have personel experience with it and proof in my case and mind , that it did help me greatly as in when on it regular i only needed less then half the meds i currently need to my levels on check .

And as many times stated an mri showing no damage soo ... ,but thanks for the imput

I wasn't looking for doctors and scientists to chime in, though, as opposed to just Cannabis users. Anyone with actual medical training vs reading a few articles on a site that has the word herb or leaf in it.

If you're just looking for peoples individual experiences in mixing the two, you might get that here. Just be careful taking advice about mixing meds without double checking (although I see you've done so with your pharmacist, which is good).

It's true that with a lot of SSRI's, you have to wait a while before seeing the effects, as you often have to wait for them to build up in your body.

Good luck with your issues. Hope they get resolved.

 

[little maggie]

Since you're asking about users- I've used both for quite a few years with no problems. I don't talk to my doctor about this because the medical organization that covers my insurance is anti-cannabis. I do micro dose but that's my preference rather than for a health reason. I just don't like the feeling of getting so stoned that it feels like I'm tripping.
Years ago I read that there was some chemical created by cannabis in the system that just didn't last long enough to be detected easily in the blood and that this had an antidepressent effect. I can't find that anywhere now.

 

[chris 71]

thanks little maggie , its good to here from you and Accept , as people with personnel experience .

that is exactly what i was looking for . i still may try the new one i got yesterday its called cipralex and according to my doc may be a good one too try for my particular problem . more anxiety and panic then depression as far as i can tell , although ive heard they go hand in hand .

the only thing is i have such an paranoia about taking pills i really dont know if it will make things better for me or possibly worse . i will probably be hyper aware of every little twinge and feeling going on , and well it just makes it hard for me to swallow almost any pills .

but this issue im having right now is just crazy . im almost ready to try anything . the endo did say yesterday that its really kinda a bitch , although not his exact words lol . but that a guy like me with anxiety issues ends up getting a disease that basically causes it lol . i had a really good talk with him actually , and he acknowledged that cannabis can help with anxiety which i thought was pretty cool .

anyway thanks again it does help in adding some comfort knowing that others here are on these meds and using cannabis without issues . it was begining to maybe be a little depressing to think that if i chose the ssri that i may have to stop the cannabis which would not make me happy at all . can i ask do you guys use cbd as well as thc and are both a non issue ?

 

[Deleted Member 1643]

i still may try the new one i got yesterday its called cipralex and according to my doc may be a good one too try for my particular problem .

Tried Celexa, which has the same active constituent, for a few weeks or more. IME, this had no interactions or side-effects. Maybe some mood elevation. Liked it better than trazadone, that's for sure. Always ended up just increasing Prozac dose rather than switch or supplement with something else. Just one anecdotal experience.

Only tried a high-CBD strain once. Want to try again.

 

[little maggie]

A couple of things about the new med you're starting: Even though trazodone is an antidepressant it also has a fairly quick anxiety effect- it was prescribed for my dog when I first got her. The new one is a different kind and can take quite a while to work- even up to six weeks. So give it time to see if it helps. Sometimes the "side effects" kick in first but they can be therapeutic. The one I take has as a side effect that it can be somewhat stimulating. That's good for me. Some have relaxing as a side effect and I already have no energy so those don't work for me. But side effects are very individual. I know people who take the one I do and feel knocked out while others feel the same stimulating effect I do. I don't know why that is. But those are the side effects and not the therapeutic effect. So after a couple of months on a medication most people should have a similar antidepressant effect unless the side effects are a problem for them. Does that make sense?
The other thing and this might be difficult is to try to avoid being hypervigilant about changes when you take your new medication. I had a friend who was put on a strong anti-anxiety med but she was so focused on anything going on in her body as possible side effects that she ended up more anxious and prevented the medication from working.
Personally vaping and medication works better for me than either alone.

 

[Deleted Member 1643]

Genetic testing now exists to help patients and providers choose which medications to try. It's a sound idea, but haven't used. (Already tried everything. ) The test was developed for patients beginning therapy, like yourself, so they wouldn't need to try a dozen different medications to learn what they tolerate best. The link is to one company offering such a test. Please report back if you use - very curious.

 

[just_the_flu]

@EverythingsHazy I agree with your opinion,i just wanted to point out that, doctors are not always right,also health care is very poor in my country.. and you have far better chance of figuring shit out with herbal medicines than being a guinea pig to some doctor.. who only prescribes certain meds because the pharmacy company are sending them on vacations

...and doctors usually only treat the symptom(s) and not the cause of problem(s)... and 'treatment' is the new cure... its better for repeat business....

 

[EverythingsHazy]

...and doctors usually only treat the symptom(s) and not the cause of problem(s)... and 'treatment' is the new cure... its better for repeat business....

Not everything is curable. There is a reason people with bi-polar disorder, schizophrenia, etc., almost always need to stay on their medicine for ever. The few exceptions are usually relatively mild cases. I've yet to see proof that Cannabis or any alternative medicine completely cures those ailments, to the point that you can stop using it, and remain cured. Cannabis is usually just another treatment.

 

[C No Ego]

I'll say this here for information purposes and where to turn for info...

If your doctor cannot pronounce or spell Endocannabinoid system ( ECS) or even know what that is then do not ask their advice about cannabis medication... simple as that...

And @chris 71

look into cannabimimetics to naturally boost your anti depressant/ ant-anxiety compounds in your body ( D-limonene, beta-caryophyllene etc...)... the cannabis vaping/smoking is good for activating/oxygenating the cannabis chemicals but also oxidizes those chemicals so lethargy could result- which is the opposite result you want to treat depression. the catalytic reaction from raw cannabis compounds could be the most therapeutic result... though, even oxidized sativa dominant cannabis will impart an up type energy...

the main reason to consider the cannabimimetics "like whole black peppercorn" is to increase the cannabis bio-available compounds' potential while actively targeting cannabinoid receptors with the pre-cursor mimetics... come down too, you stall/delay come down with better metabolism of the metabolites like a really well grown strain does all by itself...

Edit- for personal depression alleviation I use every day a mix of green tea and lemongrass... I boil water in a glass tea pot( about 56 ounces), chop half a stick of lemongrass and add to water after boil and throw in 5 green tea bags,,, let it steep at least one hour and good to go... a few drops liquid stevia and you have a supercharged energy producer with ant-depressant qualities from the lemongrass... I have been doing it for years and works great as a mood booster... just be careful with the caffeine and use less tea bags if you are caffeine sensitive as that can cause anxiety in itself

 

[chris 71]

Delete little to much info on second thought sorry

 

[ichibaneye]

The DSM and these legally F.alsifying D.ocuments A.lways approved poisons are NOT good at all. In fact you're killing yourself! Think patients for profit not for curing. It's right in your face!

There has NEVER been and there still is NO WAY to measure exactly what the chemicals in the brain do, how they work with others in the body exactly and brain and how much is released from the brain and other glands and such. Think dosages here people!

Yay to guessing and telling the duped masses it's good for you. Just go look up the fucking deadly ingredients people!

Do you really care for your health or is it better to hit the lazy easy button. Read and comprehend what I've stated here folks. Don't change the topic I've brought up. It's specific.

You can't argue with 100% factual truths. If you do you've been brainwashed into someone's reality other than yours. Yeah it stings but it's up to you to swallow the red pill and awaken.

It's called a real diet, exercise and healthy thoughts and people in your life. It's simple!

There are only a few yes a FEW true mental illnesses. The others are made for the suckers and for lining the pockets of the corporations and their backers. Nuff said.... drops the damn mic!

- formerly a duped poison taker now I'm educated, awake and even better truly ALIVE!