Antidepressants are evil. I watched 2 of my family members slip away mentally years before the body finally succumbed, all under doctors orders. One got so bad that they started crying at stop lights because the anticipation of waiting for it to turn green was too much. Won't take any pills myself or seek doctor's advice unless its critical. Its astonishing how many Americans use these things. The zombie apocalypse is real.
Ok, whatever. I'm drunk. Rick is out getting his hair cut, so it's story time, I guess...
Mental illness is a very real bag of shit, and drugs are very powerful tools in mitigating symptoms, hopefully allowing for a "more normal" life. I can't remember if I've ever admitted to the thread or not, but mental illness awareness is one of the causes I support; suffering from depression and anxiety myself. Better living through chemistry. I recognize I will be on prescribed benzos and SSRIs for the rest of my natural life, because I got dealt a shitty genetic hand, that we can trace back three generations.
Jordan Peterson recently made headlines for speaking about his dependency on Klonopin during his wife's cancer treatments, and his subsequent difficulties in weaning himself off of benzos, experiencing indescribably horrific withdrawal symptoms, that I had temporarily undergone during the process of my therapist working to balance me out on what works best. Benzo withdrawal is not something easily describable to those that have never undergone the experience. (tl;dr: take all the psychic horror of "Dante's Inferno", and inject it directly into your heart)
I was briefly undergoing a Klonopin regimen, after recognizing that "fast acting" Xanax was starting to wear off on me too quickly, during one of my spirals. The therapist changed me from the Xanax equivalent of Klonopin, and I started about two months of popping Klonopin "like candy" (6 times a day - a bit fruity, if you ask me...)
Anyway, we had a breakthrough after I complained about the dosing frequency of Klonopin, and finally got balanced on Xanax Extended Release doses every 6 hours. I can live with that.
Furthermore, I've recently had a lot of fun getting familiar with high quality, 50-States-Legal CBD vape products, and found stuff that works well to further keep me relaxed, calm, and clear-headed.
As for the SSRI's, yeah, they aren't perfect, they have side effects that are unpleasant, but at the end of the day, I would rather have knowable side-effects than be crippled with depression. I do worry about the long-term exposure to the benzo and SSRI drugs, as I've been on them for a couple decades now, and fear I'm likely to develop low-grade Parkinsons later in life, but I'll deal with that bridge if and when I get to it.
CBD on the other hand, is really nice. Glad that is available to me, legally. Some very high quality, 50-States legal products are entering the marketplace. It will be a wonderful world when THC is 50-States legal.
Keep on HODLING, brothers. Back to my beer. It's starting to get warm.
*hugs and kisses. no homo*
Wow, what a journey brother, keepin it real, love it! Thanks for sharing CBD feedback. And congrats to passing yet another achievement! 2000 merit mark.