About a month for me. I’m taking both. It needs to build up in the system if I understood what the doctor said right.
(Edit: and booze completely kills it, just saying)
Depends on the meds, and they can have a drastically different effect on people.
Duloxetin: days, full effect after about a month (side effects after a year or so)
Sertraline: never worked, in fact made stuff worse
Prefaxine: about three weeks to feel noticeable effect.I have now been on anti-depressants for almost five decades. In that time, I’ve used just about everything out there, and transitioned from one to the next. Unfortunately, the honest answer is that how long they take to kick in varies widely based on the specific medication. I’m sure the patient’s condition can also change it by quite bit. My average has been around a month to get a useful effect, but my minimum is probably around a week and my maximum more like three months.
To fully work? About a year. To some improvement, 3 months.
A lot of those FDA approved drugs have been proven to do nothing, or far less than therapies.
Sources please
Never. Turns out my issue was undiagnosed ADHD and trauma. Therapy and adderall have done wonders for me. I was trying to treat depression by itself, not as a side effect of another issue.
Me too, only add autism
I’m not officially diagnosed autism but my doctor said I meet the criteria but didn’t want it written down due to the political climate.
Similar case for me, but I would recommend OP or anyone reading to work it through with their doctor (or even switch), being honest with them and oneself.
Yes exactly. It took me a few doctors to figure out what was going on because the first couple didn’t ask the questions that the doctor who diagnosed me did.
Venlafaxine (SNRI).
Took a couple weeks to settle into side effects, and about half a year to dial up the dosage (with side effects being a few days to a week after dosage changes).But it was pretty immediate. I think a big part was the act of treating it, the act of getting help.
Had a lot of ups & downs, took a while to “trust” it, to recognise it working. And building the habit of taking meds helped maintain a schedule.I took estrogen for depression, it started working within a week :p
Sounds like I should test if going on testosterone does the same someday.
wtf same?? 😮
solution: everyone gets free estrogen! /j
I may need to confirm this theory
Depression. Sertraline/Zoloft. Months.
Initially, it helped a small amount. Possibly placebo. It was well-tolerated, so the dose was doubled. Then months (maybe 3?) of slight improvement.
But when it really took hold it felt sudden.
Depression: Faster than immediate - I felt much better the instant I finally decided to treat it as an illness.
As fir the medication itself, ignoring not feeling too good from side effects, I was most surprised how it *immediately* fixed my sleep patterns, like day 1.
That felt like the foundation on which the rest of the improvement was built.
It just kinda blended in, I don’t have a real timeframe. I am very helpful.
Wellbutrin, somewhere in the week to a month to really start working.
Months. It took months of my med schedule before I was like “maybe these are working”. My motivation and functioning was like zero still, but I wasn’t depressed anymore.
Then doc put me back on a stimulant and it was so much more drastic an improvement I was frustrated we didn’t do that first.
Escitalopram took only one day for me. For both anxiety and depression.
Bupropion took 3-4 weeks. For depression.
Trintellix took about 2 weeks. For anxiety.
I didn’t even realize my anxiety was bad until I started getting heart palpitations. I now take escitalopram and it stopped within like a week.
Escitalopram fixed my Raynaud’s at a low “taper up” dose basically immediately. Although it wasn’t prescribed for that, this was just a happy side effect. I guess some SSRIs do that.
For depression, it took about a month to ramp up enough to see a difference. It did ease the anhedonia, but it also masked my emotional flashbacks until it was too late to disrupt them.
I also had SEVERE issues with my sodium while on it, which is why I didn’t stay on it past a month. However, I don’t snack or eat salty stuff so someone with higher sodium intake might have fared better.
I would have tried to get used to it to see if the masking of the early signs of flashbacks got better as I got used to it if it hadn’t messed up my sodium so badly.
Also, the sexual side effects are real.
Escitalopram also worked quick for me, but killed my libido
It was my miracle cure until I switched to Trintellix. Yes, it killed my libido as well, but Trintellix is not as bad.
I’ll talk to my Dr. Thanks!
I, too, would like to talk to your Dr. Thanks.
Dr thanks is the most greatful person I’ve encountered
Fluoxetin: ~7 Weeks, 12 full effect.
Seratrelin: pretty much instant (side effects) main effect like never idk
