Poll of the Day > Can medical marijuana replace Zoloft?

(+) Yeah! (+)

I have no other anonymous thread to post on so I am asking for opinions here as I know many of you are highly medicated

My girlfriend recently stopped taking her medication (Zoloft) in favor of just smoking weed a bunch; it seems to kind of work but if she isn't constantly baked she is a total see you next Tuesday

I have heard nothing but bad things about Zoloft but it seemed to actually be helping when she was on it; any patients here taking this shit that can give me some perspective?

Marijuana can function as an antidepressant, but it doesn't necessarily work well for everyone and stopping any prescribed psychiatric drug without consulting one's doctor to be weaned off properly is a monumentally stupid idea. If she wants to switch to using pot, she should be discussing that with her doctor to make the transition properly and safely instead of self-medicating. Making such decisions without medical supervision could literally kill her.

short answer: no

sincerely, a pothead

also depressed and take meds for it.

It does for me

Interesting you bring this up. I was put on zoloft as a teen. Discovered pot. Stopped zoloft. 20 years later I'm back on it.

Medical cannabis has absolutely been a life saver for me. As an epileptic with ibs, migraines, and depression, it helps me in so many ways. But I still had depressive symptoms. Not so much sadness depression. Just irritatibility and a general negative outlook on things. The last few weeks I feel more positive. I feel less prone to annoyance. I'm not hanging onto negativity.

Depression is a clinical thing. It's a serotonin issue and if you need medication for it you should take it. I also still love pot, currently smoking a j

I worked for a medical marijuana company for 2 years and I met a lot of patients who swore by medical marijuana for everything from depression to chronic pain to Parkinson's. The one thing I learned was talk to a fucking medical professional if possible, and then see what the patient can get to work.

From a personal standpoint, the VA had me on Prozac for about a year and I went off it when I got a marijuana prescription. But I attribute that more to using stuff to get better sleep at night. When my sleep got better I felt better in general.

Never tried Zoloft, but there are tons of antidepressants out there. They should try out different ones with you and she which works the best. Typically, there is a lot of trial and error, because both antidepressants and cannabis affect people differently.

BigOlePappy posted...

Typically, there is a lot of trial and error, because both antidepressants and cannabis affect people differently.

This is something that really can't be understated. If she feels that the antidepressant she's been prescribed isn't working, that is in fact completely normal and her doctor is probably expecting to have to try a few different things (provided they're reasonably competent). A couple of failures don't indicate anything about the doctor's competence. It's only when they start ignoring complaints of severe side effects and/or inefficacy and insisting that you stick with their suggestion that you should start questioning their judgement, though even then the appropriate course of action is to find a new doctor for a second opinion, not to make an independent decision to quit.

it'll differ from person to person, but it can be good for depression to an extent, though it's still technically a depressant like alcohol so relying solely on it is foolish and especially not a great idea if you have an addictive personality.

frankly i'd recommend psilocybin if you really wanna try something different.

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/3/2/1/AAFUswAAEFTx.jpg

Short answer is it depends on the person, for some it'll be better for others it'll be worse

weed makes you depressed but it's the good kind of depressed

if you mix it with zoloft it will make you mad paranoid

Transforming Psychedelics into Approved Medicines
To overcome any lingering stigma attached to psychedelics, drug developers are rigorously optimizing compounds, dosing regimens, and therapeutic settings

https://www.genengnews.com/topics/drug-discovery/transforming-psychedelics-into-approved-medicines/

Particularly interesting is that drug companies are trying to make psychedelic drugs with fewer side effects such as hallucinations.

I mixed up Zoloft with Zyrtec I thought this topic was about allergy medicine

zoloft is terrible though it makes you not want to do anything at all

Antidepressants have different effects on different people, falling somewhere in between "I would be dead without them" to "they made everything worse". I've been on Bupropion for years. It's never had a huge upward effect on my mood, but I think it's helped make my weeks-long depressive valleys a little shorter and easier to climb out from. Also, I've never had any side effects from it, so my doc and I agree that it's fine for me to continue taking it (although I've started to veeerrry slowly wean off of it).

I also smoke a couple times a week. I felt weird about it for a long time, because I felt like I needed weed to have a positive outlook. Lately, though, I've started to look at it as practice. When I'm high, I practice finding the silver lining, and now I've gotten a little better at it when I'm sober. It probably helps that I'm in my 30s and have generally mellowed out since my 20s.

Again - that's just my experience. Caveats: 1) Weed and antidepressants are NOT the same thing. 2) Weed can easily be addictive, even if it doesn't have the same physiological addictiveness that other drugs do. So, take that into account, I guess. 3) Please don't lean on PotD for medical advice. I'm happy to share a perspective, but ultimately, you need an expert in your corner if at all possible.

I dunno. I imagine it would vary, some people don't do well with certain meds. Some do.

What is with Americans and going straight to messing with their brain chemistry?

GanglyKhan posted...

What is with Americans and going straight to messing with their brain chemistry?

what do you suggest op does doctor

GanglyKhan posted...

What is with Americans and going straight to messing with their brain chemistry?i

I blame the mental health system, they're so ready to overdiagnose and prescribe, and they're morons. Whether it's out of greed or something else, I can't say? I mean, if it helps some people that's fine. I don't trust them, and I had put up with their bullshit for years, all they did was make things worse.

Not good for the lungs to breath in any kind of smoke.

I went down the rabbit hole a while back wondering what happens to small food that goes down the wrong pipe.

Thankfully smoking is only one of many options

DirtBasedSoap posted...

what do you suggest op does doctor

Oh geez idk, maybe not call his significant other a c*nt on the internet and work on that instead of trying to medicate his gf lol

Lil_Bit83 posted...

I blame the mental health system, they're so ready to overdiagnose and prescribe, and they're morons. Whether it's out of greed or something else, I can't say? I mean, if it helps some people that's fine. I don't trust them, and I had put up with their bullshit for years, all they did was make things worse.

There are massive kickbacks for selling prescription drugs. I read somewhere that the U.S accounts for 50% of the global SSRI usage. That is insane. Medicine should be a cheap service, not an industry. And I have definitely seen what you're talking about. One bad prescription can end up taking someone down a long rabbit hole of more and more medical blunders.