Living with depression can sometimes feel like you’re carrying around a heavy weight. For many people, taking an antidepressant is a lifesaving part of mental health treatment.
But your medication should work for you, not against you. If you have depression symptoms that won’t go away, ask about an antidepressant adjustment. Even a small change in your dosage may help you better manage your depression.
Adjusting Your Mental Health Treatment
If you experience depression, you’re not alone. According to the World Health Organization, approximately 5.7% of adults suffer from depression. Fortunately, help is available.
Many mental health care professionals treat depression with therapy and medication. Before diagnosing you with depression, your doctor will perform a mental health screening. This helps them decide which antidepressant is right for you.
The right dose of antidepressant medication should leave you feeling happier, more energized, and focused. It should also make your depression symptoms easier to manage. If it doesn’t, you may be taking the wrong dose of your medication.
Antidepressant medication side effects, changes, and issues
Finding the right dosage of antidepressant medication is key to relieving depression symptoms. To figure out the right type of antidepressant for you, your doctor will review your depression symptoms and consider your medication preferences. They’ll also always confirm that your antidepressant is safe to take with your other medications.
After a while, you may start to notice that your antidepressant isn’t working like it did when you began taking it. This may be a normal response to things like changes in your body or new stressful events in your life.
But you might have also developed a tolerance to your medication. This can occur when you’re on an antidepressant for a long time. Or, when you become used to the medication and need an adjustment.
If you start to notice disruptions in your everyday life because of your depression, don’t worry. Changes in antidepressant dosage or type are common, and they help ensure you have the right treatment for your depression symptoms.
How do I know if my antidepressant dose is too low?
The goal of an antidepressant is to lessen depression symptoms. When your antidepressant dosage is too low, you might still feel down throughout the day. You may also have feelings of despair, frustration, or exhaustion.
The first step in knowing when to adjust antidepressant medication is to stay alert. Take note of any new symptoms you’ve had since you started on your antidepressant.
Common symptoms of low antidepressant dose include:
- Anxiety — Feeling worried, having panic attacks, or dealing with racing thoughts may be signs of a low antidepressant dose.
- Insomnia — Tossing and turning all night long could be a sign that it’s time for an antidepressant adjustment.
- Intensifying of suicidal thoughts — In some cases, depression brings thoughts of suicide. If you have these kinds of thoughts even after starting antidepressants, talk to your doctor right away.
- Lack of motivation — If you’re not interested in the activities you used to look forward to, your medication dose may be too low.
- Symptoms that won’t go away — Pay attention to changing or worsening depression symptoms.
If you notice one or more of these symptoms, talk to your doctor about upping your antidepressant dosage.
What are signs my antidepressant dose is too high?
A high antidepressant dose has different symptoms than a low dosage does. While a dosage that’s too low may leave you feeling down, one that’s too high could have the opposite effect.
Think about how happy you feel while playing your favorite sport or what it feels like to cry during a sad movie. When your antidepressant dose is too high, these kinds of emotions might start to feel less intense. Mental health experts call this emotional blunting.
Emotional blunting is when emotions start to feel numb — for both good and bad experiences.
One sign of emotional blunting is having trouble expressing strong emotions like love or anger. Another sign is feeling detached from loved ones.
No matter how emotional blunting shows up, it can be a hard condition to manage. But adjusting your antidepressant can stop emotional blunting.
If your antidepressant is too strong, you might also experience:
- Boredom or numbness — When you may become disinterested in the things you usually enjoy.
- Feeling overly tired — When you fight the urge to fall asleep all day.
- Gastrointestinal discomfort — Pay attention to bloating, vomiting, diarrhea, and stomach issues.
- Heightened anxiety — Anxiety often goes hand in hand with depression; an increase in anxiety could be a sign to lower the antidepressant.
- Irritability — Take note if you begin to feel easily frustrated or annoyed by everyday problems.
- Sexual dysfunction — Decreased libido, difficulty having an orgasm, and problems maintaining an erection (in males) are all signs of a high antidepressant dosage.
Talk to your doctor about switching your dosage if you’re dealing with any of these side effects.
What Is Serotonin Syndrome?
Antidepressants work by increasing neurotransmitters in the brain. One of these neurotransmitters is serotonin, a brain chemical that improves your mood. Although your body produces serotonin naturally, too much of it can raise health concerns.
Serotonin syndrome is a potentially life-threatening issue that occurs when the body produces too much serotonin.
If your antidepressant dose is too high, you could experience serotonin syndrome. This can also happen if you mix antidepressants with other medications.
Know the serotonin syndrome warning signs
If left untreated, serotonin syndrome can cause seizures, coma, or in some cases, death. Make sure you know the signs of serotonin syndrome so you can catch it as soon as it starts.
Serotonin syndrome symptoms include:
- Agitation.
- Confusion.
- Diarrhea, nausea, and vomiting.
- Nervousness.
- Rapid heart rate.
- Shakiness.
- Shivering and fever.
- Tremor and muscle twitching.
If you notice one or more of these symptoms, you should seek emergency treatment right away.
You should also be proactive about serotonin syndrome. Talk to your doctor about your current medication list. This will help them make sure nothing you take interferes with your antidepressants.
If you’re not taking any other medications with your antidepressant and you have the symptoms of serotonin syndrome, your antidepressant dosage may be too high.
How to Talk to Your Doctor About an Antidepressant Adjustment
The first step in adjusting your antidepressant medication is to talk to your doctor.
Don’t be afraid to ask questions about new medications your doctor prescribes. For instance, you can discuss with your doctor how long a new antidepressant dosage might take to kick in and what medication side effects to expect.
You may not notice any changes in the first few days of taking a new antidepressant dosage. This is normal. Typically, it takes time for a medication to start working as intended.
You can also talk to your doctor about other depression treatments, such as therapy or counseling. Alongside your medication, seeing a therapist can help treat depression and get back your quality of life.