I have a horrible reaction to SSRI's. I think most people do, but maybe mine really is worse. They give me headaches as they wear off, and not normal headaches. If you look up "brain zaps," I think that's the best way to describe them. I've also been prescribed barbituates to stop me from having excessive flight-or-fight-or-kill reactions.
What actually WORKS for me is opiates. Vicodin makes me a better person. It's not an uncommon reaction, either, from what I've researched. However, no doctor is going to prescribe an opioid for stress and depression. It's a flaw in the system.
I searched for a while for "herbal Vicodin," but this was before K@ hit the English-speaking world. When I discovered that kava was exactly what I was looking for, I tried to find out how to contact the person who's experience mirrored mine who, but who was told to go on SSRI's on answers.com... and found nothing but K@ ads.
Although I've been tempted, I've never tried K@. I guess it's too much D.A.R.E. (Drugs Are Really Expensive) propaganda.
For actual pain, I have medicated with kava post-op once. I found that taking a shell every hour on the hour kept the pain at bay pretty well. I still needed a prescription pain killer to stay asleep, though, and did go through the entire bottle and then some due to the intensity of the pain.
Kava is a chemopreventative for colon cancer.
