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When I was on antidepressants, I wished I knew why they took so long. Now we might.

When I was on antidepressants, I wished I knew why they took so long. Now we might.

For me, the scariest part of taking antidepressants was the purgatory of waiting to see if they worked.

In 2012, I started taking a medicine called bupropion. For about a month, I watched every single thought that came into my head. And it was, if I may be blunt, pretty damn weird.

Am I having a good day because it's one of Seattle's rare sunny winter days? Or is it the drug? If I have a rough day, is it because I've hit a natural, temporary low? Or does this mean I'll have to switch to another medicine (and have to play this game even longer)?

Depression affects about 1 in 5 Americans at some point in their lives, so I know I wasn't alone. But trying to live outside of your own mind — well, it made me feel kind of messed up and very lonely. I felt like I was a stranger, even in my own head.

It was about a month before I could say for sure that the antidepressants were working.

Antidepressants can take a while to work for lots of people, and we're still not entirely sure why.

There are many different types of antidepressants, but the most commonly prescribed kinds, known as SSRIs or SNRIs, can take six to eight weeks to reach their full effect. (Frustratingly, the bad side effects can often happen before the beneficial ones.)

Unfortunately, we don't yet have a complete picture of why that long wait occurs. While we know that antidepressants can work, we're still learning how depression affects the brain and how different antidepressants can change that.

We know, for instance, that some kinds of antidepressants can help boost mood-altering chemicals known as neurotransmitters, but scientists will admit that's not the whole picture.

But new research is helping us find and study new pieces of the puzzle.

Take, for instance, the humble G-protein. It turns out that in depressed people, certain proteins called G-proteins get clumped up in our brain cells. G-proteins are part of big signal-transmitting machines in our cells, and if they clump up, the other parts of the machine can't really get to them. So the signal falters.

A new study suggests that part of what certain antidepressants do is go into the cell and break up these clumps, helping to repair the machinery. It can take a while for the antidepressants to do their job, though, if the G-proteins are really clumped up. This might explain why that purgatory period exists.

The study notes that different antidepressants may have different or even multiple modes of action, so this "anti-clumping" probably isn't the only explanation. But this study does help us learn more about how depression works and might even lead to better therapies or medications one day.

If you're stuck in antidepressant purgatory, there's science behind it, and it's OK to feel frustrated.

It might take a while to find out the best course of treatment for you — maybe antidepressants are the answer, but maybe not. There are other courses of action, such as cognitive behavioral therapy, that work well too. The important thing is to find what works for you.

But if you are trying antidepressants and are stuck in that weird, alienating state, know that it's natural and there's a reason why — and you're not alone.

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How do you convince people to vote? A marketing writer shares her attention-getting secrets

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Anne Hebert, a marketing writer living in Austin, TX, jokes that her closest friends think that her hobby is "low-key harassment for social good". She authors a website devoted entirely to People Doing Good Things. She's hosted a yearly canned food drive with up to 150 people stopping by to donate, resulting in hundreds of pounds of donations to take to the food bank for the past decade.

"I try to share info in a positive way that gives people hope and makes them aware of solutions or things they can do to try to make the world a little better," she said.

For now, she's encouraging people through a barrage of persistent, informative, and entertaining emails with one goal in mind: getting people to VOTE. The thing about emailing people and talking about politics, according to Hebert, is to catch their attention—which is how lice got involved.

"When my kids were in elementary school, I was class parent for a year, which meant I had to send the emails to the other parents. As I've learned over the years, a good intro will trick your audience into reading the rest of the email. In fact, another parent told me that my emails always stood out, especially the one that started: 'We need volunteers for the Valentine's Party...oh, and LICE.'"

Hebert isn't working with a specific organization. She is simply trying to motivate others to find ways to plug in to help get out the vote.

Photo by Phillip Goldsberry on Unsplash

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We're 11 days out from the election. So, let's talk about Hillary Clinton. No, seriously.

Gage Skidmore

Yesterday I was perusing comments on an Upworthy article about Joe Biden comforting the son of a Parkland shooting victim and immediately had flashbacks to the lead-up of the 2016 election. In describing former vice President Biden, some commenters were using the words "criminal," "corrupt," and "pedophile—exactly the same words people used to describe Hillary Clinton in 2016.

I remember being baffled that so many people were so convinced of Clinton's evil schemes that they genuinely saw the documented serial liar and cheat that she was running against as the lesser of two evils. I mean, sure, if you believe that a career politician had spent years being paid off by powerful people and was trafficking children to suck their blood in her free time, just about anything looks like a better alternative.

But none of that was true.

It's been four years and Hillary Clinton has been found guilty of exactly none of the criminal activity she was being accused of. Trump spent every campaign rally leading chants of "Lock her up!" under the guise that she was going to go to jail after the election. He's been president for nearly four years now, and where is Clinton? Not in jail—she's comfy at home, occasionally trolling Trump on Twitter and doing podcasts.

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Husband-wife pastor team built a network of support across Houston

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Glenda moved to Houston from Ohio just before the pandemic hit. She didn't know that COVID-19-related delays would make it difficult to get her Texas driver's license and apply for unemployment benefits. She quickly found herself in an impossible situation — stranded in a strange place without money for food, gas, or a job to provide what she needed.

Alone, hungry, and scared, Glenda dialed 2-1-1 for help. The person on the other end of the line directed her to the Houston-based nonprofit Bread of Life, founded by St. John's United Methodist pastors Rudy and Juanita Rasmus.

For nearly 30 years, Bread of Life has been at the forefront of HIV/AIDS prevention, eliminating food insecurity, providing permanent housing to formerly homeless individuals and disaster relief.

Glenda sat in her car for 20 minutes outside of the building, trying to muster up the courage to get out and ask for help. She'd never been in this situation before, and she was terrified.

When she finally got out, she encountered Eva Thibaudeau, who happened to be walking down the street at the exact same time. Thibaudeau is the CEO of Temenos CDC, a nonprofit multi-unit housing development also founded by the Rasmuses, with a mission to serve Midtown Houston's homeless population.

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Mother uses side-by-side photos to show the miraculous connection between vaccinations and breast milk

via Jody Danielle Fisher / Facebook

Breast milk is an incredibly magical food. The wonderful thing is that it's produced by a collaboration between mother and baby.

British mother Jody Danielle Fisher shared the miracle of this collaboration on Facebook recently after having her 13-month-old child vaccinated.

In the post, she compared the color of her breast milk before and after the vaccination, to show how a baby's reaction to the vaccine has a direct effect on her mother's milk production.

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Vote with your dollar: 8 products that help combat climate change

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*Upworthy may earn a portion of sales revenue from purchases made through links on our site.

With the election quickly approaching, the importance of voting and sending in your ballot on time is essential. But there is another way you can vote everyday - by being intentional with each dollar you spend. Support companies and products that uphold your values and help create a more sustainable world. An easy move is swapping out everyday items that are often thrown away after one use or improperly disposed of.

Package Free Shop has created products to help fight climate change one cotton swab at a time! Founded by Lauren Singer, otherwise known as, "the girl with the jar" (she initially went viral for fitting 8 years of all of the waste she's created in one mason jar). Package Free is an ecosystem of brands on a mission to make the world less trashy.

Here are eight of our favorite everyday swaps:

1. Friendsheep Dryer Balls - Replace traditional dryer sheets with these dryer balls that are made without chemicals and conserve energy. Not only do these also reduce dry time by 20% but they're so cute and come in an assortment of patterns!

Package Free Shop

2. Last Swab - Replacement for single use plastic cotton swabs. Nearly 25.5 billion single use swabs are produced and discarded every year in the U.S., but not this one. It lasts up to 1,000 uses as it's able to be cleaned with soap and water. It also comes in a biodegradable, corn based case so you can use it on the go!

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