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Thread: Re: Depression

  1. #26
    God/dess Jenny's Avatar
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    Default Re: Depression

    Adina (and everyone else for that matter): I know that a lot of doctors take the position that depression is a chemical imbalance, and sometimes it really is that simple. But sometimes it's not. The medication is sometimes addictive and sometimes has side effects that are worse than the depression itself, and sometimes it doesn't work. Not to take away from your positive experiences with medication but meds are abused abused, overperscribed, sometimes addictive and sometimes people don't have the highs and lows of life. I recognize there are cases where it works, but there are many, many cases where it doesn't.

    Luck to all
    J
    I have taught that the sky in all its zones is mortal and its substance was formed by a process of birth

  2. #27
    Pamela
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    Default Re: Depression

    Jenny i understand completely what you are saying. But i think alot of people posting here, me myself, have been to the point of being almost non-functional. When i can't even check my mail or get in my car without my heart racing, i have a serious problem. There are many symptoms of depression. And some are just passed on as lifes up and downs. That is a huge difference. Medication has saved me greatly, and kept me functional. I cried for no reason before i found my doctor. My ex had to take me, as i could not drive myself to the office. I was non-functional. Medication was the only answer for me at that point. There was no "getting a grip," or rolling with lifes up and downs. I went through 4 meds. before i found one that worked. Antidepressents for the most part, if taken as prescribed are not dangerous. Don't drink or mix other drugs not prescribed with them however. (overdose, as well.) Side affects are few - to - many and usually pass in a week. If they become too uncomfortable, you will be placed on another to see if that one works. I am on the newest SSRI. Fewer side affects and a short half life. The older meds like Imipramine have loads of side affects. Mainly targeting the heart. They now call them the dirty drugs. We have come along way with antidepressents. Now if your talking adding on Klonopin or Xanax etc. thats a different story....highly addictive. Different family of drugs too. But still very effective to help one function, especially if you have anxiety. Pamela

  3. #28
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    Default Re: Depression

    ML, i so hear you about the difficulties of being a male with depression. far more women suffer from depression then men. as women are still considered the "emotional" sex, society still holds more ridgid standards where men are concerned as men are still held to be the stronger one, the shoulder for someone else to cry on, the stabilizing rock.

    one of my brothers suffered from serious depression for many years, and i never knew about it until he mentioned it himself long after the crisis was past. he was the jock, the strong and sensible member of the family that was always in the position of the "safe port in a storm" for the rest of us. how much harder his recouperation must have been then my own for that reason alone. i can't imagine how he managed to stay afloat without me dragging him down since our worst periods overlapped in time... when you can hardly keep your own head above water, how do you keep from drowning when someone else that can't swim is clinging to you like a life preserver?

    Jenny, i agree that doctors too freely throw whatever medication happens to be the "soup of the day" at patients with depression without properly diagnosing and treating their illness or considering the impact of particular potential side effects... "take 2 of these every day and you'll be right as rain" seems to be the standard response of far too many family doctors. this is one of the reasons why people with depression aren't being helped properly and continually trying one medication after another in search of something that works for them, finally become discouraged and give up on medication all together as though the medication itself is the problem. what usually is the real problem is improper medication at an improper dosage. for those people suffering debilitating depression whether it's the result of specific event(s) or biochemical, need to be properly diagnosed and treated by a phyciatric professional. some amount of psychotherapy is necessary to determine the reason and extent of the depression, without which, a proper diagnosis and treatment plan can't be made successfully. once the severity and type of depression is determined, then and only then is it possible to search for the best medication and dosage.

    both my mom and myself had terrible problems with our respective depression illnesses in finding the right medication which was due for the most part to casual and vague diagnosis. for example, my family doctor knowing that i have a vomiting phobia stupidly prescribed medication for my depression whose most frequent side effect was nausea!

    it was my mom whose years of experience getting the run-around concerning the treatment of her depression by her family doctor who insisted that i see a psychiatric professional to be properly diagnosed and treated. but even finding the right psychiactric professional can be hit or miss. the first doctor i went to i discovered at the first visit was far more nuts then me. luckily, with the second try, i lucked out with a very good doctor who conducted various blood and other tests, family history analysis and my own personal history analysis to determine the type and extent of my depression. with that information, it was much easier to determine what medication and what dosage (even what time of day to take the meds) was determined. however, it still took some finageling of a few different medications and dosages to discover what worked best for me.

    yes, some antidepressants are physically addictive just as medications to treat other illnesses are physically addictive. however, having an illness that is most effectively treated by medication that is addictive is no different then the necessity of effectively treating depression... depression IS an illness, biochemical or otherwise. when someone is so debilitated by depression that they can't properly function, are in danger of losing their job, their marriage, cutting themselves off from other people including those closest to them, when the most mudane of tasks becomes an exhausting chore, then so what if the medication that gets them out of that hole is addictive.

    what does it mean when a drug is physically addictive? basically, it means that the body requires it and without being weaned off of it, a person would most likely suffer various types of withdrawal symptoms. for those people who need to take a medication that is physically addictive for the remainder of their life, who cares? for those people who at some point in time will want to do without the medication, they are gradually weaned off of it at a pace that doesn't promote noticable withdrawal symptoms until they are medication free. so, what's the big issue if the medication is addictive or not? consider nicotine, which is much more physically addictive then even herion... if a person who is physically addicted to nicotine is very gradually weaned from it, they suffer virtually no withdrawal symptoms and eventually reach a point where they are no longer addicted. nicotine, however, can cause very harmful irreversible physical problems if taken for a long period of time. of far greater concern then taking addictive medication for depression is taking a medication for depression for an extended period of time that has a high risk of causing some type of physical harm. unless a doctor wants to be sued, they won't prescribe such a medication for depression or any other illness that would do such a thing unless there is no other alternative and allow the patient to make the decision as to whether or not they'd be willing to take such a risk. i don't know of any medication for depression of all the dozens that exist where this would even be an issue.

    Jenny, i understand you have a tendency to have an aversion to medications, vaccines, elective surgery, etc. that's fine, if that's what works for you. please understand that your beliefs shouldn't necessarily be the beliefs of others, and permit them to choose how to effectively treat themselves without rancor. anyone who is so down in the depths of despair that their life is exploding around them while they are helpless to better themselves and their circumstances should never have to feel as though they're in error in chosing to get the help they need with medication in order to live. depression is a very serious illness and must be treated in the most effective way even if that means being medicated. if just being told that doesn't convince you, consider that depression is the ONLY cause of suicide.

  4. #29
    Featured Member TiNi's Avatar
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    Default Re: Depression

    I dont have depression but I have very bad anxiety attacks. Alanna you couldn't be more right.

  5. #30
    God/dess Jenny's Avatar
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    Default Re: Depression

    Pamela: that is not what I meant at all. I certainly wasn't telling anyone just to "pull up their bootstraps and get well." I know perfectly well how debilitating these disorders can be - my sister was hospitalized for years and they threw multiple medications at her which didn't help her and turned her into a zombie (which is what I was referring to with life's ups and downs - I was talking about the effects of some medication, not just rolling with the punches), helped her develop anorexia and self mutilative tendancies. This was, I might add, under the close personal supervision of many psychiatrists, doctor's, social workers, and nurses. In the end her illness was so associated with the hospital, staff and meds, her big catalyst for getting better was just getting out (which was another fun journey for all of us).

    Alanna: I don't know where you got the idea that I was trying to dissuade you or anyone else who feels that medication has helped them from taking that medication let alone trying to make everyone else believe what I believe. I simply stated my feeling on the issue the same as everyone else. It just so happens that my beliefs don't coincide with the majority (as is so frequently the case for me). But just so you know there are many psychologists and (somewhat fewer) psychiatrists who take depression very seriously and still are reluctant to set the patient on a lifetime of medication. I thought I had interjected courteously and I don't think that a knee jerk response that I am trying to stifle other people's opinions or feelings is warranted. If you feel I was discourteous (in any way except disagreeing with you) please let me knw where I went wrong.

    I agree that sometimes an addictive drug is the only way to treat an illness, however in any realm but the mind the doctor will work quite hard to find an alternative (Going back to my sister - she had a lot of ear infections, but doctor's were reluctant to put tubes in her ears, she had chronic migraines as a child and doctors were reluctant to overmedicate, when she suffered from depression they were only too eager to start her on a lifetime of medications - incidentally, my sister was only 18 when she was hospitalized). With mental disorders (especially in women) they don't.

    I have difficulty believing that clinical depression is the only cause of suicide (unless we are greatly expanding the definition of depression from what it has been heretofore in this discussion). I would want some fairly compelling evidence of that, personally. It just seems quite blanketing.

    The thing with nicotine and heroin - I think that is referring to statistics regarding the number of people who successfully quit, not the physcial properties of the drugs (I've heard that before but I've never seen any actual data on it. But based on my limited experience with people on heroin I find it very difficult to believe). People who quit smoking don't have withdrawal - they have cravings for cigarettes. They don't throw up and shit all over themselves. They don't experience formication and insomnia. They can still walk by themselves from one room to another. And I agree that nicotine can be more damaging than medication. I don't think that is necessarily a ringing endorsement. I would like to state again that I never contested the seriousness of depression. What I contested was the assumption that it is inevitably biochemical and that the best treatment was always medication.

    Jenny
    I have taught that the sky in all its zones is mortal and its substance was formed by a process of birth

  6. #31
    Veteran Member Adina's Avatar
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    Default Re: Depression

    Jenny, I agree with you, anti-depressants are over-prescribed. When I went to college, Health Services threw SSRIs around like candy. Got a C- in Microeconomics? Broke up with your boyfriend? Here, take Prozac!

    Drugs aren't the only answer, and it's unfortunate that they're being touted as panaceas when they are not. For me, a combination of psychotherapy and pharmacology has worked. I believe that I do need medication to function, to live. My great-grandmother, grandmother, mother, and her two sisters, were and are all diagnosed as bipolar, or "manic-depressive" as it used to be called. So far I have never had any symptoms of mania, knock on wood, I seem to be more unipolar. Clearly, there's something genetic happening on the maternal side of our family.

    So Jenny, I know there's no such thing as a quick fix, and there are definite pros and cons to consider. But some people really do need medication to survive. Where to draw the line and separate situational depression from depression that has genetic roots, I don't know.

  7. #32
    Pamela
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    Default Re: Depression

    Thats great news Candigrl! I can imagine how hard it is to get benefits in this day and age. And the prices people have to pay. Happy for ya!
    Pamela

  8. #33
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    Default Re: Depression

    Have you tried Paxil or Zoloft? ??? :o

    Paxil works great for me.

  9. #34
    Pamela
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    Default Re: Depression

    Hi Nightrider,
    Zoloft.

  10. #35
    Member tfike03's Avatar
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    Default Re: Depression

    Candigirl

    How is the DLPA working for you?

    You know what? you might try running or doing some sort of strenuous activity. Running seems to work fairly well for me. Once you "hit the wall" then get your second wind, your body produces natural endorhpins which make you feel kind of elated. They also increase the production of seritonin in your brain.

    Having an orgasm does the same thing! so you might try masturbating or having sex? they're both fun! (Im really not a perv)

    If you're religious you should take your concerns to God in prayer and I PROMISE it will work wonders. Ask him to help you with your feelings of loneliness or depression or whatever it is that is concerning you. Try it every night or morning and I PROMISE he'll listen. In fact Ill even try it for you today

  11. #36
    Veteran Member hollyday's Avatar
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    Default Re: Depression

    Hi Nightrider,
    Zoloft.

    zOLOFT FOR ME
    i just had to check in again because i think i have been totally depressed.......for the last two weeks i have been totally exhausted...and now lately i've been really overwhelmed by little things that never used to bother me and i've been crying like a three year old.....thank god for Autumn beign here but as everyone knows ...shes got a lot to think about too right now ...but im trying to hang in there
    thats why next week when my son is gone to his dads for march break going to work in another city and just get away.....
    hang in there candi girl
    and to everyone else
    SPRING WILL BE HERE SOON ...IT JUST HAS TO!!
    blessed be

  12. #37
    Curious Guest tabitha's Avatar
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    Default Re: Depression

    sometimes i feel like i'm going crazy. i love the money but sometimes i wonder if it's worth it. than i think to my self yup it's worth it i have a house my school is paid for i have 2 brand new cars, all by my self and i am only 22. the only thing that keeps me going some days is the fact that im am bettering my self. i get coments all the time that make me feel bad about my self. but than i think, who the fuck are you really. my life is basically good just not my mind sometimes. i was on 100 milograms of zoloft for about 8 months. the problem with that for me was when i knew i should feel sad i couldn't i just take things day by day. :-/

  13. #38
    Veteran Member ChadW's Avatar
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    Default Re: Depression

    It is interesting your reference to the gym - my family has a history of depression, ranging from panic attacks, to anxiety and suicidal.

    I am certain that the only reason that I have not been diagnosed with any of these (which is not to say I never feel like I ever get that way!) is because I have a full time job teaching fitness classes.

    On top of that I just love lifting weights anyway. It never ceases to amaze me how much better I feel after a work out. There is a very real chemical process going on with the release of endorphins that make you feel better during (and after) exercise. The days when I don't want to go work out, or teach my classes, end up being my best because my body is flooded with this chemical.

    So my advice would be "just do it", even when you think you can't - and I know how tough that can sometimes be. (Also, having someone who loves ya no matter what helps but I am single these days to, so I guess that's off the list! )
    Chad Weston
    Male Stripper / Dancer / Entertainer



  14. #39
    Senior Member Messi's Avatar
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    Default Re: Depression

    Yes I was diagnosed when i was in 7th grade with depression. I was on a lot of medication began having seizures and got sicker. I quit taking medicine but now I realize that I do need it to go day to day. I actually have not been to the doctor to get it refilled and I can feel the difference with out being on it. I was recently diagnosed and having panic attacks and being bi-polar. But you are not alone. My sis is a hairdresser and everyone she works with is on depression medicine. But hey it can only get better when you say your at the bottom. I keep you in my head. Good luck!
    "...it was a queer shaped little creature, and held it's arms in all directions,'just like a starfish'" (carrol)

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