Do you suffer from depression?

[n2mark]

What do you do to handle it?

[Droopy]

1. I take an anti-depressant for my depression

And so far it is working pretty good.

If you are interested in this subject then check out the DU Mental Health Group. I have a thread in there right now titled "Let's talk about depression."

[MsAnthropy]

2. Celexa, 20 mg.

Works great!

[flamingyouth]

3. I don't handle it well

Unless you consider curling up in the fetal position and crying for hours on end "handling" depression. The holidays are not going well this year, I'm afraid.:(

[Wisc Badger]

11. God I hope you are wrong!

I don't like to see anyone with this malady suffer, there has to be some help for you.

For me the VA stepped in and helped me. God bless the Veterans Administration.

[flamingyouth]

12. I'm glad to hear the VA has helped you

As a veteran, you deserve anything they can give you. Thank you for your service. :hi:

(I have a grief counselor I'm seeing later today. I think I'm going to possibly take something just to get me through the holiday season.)

[Wisc Badger]

27. Good Luck God Speed and

God Bless, feel free to E-Mail me anytime you want to. I want to help in any small way I can.

Depression almost cost me my life and I mean that literally.

[leftofthedial]

4. live through it, so far

stay busy

[Old Mouse]

5. what do you have?

Chemical or situational? Seasonal? Are you diagnosed depressive or with a personality disorder?

Regular exercise can help a lot if you are not in a major depression.

Nutrition is important. Eat on a timetable whether you're hungry or not.

(edited to remove subject line more sarcastic than intended)

[caledesi]

6. Yes, I have probable MS & one of the hallmarks is depression.

Plus, there is a history of a predisposition to depression. I take Zoloft. It works.

[maveric]

7. Took Wellbutrin and prozac for years and never felt better.

On Prozac I felt suicidal all the time. Wellbutrin just made me feel spacey and tired. I've since weened myself from the Wellbutrin and am actually feeling a bit better.
So now I just accept the fact that life sucks so just make the best of it. I'm not prescribing that mindset but its just one that works for me.

[Droopy]

13. What works for some may not for others

I've been mentally ill for about 12 years with a severe illness. The doctors got most of my symptoms under control through the use of an anti-psychotic and a mood stabilizer, but after a while I was feeling depressed. My psychiatrist prescribed me Wellbutrin about a month and a half ago and I now feel like I did before I got ill. It has really worked well for me.

I know of people who take the drugs that I do and it hasn't worked out for them very well. It could mean they are misdiagnosed or that they just don't respond well to the drugs. It can take a long time to properly diagnose an illness and an even longer one to get the right treatment.

[maveric]

15. You have to do what works for you. Thats why I'm not prescribing

what I said.

[izzie]

8. It always passes in about half an hour.

I guess that is not depression. Every one thinks now if you are sad for a bit you are depressed. I had a hard time trying to get that into peoples head when my sister die. I was very sad and should have been. I was not depressed. Some times thinking about people that have died makes you happy as they brought you so much when they were a live and you can always pull it up and thinking about those times.

[haele]

19. I've found depression is not just sadness...

It's also constant exhaustion, thinking becoming fuzzy (cottage cheese brain), increased introversion, the inability to do anything that takes "effort" as well as getting moody and short tempered. It's like being severely out of control of one's mental state. It's a physiological change as well as an emotional attitude.
I found that when I become peri-menapausal, I'm verging on what can be considered clinical depression. Usually, if I can catch it early, diet, excersise (if I can manage it), and/or begin the process of creating something (a present, a drawing, taking a class) - anything that activates the brain and creates a pattern of movement - I can avoid seeing a doctor. I don't try to force "feeling good" - that will come of it's own when I'm good and ready.

The sadness, the wanting to give in/up, I can generally handle myself. I've only found myself out of control in a depression once.

If you can control it and function fairly normally, you're probably not clinically depressed, just normally depressed. If you think there is a problem, check with those who know you to see if there is a noticable lack of self-control that you might not be aware of.

Good luck.

Haele

[djeseru]

9. Yes, but I quit all meds.

My distrust in meds was already evident when I started taking them back in 1993. But my doctor not telling me that I would go through such horrible, horrible withdrawals when I stopped taking Effexor was the last straw. Have been med free for over a year and a half - it's not at all easy but I know that whatever emotional storm I go through is MINE and not some chemical.

[johnnie]

10. I used to

I have learned to look at life differently. I get depressed once in a while now, but not to the extent that I used to.
My teen years were the worse and continued till about the age of 30. I was learning different philosophies and as time went on I got better. When I feel depression coming on now I think of different things I have learned and to be honest..I just remind myself that living is easy. I don't sweat the small stuff no matter how big it is. It's not the cure for it all, but I am much more happier than I use to be.

[Jack_Dawson]

14. When I don't work out - yes

[Bertha Venation]

16. Take Cymbalta and Neurontin and am seeking a new therapist. eom

[Ilsa]

17. Yes.

I had PTSD long ago. I went into a funk when my mom was sick and died, and I was postpartum then, so it was easy for depression to settle in. I am depressed over my son's autism and how it affects our lives. I am taking Lexapro, and overall, I feel better and enjoy life more and I sleep better. But have these moments like today where I feel really beat up by my situation and I wish I could run away. Husband is out of town.

[ceile]

18. Prozac+Lamictal+Therapy

Has worked wonders for me. I also write and try to talk about my problems instead of holding them as I did when I was a child (hence the way I am now). The best bet is always to start with therapy and use drugs only as a last resort.

[ernstbass]

20. I suffer from depression

and I take Prozac. I was also in therapy for a year to work on some issues and develope some coping skills. Prozac helps a lot

[yellowdogintexas]

21. with a heavy family predisposition, I am cursed with it too

My first med was Zoloft which helped enormously with anxiety which was just freezing me up something awful.

After a long while, it ceased to be as effective, and my dr changed me to Celexa which after about 4 years was not doing the job. Now I am on Effexor and so far so good. I seem to have perked up quite a bit, and am now interested in doing things...my hallmark of depression is that I do not want to do a damn thing . Once I get out of the house and actually do something I usually feel better for a couple of days and then I get into the funk again. If my daughter were not living with me I would be worse off, because when she is home we have a good time and she really lifts my spirits.

combination of my favorite aunt's death in Sept, my mom's death in Oct, this damn election, my husband working in Wyoming since May (our home is in Fort Worth TX), and no job since June 30 (outsourced to India) have certainly impacted my moods, I am sure.

So here's hoping the new med continues to be effective at a low dose and
best wishes to all of you who deal with this awful condition, in whatever manner you choose to deal!!!!!

[n2mark]

22. Years ago I was dealing

with depression, received help and medication but no longer but now my daughter called and said her doctor said she is suffering from depression. They give her medication, but the medication prevents her from sleeping, he is also giving her medication for anxiety,and gives her medication for her thyroid problem. I feel she is too young to take so many meds. What do you think? I also have the problem because she is in her early 20's she will be dependent on drugs for years. Now with the shrub in office this scares me even more. Surely I don't want her to take these drugs all her life.

[CornField]

23. Seasonal

Try to get as much sunlight as possible, take vitamins, exercise, eat well and sleep well.

[Ernesto]

28. Which raises the question:

Do the artificial sun light lamps on the market really work? How come they aren't available except in magazine adds? Neither Home Depot or Lowe's seem to carry them. Winter always bums me out.

[tech3149]

24. I drink too much

I went to a psychiatrist for a few sessions, but she was so driven to put me on meds I said no thank you and left. Sometimes depression is a natural reaction to the situation. Self medication isn't all that bad, but it does present it's problems, like judging when enough is enough. In my case it's a personality flaw, I'd rather do it myself. Besides, I'm too cheap to pay someone to do something I could do for myself.

Now if only I could find a good method to deal with my agoraphobia!

edit: Friends help a lot but you don't make many friends when you don't get out much.

[Ernesto]

25. I had clinical depression once

The idiot psychiatrist told me that "beer was making me depressed". The minor fact that my wife was dying of cancer while we had 2 small children didn't seem to phase her. Anyway, she gave me prosac which really helped.
Update: my wife got cured by STANFORD U Hospital & guess what? No more depression........... Hmmm, I think it's about time for a beer!

[furrylitldevil]

26. Embrace it

It reminds me that I'm human, and that we all feel shitty once in a while.

[Zorra]

29. I don't know. But when I start feeling a little sad I just make a

conscious decision to be happy and will sadness away.

I ask myself, "Do you want to feel good, or do you want to feel bad?

Good always wins. I am never depressed. But it took practice to learn how to do this. I have not been "depressed" for many years.

This is what works for me, I don't know if it could work for anyone else.

[skygazer]

30. Yes, I've suffered from it most of my life

Actually bi-polar. I've done the meds - at one time, I was taking so many meds that I had them in color coded bottles and referred to them as my "fruit salad". Ironic that an illness that causes memory problems requires one to take handfuls of pills at varying times of the day. :wtf:

Six years ago, I drove cross country from Vermont to California. At the time, I was taking 900mg of Lithium, 40 of Paxil, 75 of Wellbutrin and up to 4 Klonopin (a tranq) per day. I stopped taking all of it on the drive - I just felt great, driving along with my two dogs, listening to Pink Floyd on the car stereo. It was the first time in 30 years that I could recall actually feeling happy - prior to that, I had only know what it felt like to be not UNhappy. There's a difference.

I haven't taken any meds since and though I sometimes have what I refer to as "graydays" and I occasionally go through a brief manic phase, I have been very stable. I don't know why. I'm not religious at all, yet it seems like a miracle to me. I don't question it - I simply accept it. After 6 years, I no longer wait for the brick wall to drop on my head and I'm happy. The holidays this year have been a little rough - even so, I'm doing all right.

Mind you, I was very, very bad. Suicidal, insomnia, aversion to light, anxiety. People who never knew me when I was like that tell me I'm the sanest person they know. I always get a kick out of that.

I am the poster child that proves that there can be light at the end of the tunnel. I don't know how long if may last but it is so wonderfully worth it, every minute. I just wish I knew how it happened so I could tell others who suffer. I just don't know, though.