Depression

Just hang in there. It is good that you are making to effort to write about how you are feeling. I too suffer from depression from time to time. I am bipolar and I have bouts where I am extremely depressed and then I have times when I am extremely animated and full of life. I take my medication everyday so that I don't suffer too much from these cyclical mood swings. No, it's not a joke and only the people who have been there and their families know exactly how real it actually is. I will keep you in my prayers. Just hang it there, this too shall pass.

Thank you, Carol. That's what I keep telling myself...it will pass! I am trying!

Hi.

I know it is very hard to imagine right now, eventually your body will shift and you will regain balance. I know how hard this is. I have lived with all of my life.

As angering as this may be, just try to listen to my words very carefully. I am not patronizing you or attempting to butt in and judge:

Your body is out of whack and you have a chemical imbalance. I know it is hard to cope and that sleeping seems like what you HAVE to do. But try something new:

1. Unless physically impaired, try getting out of the covers and standing on your head. Lean into the floor and rest your feet against a wall and do a hand-stand. try to last 3-5 seconds. I know this sounds like a joke but it isn't.

2. Eat something bitter and repulsive like the rind of a lemon. Chew it up and taste its sowerness.

3. Take a freezing cold shower and if it makes you upset and you need to cry-then cry.

4. Lean into a corner of a wall and put your weight on your shoulder blades, pushing your weight into where they meet with your arms. It releases tension from lying down too long.

5. Advil Migraine and hot milk. Take an Advil Migraine and then have a mug of nice, satisfying steamed milk with one packet splenda or Equal. Do not use regular sugar.

6. Stay away from sugar and caffeine. It just makes it all worse.

7. Do not call friends or relatives to talk it out but instead use gather or a website to reach out and get feedback. I never like subjecting my moods to people that I want to stick around. It makes me feel way too vulnerable during a time when I already feel off center.

8. Do not drive your car. This is not a safe time for that.

9. If you live in a quiet area turn on some music and if it is noisy, find a way to make some silence. If need be-checkin to a hotel for an evening of room service and first-run films. I do that a few times a year and it works.

Sometimes depression is so bad that you cannot even motivate to do any of those things mentioned above. Do what you can to stay hydrated. Drink water and stay away from alcohol and tobacco.

I wish you luck. You need it.

Wow Eliza! What a wonderful comment, filled with great tips. I am rather new to depression (diagnosed in 2002) so I had not heard of any of the things you suggested. I will try to do what I can. The sugar part is easy. I'm diabetic so I don't eat sugar. I keep saying I am going to take myself to a movie. I guess maybe now is the time. I will do what I can.

Thank you so very much!

Well, I did not want to be preachy but I thought you should know there are ways to help your body reallign itself. I use meds too but these things work for me. Especially trying to stimulate your system. taste, touch, sound,-these things need to be shocked a little. It helps. Hope you try one of them and I hope you are better soon.

Corina, as someone who managed to heal myself from twenty-five solid years of severe and often suicidal depression, I know how you feel.

Two very simple suggestions, but they can work wonders for your inner life:

1) When you get up, write down ten things you are grateful for. They can be stupid things. One of mine usually was the fact that I had good coffee in the house. I know this sounds fatuous, but just do it. Trust me on this one.

2) Before you go to bed, write a list of ten things you did during the day. Again, they can be stupid things. Again, just trust me on this. Even if your list contains things such as "I got up," do it anyway. When I was very depressed, one of the things on my "I did it" list was that I'd done my gratitude list in the morning. That counts. Little things count. Little things create your life. Pay attention to them, and remind yourself that they matter.

Also:

1) Exercise is key to helping you heal. Even if all you can do is take a walk around the block, DO IT.

2) Conscious breathing is also very helpful. When you inhale, picture a cord running down your spine into the center of the earth. When you exhale, picture energy running up into your body.

3) I don't think you need this particular advice, but I'll give it anyway: stay away from alcohol.

Bless your heart, Corina . . . you have the capacity to heal. It's not a matter of luck. You have the capacity, whether you know it right now or not.

Corina, the last part of the comment thread in the post referenced below may be useful to you.
http://www.gather.com/viewArticle.jsp?articleId=281474976813070

Corina....although I do not suffer from depression, I have a dear friend who suffers greatly, and I know how serious it can be. It's good that you are doing your best to get on here to "gather". Depression brings out the isolationist in people. I just wanted to suggest that perhaps you need a change in your medication. It doesn't seem right to me that your medicine is not doing more. Sometimes our bodies can change as well as their reaction to our meds. I will keep you in my prayers.

You mention this medication is not working this time. Ask about trying a different one. There are so many good ones out there, sometimes one works better than another one.

Sometimes, we have anxiety and depression, we just might only feel the depression part. Sometimes, doctors prescribe anti-anxiety medication, too.

I had depression, but felt the anxiety as panic attacks and was on medication for panic attacks for 15 years, after which time they disappeared. Depression IS real, it IS physical as well as emotional and it can be treated.

Walking in the fresh air also helps you feel better, but won't cure you without medication that works for you.

I feel for you, as a former fellow sufferer of depression.

I would go to your doctor and ask about trying a different medication, say that it is not working well for you.

I am sure there is a medication out there that will work well for you.

And that can make all the difference in the world.

You don't need to accept depression. You can kick it.

The other suggestions are excellent, but treatment has to begin with medication, medication that works. If it is not working for you, try something else.

These are all good ideas. Please, also see a doctor to rule out any physical cause. I've also been depressed at times, and I can tell you, it's no fun to try to make yourself exercise or get out. If you do have the will to be better, you can do it. Just go for a walk around the block to start out with. Then get further out. Expand your world. And if you need help, there's always your friends on Gather.

Corina, I do feel your pain. Over the last eight weeks I have been suffering terribly. I don;t want to go out, I have not gone to church, I don't want to be out in public at all. I have had to force myself to even make it to work. I don't know if it is the change in weather but I am really struggling. My family does not seem to understand at all, they won't help around the house and I just can't seem to do it either

The other factor is that there are people for whom SSRI antidepressants simply do not work -- I think it's about 30% of patients, if I'm remembering correctly. Sometimes adding Wellbutrin (not an SSRI) to an SSRI antidepressant is a combination that can kick you over the hump, so to speak . . . Wellbutrin often acts as an anti-anxiety medication, so that's kind of related to Kathryn's statement. Another thing you might consider is this: if you're being treated by your regular GP for this, you shouldn't be. Ask for a referral to a psychiatrist or psychiatric nurse, who will be far better informed about the medications and also better able to assess your progress. GPs are not mental/emotional health experts, and often mis-prescribe or fail to accurately assess a patient's situation.

David's suggestion of a referral to a psychiatrist or psychiatric nurse suggestion is vital for psychiatric meds. A good meds doctor will constantly review your progress and help you to get the right mix.

For me SSRIs work but every one I've tried so far makes me borderline narcoleptic. Wellbutrin is a dopamine norepinephrine drug and has what they call euphemistically an "energising" effect. I find that it increases anxiety. Almost all psychiatric drugs have opposing side effects, e.g. drowsiness in some patients and insomnia in others. How you respond is a function of your brain chemistry.

The truth about psychiatric meds is that individual differences in response are so great that finding the right mix for any given person can be very difficult. Some people are helped by the first drug prescribed, others need to go through a long period of trial and error. Sadly, some people don't respond to any anti-depressant.

If you're taking psychatric meds you need to stay on top of the situation. I know it's difficult if you're depressed--trust me, I've been there. If a new drug doesn't seem to work within a week or two call the doctor and report the problem. If you experience adverse effects, including the large print side effects on the data sheet you should get with the prescription, call your doctor immediately.

I suffered from depression on and off from the age of nine or ten. In the past four years I started using anti-depressants. I hate to say it but it changed my life. It's taken a long time to get the right mix because of my sedation reaction to SSRIs but I may be stable now. It's been nearly a year with the same combination. My wife says I'm much more tolerable.

I wish you the best of luck. Long term depression is a chemical imbalance and can be treated in a large percentage of cases.

I have been on Effexor 150 mg for over a year and it is helping me. Anti-depressants react differently with every person. It takes a while for it to kick in, so one thinks that nothing is happening. I was on Paxil for a long time. It stopped working. I feel that taking medication is the best thing to do, when one has high blood pressure or diabetes people take medicines without any qualms. Depression is an illness, so go to a good mental health professional and get help a.s.a.p. I wish you luck. You will get better, believe me, but it takes time. I think you should share this problem with your daughter, why suffer alone.

I feel for you.

Yes, it is serious. Agree with many of the commenters. There is help, but procuring that help in an effective way is part of the problem, right? Remember, get out as much as you can.. try to enlarge your support system. Read the psalms.

I've been getting out every day. I do feel it lifting a bit. I also started some projects that I committed to completing on a deadline so that keeps me going. I am excited on one in particular. I am recording some of my stories and having them made into a CD. My son works for a company owned by Amazon. So I will do the recording and give it to his company and they will do all the finishing stuff to make it professional then it will be available for purchase through Amazon. So I am really excited about that! I'm waiting for my microphone and software to be delivered so I can begin recording and finish by November first!

Thank you all for your thoughtful, insightful, and caring comments!

Yes you CAN . . . first of all depression is a necessary down-time for the mind, body and spirit to unwind and re-group. If you consistently use and 'believe the word can't' you won't; howver changing the cognitive construct and using a gudied meditation and getting off the meds, you can. When a clinical psychologist told me I was a clinically depressed person, I went to college to see just how right or wrong they were. After having graduated with honors and receivng my baccalaureate in traditional psychology I realized only those that have a genuine chemical imbalance might need medication but I was going to fight and NOT TAKE SYNTHETIC drugs, and make myself well . . . now I can honestly say when a 'depressed state of mind' hits me, I don't fear it, I ride it out as it does not last as long as it used to. Life is complicated and sweating stuff we have absolutely no control over sounds difficult but really is not. I wrote a piece on depression here at gather and I am also the Enlightenment Advisor. I have a plethora of venues to make depression a good thing rather than a negative thing of my present. I hope it helps some and I wouldn't say all this if I did not believe in myself and you . . . it works !

Depression is good for you

If you are interested in some helpful avenues to embrace depression go to my domain.
for the MIND

I read this with interest and to a degree have suffered the Black Dog myself sometimes.