Mental Health Depression MEGA Thread - DepressionTalk + Over 100 Links of Info

[Crankinit]

What I want to know is what the fuck is there to not be depressed about? Divorce rates at 50%, the planet has fucking culturally stagnated, the media is nothing but bullshit sensationalist scare tactics and mindless rhetoric, the planet is just as war torn and fucked up as it's ever been but people pretend shit doesn't happen hecause we're nice and safely a continent away from it all and we're consuming resources at a much faster rate than is possibly sustainable, pretty much guaranteeing the destruction of the future of the human race by our own greed and selfishness and lack of forsight. The best you can do is just give up caring and ride it out, because you can't make a fucking difference anyway. Fuck it.

 

[tastethealex]

Great job with this thread. Depression often times is a very over looked yet serious issue. I was diagnosed as bi polar when i was maybe 14. After spending countless days crying for absolutely no reason in my room or getting angry and depressed over something I know was pointless and silly. I just couldn't take it any longer. And so, I got help. At first I had only gone to a psychologist. Someone to talk to and explain what was happening to me, why i was feeling these ways. I was then Diagnosed as a manic depressive person.

Things were going great, when i would freak out I now had someone to talk to. They may not have truly cared what I had to say, most of the time it was nonsense. I was a teen after all. But she was getting paid to sound like she cared. and it helped. Unfortunately my insurance changed and we moved so I was unable to continue my visits. I tried to do things on my own for a while, remembering the breathing exercises and meditations i was taught. This helped for a while.

Eventually. I was taken to a psychiatrist, thought maybe some meds would do the trick since i was young and didn't quite have the attention span to do what was needed on its own to keep my emotions at ease. I was prescribed my first anti depressant (Celexa). they told me it would take a few weeks to notice the effects. come a few weeks later no changes, other than the diarrhea i could not get rid of... and so they moved on to prozac.

The prozac was working, my depressions went away. My psychiatrist was a moron, but I wont get into that. at least not now. With the prozac doing its job all was great. until i noticed if i missed a day on accident there would be hell to pay exactly 4 days later. mood swings way more severe than before i was even on the medication. This started to turn me off from the medication itself. I was also staring to notice my numbness to being happy or excited. also it wasn't just killing my depression, but it was making me over all not care about anything.

I reported these concerns to my psychiatrist. She then said maybe the prozac wasn't for me and she upped my dosage until we could figure out something else to use. By this time I was getting fed up with anti depressants as a whole. but I figured it would be best to stick to them. after all it was a doctor telling me to take them.

They wanted to put me on Lithium next. However, I was told I would then have to take monthly liver tests to make sure the lithium wasn't killing me in the process. This completely turned me off anti depressants as a whole, they just weren't for me. I stopped taking my medication. About 3 weeks after I went through a series of severe anxiety attacks.sever to the point where i could not control my own actions and i would have to sit where i was and just tremor in was was almost a fear like state. I was officially done with Anti depressants.

I started smoking pot at this point to control when times got bad and with this and meditation I have been able to control my outbreaks. too an extent, of course. I do not recommend this method for everyone, I still have some very tough times. although not as frequent, and with the help of good friends I have been able to control them. Or at least notice them coming on and best prepare myself and my surroundings for them.


Depression can be a serious issue, but so can being wrongfully prescribed. Every body is different. And everybody reacts to things differently. Listen to your body and your mind. if something doesn't feel right talk to somebody about it. It maybe embarrassing, but the worst part of depression is being alone. Just find someone you can trust, someone you can talk to. Often times, this alone will make all the difference you need.

 

[dilated_pupils]

Crankinit you can make a difference, it may take time but you can and will if you try hard enough. Life does suck sometimes, the world around us isn't that great you're right on that. But that doesn't mean give up on the whole world! There are plenty of 3rd world countries that could use our help, and imagine if they all had the technology we do, I'm sure that we'd be much farther advanced than we are now. Not to mention there's a lot of good things people are trying to do, it's not all bad, but I agree there is a lot of it everywhere you go.

Keep your head up. Give that a shot.

tastethealex thank you for sharing your experiences with us, it just goes to show that medication isn't always key, but talking about your issues is a definite must when it comes to depression in any format. And also thank you for getting the ball moving in this thread, we needed a good post like yours to have people follow. Good job on that as well. I wish you luck with your mood swings and depression, as I too suffer from mental disorders which are bipolar, OCD, ADD, GAD, and panic attacks. It sucks having all those but I'm learning to live with them slowly but surely, but more slowly than anything else...

-dp

 

[ocean]

Depression can be a serious issue, but so can being wrongfully prescribed. Every body is different. And everybody reacts to things differently. Listen to your body and your mind. if something doesn't feel right talk to somebody about it. It maybe embarrassing, but the worst part of depression is being alone. Just find someone you can trust, someone you can talk to. Often times, this alone will make all the difference you need.

Thanks for sharing your story.......Going through the meds can be sooo difficult.
I had situational depression and have tried a number of antidepressants.....I too didn't care for it.....
For some people it makes all the difference in the world and waiting through the trial and error process of trying new medications is well worth it.

What you said above is very true and hopefully if people don't have someone in person to reach out to, they will here

 

[dilated_pupils]

That's what I'm hoping for ocean, I'd like to see the toning down (like I said above) of all the depression threads and see one massive MEGA thread be born such as this one. It would be a lot better of a way to handle things as people would be able to relate to one another in one single thread. I believe this will help a lot of people if they take advantage of it.

Anyway, today I'm actually feeling pretty good. I have two job interviews today (and I haven't had a job in many years) so I'm proud of myself. I also am excited for a couple of things this week as well (which is rare for me too). I hope this 'natural high' sticks around for a bit and that my bipolar medication helps me out like it's supposed too.

For those of you who have tried many medications like me, it becomes frustrating doesn't it? Giving 1-3 months for a medication to start working only to find it doesn't work or even worse, it makes you feel even more like shit. I've had it all happen to me, so anyone with any questions regarding medications as well as anything else related to depression, feel free to ask away in this thread or PM me.

-dp

 

[Jabberwocky]

I'm going to unsticky this for a while as this thread could will likely catch more attention if we have it free floating for a while. Great work on the references and resources DP and Stella.

 

[dilated_pupils]

Thanks Enki, it's good that my hard work isn't going unnoticed. And sorry earlier for making that other thread Enki, it was just because I felt it needed to be seen. My bad though I should have thought it out more.

Anyway I'm VERY happy right now, I just got back from an interview for a job and I'm 99% sure I got it! The owner of the business told me I'm currently her outstanding applicant So with that being said I'm sure I got the job, which I sincerely need because I'm in a lot of dept from hospital bills and rehab services. I will also be the person opening the store as well which will be nice to have the responsibility I feel I deserve. And this is after talking to the owner for about 10 minutes I already had her telling me personal things about her family and we were relating to bipolar and OCD which I find ironic in a way.

So right now I can't complain - I know guys it sucks I'm usually the really depressed one but I got nothing depressing to say other than I wish I was going to make more money, but either way I got a job and that's a plus.

-dp

 

[paranoid android]

Im really glad you and stella made this thread as ive been battling bipolar disorder and anxiety for most of my life. The former has almost cost me my life on many occasions but thankfully things are much better now since ive gotten on the right meds. I still have bad patches where i feel suicidal or quite manic but not nearly as often as before.

I did go through a real bad patch with mixed state mania and depression recently and the thought of cancelling the gig occured go me again but i could never do that now unless something really drastic happens.

So for everyone who thinks they are hopeless and will never feel better i thought that way as well. But now with the right meds i generally feel better then i have in well since i don't know when probably my whole life.

So just hang in there and never give up.

 

[Mister Superzombie]

This is a very good thread.

I must have had mild depression and anxiety symptoms for years, but it became quite more severe about 10 months ago. I have a lot of anxiety, which worsen when I'm around other human beings, and I'm sure I have depression, though no doctors ever diagnosed me, since I have never even talked to anyone about these problems

I don't know why. I'm being stupid not to seek help. I'm probably afraid of something. Afraid of going through therapy or medications, afraid of what people might think, or afraid of talking, or even simply afraid of picking up the phone to arrange an appointment.

Anyway I guess I'll do something sometime about this. Maybe when I can't function at all, a point which I'm getting closer and closer to.

 

[dilated_pupils]

Im really glad you and stella made this thread as ive been battling bipolar disorder and anxiety for most of my life. The former has almost cost me my life on many occasions but thankfully things are much better now since ive gotten on the right meds. I still have bad patches where i feel suicidal or quite manic but not nearly as often as before.

I did go through a real bad patch with mixed state mania and depression recently and the thought of cancelling the gig occured go me again but i could never do that now unless something really drastic happens.

So for everyone who thinks they are hopeless and will never feel better i thought that way as well. But now with the right meds i generally feel better then i have in well since i don't know when probably my whole life.

So just hang in there and never give up.

I'm glad I made the thread as well. Hopefully some of the links will be helpful to ya man, even on AIM just ask me and I'll help you out you know that. I'm glad you're like me now doing good on new meds, which is a plus I just hope that it lasts for you, because it never lasts for me unfortunately.

This is a very good thread.

I must have had mild depression and anxiety symptoms for years, but it became quite more severe about 10 months ago. I have a lot of anxiety, which worsen when I'm around other human beings, and I'm sure I have depression, though no doctors ever diagnosed me, since I have never even talked to anyone about these problems

I don't know why. I'm being stupid not to seek help. I'm probably afraid of something. Afraid of going through therapy or medications, afraid of what people might think, or afraid of talking, or even simply afraid of picking up the phone to arrange an appointment.

Anyway I guess I'll do something sometime about this. Maybe when I can't function at all, a point which I'm getting closer and closer to.

You guess you'll do something about it? I definitely think you need to seek professional help, whether you depression is mild or not, it's not easy to deal with alone and I think talking to someone will help quite a bit, not to mention if they put you on meds (which is doesn't really sound like you need, but then again I don't know you). Good luck with everything - try finding a doctor using the searches I provided in the first post, if you need any help just PM me and I will more than gladly help you out.

-dp

 

[Jabberwocky]

First,I have to qualify, I don't recommend folk medicine over evidence based medicine when there is a serious problem. I also think you have to evaluate folk medicine for risks. The one I'm going to mention here though is fairly low risk.

BUT- I just remembered a remedy for depression that Letha Hadady recommended in her book Asian Health Secrets. She suggested that for depression you could plan and carry out secret good deeds. There was a a fearful old bag lady in an are I used to hang out. She mostly refused any kind of help from anyone, to terrified of people I think. She'd walk along the parking meters looking for discarded change. I was in a sort of a rut and had read Letha's book recently so I took to putting money in her path without her seeing me. It did elevate my mood to do secret good deeds. If I can find my copy of Asian Health Secrets I'll see if I can find her explanation of that remedy and where it came from. Hadady drew from Traditional Chinese Medicine the most, but used a stuff from Ayurvedic, Japanese, Tibetan, Vietnamese, and other traditions.

 

[dilated_pupils]

First,I have to qualify, I don't recommend folk medicine over evidence based medicine when there is a serious problem. I also think you have to evaluate folk medicine for risks. The one I'm going to mention here though is fairly low risk.

BUT- I just remembered a remedy for depression that Letha Hadady recommended in her book Asian Health Secrets. She suggested that for depression you could plan and carry out secret good deeds. There was a a fearful old bag lady in an are I used to hang out. She mostly refused any kind of help from anyone, to terrified of people I think. She'd walk along the parking meters looking for discarded change. I was in a sort of a rut and had read Letha's book recently so I took to putting money in her path without her seeing me. It did elevate my mood to do secret good deeds. If I can find my copy of Asian Health Secrets I'll see if I can find her explanation of that remedy and where it came from. Hadady drew from Traditional Chinese Medicine the most, but used a stuff from Ayurvedic, Japanese, Tibetan, Vietnamese, and other traditions.

Very interesting, I'd like to know more if you can find the information, actually PM me the info and I will add it to this thread unless you just want to post it, it's up to you. I tend to make "Update" posts when I update the original post though so everyone would know it was there.

Besides the point, I think folk meds are a bunch of garbage myself, but then again I can't fairly say I've looked into it much, Enki you've made me more curious so maybe now I will check it out more.

Let me know about the info though and I'll be sure too add it if you wish.

-dp

Depression & Anxiety MEGA Thread - Depression/Anxiety Talk + Over 100 Links of Info

 

[sushii]

This is a very good thread.

I must have had mild depression and anxiety symptoms for years, but it became quite more severe about 10 months ago. I have a lot of anxiety, which worsen when I'm around other human beings, and I'm sure I have depression, though no doctors ever diagnosed me, since I have never even talked to anyone about these problems

I don't know why. I'm being stupid not to seek help. I'm probably afraid of something. Afraid of going through therapy or medications, afraid of what people might think, or afraid of talking, or even simply afraid of picking up the phone to arrange an appointment.

Anyway I guess I'll do something sometime about this. Maybe when I can't function at all, a point which I'm getting closer and closer to.

If you wait until you can't function it all, it may well be harder to take that first step. Take a risk and do it now - what do you honestly think you have to lose by seeing someone? At worst, they won't be of any help and you'll be where you are now. At best, they'll help you overcome this.

I've felt like this before and something that I found helpful was verbalising my fears to a friend. Once I actually heard myself saying it it really hit home just how little I had to lose, and how minor my fears were compared to the problems I was going through.

This thread has lots of links to help you. Good luck.

 

[dilated_pupils]

^^ Yes sushii is correct as well. You don't have anything to lose by seeing a doctor for professional help. Plenty of people do it every day, why not give it a shot? You can go as little as once every two weeks if you wish, or a few times a week if you'd rather see the doctor more. It's all up to you, but make the right decision for your mind and body.

-dp

 

[dilated_pupils]

I just got hit with a wave of unhappiness and now I feel like shit I hate my bipolar. I truly wish I could just stay happy for 24 hours, just once! Everything seems meaningless right now - don't ask me why it just does. I know I have been saying how good I've been doing and how things have been falling into place, but not everything seems to be now, there's a few odds and ends that aren't completely fitting in. Maybe I'm just insane, that would explain a lot... In fact I probably am insane, I can't help it though... Ahh kind words are needed right now...

-dp

 

[ocean]

Dp-
Things will work out......
You have seemed a bit manic lately......happy,eager,positive and encouraging which are wonderful but when you are bipolar, you know it is taken to an extreme which makes the downfall even harder.
You know this about bipolar but sometimes hearing it helps
Maybe try some sleep- I think I had read you stayed up all night?
Are you on meds for your bipolar?
Right now just try to be aware of what is really happening.
You are not really down for a reason- its just your bipolar brain playing tricks on you
You have alot to be happy about right now! You just got a new job- You have been in a very positive mood! You've been working on helping people here on BL.......Those are things ot be proud of- Focus on the positive even while you are down.........You will be okay soon
Keep your head up!

 

[stellablue]

^ Hear, hear.

 

[dilated_pupils]

Thanks ocean. Means a lot to me. I know I deserve happiness I just tend not to allow myself to have it for some reason most of the time (because of my bipolar). Yes I am medicated for my bipolar, and this is the best it's ever been, but these mood swings are horrible and I feel terrible about it because all I want to do is help people out and when I'm in this state I can't even help myself out let alone another human being.

I know I have been putting a lot of hard work into everything I've done lately, in real life, and on BL. I'm proud of that stuff, but I'm still sad when I think about my life as a whole. I could literally break down right now over nothing, in fact it might end up happening. Yes it's true I didn't sleep last night but I'm used to not sleeping correctly by this point in my life, I've been an insomniac for many years (since I was about 6 years old it started).

I have been very manic lately which is rare for me too, I'm usually just always depressed and never feeling manic, but lately I've been getting what feels like a natural high and my pupils even dilate (which is weird I think) like I'm on MDMA. I get excited quickly then pounce at every good vibe coming my way, then out of no where I'll crash into what can only be called extreme depression. I am just so tired of all this, it makes me sick to my stomach thinking about how I live my life, it also makes me want to break down and cry - and dammit I don't cry unless I really have too I'm usually very strong when it comes to that emotional side of me. I feel like this is a sickness that isn't going to end, ever and no matter what meds I'm on I never will be 100 percent better (which is definitely true) and I don't even think I'll ever be close to 50 percent better. At least not for long periods of time.

I should just enjoy the mania while I have it as much as I can because right now I could sure as hell use something to perk me up. God I can't wait for my 2c's to arrive, I'm fucking going to have the trip of a lifetime, hopefully. I have a lot of hard decisions to make very soon, and they need to be done this coming week I believe and I'm not even close to being ready on deciding. But whatever... I'll stop now

-dp

 

[ocean]

^DP-
Try to think positive thoughts.
Things will improve......
Be mindful of your situation and think your accomplishments..........
Keep your head up-
Things will come around again-

 

[dilated_pupils]

I know they will ocean, I just don't know how much more of this I can take, this back and forth shit. I have to worry about school and if it's worth going back now because if I'm like this there's no way I'll make it through another semester. I'm thinking about the military but if I go that route I may be un-medicated for a long time, and that just spells disaster right there for me. I mean what kind of life am I living when I think I'm going to die because of suicide one day? I'm not saying I'm suicidal but for real, it comes to mind so often it's always on the back burner. Which is really sad I know, and I'm working with new doctors (a new therapist and psychiatrist) to help me along, but my appointments are spread apart very much due to lack of availability on their end. I will try and do what you said though and keep my thoughts positive, but right now my minds just blank and saddened...

-dp