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help beating depression :(

C

Cloroxtastebad

Bluelighter
Joined
Apr 17, 2012
Messages
244
For years i have struggles with depression. i have tried numerous anti-depressants.

in order

4 years ago, began prozac, didnt seem to help at 20mg
later went to 300mg of wellbutrin. didnt help
Im not of 300mg of effexor, 100mg of lamicatal, 2mg of abilify, and 2mg of xanax. I feel no improvement at all. I dropped out of college due to terrible depression and anxiety and im really trying to beat this.

I dont know where to go next. For years i abused adderall because it made me feel better. it no longer makes me feel anything. Im nervous that i have depleted my dopamine.

suggestions would be great
 
^ Hi there, welcome to BL and BDD <3

I am sorry to hear your depression is so bad.. have you tried any therapy at all? What is your relationship with your doctor like?

Has there been anything that has lifted the cloud even slightly?

Dopamine depletion can take a while to sort itself out, but it shouldn't be permanent. How is your diet, and do you get any exercise?

I'm going to move this over to The Dark Side as they are the mental health experts.. we do allow antidepressant queries sometimes in BDD but we're not doctors and you've tried a fair few now, so I think TDS may be the best place to get some advice and support <3

BDD > TDS

Note: in TDS they have a "no triggering" rule which includes talk about taking drugs, glorifying drug use or anything that may be triggering to someone trying to remain abstenant. Take a look at their guidelines :)
 
i recently got out of a year long episode of depression. Here are some things that worked for me:

- deal with any issues/problems that are keeping you down ie. relationships, work, school, family,
- force yourself to go for a walk once a day. I did not like it at first and still don't really but i always feel better after coming home.
- start a routine, you can make a list of things to do every day. For me it was cleaning and applying for jobs. While you are active and doing something your mind will not have time to think about being depressed and that little break helps.
- think of why you are depressed and make a plan to change those things

all of these things would sound pointless and stupid to me when i was depressed but try it out, if it works then you'll be better off and if it doesn't, you'll just be in the same place as before.
 
Hey Cloroxtastebad, good to see another newbie on the site :) I'm sorry to hear about what your going through, I think a lot of us know the feeling. I've gone on and off a lot of different drugs to help with my depression. I've tried percription drugs, illegal drugs, "legal highs" you name it but none of them work very well and are all temporary. Don't get me started on Adderal, that stuff is poison to me. It makes me feel good for an hour and then I get panic attacks. Also, that stuff is very similar to meth.

I have come to accept that I probably be prone to depression for the rest of my life. Drugs didn't help me either. What helped me were things that came along with therapy that was mostly personal. The most beneficial thing that helped me with my depression was exercise! I personally sware that exercise is far more powerful than any drug I could take. Especially long distance running. Not for everyone, but definitely consider that to be an option. Any exercise regimen is going to help, just make a plan and stick to it.

The second most powerful thing that helps me is keeping myself educated. I took a couple psychology classes at a community college that weren't required for my major, so that I could understand psychology more, which helped me understand what my body and mind needs to stay healthy. Trust me, drugs are not the answer, just a band aid.

"If you can heal the symptoms but not affect the cause, it's quite a bit like trying to heal a gunshot wound with gauze"
 
Cloroxtastebad said:
For years i have struggles with depression. i have tried numerous anti-depressants.

in order

4 years ago, began prozac, didnt seem to help at 20mg
later went to 300mg of wellbutrin. didnt help
Im not of 300mg of effexor, 100mg of lamicatal, 2mg of abilify, and 2mg of xanax. I feel no improvement at all. I dropped out of college due to terrible depression and anxiety and im really trying to beat this.

I dont know where to go next. For years i abused adderall because it made me feel better. it no longer makes me feel anything. Im nervous that i have depleted my dopamine.

suggestions would be great
Click to expand...

Please don't panic when I suggest this, but have you considered ECT? I once suffered from a terrible, suicidal depression resistant to medications and it was all that worked.
 
Like you, I've tried nearly every antidepressant/mood stabilizer there is to try & combat my depression. I found (finally) what works for me, Cymbalta, Wellbutrin (mixed, cuz by itself, it's worthless to me) & Klonopin at night or when I'm super stressed. Don't be dismayed, it took me 5 years to find the right combo & you gotta be diligent with taking them every day, even when you feel good/normal. I also smoke weed a lot, which I feel helps, but seriously, to each their own. You gotta figure out what's best for YOU. Hell, some people get by with good eating & exercise & therapy. But I'm too impatient for that.
 
Have you tried adding atypical anti-psychotics such as seroquel or abilify to anti-depressants? That works for some people when anti-depressants alone don't.

I notice you didn't list any trycyclic anti-depressants. Drugs like amitriptyline, nortriptyline, imipramine and desipramine can help when SSRI's and SNRI's don't work. As a last choice MAOI's could be tried and in the US they have the Emsam patch which looks like it would be rather good for treatment resistant depression.

It can take a long time to find the right medication or medications. Right now i am on 200mg's of lamotrigine, 4-6mg's of clonazepam, 300mg's of wellbutrin and 300-400mg's of seroquel. Between all that i can function and not have hardly any mood swings.
 
i, too, have had severe, disabling unipolar depression before i even knew what it was. the only thing that provided a modicum of relief for me over an extended period of time was the combination of 10mgs selegiline (5mg morning, 5mgs evening), 500mgs phenylalanine (which enables the selegiline to really do its job) and 30-90mgs of mirtazapine at night. unfortunately no one will prescribe me selegiline, so i'm back to where i started off, which is fucked. anyway. hope this helps you in some way.
 
Lithium also works in unipolar depression, you don't have to be bipolar to benefit from it. Abilify has been extremely helpful for me as well.
 
As of right now i am tapering off effexor. Currently at 225mg and plan going down 75 every 5 days.

I have stopped taking abilify as well as lamicatal, and ive been taking Xanax 2mg xr only if i feel i need it.

Im seeing a new psychiatrist and have a plan set in place when i am done tapering off of effexor.

I will begin 150mg wellbutrin sr x2 daily as well as mirtazapine at night. I will be sure to post how things go with that.
 
The only thing that kicked my depression was kratom. Idk if you'd want to go down that road because you can become dependent on it.
 
Im really looking for a strict non-addicting routine i can follow, such as wellbutrin+mirtazapine, and get back doing the things in life i have always loved.

I would prefer to not have to take meds at all, but i feel that i need a bit of a chemical intervention to help lift this depression ive been in for a very long time.

I want to be able to feel the entire array of emotions, instead of just feeling dead inside. I want to get back into lifting wights hard again and get faster and stronger. I just want to be alive the way i once was.

Thanks everyone for the support, im always looking for suggestions, methods used to achieve your goals, and here to listen to others who may be struggling similar to how i am.
 
I would strongly recommend you join a cognitive behavioural group therapy program. Along with nutrition and exercise, these three are the best ways to change your brain to help beat depression. Anti-depressants sometimes just do not work as you can attest to. Time to go down a different path. If you are worried about depleting dopamine levels, do not abuse any substances like weed, alcohol etc. If you haven't abused adderall for a year, your dopamine system will heal.
 
The only thing that really worked for me was taking nootropics. I was prone to depression as a teenager in the first place, but then when I did street drugs I just accelerated the damage. Getting to the root of depression can be a long-term process, but if you're feeling extremely down right now to the point where it's even difficult to focus, I would turn to biochemistry first and ask questions later. I still get down but the nootropics have made it far less severe. In the past when I've been in depressive crisis, the only thing that could pull me out of it was medication, and then I could address what actually made it happen. I've been on SSRIs before and they have helped in the short term, not the long-term though.

You can change this, it's just a matter of getting connected to the right support resources and figuring out a process that works for you. To do this, you are going to need to talk to a professional who can point you in the right direction. If you have a good friend or family member you can talk to, I recommend it, even if just to have someone else be aware that you are really having a hard time.

If there is a reason behind this depression, even if it's one that you've concealed from yourself, you're going to need some kind of interactive therapy to get to the bottom of it. I second the CBT recommendation, but I really must stress that if you are biochemically depressed then you need some kind of medicine in combination with the CBT. That's why I recommended nootropics.

I wish you all the best... and know that you're not alone!
 
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