Depression Support Group

Depression is a real and debilitating condition that is often misunderstood by family and friends. Its meaning can range from a prolonged period of sadness to an actual mental illness with specific symptoms. Find and share experiences with others who are going through the same struggles.

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WhatLife 03/29/2010

Hi All,

It has been a difficult battle for me with depression. I have had it for more than ten years and I have been treating it for about 4 years. My psychiatrist is defining it now as treatment resistant depression and wants to alter the medication.

He believes that now it would be good if he puts me on 50 mg of Seroquel as that might be helping the depression along with 300 mg Efexor.

I have quite severe suicidal thoughts, however I am not sure this increase in Seroquel is what I need. I feel that changing the Efexor would do the job and getting on Cymbalta would do the trick. The depression is just killing me.

Do you have any advice?

Thanks and have a great day.

WL

deleted_user 03/29/2010

iVE GOT TO GO BACK ON EFFEXOR AND i TAKE SEROQUEL 150MG AT NIGHT.
i FIND THE TWO WORK WELL TOGETHER

WhatLife 03/29/2010

Thanks for the replies. I am just worried that my psychiatrist is overmedicating.

deleted_user 03/29/2010

If you don't have confidence in your psychiatrist, try another. I went through several but am now with one I trust. I am on a combination of several meds (for depression and OCD) but trust that I am getting thr proper treatment. Good luck!

Kaitrin 03/29/2010

I have taken Seroquel before--a low dose just to make my antidepressant med more effective...How long have you beenon the Effexor?If you feel so depressed,it sounds as though maybe it has stopped working or simply never was the right AD for you...Have you tried any others?There are MANY optioins out there...For treatment resistant depressoion(which i have also)MAOI's are frequently superb--no other AD ever worked for me,only those.Ask your dr. about these,maybe?(I take it with Abilify and Wellbutrin,to augment its effects.)I cant praise the MAOI's highly enough for TR depression!And if you want to try something other than effexor--cymbalta,any SSRI--please do speak up--its your right,and tell your dr. this!Its your LIFE--not onlly your right,so you deserve to find the best possible treatment for it so you can have it back again to live!
Best of luck--and hold on.You can get treatment that HELPS YOU so much more--it can take a time,it took me 12 or so differentmeds to find the right ones--but it will happen for you too.It really can.

deleted_user 03/29/2010

300 of Effexor seems like a lot.

You might want to augment your antidepressants with an Alpha-Stim or Biotuner.

deleted_user 03/29/2010

I've been on seroquel for 5 years now, i take 800mgs a night. It does not work for depression believe me. It is an anti psychotic, i don't know why a doc would give you that for depression.

WhatLife 03/30/2010

Amyt2,

My thoughts exactly. My logic tells me that the first line of attack would be an anti depressant augmented by an anti psycotic. I feel that my psychiatrist is freaking out and doesn't know what to do so he is overmedicating. Also he was saying that maybe I might be going through a borderline depression between unipolar and bipolar depression. I don't understand that logic. He knows me for 2 years already and I trust but these couples of moves lately are making me doubt that he can fathom I am going through right now. Deep depression + suicidal ideations. It hurts sooooo much.

Thanks all for replies.

WL

deleted_user 04/05/2010

i at the moment am suffering with depression my second bout with it. the first time i got depresed nothing but an maoi worked on me. and i had to fight to get my doctor to prescribe an maoi to me this time. of course i had to try all the newer ones first and none of them helped. i have only been on the maoi for 2 weeks to soon for it to kick in. there are alot of interactions. some of medications have a high interaction warning but i was willing to give it a try as it helped me before and the risks to me out weigh the the potential benefit that is getting my life back.
hope ya get some relief soon

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