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.
Hi everybody! First post
In a nutshell: I think I had been borderline depressed/mildly depressed since maybe 2010 in retrospect, but last July my dad had a heart attack and suffered severe brain damage as a result. He passed away less than a week later having never regained consciousness. That then tipped me into full blown depression that has not let up. As I was having a difficult time coping with my dads death, and aware that I was likely depressed again I started seeing a therapist in October. In January, I had an appointment with the psychiatrist my therapist recommended and I began medication. I was treated for depression back when I was in high school, and the medication alone seemed to do the trick, so I figured I was finally going to be on the right track receiving therapy and medication at the same time.
Fast forward to the present: I am now on 30mg daily of Lexapro, tried and had a poor reaction to Wellbutrin (which is why my Lexapro got bumped up from 20mg to 30mg), and the therapy that I thought would be a temporary thing looks like it will continue for who knows how long (this is not a complaint about the therapy, my therapist is awesome, I just realize I need it a lot more than I thought I did). I am not even sure the Lexapro is even working much as I am missing more work and feeling more down and apathetic then I was before I started on it, but who knows how much worse off I would be if I wasnt on it?
I am not at all where I hoped I would be, and the dispiriting thought that this is something that I may not be able to beat is um, well, depressing. It appears at best that this will be a long and unpleasant battle that I may have to fight for the rest of my life, and at worst decide that it is a pointless battle to fight and give up on life.
Just thinking about it all makes me so tired and it is challenging to try to get the point across to the important people in my life that even though I am doing things right with therapy and supervised medication, things are not getting better when by all accounts they should be.
In a nutshell: I think I had been borderline depressed/mildly depressed since maybe 2010 in retrospect, but last July my dad had a heart attack and suffered severe brain damage as a result. He passed away less than a week later having never regained consciousness. That then tipped me into full blown depression that has not let up. As I was having a difficult time coping with my dads death, and aware that I was likely depressed again I started seeing a therapist in October. In January, I had an appointment with the psychiatrist my therapist recommended and I began medication. I was treated for depression back when I was in high school, and the medication alone seemed to do the trick, so I figured I was finally going to be on the right track receiving therapy and medication at the same time.
Fast forward to the present: I am now on 30mg daily of Lexapro, tried and had a poor reaction to Wellbutrin (which is why my Lexapro got bumped up from 20mg to 30mg), and the therapy that I thought would be a temporary thing looks like it will continue for who knows how long (this is not a complaint about the therapy, my therapist is awesome, I just realize I need it a lot more than I thought I did). I am not even sure the Lexapro is even working much as I am missing more work and feeling more down and apathetic then I was before I started on it, but who knows how much worse off I would be if I wasnt on it?
I am not at all where I hoped I would be, and the dispiriting thought that this is something that I may not be able to beat is um, well, depressing. It appears at best that this will be a long and unpleasant battle that I may have to fight for the rest of my life, and at worst decide that it is a pointless battle to fight and give up on life.
Just thinking about it all makes me so tired and it is challenging to try to get the point across to the important people in my life that even though I am doing things right with therapy and supervised medication, things are not getting better when by all accounts they should be.
I know different medications work for different people...but I had the same reactions to Lexapro...felt worse.
Citalopram works....for me...changes my thought process, panic, fear, reactions.....its amazing and I never believed in drugs at all...and for 10 years I kept trying and denying their effectiveness...until Citalopram.