Depressed and Coping: Treating Depression When Medication Fails

I think I have suffered depression pretty much my whole life beginning in High School when I was comtemplating suicide. At that time in the 70s the psychiatrist wasn't any help at all. Now in retrospect, he didn't prescribe anything or suggest anything which i think is pretty weird.

i have been taking ativan during my mother's onset of cancer. That is when I realized that i had full blown depression and to this day i am semi-functiional. The docs said to me that ativan is not for chronic depression and only for short term acute depression.

i see someone who prescribes meds to be but to be honest, i would prefer to be drug free. i have gained a significant amount of wt due to the anti-depressants. the health provider said to me "Do u want to be depressed or to have extra wt on u?" Actually i want neither but i guess if i had to choose i would want to be depression free.

depression is the worse feeling in the world. u see things not through rose colored glasses but through dark sun glasses all year round. everything is dark and cynical. even good moments is a passing thing and is a temp feeling of elation.

it is true, there are times when i get dressed with the intention of doing something and then i can't do it. i would unlock my door and get ready to venture out but my mind and body is not connected. i can't get out sometimes. something holds me back as if i have invisible shackled chained to the house. those of u who know and experienced this will understand what i am talking about. i then get undressed, take off my makeup and go back and wear my pjs and just stay in and my trip to the outside world is prolonged and stagnant.

i exercise and no matter what i do and how little i eat the wt does not go down. so i feel like a stuffed sausage and a depressed one at that.

i want to feel joy, happiness, inner peace within myself physically, mentally and spiritually. i want to feel good about myself, in my own skin.

i wish i could just not take my meds but then i have to suffer the consequences of feeling suicidal or withdrawal or back to being in deep depression again. there aren't many choices really but i wish there was something that is homeopathic or alternative means to rid a person of their depression.

i wish u all luck who is suffering with depression because it is a disease.....

Grace Eng of NY 4:24AM April 30, 2009

I thought this article was flawed in a number of ways.

The research was very selective and ignored many other studies.

STAR *D was already dealing with treatment resistant depressions, no wonder antidepressants were ineffective.

A light box is nothing new. It has been used to treat Seasonal

Affective Disorder and there is a large body of literature to prove it.

How are people who can't leave their apartment to get medication refilled suppose to exercise?

Furthermore it is not true that cognitive therapy is equal to antidepressants with severe depression.

This article uses homeo-pathic practices and disdains medication which is the cornerstone of treatment for the mental

Illness.

There are many more variables for antidepressants not working. For example many general practitioners fail to

push the dose up until remission of symptoms comes.

I have had bi-polar 2 disorder for twenty four years.

I exercise and it is beneficial in moderate depression but not

Severe depression.

ECT electro-convulsive therapy is the most effective treatment for major depression. I believe if I wasn't on medications, I would either be in a state hospital or dead from suicide.

Why do certain people knock antidepressants? It is often because they have a vested interest in their perspective.

It is how they make a living.

All depression is not clinical and is not biological.

Spiritual depression and depression reactive to loss were

not covered. I think the article carried a bias against medications.

Thanks Steve Bloem

Steve Bloem

Steve Bloem of MI 10:02PM April 28, 2009

Let's try this again. Link:

http://www.utsouthwestern.edu/

Use search term: STAR*D

Patient Advocate of TX 9:02PM April 25, 2009