depression - need some positive thoughts

Welcome Jim!!!

So happy to hear that you are getting some help!! Are you in counseling as well as taking meds?? If not, it would be a good idea so that you can work through some of your feelings.

I have been taking anti-d's for several years and I am now taking Lexapro. I have also tried 3 other anti-d's. Each person is different, but Lexapro has been the best for me. I feel like "me" again. I also have a chronic illness and depression just seems to go hand in hand with lengthy illness.

Prozac, like Lexapro, is an SSRI . . . this class of drugs helps your brain to retain seratonin (which has probably been spilling from your body too quickly to be used properly by your brain). That's why the meds take as long as 3-6 weeks or more to kick in fully. YOUR BODY HAS TO ACCUMULATE ENOUGH SERATONIN to make a difference to your brain. The anti-d doesn't 'give' you seratonin, it just helps your body to retain what you get from exercise, the sun, laughing (yes laughing and smiling cause an increase in 'feel good' chemicals) etc. These kinds of brain chemicals help you to think rationally and receive information correctly.

Each of the other three anti-d's which I tried (paxil, zoloft, celexa) worked very well as far as helping with my depression, but they had some side effects which the doctor and I wanted to get rid of if we could.

I knew my first anti-d was working when I started thinking that some people were being extremely nice to me. I thought my kids were behaving exceptionally well and the clients at work seemed less agitated and more appreciative. It took me a while to realize that everyone else did NOT change. I DID. I was finally receiving information correctly. Prior to taking meds, I felt like people were picking at me, yelling, disrespectfull, etc. , when in fact, I was misinterpretting their intentions.

I really knew the meds were working when I started to 'forget' to take them occassionally.

I hope you'll post often to update us on your progress.

Blessings!

 Welcome to our group. I hope you will find peace here. You will definately find understanding and comfort. Depression is such a complex illness and it is a real problem. People who don't understand why we have depression think it's all in our heads. Some are even in denial thinking they don't have it or wouldn't admit it if they were.

From personal experience, I can tell you that it took a lot of anti-depressants for me to get the right one and I am talking years. I just got one changed again. We are given the prescriptions, fill them and then tell the Doc that it didn't help. Then we get another script, more money, and, until they find the one that's best suited for us, it's a vicious cycle. It takes about a month or two to get the meds absorbed into the system and then tell the brain to change the way we think and act. It's amazing that our brains control our hearing, speech, sight, movement, mobility and our ability to learn. I would say that if you don't feel better in another few weeks, go back to the doc and ask for a change. I am on Prozac, elevil and xanax have come of celext about 3 month's ago. Didn't think it was doing any good.

 

Please don't feel out of place. You will be just fine and everyone will be supportive. Gos bless!

 

"Lefty"

hi jimi, like everyone says give the meds some chance and while your doing that work on your self and life do something difirent like excersize if u haven't done it before or travel somewhere, take a nice vacation. it really helps to put things intp perspective sometimes.

then after 1 month assess your situation and decide what u gona do , good luck to u :)

Glad today was better>
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