I finally got relief from depression

     Hi Jim ,welcome to HW . Iread your post and I don,t know what to say about the med your taking for depression .Good luck with it ,and take care.

welcome to the forum freeloader,

I seem to be doing ok with my med combo of 5 meds, thanks for your advice i dont know if what worked for you could work for everyone else.

Hi Jim,  Ok yes we do have Seroquel and it is and antipsychotic usually given for treatment of bipolar disorder but is not limited to this.  The spelling threw me..thanks for the clarification.  Your right though I have known several people that have been prescribed it and had the benefit of it helping them to sleep at night. I am glad that it has worked for you.   

I can really feel for you because I think depression/anxiety is an awful disorder.  When I am in a depressive episode I wish i had cancer or something that would kill me, plus, it is easier to discuss an "acceptable" disease with others.  It is hard to make up excuses for not being able to do things because I am having a "depressive episode".  I am so glad you have found a combination that works for you and I pray that it will continue.  Suicide is a cop-out.  Next time, turn to prayer and know that it will get better.

I would like to see if anyone out there has tried Lamictal for depression and how it worked for you?  I have been on every SSRI in the book the past 12 years after the birth of my 4th child.  I experienced insomnia, overwhelming feelings, severe headaches, etc... and didn't know what was wrong with me because I wasn't "depressed". Well, of course, after feeling so crumby I did get depressed.  Right now I take .5 mg of alprazolam 4 times a day, 10 mg. of lexapro once a day, 10 mg of elavil at night to help me sleep and as of a year ago, 20 mg of ADDERALL XR to keep me alert and functioning.  I recently had major fatigue, stress and started the downward spiral where I couldn't get out of bed for a couple of days.  My psychiatrist said he thinks we need to try a new route and to try Lamictal.  It is very gradual and will take a month to get up to the right dosage.  I am afraid to even try it because of how sensitive I am to meds entering my system.  However, this is a different class of drugs than I have used so maybe it is the answer.  Anyone had any good or bad experiences with lamictal?  The doc wants me to eventually wean off the alprazolam and lexapro (I don't really lexapro has ever helped me much).  Please respond.  I am so busy with my kids and working and I am terrified of not being able to function.

 Busymom, I am so sorry you are struggling with your meds . I know what it is like to be a mom and try to hang in there with depression everyday . I now take wellbutrin and celexa and half a tablet of trasadone at night for sleep . This has been an excellent combination for me .Best to you .

hello to all,

   I have been diagnosed as atypical bipolar type II!  The labels might bother some people, however it may have saved my life because now I am receiving treatment for bipolarII instead of depression!  And... Lamictal, a mood stabilizer, seems to have put the depression syptoms into remission! (I cross my fingers and pray) I take a high dose of 400mg because 150 mg did not lesson the severe depression phase. I also take 100mg of effexor.

   I have been dealling w/ depression all of my life!  I did not even realize what was wrong w/ me until I was 28!!  I thought I was moody, fat, lazy, mean, *****y! I never thought it was an actual disease because I would be normal for about 6 months and then suffer debilitating depression for about 2 months. This cycle played over and over for years and I did not know what was wrong with me!!!! I also did not see the pattern until I was about 32!  I was finally able to predict the next time I would go down and I was quite accurate! (within 2 weeks)

    One major event has helped me deal with depression....

 I was diagnosed with stage III B breast cancer. This occurred almost 2 years ago and I had a mastectomy followed by chemo, then a severe bout of suicidal depression, and finally radiation! (I can not get the itallics to stop!!) So far I am doing ok as far as breast cancer... I will not hesitate to say that depression is sooooooooooo much harder to survive than cancer!!! Depression breaks your will to live and for some of us we somehow make it through.  My heart goes out to those who do not survive depression.  I was in an up phases during cancer treatments and I prayed to live, but during  bouts of depression I prayed to die. Such termoil!

   This is my first time on a chat "thingy"!  (Hey I lost my color ) Anyway I have more info about my experience w/ breast cancer on the breast cancer forum!

      Take care everyone and I am sooooo sad to hear of anyone feeling depressed...be kind to your- self, lower stress if you can, and try to ask for help! Help with dailly chores or help just listening to you or help by leaving you alone and not pressuring you until you are able to come out of your depression enough to even think of trying to live again!!

                                        karen in north idaho

Hi karen in north idaho,  I wanted to welcome you to Healing well forum.  We are happy to have you.  Thank you for sharing your life story or history with us, I know it is difficult to share.  We do have several people that do post here on the Depression forum that have BP so feel free to continue to post if you like.  There are many aspects to the disease and depression is a big one.  We have lots of supportive people here always willing to help.  It also looks like you are reaching out to lend a hand to others also which is great.  I hope to see more from you...take care

need a little advice...daughter was on prozac for a very short period (maybe a month) took herself off. left everyone that cared about her, threw a wonderful relationship away and turned to alcohol. only 19. 4 months later realized that wasn't the way to go and asked once again for help. the doctor put her back on prozac which helped for about 5 weeks, then dosage was doubled and wellbutrin has been added. not exactly sure of the dose. it has been about 10 days and she wants to be isolated and is not wanting help from anyone. she now seems very shaky. when she first starts the prozac, she is high on life for about 2 months and it quickly goes down hill. when she is happy is is extremely happy with all that is around but when she is down, she is terribly down and doesn't care. she refuses any kindness from anyone. it seems that she has these cycles of extreme happy and sad but we can't help bring her up from her low. we've been to several physicians and she is seeing a therapist that she basically tells what she wants them to hear so she can get their approval to "fall again". i know that's not a great way of putting it but that's her terminology. please is there something i can do to help? it is heart wrenching. she seems to be worse since she has started the wellbutrin.

Thanks so much for the reply. Since she is of age so to speak, I haven't been able to talk with the physicians to give them the 'correct' background info. She has been diagnosed with a 2 minute evaluation with bi polar disorder but this was right after getting out of an abusive relationship. She has also been diagnosed with an over active thyroid. Eats mostly sugar all day long. Her diet is terrible. I try very hard not to put any pressure on her because she says she will rebel with any pressure. She sees a therapist but not a psychiatrist. She is an extremist so everything is all or nothing. She will make a decision to work out and go to the gym for 3 or 4 days and then miss a day and not go back. Cannot live in the gray area. It has to be all good or all bad. She has a very supportive boyfriend who has come back in her life after she pushed him away the first time. But when she gets in her bad moods (no other way to put it) she pushes every one that loves her away and goes back to the group of people that continually take advantage of her and use her only when they need her. I'm not sure what kind of meds to suggest (very carefully) that she talk to her gp about. today, her therapist told her to stop taking the wellbutrin that her gp put her on two weeks ago. I've heard that alcohol and stopping the wellbutrin could cause seizures. It worries me that she will turn to alcohol or just take herself off of the wellbutrin without the physician's care. I've tried to divert her attention to something fun when she gets in her mood but it seems that it only upsets her that we want to help her. The truth is she seems disgusted with the sight of anyone that loves and cares about her. She will go from wanting to be around us all the time and then just cut us all off midstream.

It is exhausting for me to try and be upbeat all the time and constantly in fear of what her mood is. When I try to talk to her, it is almost like looking at a brick. She has a wall up and doesn't want any help. Says it's too hard to make the effort. I get so angry and I have to hold it all in because I don't want her to know that I can't handle it. Sorry for rambling on but it some how makes me feel better to get it all out.

Hi so worried,  You state that your daughter has been diagnosed with Bipolar Disorder but I am wondering who did it? the counselor or her primary doc?  Either way, she really needs to see a psychiatrist and I cant stress this enough.  The more you describe her behavior the more it does indeed sound like bipolar and she does need to have a proper evaluation for this and be prescribed the right kind of medication.

I can understand your fustration and worry but please know that these are serious mental illnessness and she most likely isnt able to control her behavior and actions.  Even though she is of legal age there are things you can do to get her the proper help.  One would be to sit her down and have a serious talk with her about your concerns and physically take her to a psychiatrist and you can sit in on the visit if she signs for you to be allowed to have the information.  The other option you have which is more drastic would be to go to your court house and request to have her declared incompetent and you could gain tempory guardianship of her for only her medical/mental health care.  Of course you would have to show a pattern of unstable behavior, non compliance with medical treatment and that she could be a danger to herself and or others.  I dont know if you want to go there at this point in time or not but this is always an option and may be something for you to look into for the future if she doesnt get any better.

Please do keep posting and letting us know how things are going.  My thoughts are with you and your daughter.  Take care

Dear Elisha,

Thank you for responding. When I said my doctor was considering changing me from Effexor to Mirtazapine to help sleep I meant that he thought I would sleep without sleeping tablets. I am currently on 150mg effexor which I take in the morning and just cannot sleep without a dalmane sleeping tablet at night. By changing to Mirtazapine I should be able to cut out the sleeping tablets altogether. I actually sleep very well using the dalmane and wake up refreshed but I suppose it is not good to be on sleeping tablets for ever!

Have you problems with sleep while taking effexor? Any tips gratefully received.

best wishes,

twopeople

Dear Ralph,

Glad to hear you have come out the other side again. It is a great feeling isn't it - why can't life be as good as this all the time? Maybe our bouts of depression make us really appreciate the good times that most other people seem to take for granted.

Interesting to hear that the effexor doesn't keep you awake at night. How much do you take. I have always been a fairly bad sleeper. My husband on the other hand would be sleeping as soon as his head hits the pillow

Take care,

Twopeople