HealingWell
Search Close Search
☰

Question

Support Forums
>
Depression
✚ New Topic ✚ Reply
❬ ❬ Previous Thread |Next Thread ❭ ❭
Posted 9/17/2007 6:46 AM (GMT 0)
What do you do if you feel like crap, but none of the medications work or they have bad side effects? I guess if I was honest with myself, depression has been looming for a while, especially after my mom died. After she decided to check out, I just can't seem to get back to normal, or even the "normal" I was before. I've had an issue with it since after my son was born, but it wasn't like this. My motivation is not there. I have to WILL myself to do things sometimes. Sometimes it's ok and it's no big deal, but sometimes it's not. I feel like I'm on the verge of crying alot, and when I'm alone, I do. And I hate being weak. I can't focus on more than one task at a time, and I feel like I'm failing at things I need to do. I know others see it, but there's really no excuse for it. I've never let things slack before. I'm in counseling and it is helping, but in the mean time, I can't get past the days where I feel like I'm not myself. I hate taking medication, and the anti d's that I have taken either don't work at all, make me even more tired than I already am, or they cause reactions that bother me. I need to get back to normal, all the time instead of only part of the time, although having good days is an improvement. Any suggestions from someone whom medication isn't working for???
Posted 9/17/2007 8:10 AM (GMT 0)
Hi Amy

You sound just like I was a few months ago. I had tried Arapax, Zoloft, Endep and now on Effexor XR which has finally given me some relief along with counselling, until the mood swings kicked in, so now I'm on Tegretol also - but boy oh boy, I am feeling so much better at last.  I have to take a whole lot of other meds for pain and other conditions, and I've always hated meds, but now realise that fighting them only prolongs the problems.

I really feel like I don't know who the person was back then, but the old me is very close to back - yay!  I have lots of reactions to meds so had to keep persisting, but hang in there mate, things will get better.  Just keep going back to your doctor until you can get it right - nothing is more important than your health and well being.

Best wishes.

Deb

Posted 9/17/2007 11:56 AM (GMT 0)
Hi Dori
I am very sorry for your loss,I can't imagine the grief of loosing a mother...
Have you started any type of grief counseling? Grief can take it's toll,and I am sure that you have a very busy life so you have put yourself on the back burner.

I think that you really need to call your doctor asap. It took my doctor 5 tries to get the right meds for me. That is very normal. It does not mean that something is wrong with you,it just means that your body chemistry is different than the other person's.
In order to heal from depression you have go to face what triggered it in the first place.

Please keep us posted and good luck.

Shy
Posted 9/17/2007 11:15 PM (GMT 0)

dori, it was like you were describing me. I am going through the very same thing. Although, I didn't lose my mother, I am very sorry to hear that. I lost my grandmother 2 years ago. It has really hard and still is. We were very very close and my life almost felt empty without her there for me all the time. So, I can't relate exactly, but I know what you are going through. I am everything you descibed. Sometimes I am ok and I live with it, but sometimes I just break down and cry alot. I don't let anyone know, though. I hold it all inside myself and try my best to hide it, but it is always on my mind and I can't seem to get past it. I haven't tried medication because I usually have bad side effects to meds so I was afraid to try anything just yet. If I were being honest with myself it is probably because I don't want anyone to know.

I just want to let you know that I am 16, in high school and with that comes pressure yea, but it is really hard when the people around me everyday talk about how some people are crazy in there minds or take 'happy pills' and that kind of stuff. I just want to smack them and tell them straight that they are so wrong. They don't know how we feel and say hurtful things without knowing. I would tell them, but I am afraid they would think I were crazy or something. They talk about people alot an I am afraid they will talk about me, but eventually I want to tell them and be an advocate. I want to speak out to my community and teach them that it is ok and it isn't something that people should hide(like I am doing) and that they shouldn't say the things they say.

Sorry, I am getting off track, that seems to happen to me alot, I am sure you understand...anyways, I am not sure what I can say to help. I am in counseling myself. Which helps while I am there, but other than that it doesn't really help. I just try to live everyday thinking that the next will be better. I know I have good and bad days. I try to take advantage of my good days because I don't have many of them. I can always tell the difference. I can't imagine it being any worse for me, but I know it could be worse no matter how bad it gets so I do my best to appreciate that it isn't worse.

I wake up everyday hoping that I am my old self again, but honestly I don't want to be my old self. I want to be a new self. I want to be better than I was and use this experience and everything I have been through to my advantage.

I really hope you can find some relief. I know how it is to be frustrated at it because you just want it to go away so you can feel better. I just keep hoping it will. When and if the time is right it will happen, it will get better. I hope you get better soon.

Posted 9/19/2007 6:41 AM (GMT 0)
Deb, what is Tegretol? I've never heard of it. I've tried all kinds of things too, amitriptyline, for fibro and depression and it just doesn't work. Other SSRI's make me tired and moody, and have affected my sleep. tried Cymbalta, and it made me very agitated. I'm just so weary of trying something else because the side effects to me are not worth it. If it makes me more tire than I already am, then it is not helping. I guess I'm also a bit weary of depression medication, because that is what my mom died from. Well she took too much of it. But gaging from the reactions I've had to it, especially the agitation, I just can't see how it will help. Maybe I'm a little over weary, but is there some non medication method of dealing with depression?
Posted 9/19/2007 7:47 AM (GMT 0)
hi! everyone. I am a new member.Thank you for accepting me. I have been suffering from depression for a long time but I acknowledged and accepted medical help only recently. This is certainly a tough disease to live with.By the way, Tennis, you sound upset but I am pretty sure you don't suffer from depression.Don't live with you pain and misery.Don't let it build up and control you. Talk to someone- a friend , a relative our your school counselor.
Posted 9/19/2007 7:55 AM (GMT 0)
Shy , I would really like to be free like you. But I am afraid. I don't want to mess up. I am a mother of three smart and strong children. I have kept my bouts of depression a secret for many years. Only my husband knows about it. I always put up a positive and cheerful appearance. I still lapse into depression although I am on medication and counseling. How did you succeed? How did you conquer your fears?
Posted 9/19/2007 8:52 AM (GMT 0)

Maxine:

Tegretol (Assuming we are talking about the same thing) is an anti-convulsant drug normally given for epileptics. I have taken Tegretol for years. As far as I am aware it is not used for depression as it is neither an SSRI or an SNRI.

drss:

Hi there and Welcome to HealingWell!

I am so glad that you have found us and I hope that you get all the love and support you need here. How long have you been on meds & therapy? How old are your children? You are spot on in saying that it is tough to live with but you must understand that this is not something that is gone in a week.

Keep us posted

Darren

Posted 9/22/2007 11:10 AM (GMT 0)

Hi Amy

Hope you're doing ok....

Tegretol is an anti-convulsant as djdaz said, and it's not an anti-depressant, but it can be used for mood swings and nerve pain.  I take Effexor XR for depression and the Tegretol is used for the mood swings - I think it's the combination that does the trick for me.  It was that or Lithium, and this has worked really well for me :-).  It does have its downside of course - I had to be blood tested monthly for a while for to check for various things including liver function, which was an issue, but has settled.

I can certainly understand you being wary about anti-depressants, but sometimes that's what it takes, though IMHO, you really need to be under close medical supervision.  I continue to see a clinical psychologist and believe the combination really helped me, as well as going back to work part-time.  But it's so hard to make suggestions or give advice as we all have so many variables.

Please persist with your doctor, I know it's tiring and wearing but I think that in the end it will be worthwhile of you can find something that works for you.

And please, don't be too hard on yourself, you've had a rough trot and you've got a lot on your plate.  Treat yourself as you would treat your closest friend, be kind to yourself and don't put too much pressure on yourself. 

Best wishes

Deb

 

✚ New Topic ✚ Reply