Depression

If any one has any questions about depression or antidepressants, I'm sure there are a lot of people who are willing to help. I was on antidepressants for four years but since this summer I've been off of them I'm making great progress in my mental health and I'd love to share my advice with any of you!

It would be nice to hear about how you got off of them.

Foxybabe wrote:

It would be nice to hear about how you got off of them.

yeah, I tried to convince my doctors to take me off of them, but as soon as we started weaning off it was like BAM crying 24/7.

But it's really great you have been able to get off of them

I'm just curious as to how you exactly know if you have depression. Now, that may be the stupidest question I could ask, but honestly. I know there are probably different levels of depression, but what were signs for you that you were depressed? Sorry, if that's a bit personal.

^i thought everyone hated me and was really paranoid. and i was boring and not very happy.

Basically here is my story:
In grade 10 I got really, really irritable. I'd be yelling/angry, I'd be crying, I'd be laughing hysterically, my emotions were all over the place. I'd been on birth control for a few years already so we didn't think that it had anything to do with hormone changes. I started to get really really tired and basically stopped contacting my friends, stopped hanging out, stopped going to dance. All I did was sleep. I was constantly exhausted.
Finally my mom was like "um your dad has depression, both of his parents have depression... yay logic" and took me to a councilor. They agreed that I had signs that pointed to depression and I started on medication (Effexor XR) that would help both my mood and my anxiety.
They helped mostly. For two months I was a zombie - didn't want to go out still, didn't want to do anything but sleep. I followed my mom around like a lost puppy. I waited outside of the bathroom for her, I watched her cook, if she had let me sleep in her bed then I would have done that too.

I started feeling a bit more energetic. I was going to a councilor three times a week - twice with the school councilor, and once with a mental health councilor. I saw a phychiatrist a few times. I went on a three month exchange to quebec and came back. I had an excellent experience there, and I came back with a lot of energy and made a completely new group of friends. Life was good.

I was scared to go off my meds but the side effects were starting to get annoying. I would sweat during the night so badly that I would wake up soaking wet. I'd have to wash my sheets every night. I got terrible headaches. I decided I'd switch to a different antidepressant (Zoloft) and they worked just as well for me, with less side effects.

First year University - bad experience. I took on a lot of classes and had a lot of stress. My parents were getting separated, my brother lost his job and was drinking a LOT, basically all I had was Fraser. I was freaking out so bad, I had a panic attack and went straight to the councilors office. I saw the councilor a few times, but I didn't like him that much. We upped my medication level, I had to drop out of half my classes. It was too late though - I failed almost all of my classes and got kicked out of school. I got the oppertunity to go back to school though which was promising, and everythign was all about the new beginnings. I was feeling al ot better and I was going home so I talked to my doctor and we talked about going off my meds. I stopped them cold turkey and felt sick for a little bit (my choice, not hers) but felt okay.

I still get a little panicy sometimes. I haven't had the urge to cut/hurt myself in months and months and months. (I haven't actually acted on an urge since grade 11.) I switched out of the faculty of sciences and into social sciences/arts courses, and I'm feeling good now

i might need to go on antidepressants but i dont want to. i always hear about horrible side-effects when people try to get off them and stuff. but my disorder is starting to come back and im honestly terrified. more than anything in the entire god damn world, i dont want it to come back, even if that means i have to be dependent of stupid drugs. uuuugh i honestly just want to cry

im also considering Cognitive Behavioral Therapy. has anyone ever done this?

lost in you. wrote:

i might need to go on antidepressants but i dont want to. i always hear about horrible side-effects when people try to get off them and stuff. but my disorder is starting to come back and im honestly terrified. more than anything in the entire god damn world, i dont want it to come back, even if that means i have to be dependent of stupid drugs. uuuugh i honestly just want to cry

im also considering Cognitive Behavioral Therapy. has anyone ever done this?

there is no point in going on antidepressants if you're not going to go to therapy. i did a bunch of research on antidepressants before and during the time that i was on them. basically everything i read said that people that took the meds and didn't go to therapy felt the same as people who took placebo's and didn't go to therapy. the antidepressants help you over a hump but they DON'T fix everything for you. not even close.

if you don't go to therapy you just need to want to get better SO badly. i found my councilling sessions way better than anything else i did for my depression/anxiety. Plus it was nice to talk to someone who had no emotional attachment to me. When I would talk to my mom she'd take things a little personally (which is human nature) but my therapists didn't take things personally which was SO nice.

Gabstah wrote:

lost in you. wrote:

i might need to go on antidepressants but i dont want to. i always hear about horrible side-effects when people try to get off them and stuff. but my disorder is starting to come back and im honestly terrified. more than anything in the entire god damn world, i dont want it to come back, even if that means i have to be dependent of stupid drugs. uuuugh i honestly just want to cry

im also considering Cognitive Behavioral Therapy. has anyone ever done this?

there is no point in going on antidepressants if you're not going to go to therapy. i did a bunch of research on antidepressants before and during the time that i was on them. basically everything i read said that people that took the meds and didn't go to therapy felt the same as people who took placebo's and didn't go to therapy. the antidepressants help you over a hump but they DON'T fix everything for you. not even close.

if you don't go to therapy you just need to want to get better SO badly. i found my councilling sessions way better than anything else i did for my depression/anxiety. Plus it was nice to talk to someone who had no emotional attachment to me. When I would talk to my mom she'd take things a little personally (which is human nature) but my therapists didn't take things personally which was SO nice.

i dont have depression (well not that i know of). the disorder i would be taking the antidepressants for would be trichotillomania (i pull my hair out). a couple or research websites on the disorder say that antidepressants are known to sometimes elimate the urge to pull. its like this big mystery disease that they dont know alot about so it doesnt have a drug of its own. dumb

lost in you. wrote:

Gabstah wrote:

lost in you. wrote:

i might need to go on antidepressants but i dont want to. i always hear about horrible side-effects when people try to get off them and stuff. but my disorder is starting to come back and im honestly terrified. more than anything in the entire god damn world, i dont want it to come back, even if that means i have to be dependent of stupid drugs. uuuugh i honestly just want to cry

im also considering Cognitive Behavioral Therapy. has anyone ever done this?

there is no point in going on antidepressants if you're not going to go to therapy. i did a bunch of research on antidepressants before and during the time that i was on them. basically everything i read said that people that took the meds and didn't go to therapy felt the same as people who took placebo's and didn't go to therapy. the antidepressants help you over a hump but they DON'T fix everything for you. not even close.

if you don't go to therapy you just need to want to get better SO badly. i found my councilling sessions way better than anything else i did for my depression/anxiety. Plus it was nice to talk to someone who had no emotional attachment to me. When I would talk to my mom she'd take things a little personally (which is human nature) but my therapists didn't take things personally which was SO nice.

i dont have depression (well not that i know of). the disorder i would be taking the antidepressants for would be trichotillomania (i pull my hair out). a couple or research websites on the disorder say that antidepressants are known to sometimes elimate the urge to pull. its like this big mystery disease that they dont know alot about so it doesnt have a drug of its own. dumb

okay, no i understand now. i knew a guy who had that disease (i didn't know what the word was until now) after his mom commited suicide :/. he pulled out all of his eyelashes, eyebrows, EVERY visible hair. i hope it works out for you. do you have any kind of trigger? or is it just random?

Gabstah wrote:

lost in you. wrote:

Gabstah wrote:

lost in you. wrote:

i might need to go on antidepressants but i dont want to. i always hear about horrible side-effects when people try to get off them and stuff. but my disorder is starting to come back and im honestly terrified. more than anything in the entire god damn world, i dont want it to come back, even if that means i have to be dependent of stupid drugs. uuuugh i honestly just want to cry

im also considering Cognitive Behavioral Therapy. has anyone ever done this?

there is no point in going on antidepressants if you're not going to go to therapy. i did a bunch of research on antidepressants before and during the time that i was on them. basically everything i read said that people that took the meds and didn't go to therapy felt the same as people who took placebo's and didn't go to therapy. the antidepressants help you over a hump but they DON'T fix everything for you. not even close.

if you don't go to therapy you just need to want to get better SO badly. i found my councilling sessions way better than anything else i did for my depression/anxiety. Plus it was nice to talk to someone who had no emotional attachment to me. When I would talk to my mom she'd take things a little personally (which is human nature) but my therapists didn't take things personally which was SO nice.

i dont have depression (well not that i know of). the disorder i would be taking the antidepressants for would be trichotillomania (i pull my hair out). a couple or research websites on the disorder say that antidepressants are known to sometimes elimate the urge to pull. its like this big mystery disease that they dont know alot about so it doesnt have a drug of its own. dumb

okay, no i understand now. i knew a guy who had that disease (i didn't know what the word was until now) after his mom commited suicide :/. he pulled out all of his eyelashes, eyebrows, EVERY visible hair. i hope it works out for you. do you have any kind of trigger? or is it just random?

its random.. and i pull out my eyebrows. then ill get really upset cause ill realize im doing it and try to pull out my leg hairs or something so im not doing visible damage. but i dont really know what triggers it. probably stress or a need for perfection or something. like im really stressed lately and ive been doing it alot more; but i do it when im on the computer, in class, reading, doing homework, etc. lol i actually wore gloves while i typed my essay last night so i couldnt if i tried, it worked pretty well except i couldnt move my cursor since i have one of those laptops with the heat sensitive touchpad thingyy lol.

but its not as bad as it used to be. in 6th grade when i developed it, it was extremely bad. i had barely any eyebrows. they've mostly grown back since then.

ohh wow. todays actually exactly 6 years from the day that i got trichotillomania .. i remember it was the night before halloween and my mom came into my room and i threw my halloween mask over my face to hide my eyebrowless face =( worst memories of my life..

Well, I tried to kill myself about 2 months ago.
It isn't even like I'm always depressed. I'm just extremely up and down all the time.
And there's been a lot going on, and I try to deal with it myself. The situation made me realize that all I need to do is be open about my feelings, talk to someone. I guess I just wasn't because I didn't want to burden anyone. But yeah, now I see this lady for counseling. She doesn't want to get me on any meds, doesn't think I need them, and I'm glad. Originally I wanted to get on an antidepressant, but I've really changed my mind about it. My mom wants me to get on something, she worries about me. But I really don't think I need anything. Talking can really make a huge difference, instead of keeping everything in.

That's amazing that you're on nothing now.

My mom's been on antidepressants and all this stuff for ages. The thing is, she was diagnosed as bipolar shortly after she had me. But now they think she's been misdiagnosed, so she's probably been on all these meds she doesn't need. But yeah, I typed too much, sorry.