Depression

[Mad maggot]

It doesn't matter how good your life is or how many things you have to be thankful for. Depression has nothing to do with that. It's a chemical imbalance that makes it difficult or impossible for you to appreciate those things.
Also it has nothing to do with your faith. Having depression does not mean you have no faith or that your faith is weakening any more than having diabetes will mean you have no appreciation for what you have or you are lacking faith.
It is a sickness that causes you to feel bad!
If you didn't have a good family and great life and you felt bad it wouldn't be depression. It would be a natural reaction to sucky things!

 

[Danny Boy]

I know nobody here is a doctor, and I see one, but i thought I would see if anyone had any ideas. I have used SSRI's with great success for 20 years. I am on lexapro and doing just okay. I don't want to switch, I have tried most of them and lexapro gives me no side effects, and when it was working it was truly amazing. I am looking for other ways to help. I exercise 4 times a week. sleep pretty well, take fish oil, vitamin B&D, have a serotion boosting shake of blueberries, banana, oats, walnuts & soy milk every morning and see a therapist weekly.I also pray- i would like to say I have strong faith- but I am being tested, this episode of depression has lasted 1 1/2 years. I seem to get better as the day goes on, and by night I am much better, but every morning is a struggle. I have 3 great kids and wife and besides T and depression I am in very good health, I have alot to be thankful but just can't seem to get out of the dark cloud consistently. Any advice or ideas would be greatly appreciated

Have you ever tried St. John Wort? Safer than a benzo and has been shown to be as effective as prozac without the nasty side-effects. It's a natural SSRI.

 

[kevin b]

Have you ever tried St. John Wort? Safer than a benzo and has been shown to be as effective as prozac without the nasty side-effects. It's a natural SSRI.

Hi Danny, No I never tried St Johns wort. To be honest I am pretty sure, as well as my dr and therapist believe that I need the lexapro, St Johns wort seems to work for mild-moderate depression. I am one who believes SSRI's get a bad rap, like many meds, you only hear the bad, the people who have been helped and are no longer depressed don't go one support sites, when it tremendoulsy helped my depression the last thing I did was go on support boards. I am also lucky that i dont give any nasty side effects from them, when they are working I feel great. I know many here are struggling with T and it sucks, but take it form me depression really SUCKS! it goes into your very soul, I am not downplaing people with bad T, mine is not severe, but most of us need to put things in perspective . I have recently upped my dose, which will hopefully boost me, a few weeks ago I had a 2 week span when I came out and I felt like me again and my T hardly bothered me at all, and when it did I was able to quickly move thru it. I have gotten advice from some great people here who say if i can get out of the depression it will much easier to deal with the T, and they are right. I also give you much credit for experiminting with the Trobalt, you are a brave man and it is admirable that you come here to try and help people when you are doing so well. I have my fingers crossed that Autofiony will help us all.
God Bless,
Kevin

 

[Danny Boy]

Hi Danny, No I never tried St Johns wort. To be honest I am pretty sure, as well as my dr and therapist believe that I need the lexapro, St Johns wort seems to work for mild-moderate depression. I am one who believes SSRI's get a bad rap, like many meds, you only hear the bad, the people who have been helped and are no longer depressed don't go one support sites, when it tremendoulsy helped my depression the last thing I did was go on support boards. I am also lucky that i dont give any nasty side effects from them, when they are working I feel great. I know many here are struggling with T and it sucks, but take it form me depression really SUCKS! it goes into your very soul, I am not downplaing people with bad T, mine is not severe, but most of us need to put things in perspective . I have recently upped my dose, which will hopefully boost me, a few weeks ago I had a 2 week span when I came out and I felt like me again and my T hardly bothered me at all, and when it did I was able to quickly move thru it. I have gotten advice from some great people here who say if i can get out of the depression it will much easier to deal with the T, and they are right. I also give you much credit for experiminting with the Trobalt, you are a brave man and it is admirable that you come here to try and help people when you are doing so well. I have my fingers crossed that Autofiony will help us all.
God Bless,
Kevin

I hope Autifony works too! All I'm saying is give St John's Wort a go. I mean, it's safer than a benzo if you want to go off of them. Get some Jamaican dogwood too, it helps with depression and is sedative.

 

[Mad maggot]

St. John's wort can be helpful but just be aware that it can also make depression worse for some people. My husband had a breakdown. Meds worked for him but St. John's wort nearly sent him off the edge.

 

[newarrior]

I know nobody here is a doctor, and I see one, but i thought I would see if anyone had any ideas. I have used SSRI's with great success for 20 years. I am on lexapro and doing just okay. I don't want to switch, I have tried most of them and lexapro gives me no side effects, and when it was working it was truly amazing. I am looking for other ways to help. I exercise 4 times a week. sleep pretty well, take fish oil, vitamin B&D, have a serotion boosting shake of blueberries, banana, oats, walnuts & soy milk every morning and see a therapist weekly.I also pray- i would like to say I have strong faith- but I am being tested, this episode of depression has lasted 1 1/2 years. I seem to get better as the day goes on, and by night I am much better, but every morning is a struggle. I have 3 great kids and wife and besides T and depression I am in very good health, I have alot to be thankful but just can't seem to get out of the dark cloud consistently. Any advice or ideas would be greatly appreciated

Wow I am vegan this sounds good, "have a serotion boosting shake of blueberries, banana, oats, walnuts & soy milk "..Why and how does this boost your seratonin ? I wish I had a wife and kids

 

[nimx]

It doesn't matter how good your life is or how many things you have to be thankful for. Depression has nothing to do with that. It's a chemical imbalance that makes it difficult or impossible for you to appreciate those things.
Also it has nothing to do with your faith. Having depression does not mean you have no faith or that your faith is weakening any more than having diabetes will mean you have no appreciation for what you have or you are lacking faith.
It is a sickness that causes you to feel bad!
If you didn't have a good family and great life and you felt bad it wouldn't be depression. It would be a natural reaction to sucky things!

Worst advice ever. Looks likeyour infos are out to date. Everything you actually do in you life affects chemicals in your brain, just have a look at beyondmeds.com or ncbi or pubmed for scientific research. If YOU haven't find the right way to change your depressed brain it doesn't mean anyone has to accept that their only way is meds, which anyway is a (rare) possibility (defective brain). It's a bit like diabetes, just 1-2% of cases are genetic and incurable, the others are the sum of a bad living style, depression may also be the result of traumas, which is possible to recovery from.

 

[AnxiousJon]

@kevin b
Never mix a strong source of serotonin like St. John's Wart or 5HTP, with an SSRI. It can cause a life-threatening serotonin overload called serotonin syndrome. You would have to have you doctor take you off your SSRI first. This information is located on your drug info sheet you get at the pharmacy with your prescription.
I have taken St. John's Wart, and it does help with my severe lifelong anxiety(I've never had depression problems[except when i was on benzos]), but it's nothing compared to the efficacy of the Paxil(SSRI) I'm taking.

 

[nimx]

@kevin b
Never mix a strong source of serotonin like St. John's Wart or 5HTP, with an SSRI. It can cause a life-threatening serotonin overload called serotonin syndrome. You would have to have you doctor take you off your SSRI first. This information is located on your drug info sheet you get at the pharmacy with your prescription.
I have taken St. John's Wart, and it does help with my severe lifelong anxiety(I've never had depression problems[except when i was on benzos]), but it's nothing compared to the efficacy of the Paxil(SSRI) I'm taking.

Yup, i also took dropaxin(paxil) for three years before I started to work on myself for recovery from generalized anxiety panick attacks and depression, now I'm free of meds lucky, journey has not been easy though.