bellus quies's Journal: Depression and stuff

Well I finally got an appointment with an MD so that I can look into getting medicated for my ADD and recent bout of depression. It's such a fucking pain in the ass, all this HMO bullshit. I've called all 4 doc's in my area and they aren't accepting new patients. The closest MD that accepts my insurance is a 90 minute drive. So I've resorted to accepting that I'd pay out of pocket and called some person I found online. And they had a cancellation so I've got an appointment for Friday morning.

Depression sucks. I keep wondering if I should include the argument I had with my boyfriend in the SMITE (/. moment in time) group post. Just that my boyfriend's upset at how negative I've been lately. And I let him know that ya, I understand that because I've been depressed for months now. And he asked why I hadn't brought it up more often. And he doesn't even know what depression is, that I've had to make him promise me that he'll look it up, and that was last Saturday and he keeps coming up with excuses like he can't look things up at work. So I put together an e-mail with a bunch of links that he probably won't read. Because he didn't read anything before when we were having relationship issues and all that nonsense from last year.

Whatever. I'm off work now and get to go home and sleep.

sounds like a feedback loop..

[kesuki]

for the negativity. medication is only part of the solution, it tackles the fundamental chemical issues, from there on out you have to work through the REST of the issues that led to that imbalance in the first place. some issues are genetic, yes, but i know a lot of people who've overcome adversity to be better people, even with their weaknesses. there is a difference between dreaming about the future and planning realistically to see as many of those dreams come true as can.

If you want the relationship

Medication AND Therapy

[johndiii]

To echo what kesuki said, medication by itself will not work. It can give you the space to deal with the real psychological issues, but it will not fix the causes of the depression. I talked about this with my therapist a couple of sessions ago. Research suggests that medication and therapy combined are several times more effective than either approach alone.

Also, be aware that many antidepressants lose their effectiveness over time. The newer ones appear to be somewhat more successful, and have fewer s

Re:Medication AND Therapy

[bellus quies]

I agree, and I have been seeing a counselor since March. I just need a neurological jump start to get me out of this hole.

And ya I do know that it's also genetic, as depression runs in my family and I've also been on prozac before when I was 13.

What johndiii said

[Com2Kid]

Therapy AND medication help a ton more.

Therapy gives you the toolset to monitor and maintain yourself, the meds just help take the edge off so you can get things back under control.

Also, your body's reaction to medication changes over time, you really need the tool set that therapy gives you in order to monitor these changes.

Oh and, just judging from this journal post, your BF sucks. Punch him in the face and dump him. He should be OFFERING to drive you to each therapy session, if not insisting on attendi

Re:What johndiii said

[bellus quies]

Ya, I've been going to therapy for a couple of months now and have just been slacking on finding a MD to help with the meds aspect. I am a bit tentative with the depression meds as I'm not sure what will happen, effects and side-effects. As I took prozac as a kid to help out with the depression after my parents divorce, and remember that I stopped taking them because I didn't like having to, but I don't remember the reason why.

Re:What johndiii said

[Com2Kid]

Prozac works great for some (if not most!) people, almost no side effects at all.

Other people it just messed up.

One thing to remember is that your brain may be "used" to being depressed and will try to psychologically sabatoge any efforts on your part to become undepressed. This is where the therapy helps, so you can notice these trends and put an end to it. Learning to keep control of your brain, which sounds kind of odd, but most people do not have very good control of their mind!