Comments on: Escapism

By: Sexual Assault Treatment Fail

Sexual Assault Treatment Fail — Thu, 24 Jun 2010 19:39:35 +0000

[...] reason that I’m seeking help is because of my rape last year. The rape was the catalyst for my depression, and now that I’m medicated, a lot of those symptoms are gone. I went in for my intake [...]

By: Another Step Forward

Another Step Forward — Thu, 27 May 2010 11:18:42 +0000

[...] three months ago, I began taking antidepressants. It was a huge step for me, because it’s one that I’d been avoiding taking for years. [...]

By: Up and Go

Up and Go — Tue, 25 May 2010 05:03:12 +0000

[...] falling into that black hole again. The one that I always seem to end up back in, just when I think I’m almost out. I feel like a shell [...]

By: A

Mon, 08 Mar 2010 14:27:39 +0000

Britni,
To your journey of health. I wish you well.
~A

By: Nadia West

Nadia West — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 04:19:56 +0000

Welcome to the club!

Took me years to accept that I should actually treat my depression with medication. All through college as a psych major I would say that meds are a great idea, but *I* didn’t need them. Other people did, but no, not me. Mind you, I had been hospitalized for depression when I was 15 for a few months.

When I was 30 I went on paxil – what an amazing difference. A couple of years in I grew emotionally numb from it, and my gp took me off. Later, the shrink I started seeing said that a lower dose would have probably solved the issue – I was overmedicated rather than incorrectly medicated.

Now I’m on prozac, and about a year or so in it totally killed my sex drive (but helped with the depression). I mentioned this to my shrink and he added wellbutrin to the mix – voila, my sex drive came back to normal.

I hope you have a good doctor who will work with you to find the best drug or combination of drugs to help you. They don’t cure everything – I still get depressed, but mostly I spend 1/10th the time depressed in any one bout than I used to.

Good luck!

By: Bella

Bella — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 11:03:48 +0000

I can so relate to your story, and thank you for sharing. People who do not suffer from depression cannot possibly relate to it, and thus have a hard time supporting and understanding those who do. I made the decision, along with the help of my parents and my doctor, to experiment with anti depressants when I was 19. It’s not an easy road. Lexapro and Celexa didn’t do the trick, and Paxil made me a royal bitch. I’ve been taking Effexor for a couple of years now and it helps me tremendously. I’m lucky though, because it has not afffected my sex drive in the least.
But I can definitely relate to self-medicating. While alcoholism is a concern of mine, I personally have an elephant in the room that keeps me in check. But I agree that sometimes, one just wants to go out and get wasted to forget about everything for a while. (I do have to note that I am very anal when it comes to my drinking like, Ok, I’m going out, my goal is to get drunk. How am I getting home? Am I going to be with someone who can watch out for me if I get out of hand or if someone else does, etc and this frame of mind has paid off.) Sex does the same thing for me as well. I also started attending Al-Anon meetings, which I find may be beneficial because they make me turn the focus inward, onto myself, and are teaching me ways to deal with my certain afflictions, whether it be depression, isolation, abandonment, etc.
I wish you the best of luck, don’t give up hope. There’s plenty of us out here who can relate to what you’re going through.

By: Jane

Jane — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 17:20:06 +0000

Britni,

You don’t know me. But I know what you’re going through (I actually wrote about it for my school newspaper two years ago: http://www.michigandaily.com/content/2008-10-08/personal-statement-depression)

I know that I’m not ready for antidepressants yet, but I’m proud of you for being ready and being able to talk about your struggles. I respect you immensely, as a writer and as a person. No matter what happens – if the drugs work or if you decide to discontinue treatment – know that there are people out there who will continue to care about you and what happens in your life. Good luck.

By: Pixie

Pixie — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 15:28:28 +0000

This is a really brave post, good luck

By: Amy

Amy — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 14:05:13 +0000

You know we all love you. Good luck honey, you are very brave and I hope you know how much I admire you, not just for this but for a lot of things. Not from personal experience, but don’t they always say that the first step is always the hardest? Things can only get better! And all of those cliches…

Lots of hugs xxxxxx

By: angel

angel — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 13:45:20 +0000

I wish you luck and hope you get better very soon.