DEPRESSION: Do you get them?

[Hara_Juku Tgirl]

Depression is a complicated phenomenon with many variations and types. Some of the symptoms below are evident in people with depression, but they vary in presentation and intensity.

Subjective feelings:

* Depressed mood most of the day, nearly every day. Feeling sad or empty most of the time.
* Decreased interest or pleasure in most activities that used to be enjoyable.
* Feelings of worthlessness or a drop in self-esteem.
* Excessive or inappropriate guilt.
* Thoughts of death or suicide.
* Feelings of anxiety or restless agitation.
* Feeling apathetic about most things that one used to care about.
* Decrease in sexual interest or drive.

Behavioral or biological changes:

* Increase or decrease in appetite.
* Changes in weight (increase or decrease) without dieting.
* Decreased ability to think or concentrate. No longer able to make decisions.
* Sleeping much more or much less than usual.
* Withdrawal from people and activities.
* Drop in performance at school or work.

MORE ON: http://www-rci.rutgers.edu/~rccc/Depression.htm

It affects millions..have you ever felt or been depressed?

I know I have. What depresses you (If any)? And how do you go about it?

Hmm..This should be interesting especially with alot of tg's on varied medications. ;)

~Kisses.

HTG

[ottorocket]

I have seasonal depression, though as i get older its not much of anything. But when i was in my 20's during winters it was rough...just felt tired and miserable until Spring. Then i went to college and used a few rec drugs to experiment, party etc...try and mask the feelings. Til i found out depression is manageable but most people hide it like i did for years or cover it up with addictions or reclusive behavior that really amplifies the problems.

[Fox]

Thankfully I don't get depressed like what's described here. Every now and again I might have a pity party for myself (don't we all...), but I snap right out of it later.

[blckhaze]

well, after my mom passed when i was 11, my grade slipped. The schoold sent me to a white female pshych and she diagnosed me with a low grade of depression. the funny thing about it was the more i saw her, the worst things got, mostly cause the lady was a condesending bitch, and she did his best to make me feel even worse instead of better(plus she reminded me of all the stuck up jewish mothers Id grown to know as one of only 3 black kids, all male, in my elementry class). she alos recommended i take meds so i didnt harm anyone, but my grandmother never bought that story. when i got to high school, she moved away, and i got a young white male pshych. i saw him twice and he told the school that i had been misdiagnosed and that they should have had me interveiwed to pick out a better physch. i still talk to him occasionaly, casue it always helps to talk to someone with an objective point of view once and awhile.

[Chica]

yeah mostly every day...

and the fact i've had lots of things to help it worsen too..

mum passing away when i was 15 (made me get worse grades and couldn't do what i wanted to at college)
finding out i was adopted (made me feel unwanted)
a friend killing herself
being bullied at school (i faked illness a lot just to stay away from there)
having a poor family who don't accept me for who i am (slowing the whole transition process)

[werwt22]

Its not too hard for me to get depressed, but its not an "I wanna quit life" depressed, but a "down in the dumps" type which usually passes within a few hours. Funny thing is coming out of it motivates me even more.

[a994]

There have been several times in my life in which I was depressed. I can't say if I know if it's chemical, and I doubt it. I can identify the causes of my depressed periods I have gone through: most recently, from being laid off from my job with a local public agency, from heartbreak/romantic rejection during my final days in college over a decade ago, leaving my hometown for a new city a few years prior for example.

Probably two deeper causes are: never having known my biological father whom I was rejected by in favor of his own nuclear family (and to top it off, I was unfortunately born out of wedlock), and having allowed myself to have been sexually molested by some older boys when I was 7 (and also the fact that my grandfather, with whom I was staying at the time, whipped me when he found out--and right now as I type this I can feel the returning and rising of my own anger at myself for being stupid enough to have allowed myself to have been molested--but enough about that).

The things that have helped me have been varied--a therapy program, weight loss on a couple of occasions (and I really need to do so now!), and the passage of time. When I do either get my old aforementioned job back, or a new and more lucrative one (in either case, more lucrative than the job I have now), I intend to spend some of my earnings on regular appointments with a therapist. Also, I am an artist (and we're some of the leading candidates for depression for many reasons) and I would like to do a lot more painting (in fact, I have a feeling that getting back into that on a regular basis will be a big help to me), but my dilemma pertaining to that is that I do my best work when I am not depressed (which by the grace and power of God I do feel myself climbing out of now, if ever so slowly) and also I struggle with finding time to do so when I am not at my job or attempting to find a better-paying job than the one I currently have.

May God help each and every one of you out of your depression. I know it's tough, and it's not as easy as saying to yourself "get over it already."

[insert_namehere]

My Dad and I both suffer from a very low grade and predictable form of manic depression. Looking back on family history, it became apparent that the paternal side of my family was/is disposed to this condition.

The upside of mine is two-fold. 1) The depression cycle is VERY predictable (almost to the day) and as a result, I'm prepped for it to hit and can handle it. 2) The manic cycle is GREAT! It's like riding a sertonin/epinephrine wave for weeks!

Seriously though, for folks at suffer from deep depressive cycles, if you haven't hooked up with a competent mental health professional (especially one who's up on the latest research in both chemical therapy and cognitive behavioral therapy), don't put it off. Depression as a chronic condition is a miserable existence and honestly, you don't HAVE to live that way.

[Congobongo]

well, after my mom passed when i was 11, my grade slipped.

Me too, after the death of my mother, I experienced depression. Everyone does at some time experience it, its not an exclusive club... It doesn't make you less of a person, only more human...

[wombat33]

Depression is a complicated phenomenon with many variations and types. Some of the symptoms below are evident in people with depression, but they vary in presentation and intensity.

Subjective feelings:

* Depressed mood most of the day, nearly every day. Feeling sad or empty most of the time.
* Decreased interest or pleasure in most activities that used to be enjoyable.
* Feelings of worthlessness or a drop in self-esteem.
* Excessive or inappropriate guilt.
* Thoughts of death or suicide.
* Feelings of anxiety or restless agitation.
* Feeling apathetic about most things that one used to care about.
* Decrease in sexual interest or drive.

Behavioral or biological changes:

* Increase or decrease in appetite.
* Changes in weight (increase or decrease) without dieting.
* Decreased ability to think or concentrate. No longer able to make decisions.
* Sleeping much more or much less than usual.
* Withdrawal from people and activities.
* Drop in performance at school or work.

MORE ON: http://www-rci.rutgers.edu/~rccc/Depression.htm

It affects millions..have you ever felt or been depressed?

I know I have. What depresses you (If any)? And how do you go about it?

Hmm..This should be interesting especially with alot of tg's on varied medications. ;)

~Kisses.

HTG

I think we all feel it to some degree.

For me when it really hits I get engulfed by feelings of hopelessness.
I have never been suicidal, but have had periods years back when I was hoping I would not wake up for the next day. I also felt like to each thing I was doing "what's the point"?

[MacShreach]

yeah mostly every day...

and the fact i've had lots of things to help it worsen too..

mum passing away when i was 15 (made me get worse grades and couldn't do what i wanted to at college)

Chica honey, I'm quoting you but I see a few others with a similar tale.

Losing a parent at that age is devastating. I know because it happened to me. You have to realise that a lot of the things you've described and a lot of the feelings you've had are a normal part of the extended grieving process. It takes a very long time to work through this--decades, literally-- and it has many distinct phases: shock, anger, lack of self-esteem, blaming yourself, lack of confidence....the list goes on and on.

There's no quack cure and there's no miracle. I worked through it by succeeding; but the trick to success is to start small. The very first thing I did, so long ago it's almost forgotten, was to stop taking sugar in tea and coffee. I know it sounds really pathetic but when you're that fragile it's an achievement. I succeeded. From that tiny, insignificant, almost laughable success I built up, taking on new challenges. The thing is, once you've been doing it a while you can take a knock or two, it doesn't lay you out.

But the key is to start small. I have an awful lot of things now that after my father died I had no hope of ever having. I have a great family, career, businesses, property, material goods and all the toys I ever wanted. But still there are times when I accidentally open that dark cupboard I was in and although I know it can't threaten me now, I still slam the door and shiver.

There is a light at the end of the tunnel. It takes a long while to reach it but there is a light.

Take care of you. M.

[Dkg]

I think it safe to say everyone gets depressed at one point or another in their life. It's just a matter of how severe and long they stay that way

people generally tend to focus more on the negative aspects of their life, as opposed to the positives. One of my favorite mottos to use is to "count your blessings, not your burdens".

[Ibrar]

I have seasonal depression, though as i get older its not much of anything. But when i was in my 20's during winters it was rough...just felt tired and miserable until Spring. Then i went to college and used a few rec drugs to experiment, party etc...try and mask the feelings. Til i found out depression is manageable but most people hide it like i did for years or cover it up with addictions or reclusive behavior that really amplifies the problems.

I think that is known as Seasonal Affective Disorder, if that is any help :)

[Ecstatic]

I rarely experience actual depression and have never had to be clinically treated for it. The worst for me in recent years was a couple of years ago when I learned--after 9 months and dozens of tests of all sorts--that I have Menieres Syndrome (so-called "glaucoma of the ear"). It's characterized by a tetrad of symptoms, which can come and go and vary hugely in intensity:

1. pressure, discomfort, fullness in the ear
2. fluctuating hearing loss
3. fluctuating tinnitus
4. episodic vertigo

Unfortunately, there is no defined disease, no etiology, and no treatment as such (accupuncture seems to help sometimes). It's typically unilateral (one side only, for me the right side). What first affected me was hearing loss in my right ear, which at times can be so bad I can't hear a thing, and which is usually accompanied by fullness (like your ear is full of water) and loud roaring tinnitus. The dizzyness and vertigo rarely affect me (though they sometimes do, and are accompanied by nausea).

I thought I was losing my hearing, but a series of audiology exams showed that my right ear was fine, and I had a little (but not significant) loss in my left ear. I was really getting depressed as test after test (neurological, CAT, MRI, about a dozen in all) came up empty. Finally my ENT basically said, "You have Menieres Syndrome. Good luck with that."

Naming a thing does at least give one some sense of control over it, so now that I understand at least partially what's going on (my accupuncturist, with that typically inscrutable Chinese medicine way, says it's "too much dampness"), I'm better about it, though it can be annoying and sometimes worse. Humidity definitely affects it, so I was actually better all winter with the drier air, and now that spring is here, its coming back (been bad all week). Looks like retiring to the desert is in my future.

[whatsupwithat]

yeah mostly every day...

and the fact i've had lots of things to help it worsen too..

mum passing away when i was 15 (made me get worse grades and couldn't do what i wanted to at college)

Chica honey, I'm quoting you but I see a few others with a similar tale.

Losing a parent at that age is devastating. I know because it happened to me. You have to realise that a lot of the things you've described and a lot of the feelings you've had are a normal part of the extended grieving process. It takes a very long time to work through this--decades, literally-- and it has many distinct phases: shock, anger, lack of self-esteem, blaming yourself, lack of confidence....the list goes on and on.

There's no quack cure and there's no miracle. I worked through it by succeeding; but the trick to success is to start small. The very first thing I did, so long ago it's almost forgotten, was to stop taking sugar in tea and coffee. I know it sounds really pathetic but when you're that fragile it's an achievement. I succeeded. From that tiny, insignificant, almost laughable success I built up, taking on new challenges. The thing is, once you've been doing it a while you can take a knock or two, it doesn't lay you out.

But the key is to start small. I have an awful lot of things now that after my father died I had no hope of ever having. I have a great family, career, businesses, property, material goods and all the toys I ever wanted. But still there are times when I accidentally open that dark cupboard I was in and although I know it can't threaten me now, I still slam the door and shiver.

There is a light at the end of the tunnel. It takes a long while to reach it but there is a light.

Take care of you. M.

That was awesome of you to take the time to write that. I lost my mom at 17 (my dad was non-existent) and what you wrote is so very true. Decades is the truth.

[Jennifer_English]

I suffered EXTREME depression from around the age of 17...

In hindsight... this was bought about by growing up knowing i felt 'trapped' in the wrong body and thinking there was nothing i could do about it..

from 17 to 28 I heavily abused cannabis,speed,coke and xtc to escape from reality.... BIG mistake!!!

At age 25 I started taking 'Prozac' as apparantly I had taken so many e's that my serotonin levels were ridiculousy low from the xtc.. (every day for 1 1/2 years at one point) I Was VERY depressed and considered taking my own life many times....

for 3 years i continued to do the drugs and the prozac (with little affect) until at 28 I finally decided to do something about the way i felt...

After a couple of years finding my feet I would say that from about 30 to now (3 yrs) I have been very very happy and the depression seemed to have gone for good...

Then a few weeks ago....... i gave the prozac up.....

BOOM! - BIG mistake ! some of you may have seen my recent postings.....I apologise...

I started it again about 2 weeks ago am feeling MUCH happier and have been told that it will not harm me and I just as well stay on it for life....

So yeah depression has affected me.... I hope it NEVER comes back.... it aint nice....

xx

[werwt22]

A quote from Winston Churchill, who had major problems with depression all his life, that may help you in dark times:
"If you're going through hell, keep going."

I think he meant, that if you stop to dwell on your feelings too long, it may consume you?
Abraham Lincoln also had major problems with depression. A lot of great people in history seem to be bothered by it.
http://www.mhsource.com/exclusive/chanceth0196.html
http://www.mcmanweb.com/article-225.htm

That was a nice quote and explanation. I may have to write that one down.

[tonkatoy]

Im depressed, or depressing, im not sure which

[Hannibal Lecter]

Every time I get them, I need something to eat.

[Hara_Juku Tgirl]

Every time I get them, I need something to eat.

Oh thats's not very good either Hannibal Lecter (I mean if you get depressed alot and eat everytime)! :shock: LOL :lol:

~Kisses.

HTG

[Quinn]

I suffered depression as a kid. Constantly getting the living hell beat out of me by my parents might have played a role because I felt fine once I left home in my teens. The only time I’ve felt depressed as an adult has been recently, and that’s just from being stuck at home with Mono for the last two-plus months. Not being able to workout, travel, party, or do much of anything is so damn boring that I’m ready to beat myself to death with my laptop :lol:

-Quinn

[ahmed ukhum]

DEPRESSION where do i start.
I had been feeling down for the last few years actually since about 16 till now 13yrs later and probably b4 that. I hate to play the race card but being an african-american growing up in nyc when my moms was sick from cancer for most of my early adolecent years played a big role on my early signs of depression. Also growing up without my father being there the majority of m pre-teen years and teenage years( i now can remember this) i guess it started by being the youngest child in a divorced household, i began sitting in the house alot as a kid, play outside occasionally, sometimes i felt down and out and with the passing of my moms @ 16yrs old i never sought counseling to help me get thru cause in the african american community, counseling means your crazy. Ive always had girlfiends and friends say something was wrong with me cause i would always isolate myself from the world, be very moody . .

depression is no joke. several months ago i went to see a shrink about somethings cause some of my friends said i should get help since my work performance was slipping. turns out depression gave me terrible insomnia, anxiety and more. i t caused me to miss work, be late, oversleep, have mood swings at work, etc. started taking zoloft and it helped me a lilbit, but eventually i quit my job because of the stress of retail sales and the crazy hours we had to work werent helping my now discovered condition of depression. Now im in not sure if the depression is now part of my preference to not go the norm with having relationships or not, but im not gonna go there in this thread.
I think depression touches alot of people and they dont know it.
ARRRRRGGGGHHHHH i gotta stop typing its too much

[Jennifer_English]

Ideally you should cut them out completely.

Good diet and plenty of exercise tends to have the opposite effect.

I have now.... just the odd smoke....


I missed the post you deleted, but I'm very glad to hear your feeling better again, Jennifer!!!

Thank you xxx me too!!

[Azanti]

I actually had one of the worst bouts ever of depression this week just gone, which is one of the reasons I haven't posted much lately....

Pretty much all of the ones on the first part of the list were on there. I am just taking one day at a time at the moment to bring myself out of it.

[a994]

ahmed, one's parents' divorce, not having one or both parents around, and your other parent's severe illness will do it to you. I also did not have my father around, and my mother has been through a couple of divorces (she and my father never married).

And I hear you about the fact that so many of our fellow African American people can be pretty uninformed about depression, as well as at times being stultifyingly socially conservative and even reactionary.

I sympathize with you about your old retail job. I could never work in sales or anything else where I have to deal with a lot of members of the public each day. It's too stressful for me also.

Go get some rest, or try to think about what makes you happy. (I know: it's much easier said than done.)

And Jennifer: I'm happy to see you're feeling better lately.

To all of you: :grouphug

[Somedude21]

Well, let's see. I've been diagnosed with depression and slight bipolarism (and ADHD, but that has no effect on the current line of conversation). Both my parents suffer from both disorders--though my father denies it, even though he's obviously extremely bipolar--so it's probably genetically passed on to me...though it was probably exasterbated by how my parents treated me, but oh well. While most of the time I try to stay happy, I do get these little depressive episodes sometimes. They can last anywhere from a few days to a few months, but I always come out of them the other side a better person.

Oh yeah, and drugs (as in stuff like pot and LSD and whathaveyou) REALLY don't make things better if you're at risk for depression. Trust me, they only make things worse. Because of that I've abstained from most drugs now almost entirely.

[themaster]

I suffer though depression all my life, now I'm on medication which is working well with me. I was an outcast and was always worried about being judged and beaten up. i did well in high school but still had a cloud over me. I started taking medication which is coming up to be a year and I feel great.

[wendy48088]

... Then a few weeks ago....... i gave the prozac up.....

BOOM! - BIG mistake ! some of you may have seen my recent postings.....I apologise...

I started it again about 2 weeks ago am feeling MUCH happier and have been told that it will not harm me and I just as well stay on it for life....

So yeah depression has affected me.... I hope it NEVER comes back.... it aint nice....



In my 40's I started to gradually develop some weird problem where (the first thing I noticed) was that things just didn't look right. Also, it was getting more difficult to think and to do my job (I am an electronics technician). It felt like the inability to think clearly when you have the flu or head cold - minus the flu / head cold symptoms.

I had some panic / anxiety attacks when I was a kid in my senior year in high school, and they returned. I also got some episodes where my vision was affected for about an hour or so (ophthalmic migraines).

Over time I developed a strong feeling that I was in a dark tunnel or pit. Hard to explain otherwise, but after much analyzing my feelings while I was in the thick of it, it seemed to be the feeling that I didn't know what was going on around me, and the feeling of being trapped and lost and hopelessness that you would have if you were going walking by yourself and feel into a deep pit and couldn't get out and nobody knew where you were to rescue you...

I can see why people in their 40's and 50's who get this happening to them kill themselves - you think you are getting some form of early alzheimer's.

Anyway, I went to the doctor (a psychiatrist) and now I take 10 mg Prozac (Fluoxetine) a day. (The normal 20 mg a day dose made me too jittery). There is a period of adjustment to the medicine (some anxiety and jitteryness) and it takes a couple of weeks to start to work (I would say around 3 - 6 months to really start changing things for the better in a big way). But I did gradually pull out of that dark pit, and eventually found myself back in the light and feeling normal once again.

If I miss a day or two it shows up in that I am a bit more confused and I feel some of that "dark tunnel effect" returning.

So I am a big fan of the Prozac (other SSRIs work better for some people - definitely Your Mileage May Vary - for instance I later tried Paxil, and that gave me weird symptoms like I was on some some sort of minor LSD trip (sparkle visual effects, hearing loud water rushing sounds, feeling a wierd vibration all around me, etc.) after two days...

Now, the psychiatrist (at least the one I go to) is about useless when it comes to gender issues, as his training seems to be that true Transsexuals are very rare and only the most extreme cases are classified as Transsexuals - otherwise you are just a Transvestite... So you have to go to a gender aware therapist for the gender issues.

[BrendaQG]

I get depressed sometimes. Mostly over money. I never seem to have enough to get ahead on my bills and more often than not I am behind. I make just enough money to break even on a month to month basis most months. Then this month the furnace breaks, the stove breaks and a relative in CA is about to die (81 year old guy. He had a long life so I am no so sad.) Going to attend that funeral will be another expense I don't need.

It's like I am on a financial treadmill and the harder I run the more resistance there is so I don't get any farther.

[THATSMISSJUNECUZYANASTY]

I honestly get kind of depressed when I read what some of the people on here write!!! :banghead :banghead :banghead :banghead

[Nautica]

Oh gosh,

I won't even start. I'll use up all of the (unlimited) bandwith on here, lol...

Well, actually, not lately since I've been enjoying life more!!!!! :.)

Nautica =^.^=

[Phat]

I honestly get kind of depressed when I read what some of the people on here write!!! :banghead :banghead :banghead :banghead

same here, mostly getting depressed for humanity

[gaiseric]

Like a lot of people I get bouts of depression. As this has been happening for a long time, I can recognise when it is happening and take steps to stop it. If I can't shake it within an hour or two, I start phoning friends to help me get out of it. I'm lucky that one of my close friends is a very good psychotherapist and she sorts out the inside of my head periodically.
Like a number of the posters on here, my problems started in my youth. Nobody died, but when I was 10 my mother was paralised and confined to a wheelchair. She later came down with Multiple Sclerosis and this was in the days before they were able to do anything so the whole family suffered. I spent the next 10 years acting as a nursemaid whlist trying to cope with growing up as a teenager. The whole experience didn't do me a lot of good and I spent the next 25 years trying to bury the ghosts. I still have problems especially with relationships - no doubt the reason why I'm still single.
As I said the small bouts of depression don't bother me too much. However every 7 - 10 years I get a really bad attack and they are very unpleasant. On Christmas Eve I came down with one - I still haven't worked out why it happened. Christmas was a non event and if I'd had the pills in the place, I would have taken them and not regretted it. For the next couple of weeks it seemed that every piece of news I got was bad and that just kept me feeling low. I even went out and bought the pills. They are still in the packs in the cupboard. I was also having relationship problems at the time which didn't help.
I'm back to a semblance of normal now which is nice. Earlier this week I recieved an e-mail from someone who is very dear to me with some very good news in it so the future may not be as bad as I was expecting. So for the time being all is well.
If the gods are kind, I won't get hit that way again for a few years. 8)

That's my experience of depression for what it's worth. I left out the gory details of my earlier life. Why should I want to depress the rest of you. :)

[Alison Faraday]

*deleted*

[Hara_Juku Tgirl]

*deleted*

What happened Alison? :? :?:

~Kisses.

HTG

[Hara_Juku Tgirl]

*deleted*

Hey Aly..thanks for the PM. ;)

~Kisses.

HTG

[Alison Faraday]

*deleted*

Hey Aly..thanks for the PM. ;)

~Kisses.

HTG

No, thank you for saying Hi. :) ((((((((((hugs))))))))). I'm just not taking this world too seriously. Oh I don't know!! :) It meant alot, little things do. :)

Aly xx

[Bic]

i take lexapro for my depression. i have had it for years and i hate it