Depression

[227bhp]

ELUSIVEJIM said:

It's called keeping the peace.

The last thing people want on this type of forum is two people arguing.

I stated what I did after having a terrible time trying to come off the Effexor antidepressants when missing a day.

So I landed back at the doctors and put on a higher dose.

Changed my GP and showed them the information about Effexor and tapering and she agreed.

So this is what got me off the tablets.

Perhaps it's Effexor that is the issue

Quote

Effexor is well-known to have a withdrawal syndrome, and in certain people, a gradual tapering off of their dosage is not effective in preventing this. Within a matter of hours of missing a dose, some people begin to experience symptoms.

Full article here

https://www.verywellmind.com/brain-shivers-as-effe...

He's on Fluoxatine, but yeah we're arguing over not very much really

[oldbanger]

I was on fluoxetine for a few years and came off them more than a decade ago via a taper method, advised by the GP. Bloody awful period of my life. I was driving as part of my job with blinding withdrawal headaches, head shocks, giddy spells. It took months to get off them.

[anonymous-user]

227bhp said:

He's on Fluoxatine, but yeah we're arguing over not very much really

[anonymous-user]

oldbanger said:

I was on fluoxetine for a few years and came off them more than a decade ago via a taper method, advised by the GP. Bloody awful period of my life. I was driving as part of my job with blinding withdrawal headaches, head shocks, giddy spells. It took months to get off them.

Sounds like a great experience

The brain zaps/shocks are very disconcerting when you first experience it.

Woke up a few times at night thinking someone had used a cattle prod on my head.

You must be delighted being off them now.

[oldbanger]

ELUSIVEJIM said:

Sounds like a great experience

The brain zaps/shocks are very disconcerting when you first experience it.

Woke up a few times at night thinking someone had used a cattle prod on my head.

You must be delighted being off them now.

Yup. I came off then in order to try Wellbutrin to give up smoking. I succeeded in doing both. Then gave up alcohol too.

I can’t say I am cured and I have dipped into depression a few times since, but overall I feel a whole lot better

Right now I am not so good, but this is down to ongoing circumstances and generally I can pick myself back up after a bit. KBO

Edited by oldbanger on Sunday 5th August 23:31

[wiliferus]

Well isn’t depression a massive . Life to be fair has been ticking over nicely. I’ve been meds free for over a year. I’ve been surfing the stresses and strains of life pretty well with the occasional dip, which I’ve acknowledged and dealt with.

Yet for no apparent reason I’m really really fking struggling for the last few weeks. Tearful, dispondant, headaches, and everything just feels like a fking waste of time.
Work is a massive effort and I’m a moment from telling them to shove it. I can’t sleep, up at the crack of dawn every day yet I’m desperately tired.
And so the inevitable struggle of self medicating with alcohol has begun. It doesn’t help other than tkmake me feel lower and st when I wake up.
What’s the actual point? Really? Because I really can’t be arsed with this charade anymore.

[227bhp]

wiliferus said:

Well isn’t depression a massive . Life to be fair has been ticking over nicely. I’ve been meds free for over a year. I’ve been surfing the stresses and strains of life pretty well with the occasional dip, which I’ve acknowledged and dealt with.

Yet for no apparent reason I’m really really fking struggling for the last few weeks. Tearful, dispondant, headaches, and everything just feels like a fking waste of time.
Work is a massive effort and I’m a moment from telling them to shove it. I can’t sleep, up at the crack of dawn every day yet I’m desperately tired.
And so the inevitable struggle of self medicating with alcohol has begun. It doesn’t help other than tkmake me feel lower and st when I wake up.
What’s the actual point? Really? Because I really can’t be arsed with this charade anymore.

Nothing you can pin it down to at all? Work? No matter anyhow, maybe a visit to the Doc and some *happy pills will help you out for a while before coming off them again, it's no problem, just do it.

• Yeah I know.

[wiliferus]

Nope, well, other than being lonely but that’s nothing new.

I can’t go back on the pills, the process of getting on, and subsequently coming off sertrakien was just horrific and I swore I’d never go back on the bloody things.
It’s jusg a wobble. I’m sure I’ll be all peachy in the morning. Thanks

[Wacky Racer]

wiliferus said:

Nope, well, other than being lonely but that’s nothing new.

I can’t go back on the pills, the process of getting on, and subsequently coming off sertrakien was just horrific and I swore I’d never go back on the bloody things.
It’s jusg a wobble. I’m sure I’ll be all peachy in the morning. Thanks

Keep fighting, you WILL get better, take each day as it comes.

[227bhp]

wiliferus said:

Nope, well, other than being lonely but that’s nothing new.

I can’t go back on the pills, the process of getting on, and subsequently coming off sertrakien was just horrific and I swore I’d never go back on the bloody things.
It’s jusg a wobble. I’m sure I’ll be all peachy in the morning. Thanks

Yes i've been there too, you know there's always an ear on here if you need one.

[Joscal]

I contributed ages ago to this post and thought I’d stick my nose in again. I’ve now quit drinking and the differences to my mood are genuinely unbelievable..I never associated alcohol with depression but the more I’ve read the more I realised it was the problem for me. I was sick of it and had cut down to once a week but still felt absolutely awful for days after, then got pissed again and the cycle continued ad naseum.
I don’t want to sound preachy as I was a serious binge drinker since my early teens (now 43) but it finally caught up with me and although not easy since I’ve quit it really has been a complete revelation.
Not want you want to hear with a hangover I know!! I would have dismissed me as a crank a few months ago so don’t worry if that’s how you feel but at least consider looking into it, there are some great books / forums that I’ve found very useful if anyone is interested.
I don’t want to start an argument on here as drink is so ingrained in our culture, but if anyone wants to send me a pm I’ll help in anyway I can! Best of luck folks I was in a terrible place for years but am also proof that it can and does get better.

Edited by Joscal on Sunday 26th August 07:32

Edited by Joscal on Sunday 26th August 07:39

[anonymous-user]

Joscal said:

I contributed ages ago to this post and thought I’d stick my nose in again. I’ve now quit drinking and the differences to my mood are genuinely unbelievable..I never associated alcohol with depression but the more I’ve read the more I realised it was the problem for me. I was sick of it but and had cut down to once a week but still felt absolutely awful for days after, then got pissed again and the cycle continued ad naseum.
I don’t want to sound preachy as I was a serious binge drinker since my early teens (now 43) but it finally caught up with me and although not easy since I’ve quit it really has been a complete revelation.
Not want you want to hear with a hangover I know!! I would have dismissed me as a crank a few months ago so don’t worry if that’s how you feel but at least consider looking into it, there are some great books / forums that I’ve found very useful if anyone is interested.
I don’t want to start an argument on here as drink is so ingrained in our culture, but if anyone wants to send me a pm I’ll help in anyway I can! Best of luck folks I was in a terrible place for years but am also proof that it can and does get better??

Bang on.

[wiliferus]

Sorry for being a drain last night. Was just a low moment. Onwards!

[anonymous-user]

oldbanger said:

Yup. I came off then in order to try Wellbutrin to give up smoking. I succeeded in doing both. Then gave up alcohol too.

I can’t say I am cured and I have dipped into depression a few times since, but overall I feel a whole lot better

Right now I am not so good, but this is down to ongoing circumstances and generally I can pick myself back up after a bit. KBO

Edited by oldbanger on Sunday 5th August 23:31

Sorry I missed this.

Very impressive that you gave up all three. That is a huge change. Must have been hard.

Hope things have settled down a bit again since you posted this reply. Strange and frustrating how the mind can just give you a reminder at times.

[Vanordinaire]

Anyone seen the sculpture "Melancholy" by Albert Gyorgy?
I'd been struggling to explain depression to my wife till I saw and showed her a picture of this.
She got it straight away.
Part of the more "positive" symptoms of my depression is the tendency to feel emotion more than before, and find myself far more inspired by objects of art and natural beauty. This sculpture really "does it" for me.
Whilst I'm longing to get back to "normal" as I "recover" , I hope I can hold on to just a little bit of my new found emotional self.
I hope I haven't offended anyone by stating this, my depression has been truly awful and has turned mine and my family's life on it's head for several years, but it has changed my outlook and I see many things differently now and genuinely hope I don't lose all that I've discovered as I recover.

[rovermorris999]

Vanordinaire said:

Anyone seen the sculpture "Melancholy" by Albert Gyorgy?
I'd been struggling to explain depression to my wife till I saw and showed her a picture of this.
She got it straight away.

I'm not a great one for modern art ('but I know what I like' ) but that is a very powerful object and I get it too. Which is quite something for me as it's usually 'wtf?'

[oldbanger]

ELUSIVEJIM said:

Sorry I missed this.

Very impressive that you gave up all three. That is a huge change. Must have been hard.

Hope things have settled down a bit again since you posted this reply. Strange and frustrating how the mind can just give you a reminder at times.

Thanks. It took quite a few years to get there. I am about 4 or 5 years on now I think and my health is much better these days. I sleep, for a start.

I think at the moment I have had a convergence of stty stuff, some ongoing and long term, like bringing up my late sister’s rather challenging autistic kids, and being married to someone who also has depression and who has been off work a lot in the last couple of years, coupled with more recent issues like my mum being very seriously, possibly terminally ill, and having quite a challenging full time job. Right now it’s been getting on top of me. That might actually be normal. I don’t have any way to tell, to be honest.

[anonymous-user]

oldbanger said:

Thanks. It took quite a few years to get there. I am about 4 or 5 years on now I think and my health is much better these days. I sleep, for a start.

I think at the moment I have had a convergence of stty stuff, some ongoing and long term, like bringing up my late sister’s rather challenging autistic kids, and being married to someone who also has depression and who has been off work a lot in the last couple of years, coupled with more recent issues like my mum being very seriously, possibly terminally ill, and having quite a challenging full time job. Right now it’s been getting on top of me. That might actually be normal. I don’t have any way to tell, to be honest.

4-5 years is a good length of time to pass. Well done again.

Considering what you have been going through recently it just shows how well you are doing.

Anyone in the above situations would find it hard even if they have never suffered from depression.

I think we are all very good at perhaps being too hard on ourselves expecting not to have a blip.

The fact your not on medication is a huge step which can't be underestimated

[ED209]

I have eventually managed to get a doctors appointment to discuss my issues, its not for 2 weeks but I suppose its a starting point.

Over the last month or so I feel that theres a massive dark cloud following me around everywhere, I have no time for anyone and just want to be on my own all of the time. I know its affecting my relationship with my wife. I also think about hurting myself many times every day, don't get me wrong I don't have any intention of actually doing it but in strange situations I keep thinking of it. For example walking home the other night a lorry drove past me, I immediately thought about what it would be like to jump in front of it.

Its odd because I have no real worries with family issues, no finical issues, no other health issues. Work is very very stressful though, not enough staff to cover the work and I think I am feeling the pressure of trying to look after my over pressured staff all of the time. Unless I leave my job this situation isn't likely to change in the next few years. The only solutions i can think of are to either leave or to stop caring and if people like me stop caring then all of us might as well pack up and go home.

Took a lieu day at work today because I can't face another day of pressue and tiredness. Used it to my advantage and had a 10.5 hour sleep which is unheard off for me.

Hopefully I will feel better by then though.

[anonymous-user]

ED209 said:

I have eventually managed to get a doctors appointment to discuss my issues, its not for 2 weeks but I suppose its a starting point.

Over the last month or so I feel that theres a massive dark cloud following me around everywhere, I have no time for anyone and just want to be on my own all of the time. I know its affecting my relationship with my wife. I also think about hurting myself many times every day, don't get me wrong I don't have any intention of actually doing it but in strange situations I keep thinking of it. For example walking home the other night a lorry drove past me, I immediately thought about what it would be like to jump in front of it.

Its odd because I have no real worries with family issues, no finical issues, no other health issues. Work is very very stressful though, not enough staff to cover the work and I think I am feeling the pressure of trying to look after my over pressured staff all of the time. Unless I leave my job this situation isn't likely to change in the next few years. The only solutions i can think of are to either leave or to stop caring and if people like me stop caring then all of us might as well pack up and go home.

Took a lieu day at work today because I can't face another day of pressue and tiredness. Used it to my advantage and had a 10.5 hour sleep which is unheard off for me.

Hopefully I will feel better by then though.

The sleep will do you a power of good. If you have not been sleeping well prior then this can make a huge difference to your mood and wellbeing.

Hope you are feeling a bit better today after that.

It sounds like it is work that is making you very stressed. But sometimes it can be something from the past which is the underlining issue. Obviously, this is something only you would be able to answer.

If it is just work related then perhaps it's time for a change or even just put your CV out there to test the water. Again this depends on what line of work you are in and what is out there. But there is no harm in trying.

No job is worth your mental state but having a change of workplace or career could just be the key.

If you have not spoken to your wife about how you are feeling then please take the time to do so. It will take the strain off of you and help her understand why you have not been yourself.

I personally have lost amazing partners in the past by shutting them out or excluding them due to having issues. All it does is makes the people you care about the most hurt.

These are just my personal feelings