Posted by blueberry1 on January 21, 2007, at 15:10:38
In reply to Sick, sick, sick...and tired of depression..., posted by stargazer on January 19, 2007, at 9:52:01
Have you ever visited the website remedyfind.com? It might be helpful to spend a few hours or a few days, even a whole weekend, browsing through the posts there.
From the main page click on 'Health Conditions/Concerns'. Then scroll down and click on 'Depression'. You'll get a list of the top antidepressants, as rated by actual users like you and me. You can also click on 'Click to View Complete List of Depression Treatments' to see reviews of other antidepressants that did not make the top list.
Interesting is that provigil, while not an antidepressant, is actually rated by a long shot as the best antidepressant out there.
Anyway, click on an antidepressant you have not tried. Then you can read the reviews of users. No matter which one you look at, you will find a mix of things like 'I've tried everything on the market and this is the only one that works for me'; or 'made me more depressed'; or 'didn't work'; or 'worked but with bad side effects'. It's amazing to see how mileage varies.
But the reason I think it is good to spend time reading these is because it can generate the one thing you need the most right now...HOPE. You'll see lots of people just like you who tried all kinds of things and were about to give up when they found magic in something they had overlooked or something they had no confidence in.
As just one of many examples, there are a ton of people who tried every ssri there is except for one and had justifiably lost all hope in them as a worthless class of drugs. But they discovered that last one they hadn't tried worked great. Many other examples.
More importantly, you will see some people who seem to be exactly like you. They tried the same meds as you and got the same results and the same side effects. And you'll see what ended up working good for them. Basically, you will spot some 'trends' or 'patterns' that seem to fit you. That can help guide you in a new direction.
It does take a lot of time. Just browsing through a couple meds or taking a look at a few posts won't be helpful. There is a need to look at all the top meds and look at hundreds of posts. But somewhere in that process I can almost guarantee you there will be new hope and new ideas. Thousands of people have already been in your shoes, and mine (I am in your shoes right now). Reading their stories of eventual success, and what med or combo it what that brought that success, can generate a lot of hope. As well as new ideas. Some of the meds or combos these people got well with were ridiculously simple and straight forward. Most of them did not require exotic combinations or off label drugs.
If you haven't already, try it. I think it has the power to be helpful in gaining some new hope and new ideas.
poster:blueberry1
thread:723983
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20070119/msgs/724838.html