I finally got relief from depression

[Jimswaff]

Hi, my name is Jim.  I know different people require different medications for relief from anxiety and depression.  I had tried everything.  SSRI's you name it.  Most medications made my condition worse,  I tried suicide twice. These were real attempts not a cry for help.  I did a few of those also.  Finally, after years of searching for help and self medicating to the point of alcoholism and drug addition.  I found medications that worked for me.  I am not a doctor and not saying these medications will help you. But, if you have tried everything with no relief. You may want to try mirtazipine and quintipine.  It saved my life. You may want to talk to your doctor about the combination.

[sick_of_meds]

     Hi Jim ,welcome to HW . Iread your post and I don,t know what to say about the med your taking for depression .Good luck with it ,and take care.

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      sick of meds

[els]

Hi Jim,   Welcome to healing well forum.  We are happy to have you.  I am familiar with the Remeron (Mirtazapine) but is Quintipine a medication that is only approved in the UK?  I am in the US & have never heard of it. Also, I have worked in the mental health field for many yrs and am very familiar with medications dosages.  Doing a Google search turns up with nothing really.  I am glad that this combination of medication was beneficial for you and your depression.  I take Effexor Xr and am doing really quite well on it.  Thank you for your input and I hope you continue to post.

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Elisha

http://www.healingwell.com/donate/

[akramh]

welcome to the forum freeloader,

I seem to be doing ok with my med combo of 5 meds, thanks for your advice i dont know if what worked for you could work for everyone else.

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                                                     To be or not to Be

[Jimswaff]

Elisha, this is Jim again. The correct spelling of the medication is actually Quetiapine is known by the brand name Seriquil.  It is classified as an antiphycotic. I take it at night and it is very good for sleep.

Good luck

 

[els]

Hi Jim,  Ok yes we do have Seroquel and it is and antipsychotic usually given for treatment of bipolar disorder but is not limited to this.  The spelling threw me..thanks for the clarification.  Your right though I have known several people that have been prescribed it and had the benefit of it helping them to sleep at night. I am glad that it has worked for you.   

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Elisha

http://www.healingwell.com/donate/

[geniebottle]

hey jim im glad your new meds are working good luck welcome to hw

[momof5]

I can really feel for you because I think depression/anxiety is an awful disorder.  When I am in a depressive episode I wish i had cancer or something that would kill me, plus, it is easier to discuss an "acceptable" disease with others.  It is hard to make up excuses for not being able to do things because I am having a "depressive episode".  I am so glad you have found a combination that works for you and I pray that it will continue.  Suicide is a cop-out.  Next time, turn to prayer and know that it will get better.

[els]

Hi busymom,  I wanted to take a moment to welcome you to healing well.  We are happy to have you.  I have never taken lamictal but I have heard lots of really good things about it.  I do hope that someone who takes this will reply back to you soon.  Take care...

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Elisha

http://www.healingwell.com/donate/

[bluebunting]

 Busymom, I am so sorry you are struggling with your meds . I know what it is like to be a mom and try to hang in there with depression everyday . I now take wellbutrin and celexa and half a tablet of trasadone at night for sleep . This has been an excellent combination for me .Best to you .

[Jimswaff]

Hi Busymom, this is Jim again. I've never heard of lamictal. I am very intrested to know how it works. I can't take ANY SSRI's. Prozac led me to an almost sure suicide episode. I completly lost touch w/ reality. I get the same feelings w/ all SSRI's. I am sorry your doc wants you to come off of Alprazolam. I think you may need a benzodiazapine. Isn't Alprazolam, Xanex. If so, instead of going off of it, maybe you should change to a longer acting more benign benzo like Klonipin or Ativan. I would sure ask your doc about it. Klonipin you can take all your life w/o the side effects Xanex has like sizures.
Good luck and please keep us posted on Lamictal.
Jim

[karen_in_north_idaho]

hello to all,

   I have been diagnosed as atypical bipolar type II!  The labels might bother some people, however it may have saved my life because now I am receiving treatment for bipolarII instead of depression!  And... Lamictal, a mood stabilizer, seems to have put the depression syptoms into remission! (I cross my fingers and pray) I take a high dose of 400mg because 150 mg did not lesson the severe depression phase. I also take 100mg of effexor.

   I have been dealling w/ depression all of my life!  I did not even realize what was wrong w/ me until I was 28!!  I thought I was moody, fat, lazy, mean, *****y! I never thought it was an actual disease because I would be normal for about 6 months and then suffer debilitating depression for about 2 months. This cycle played over and over for years and I did not know what was wrong with me!!!! I also did not see the pattern until I was about 32!  I was finally able to predict the next time I would go down and I was quite accurate! (within 2 weeks)

    One major event has helped me deal with depression....

 I was diagnosed with stage III B breast cancer. This occurred almost 2 years ago and I had a mastectomy followed by chemo, then a severe bout of suicidal depression, and finally radiation! (I can not get the itallics to stop!!) So far I am doing ok as far as breast cancer... I will not hesitate to say that depression is sooooooooooo much harder to survive than cancer!!! Depression breaks your will to live and for some of us we somehow make it through.  My heart goes out to those who do not survive depression.  I was in an up phases during cancer treatments and I prayed to live, but during  bouts of depression I prayed to die. Such termoil!

   This is my first time on a chat "thingy"!  (Hey I lost my color ) Anyway I have more info about my experience w/ breast cancer on the breast cancer forum!

      Take care everyone and I am sooooo sad to hear of anyone feeling depressed...be kind to your- self, lower stress if you can, and try to ask for help! Help with dailly chores or help just listening to you or help by leaving you alone and not pressuring you until you are able to come out of your depression enough to even think of trying to live again!!

                                        karen in north idaho

[Jimswaff]

It's too bad the world doesn't stop when we are in a deep depression. To me it seems like it stops, or should stop. When I'm in a deep depressive state I wonder why people even care about anything at all. Isn't that sick. I really hate putting on the front and smiling and acting as if I cared about anything at all. On those days I just can't wait until I can go home and lay down w/ no noise or anything. Just me and my depression. Wondering why there is a such of thing as life in the first place. What's it all about? Why am I here? I'm not in one of those states now and I hope I never get that way again. Well, I've vented enough. Thanks for listening.
Jim

[els]

Hi karen in north idaho,  I wanted to welcome you to Healing well forum.  We are happy to have you.  Thank you for sharing your life story or history with us, I know it is difficult to share.  We do have several people that do post here on the Depression forum that have BP so feel free to continue to post if you like.  There are many aspects to the disease and depression is a big one.  We have lots of supportive people here always willing to help.  It also looks like you are reaching out to lend a hand to others also which is great.  I hope to see more from you...take care

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Elisha

http://www.healingwell.com/donate/

[karen_in_north_idaho]

Thanks Elisha!
Depression is the biggest challenge in my life and it has been since I was very young!!! Breast cancer came into my life when I was 32 and now almost 2 years later I feel better than ever! The biggest help has been breast and cervical cancer medicaid! Now I am able to get better treatment for depression(bipolar type II) and also I don't have to struggle to pay for medications!!!
WE REALLY NEED DEPRESSION MEDICAID!!! I will work on that! One of the biggest struggles for me has been poverty. (due to depression) I think alot of people with depression, bipolar, anxiety, and all the other mental illnesses end up dealling with poverty. Being poor adds to stress levels and stress increases the symptoms of many mental illnesses. It is so wonderful to find this forum!! Thanks to those who started it!!! KAREN IN NORTH IDAHO

[fogleman]

need a little advice...daughter was on prozac for a very short period (maybe a month) took herself off. left everyone that cared about her, threw a wonderful relationship away and turned to alcohol. only 19. 4 months later realized that wasn't the way to go and asked once again for help. the doctor put her back on prozac which helped for about 5 weeks, then dosage was doubled and wellbutrin has been added. not exactly sure of the dose. it has been about 10 days and she wants to be isolated and is not wanting help from anyone. she now seems very shaky. when she first starts the prozac, she is high on life for about 2 months and it quickly goes down hill. when she is happy is is extremely happy with all that is around but when she is down, she is terribly down and doesn't care. she refuses any kindness from anyone. it seems that she has these cycles of extreme happy and sad but we can't help bring her up from her low. we've been to several physicians and she is seeing a therapist that she basically tells what she wants them to hear so she can get their approval to "fall again". i know that's not a great way of putting it but that's her terminology. please is there something i can do to help? it is heart wrenching. she seems to be worse since she has started the wellbutrin.

[els]

Hi so worried, Welcome to healing well forum, I am very sorry about your daughter.  I am wondering if you have actually consulted the help of a psychiatrist?  This is really the type of physician that should be mananging/prescribing her medication and who would be able to give a diagnosis of what is going on with her. 

[fogleman]

Thanks so much for the reply. Since she is of age so to speak, I haven't been able to talk with the physicians to give them the 'correct' background info. She has been diagnosed with a 2 minute evaluation with bi polar disorder but this was right after getting out of an abusive relationship. She has also been diagnosed with an over active thyroid. Eats mostly sugar all day long. Her diet is terrible. I try very hard not to put any pressure on her because she says she will rebel with any pressure. She sees a therapist but not a psychiatrist. She is an extremist so everything is all or nothing. She will make a decision to work out and go to the gym for 3 or 4 days and then miss a day and not go back. Cannot live in the gray area. It has to be all good or all bad. She has a very supportive boyfriend who has come back in her life after she pushed him away the first time. But when she gets in her bad moods (no other way to put it) she pushes every one that loves her away and goes back to the group of people that continually take advantage of her and use her only when they need her. I'm not sure what kind of meds to suggest (very carefully) that she talk to her gp about. today, her therapist told her to stop taking the wellbutrin that her gp put her on two weeks ago. I've heard that alcohol and stopping the wellbutrin could cause seizures. It worries me that she will turn to alcohol or just take herself off of the wellbutrin without the physician's care. I've tried to divert her attention to something fun when she gets in her mood but it seems that it only upsets her that we want to help her. The truth is she seems disgusted with the sight of anyone that loves and cares about her. She will go from wanting to be around us all the time and then just cut us all off midstream.

[Carolines]

Hi Jim

Have you ever been on effexor? My doctor recently suggested coming off effexor and going onto Mirtazapine. Apparently Mirtazapine is much better for sleep than effexor. I am really struggling with the sleep issue on 150mg effexor XL. Any advise on starting this new drug? Do I have to come off effexor totally before I can change to Mirtazapine?

Thanks,

Twopeople

[els]

Hi so worried,  You state that your daughter has been diagnosed with Bipolar Disorder but I am wondering who did it? the counselor or her primary doc?  Either way, she really needs to see a psychiatrist and I cant stress this enough.  The more you describe her behavior the more it does indeed sound like bipolar and she does need to have a proper evaluation for this and be prescribed the right kind of medication.