depression

ILoveHenryJames

PIGZ wrote:

Unfortunately my daughter whose 7 has also been diagnosed with depression (apparently it can be hereditary, my mum and sister have also suffered with it) and I can see so much of myself in her that it worries me she'll turn out like me, does anyone have any ideas how to break the cycle.

I'm sorry to hear about your difficulties.

Although I am saddened that your daughter also had depression I am pleased that it has been diagnosed at such a young age. As with any depression it is unlikely that you will discover one simple root cause of her illness and rectify it; diagnosis at an early stage in your child's life should enable some preventative treatment and care strategy in order to contain the illness.

Through my counselling sessions, and via my own self-analysis (itself a trait of depression), I discovered that I first started having depressive tendencies when I was 9-10 years old. Now I am at the not-so grand-old-age of 25 I wish I had been diagnosed and helped from a much earlier point in my life; it might have helped me to not have thoughts such as 'I wish I get testicular cancer so that I die and don't have to be around these people'

I'm not going to be blasé and suggest that everything will be perfect from this moment on, but it might help stop your daughter reaching some of the deeper parts of a low ebb in the future.

bettyboop61

It has taken me all day to read through the threads on here about depression, yes I suffer with it to, I have suffered since 1999 and have tried many different anti depressants, my last one that I tried was escitolapram and since I have come off them and now currently taking duloxetine, I realise just how bad they were for me, unfortunately, I am now weaning myself off the duloxetine as I don't think they help me either. I currently have an appointment in 2 weeks to see my psychiatrist, who I may add is very good, he has tried to help me in any way he can, I have been offered DBT, and did try it but found that it wasn't for me. I engaged in psychotherapy also but found this too difficult to cope with and hope to take it up again in the future. I have realised that it is a case of trial and error in finding the right anti depressant, although the one that did help most significantly, was also the one that gave me the most severe side effects and even though I was taking medication along side it to lessen the side effects, I still couldn't cope with the side effects so had to stop taking that one as well. My one critiscm of treatment was ECT and I would never have that again even though my psych would like me to try it again, it permanently wiped away alot of my past memories, although not the ones i would like to forget :rolleyes: and have spent the last couple of years being reminded of certain things we have done as a family, that was wiped away by ECT, my short term memory is bad also, but I don't know whether that is because of the depression itself. I empathise with everyone on here about how their illness affects them, I too have trouble getting up in the morning, bothering to get dressed etc. and yes my family have been affected enormously by my depression, and that in itself can create more problems. I too would not wish this on illness on my worst enemy...thats if I have any ... I don't really go out anyway to make any enemies:rolleyes: All I really wanted to say was... there is help out there and it does take courage to go and seek it. It has been interesting to read others experiences coping with depression.
I hope that sometime soon we will all see the light at the end of the tunnel.

PIGZ

Thank you all for your comments,

To Micheleen, thank you, the hardest part for both of us is talking to people but I am willing to try anything to give my daughter the childhood that she should be having rather than the one she's stuck with. Maybe if I can overcome my demons she'll be able to do the same.

To gingin thank you, your kind words and thoughtfulness made me feel that maybe I'm not as bad a mother as I so often feel.

To Dora the Explorer, thank you, I always believe honesty is the best policy and if you can be honest with each other then the more help you can give each other. I think i'll try your idea of printing this out as every time I try to speak to the doctor about it I either clam up or cry and convince myself I'm wasting their time.

And to ILoveHenryJames, thank you, I think you're right about it not being one simple root cause, she is very deep and has a lot of skeletons for such a young child, maybe if she gets some help now we can prevent it escalating and there will be light at the end of tunnel.

My OH has said that since I have been on this site, it has been the happiest he has seen me for a long time, there is so much to relate to that you don't feel so alone, I feel like I am part of a very large group of friends.

May we all get the help that we all so much deserve, that the sun shines on us all and that we all find the end of our rainbows. Good Luck everybody.

abbecer

Citilopram has worked miracles for me with my second bout PND. I truly believe that without it i would have killed myself. I did agree to counselling as if not they were going to section me. It has been a long hard slog but i've finally come out the other side. I was surprised i got it, especially twice, as i had no worries at all and had a lovely home life. I still take my tablets and still really struggle with lack of energy which is hard with two boys aged 1 and 3. I still find it impossible to sleep during the night until about 5 in the morning then my youngest wakes me when i feel like i could sleep for a week. My optimism has returned and a can look to the future and know it will be good. Things do get better, but it can be a long hard slog.

Love and hugs to all who suffer i know what you are going through.

Rebecca xxx:rotfl:

bright_side

bettyboop61 wrote:

My one critiscm of treatment was ECT and I would never have that again even though my psych would like me to try it again, it permanently wiped away alot of my past memories, although not the ones i would like to forget :rolleyes: and have spent the last couple of years being reminded of certain things we have done as a family, that was wiped away by ECT, my short term memory is bad also, but I don't know whether that is because of the depression itself.

I also had ECT 15 years ago and I lost a huge amount of memories from the year leading up to it. It was weird as I used to have odd little visions of doing things, being in certain places etc, but I didn't have any actual memory of doing it. My memory is generally good now but I do have problems with taking in new information.....it's in one ear and out the other!

I've been so lucky in that for the past 2 years I've had the most fantastic counsellor (having had several that weren't right for me) who very kindly offered to see me privately for free after my initial 6 nhs sessions. Having 'worked through' most of the c**p in my head I'm now in the process of coming off prozac. I still have really bad times, however I feel I am more able to deal with these now that I understand myself a whole lot better.

Best wishes to all xxxxxxx

frostyspice

I had ECT as well, seven sessions in 1992, and like another poster, forgot various things, like trips out and films I'd watched (I'd get a film out on video only to be told by my family that we'd all watched it before!). However in the intervening years a lot of it has come back to me, and let's face it, you forget stuff naturally anyway!

Having said that ... I wouldn't have it again though.

If you're in the queue for treatment outside the ECT room you may notice how many more women than men are in that queue, especially old women. (and the statistics bear this out). I think that's interesting. Are old women's problems (poor health, being widowed, maybe being poor) seen as something which can just be blasted away with a few volts? No one knows how or why ECT works, if indeed it does in the long term - but it's cheaper than CBT and courses of drugs.

The politics of psychiatry is something we need to be aware of.

rubytuesday

I also had ECT after the birth of my son 20 years ago. It did actually jolt me out of my depression temporarily so to speak but I think it is barbaric. I made sure before the birth of my daughter 6 years later everyone knew that I totally objected to it were I to become ill again (which I did). However brain still seems to be working fine went onto get a 2-1 degree!
A good book which I swear by is by Dale Carnegie How to Stop Worring and Start Living. Bit old fashioned but brilliant.

ms_london

Hi!! What an interesting thread..

I have suffered from depression in the past (am 25) and last Easter I took an overdose, which didnt work. Oh, I wanted it to, it wasnt a cry for help and even the doctors at the hospital were suprised it didnt work and I was gutted, however, I am SOOOOOOOOOOO thankful that I didnt work, and do believe I have been given a 2nd chance at live as it was so close to being over (my eyes have tears in them as I write :rolleyes: !!). I had no "real" reason to feel depressed, so perhaps I have a chemical imbalance, and come off the a/d in January (was only on 10mcg) - and overall I feel fine. I have bad days where I do mope around/overeat/dont want to see anyone - and my mum still worries as if I dont reply to her texts/phonecalls after a certain time, she panics - but I dont blame her as I cant believe I put her through that!!

I feel that the OD really brought things home and I know that I could never get as low as I did then, and I feel grateful that it wasnt successful.

Things are a lot better for me at the moment, am now debt free (which didnt help matters!!) and am going to Oz soon (whoooOOoooo!!) but I am prepared that it may return and I will still have bad days..

I know that diet & exercise plays a huge part in tackling depression, but sometimes I dont even listen to myself and have spent the last few weeks eating horrendously badly & doing no exercise & felt worse for it - I havent felt depressed, just a bit nothing, and then ill because I have been eating so badly - a vicious (sp?) circle really..

At least with the internet you can "chat" to others and realise you are not alone, whether that is whether depression/debt/anything!!

xx

PIGZ

Hiya everyone,

How are you feeling now Tankgirl1 hope the changeover is working well.

I haven't been back here for a few days, but I have been sending off for all the freebies and comps which have cheered me up no end especially when its more than just bills popping through the letterbox.

Thought I'd pop back to give you all an update, I've had a good few days, managed to tackle some stuff that I hadn't done before in work which gave me a real sense of satisfaction, read 2 danielle steele books which gave me an excuse to have a good cry, which I did beginning to end, and haven't threatened anybody in at least a week, not purposely anyway lol. Thought long and hard about counselling and am going to give it a shot. So all in all not too bad. Oh and I actually went out with OH one night last week 1st for a long while i've forgotten what a social life is!

My daughter is going off to Israel in two weeks to spend the summer hols over there with her nan and grandad, so she can have a break and a bit of one on one time which I think will do her good, she got invited to someones house for tea the other day and another girl actually called for her to go out to play (she has a lot of trouble making friends), so she's having a good few days as well and when she gets back I'm going to sign her up for brownies to see if that will help her.

Thats me for now, hope everyone else is getting on ok.

Love n Hugs 2 all.

ILoveHenryJames

PIGZ wrote:

My daughter is going off to Israel in two weeks to spend the summer hols QUOTE]

Far from wanting to make light of a terrible situation in the Middle East; are you sending her with a bullet-proof vest?

Seriously now, I am please to hear that you have been having a better time recently; these times are very precious indeed. I find that keeping a diary is beneficial, look at the netdoctor link a few posts above for the address.

Oh, and give my love to South Wales. I do miss Caerdydd so much.