More than just The Blues
Posted on 09. Feb, 2010 by Syllable in Real Life
Happiness – like most emotions it is almost impossible to describe it in simple terms. Words fail, reasoning about the feeling fail and my happiness is different from your happiness. Probably. Mine is chemically enhanced. Then again, yours might be too.
A couple of decades ago depression was not considered a serious medical condition, and much like AIDS is now, the disease was stigmatised and people didn’t want to admit they had it. As a result people were less likely to ask for help. Maybe we have Hollywood to thank for ‘glamorising’ depression, but at the same time celebrity hype has often caused people to not be taken seriously. In a technological age where everything happens faster and more intensely, stress is a very real factor and great contributor to depression.
Similar to happiness coming in different forms, so too does depression. The value of therapy for anyone feeling like they may be depressed cannot be stressed enough. Not only does it help determine whether you’re actually depressed or just feeling a little down, it can also help you discover what kind of depression, the cause of the depression and how to approach the problem. Often people think you simply state your problem and the therapist gives you the answers, but life is not that simple.
There are a variety of options when it comes to antidepressants: There’s the alternative option (St John’s Wort), Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors or SSRIs (e.g. Prozac), Serotonin-norepinephrine reuptake inhibitors or SNRIs (e.g. Cymbalta), Norepinephrine-dopamine reuptake inhibitors or NDRIs (e.g. Wellbutrin), and Monoamine oxidase inhibitor or MAOIs (Nardil) – to only name a few.
Generally medical aids will not pay for extended periods of therapy or antidepressants. On certain plans antidepressants can be registered as chronic medication, but that usually only applies to the more expensive plans. If you consider that money – directly or otherwise – is frequently a large contributing factor to depression, paying a sizeable amount of money for medical aid, more for therapy and more still for medication, it is clear that the financial cost alone is enough to drive you to a downward spiral.
With the help of therapy I’ve come I long way over the last decade. Emotionally I’ve never been better than I am now, and I’m paying for it daily. The side effects I have to deal with as a result of my medication, include: nausea, drowsiness, dry mouth, dizziness, insomnia, fatigue, runny nose, sweating, decreased libido, tremors, frequent urination, blurred vision, agitation, hot flashes, yawning, abdominal pain, gas, chills, heartburn, muscle spasm, abnormal dreams, restlessness, hypoglycaemia and itching. This can be very uncomfortable and at times quite embarrassing, but it is the price of being able to get out of bed and face the day, despite feeling tired from interrupted sleep; for keeping my head high and my emotions (and tears) at bay when facing a difficult situation; for having hope for the future.
I’m coping, and although my life is far from whatI would consider ideal, I am happy. It may just be the drugs talking, but that’s good enough for me right now.
Poegeyed
Feb 9th, 2010
This post really resonates with me. I too suffer from depression, not just the blues. It has been clinically diagnosed and I do not know what I would do without my medication, or my therapist.
I have tried to wean myself off the medication because people in my life told me I should not rely on a pill. But really would you say that to a diabetic? I think that we need to still go a long way in accepting that it is a disease and not a weakness or laziness.
Damaria Senne
Feb 9th, 2010
Sometimes I think a little information can be a dangerous thing. Many people who criticise others for being on medication for depression, who reckon you should snap out of it/wean yourself off the medication speak out of ignorance. They think they “know”, but really they don’t. Maybe they have some anecdotal evidence, or they read something that sounds convincing, but they don’t know. I have gone through bouts of depression, though I’m not chronically depressed and not on medication. So I only have a small glimpse of what you’re going through. And I’m glad that medication is helping you, albeit with side effects. But if it helps you to get out of bed and face the day, who are we to criticise, when we haven’t been there?