scrap_lover09

that is good to hear that this has brought understanding. I think sometime we need discussions like this..like someone else said. To understand other points of view and learn more about other peoples lives

jljack

I did go through a bout with depression during menopause. I can tell you it is nothing to fool around with...it is debilitating!! Medications for depression can be a life changing and life saving thing for some people. Chronic depression is a horrible disease that some people deal with on a daily basis. It is a disease.

However....some people do let the pressures of life get them down. In that case, I think a person's attitude about life in general has a lot to do with their state of mind, including allowing themselves to sink into depression. Too much worry, too much alcohol, too much of lots of different things can cause it. Lots of "depressed" people could change it by changing their "self" centered lives to "others" centered lives. I've seen it happen. I work in that field.

Moppet

Sometimes it is not just depression. I live with Bipolar disorder and it is hereditary. Before I was diagnosed they treated me for just depression for years and made it worse and I mean really worse. To the point that I am on heavy drugs and I have the worst one of the bipolar of them. No me, nothing that simple!

You would not believe how many so called friends shun you when you get this diagnosis. And new people you meet and find out you have it run the other way even though it is controlled with meds. And because of it being so severe I was deemed incapable to work any longer and I had worked since I was 16 yrs old. Which for me was hard to handle. that is where my family and my parrot flock and furry ones come in they don't care they still love you. I have been on disability now for almost 6 yrs. and without it I could not meet the cost of my medications.

So being treated for simple depression if you have it is not a sin. And with the stress of life nowadays I believe is the factor in so many having it.

vjengels

Yes, the world is a very depressing place these days for alot of the population. Generally I am a very upbeat person, but I had a very bad time a few years ago, the first thing my Dr. wanted to do was write a presription; that's just not for me,I do not want to be medicated unless there is no other way. what I needed was change in diet, and exercise. Some people just don't cope as well, not everyone is able to step back and examine thier lives, and make changes based on what they see there, they need help; thank goodness the Pharmaceutical Companies are there to save us from ourselves.......

pollyjvan9

I'm not going to chop your head off, but I would like to say how fortunate you are that you don't have any idea what depression is like. When my husband died in his 40's and left me with a 16 year old at home, when I was layed off from job 3 mos later, when my Dad died with lung cancer, when my Mom's mind died 4 years before her body did, when my darling grandson died on his 6th birthday...I had to fight depression with everything I had in me. I took the pills, but I prayed a lot and made myself remember all the wonderful things in my life, and, of course, I took up quilting!

Bill'sBonBon

I can relate to what you are saying, I am not a person that gets depressed but when I do... Everyone does at some time just not to the degree others do. When you feel Blue or unecessary as my Mom calls it you are in a depressed state. I would get up go for a walk or work in the yard as she told me she did the same until she became unable to do so.Tomorrow April 7th. I will have been married to Bill for 49yrs. He has battled depression since I knew him. We married when He was 18 and me 17. People like my DH has a chemical imbalance. They have to take the meds. You are right there are some horrible side effects to some of them. Bill had TARDIVE DYSKINSIA which is uncontroled movements. It was horrible He was so lucky cause it is usually perminent. It is very hard to understand unless you have been educated abt. it. Why they can't just pull themselves out of the Big Black Hole as my DH calls it. They are helpless. I am ashamed to say it but until I understood what he was going thru. there were times I was hateful,mean and ugly to him because He wouldn't get up and do something, get your body going I would say, you can't sit there 24 hrs a day like you are doing and not do something, Exersize, Walk lets do something and I couldn't not understand whey He couldn't pull himself out of it like I could and my Mom could.All he did was eat and sleep, watch tv. Well we thought there was nothing anyone could do, so we coped together the best we could. Until a few weeks ago he couldn't take it anymore and was talking suicide. I got him to a doc. He was in the Hospital for 2 days. They have him on some meds that will not hurt him like the others. They also Educated me on Depression. I am so grateful and thank God. Just in the last 3 weeks I have gotten my husband back and He is a forgiving man cause He doesn't hold any of the nasty words against me..
Marsye,like you,I go for checkups, take very little meds. Flosnaze,Chlestrol med. The only prescrition drugs I take. We are both Fortunate and should thank God. I used to have the same oppinion as you about depression. Only because I didn't understand it. I hope this help you to understand. It is not a I want to be that way, most people that have the kind of depression they can't get out of like my DH have a missing chemical in there Brain. Plain and Simple.
BillsBonBon Married to a Bipolar AKA Manic Depressant for 49 YEARS tomorrow and wouldn't change him even for nobody.

Bill'sBonBon

You go Girl, Keep up the fight My DH has Bipolar and yes it does run in families. My oldest DD has it 2 or her sons have it. It came from my DH side His mom had it and no one knew,SAD. We,the ones that get only the simple depression are so Fortunate and we should all thank our lord for that.
BillsBonBon

Bill'sBonBon

Jingleberry, This is what Bills Doc. told me 2 weeks ago. If you every feel just Blah! nothing physical,and you want just don't want to do anything, feel sad for no reason. That is depression. You are very,very,very lucky to have never felt this way. I am not a person that gets that way very often but when I do I move my body whether I want to or not. I take a med for anxiety now I forgot to add that on a post to the arthur of this thread. Because I am a caregiver to my 83 yr.old Mom and my Bipolar Husband. I was just ready to explode because of so much needyness around me. Depression is easy for me to shake I wish everyone was as lucky as you and me.
BillsBonBon

Mousie

well, I may comment many times throughout this thread, as I am very much into psychology/mental health issues, having been, "in the system" as I call it...for 25 years.
So far, the two repliers are right on the mark.
Clinical depression is way different than situational depression that passes.
It is an imbalance in the body's chemistry and it isn't a sin, it's medical/physical/chemical in nature,...not a state of mind, but affects it.
As for doctors handing out pills left and right. Absolutely, and not just for depression. It seems to me that they go pill crazy for everything, but that is partly bc of the way our whole drug system in the u.s. is set up with these kickbacks and such from drug companies.
I was with a mail in pharmacy and paid 20.00 for a generic and 40.00 for a brand.
Then my insurance company saw as way to save themselves money by sticking it to us customers and now having been moved to a new company, involutarily :evil: , I pay:
3-20 for some generics and
anywhere from $60 - $200 for a brand medication!
It has made mine and hubbys monthly meds jump from
80.00 a month to 287.00 a month!
I don't take anything...ANYTHING, that I don't have to, and take as low a dose as possible on those!
I could probably get more pain relief from a prescription pain reliever, but as long as I can bite my tongue and manage to hang on, I keep taking otc pain relievers with my doctor's approval to save money.
It really is a racket, but some of us have NO CHOICE!

Mousie

Marsye, don't feel bad for asking.
Here is what I and many others have experienced:
aside from the devastating, life changing affects of depression and other m.h. diagnosis...it is a whole nother issue to have family and friends that just can't and won't try to understand.
I am not talking about you, your asking.
I am talking about family having bad attitudes bc deep down they know these things are in the bloodline and are afraid they have some of it too.
well, NO FEAR...so what if a person DOES HAVE IT?
it is still a free country, and unless your proven to be dangerous to yourself or others, you don't have to take medication,
no matter how depressed you are,
no matter how much time you spend crying,
or money spending binges,
or eating binges,
or rant, rave and vent on other ppl,
won't leave your house,
won't clean or cook or take a bath...
shriek and have fits like a banshee,
taking out it out on any and everyone around you,
or sitting like a lump and never talking at all,
or sometimes not getting out of bed for days at a time, only to go to the bathroom
and not eating much at all.
and there is so much more.
I personally have not done all these things.
Each person is different, so it's not always easy to recognize.
One big problem is the ppl that do get out of bed and eat, but don't clean or keep up with things and always late etc. etc.
People just think they are lazy no good for nothing sponges.
"well, if he can do that...he should be able to do this!"
DON'T BE SO SURE!
How would you like to have
a super freeway,
with the Indy 500 x's 10,
a stampede of elephants
and twenty marching bands
in your head while fireworks for the whole U.S.A. were going off in your head and nervous system?
Could you concentrate or hold down a job?
What if something that you truly loved, such as quilting or sitting on your butt at pc, was able to give you some relief for a bit, from it, would you use that to 'escape'?
(I would!) anybody would.
Why do you think there are so many ppl on street drugs...marsye, this is not directed at you...just ppl in general...
There are so many ppl that will not admit they have stuff going on, but they use street drugs, or more often: alcohol or smoke weed.
Alcoholism and smoking mari-ji-wanna, is very common among ppl who actually have general anxiety disorder and these illegal/harmful substances ease the symptoms, while doing great bodily harm in due time and could get the person behind bars!