Posted by phillybob on April 9, 2001, at 23:48:52
In reply to Long term depression :Any advice?, posted by Anna Laura on April 9, 2001, at 14:37:47
> Please forgive me for my bad english, but it's not my mother tongue:
Hi, Anna Laura! As Shirley posted, your English is just fine (and, in fact, better than some of the other native speakers posting on this board!) :)
> Here's my brief story : hope it won't sound pathetic or self indulgent.
It sounds neither pathetic nor self-indulgent. We all have similar stories ... unfortunately.
> My formal pdoc, a cognitive therapy fanatic, was saying i didn't need medications and that i just had to be more "positive"
It sounds like you don't quite have the same opinion as your formal pdoc. That's good!
Nothing is worse than getting a "guilt trip" from one's pdoc about how our illnesses are under our control. I certainly believe that talk therapy has its place in helping us to understand and react better to our situations, but some things, like many of our illnesses, are no more going to be cured by talking than would a fractured bone.
> I just went on blaming myself, kept on telling myself that i could get out of it if i really wanted, or that i was just plain lazy.
It seems like you understand now that this is not the case. You are not lazy. You do not choose to be sick. How silly for a pdoc (an individual of medicine and reason, supposedly) think that!
My illness certainly did not progress to be as severe as yours, but I have finally realized that I am not lazy by choice and that I am not sick by choice, etc., etc. As a matter of fact, I consider myself to be quite fine except for some missing ingredients to my neuro-chemistry (or something like that). I would venture to guess that you, too, are a great gal in need of a small amount of medical correction. I am currently searching for the right cure for myself and feel that I am hot on its trail (though I go up and down in thinking that ... but I know that I MUST find something).
> Thank god the tofranil started working and i got better but still low-functioning (just managing to do the house-work plus little jobs at home via computer, still anhedonia). The pdoc i was seeing until a few weeks ago suggested to switch the medications, so i went on prozac.I 'm currently taking prozac (started ten days ago with 20 mg. then 40 mg. after a few days) and i lowered the tofranil dose (from 150 mg. down to 50 mg.).The result is that I'm getting worse day by day. I feel like i'm slipping in to that horrible state of mind again. What should i do?
As Shirley posted, talk to your pdoc. If the tofranil does not interact poorly with Prozac, you might want to continue on the 150 mg dosage as you wait for Prozac to "kick" in. I'm not sure. The best advice I can really offer you is to research, research, research (i.e. read websites such as this one) so that you are a part of your cure and thus, in some way, in control of your life!
> Do i have any hope of recovering and feeling lively again?
I hope so. :) Be well.-Bob
poster:phillybob
thread:59220
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20010403/msgs/59273.html