Posted by caulene on November 21, 2003, at 22:41:32
In reply to Re: Chronic Depression - Help, posted by mtdew on November 21, 2003, at 21:10:34
I have definitely considered both of those as possible causes. It could also be from a case of severe stress. I had a year of one major stressor right after another. You name it, it happened to me. It was really quite unbelievable. You throw in a chronic depression problem and the onset of peri-menopause (which also causes brain fog) onto an already overloaded system and you got one tired old soul. I'm hoping that's what it is. I haven't had the nerve to bring up Fibromyalgia or CFS yet with my GP. Mainly cause I'm afraid of being pooh poohed. However, if I don't get some relief soon, I am definitley going to bring it up. Thank you for the encouragement.
> It's possible that you have Chronic Fatigue Syndrome or Fibromyalgia. Unfortunately, that wouldn't suggest any magic treatment, but at least you would know it's not "in your head." CFS can cause not only persistent fatigue, but also feeling achy and old, brain fog, post-exertional malaise, gastrointestinal problems, and other things too numerous to mention. It can coexist with or be misdiagnosed as depression. It's hard to find knowledgable doctors, but if you find one the treatment goal is to boost the immune system and find out what other illnesses you may have picked up while your immune system was weakened. The doctor will also understand the gamut of other things that have similar symptoms and need to be ruled out, like Multiple Sclerosis, Lyme disease, etc. Many of these things are not looked for in a routine physical. Your psychiatrist is not the right doctor to talk to about this.
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> I'm not saying you should go to all this trouble right away, but be aware of it, because depression does not cause pain, post-exertional malaise, and the like, and so if you experience these, you should be skeptical of your diagnosis.
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> Best of luck.
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> > I have been suffering from depression off and on for about 13 years. Prozac has always been very helpful for me in the past. I had a bout of double-depression a year and a half ago and upped the prozac to 40mgs from 20mgs and also added Wellbutrin. That worked for about 7 months, but the Wellbutrin caused severe sweating, weight gain and gastrointestinal problems so went off those. At about the same time I began having severe peri-menopausal symptoms and felt so horrible. Since then my Prozac seems to no longer work. As well I feel shaky and twitchy and horribly and chronically depressed for months now. I have joint pain and feel physically weak and old. I'm only 44. I'm considering switching to Paxil to help with anxiety and depression and getting off the Prozac, since it doesn't seem to work anymore. Is this has good as it's going to get?? Is there something out there that will help me.
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poster:caulene
thread:281704
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20031121/msgs/282366.html