Posted by gibber on October 15, 2006, at 13:23:12
Hi Everyone,
I haven't been to this site in maybe 4-5 months and that is a long time for me. I wanted to check back in because I know it is good to hear good news. Essentially I want to tell you that I'm managing pretty well. I'm very busy with work and my music career and I'm going back to school in January. There was a period of time about a year ago where I thought I was on the brink of non-functioning. I still get stress out and anxious and feel slowed down cognitively on occasion but it is not consuming. I often think about things I want to do instead of thinking about how depressed I am. Peter Kramer talked about people who get blasted out of depression from a medication, but that has not been my experience and I don't think it is very common. My current therapist seems to agree. It's been a long slow process...about 3 years of going down hill and 3 long years coming out. I feel quite a bit more stable now and it doesn't feel unnatural or fleeting. I went on the patch about 5 or 6 months ago and noticed some modest improvement. We increased the dose (doubled) but I got incredibly tired and every time a stood up I got light headed and would almost faint. I'm back to the 20mg/6mg a day patch. I feel like the most significant improvement has come from the lamictal. I'm at 100mg now and my increase that. Since starting the lamictal I noticed my hair thinning quite rapidly, I don't know if the two are connected though.
Finally CBT has been very good for me thanks to an excellent doctor. When I started it I was extremely doubtful it would help. I had already been through years of traditional psychotherapy and thought my problem could only improve though meds. I could probably write a book about all this, I'd talk about all my theories as to where this disease comes from, how it affected me, and how to get out of it. I wish everyone the best! Feel free to send me questions.
Regan
poster:gibber
thread:695029
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20061011/msgs/695029.html