Posted by Nathan_Arizona on July 30, 2007, at 7:11:42
In reply to ANYMORE stories???? (nm), posted by nickguy on July 28, 2007, at 23:57:02
Well, I have dealt with depression pretty much since my teens. My illness (like so many others') is punctuated by recurrent bouts of debilitating depression that began to accelerate in frequency and intensity in my twenties.
I started on prozac when I was thirty.
The first two weeks on the drug were awful. I had terrible anxiety, had my first panic attack which led me to present at the hospital with what I was sure was a seizure or heart attack.
In the third/fourth week I began to notice very subtle changes however. I quit crying. I found myself whistling around the house - which I was cleaning for the first time in months.
I also began to notice a general brightening of my senses. Food began to taste really good. I also began to see in color again (it seems as though I saw most things is shades of blue and grey).
I regained interest in my work again and actually finished my degree.
But I think the most unusual thing was just this overwhelming sense of gratitude. It's hard to explain, but I began to realize what life could really be like, and how good it really could be. I was also grateful to myself for having the strength to get to that point.
Now, I'm not saying that since prozac my life has been a bed of sunshine and roses - it hasn't been. There are still ups and downs, but there isn't that persistent, unrelenting, grinding hopelessness that had dominated my life until that point.
I recently (and stupidly) came off prozac and the symptoms of depression began to return. I'm back in the initiation phase of anxiety again, but at least I know it is transient.
Good luck with your journey - I hope it ends up as well as mine did.
Natie
poster:Nathan_Arizona
thread:772421
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20070730/msgs/772833.html