Posted by Ihatemylife on October 29, 2010, at 1:53:57
I've had severe depression and extreme social anxiety for over 10 years, and I've tried many different medications, therapy and they've all just made me feel even worse. Everyday I just think about killing myself all the time and hate everything.
So what hope is there once you've tried all the medications your psychiatrist can give you and he gives up on you? Everyone I've talked to says that ECT is a bad choice for me and won't help me, and I really don't know what to do.
There are two kinds of treatment I mentioned that my psychiatrist rejected, buprenorphine and stimulants. Would it be worthwhile to seek out these treatments before ECT? It would probably be impossible to find someone willing to prescribe me buprenorphine or other opiates, and everyone keeps telling me they are not effective in the long run and that opiate dependency will make me want to kill myself even more (if there's still room for that). And I do not understand stimulants very much, on one hand I understand that ADHD children who have a hard time sitting in their seat or being still benefit from psychostimulants, but I would not like it if it made my racing thoughts, headaches and anxiety get worse like I did on bupropion. I've also seen people say that adderall gave them ringing in the ears, if mine were made any louder I probably wouldn't be able to hear anything at all, though if it doesn't cause permanent damage it might be worth the risk. My appetite is also sh*t, I can't stand the sight of food and I'm underweight.
If anybody has any other unconventional treatments that might fit me or thoughts on ECT I'd appreciate it a lot. One thing I haven't factored in is the cost, I've spent thousands of dollars on meds but right now there isn't any money left to spend, so if ECT costs a fortune I guess I'm pretty much screwed anyways. I'm just tired of considering suicide as the only viable option.
poster:Ihatemylife
thread:967415
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20101020/msgs/967415.html