Living with Depression

I am so glad you friended me!!! This may be long but I say some of these things from experience, with a clinical mindset and out of love. Please don't be offended. I am a Licensed Clinical Professional Counselor in the state of Illinois and worked for 4 1/2 years in an in-patient psychiatric hospital with every diagnosis and most medications out there!!! I also was (finally) diagnosed with Major Depression when I was 21 and was able to come off of medication about a year or so later and have not needed (at this time) to go back.

So saying that, here I go. Depression is a medical diagnosis to describe behavior symptoms caused by a chemical imbalance that just so happens to be in the brain. This, and other mental health diagnoses, are no different than other chemical imbalances such as diabetes and different disorders that affect other body organs (ie heart, muscles, etc) except that the imbalance is in the brain. That being said there are many many people out there with these diagnoses, like Depression, that will have to be on medication for the rest of their life. This is not a bad thing and should be no shame involved. The same way you would never look at someone with diabetes (like the Type 1 kind that can't be cured with diet, losing weight, or exercise) and tell them they should come off their medication or learn to live without it, the person who needs long term or lifelong medication to treat a mental illness should not always be encouraged to come off of meds or feel like being on medication for their disorder is a bad thing. If you try it and it doesn't work, they symptoms come back and they are not manageable, then you need to not look at them as a "medication" but a "vitamin for your brain"....something that will make your brain work the way it is supposed to. You do not have control over it and that is NOT a bad thing!!!!

I only needed medication for my depression for under 2 years but I have had situational times during the years that I thought I would need to get back on them due to stress and other factors. My husband is aware of my diagnosis and knows that I am probably more introspective than the average person and that I would not go back unless it was warranted.....and totally supports this. If my emotions are out of wack and causing me to slip back into my old feelings and behaviors I know it is not something I have complete control over and that there is a medical and chemical reason for it and therefore will treat it!!!! I will not ever again let my emotions and behaviors have control of me.

I also know that I will most likely enter early menopause (40-43 yrs of age) like my mom and am already researching and preparing for the types of treatments out there. I will not be controlled by something that is beyond my control.

But if your doctor feels you are ready then it's a great idea to try the transition and see if the chemicals have fixed themself. Only you will be able to judge if the symptoms are manageable and if they are due to normal stress and life or if they are due to the chemical imbalance. I'm living proof that you don't need them long term but I am also not the norm. I have friends who have been on mood stabilizer or anti-depressants for 30-40 years because their bodies never were able to correct themselves, just like a diabetics.

Please do not see medication as something you don't want to "live" with. See it as correcting a problem that you have no control over and that medical science has been able to find a way to correct. Feel free to e-mail me any time with questions. I will give you full support as you figure out what is best for you, because only you will know!!! GOOD LUCK!!!

Bumping for later. This hits home for me. I plan on being off meds by my 30th birthday next June.