Depression Advice??

Question

I'm so tired of everything lately - the stress, my work, bills, college classes, housecleaning, etc. All I ever have time to do is work. I can't find any enjoyment in life anymore. Lately, while I'm driving home from work, I have very powerful urges to drive off the road or into a jersey wall or something.

I know I'm most likely suffering from depression. Many years ago, I was on Zoloft for depression for about 6 months. But this bout with it seems worse. And the side effects from the medicine were just awful then.

Has anyone had any positive results from other medications? If so, which ones?

Are there any other natural remedies to help cure this?

I'm just so sad and tired.

Thanks for your help!

Answer 1

5HTP. $7 a bottle at Wal mart. I take 50 mg a day on my Dr's advice. Has helped more than any antidepressant without side effects. Hope you feel better.

Answer 2

My advice is steer clear of drugs. No one ever gets off them once they are on them for a long time.
Unfortunately this is going to be a very depressed generation of human history. We have recreational drug use higher than any time since the 70's right now, and they always have a down side.Marijuana is one of the worst for this.

And the ease with which people take these substances is mirrored by the ease they pile in the prescription mental health drugs too.

Also we recently had a information revolution with the new millenium. Internet, cell phones, Tv l linked to steroes to downloading images from my camera nowwhatdoIneedon my ipod, press 7 for customer service, please be aware you can use our website instead of calling on www.shhsgs etc" 24 hours a day.

No different from the last revolution, the 60's and 70's when everyone suddenly developed a new way of 'walkin and talkin dude'.It gets in peoples faces and throws them into a spin while they come to terms with it.

Some facts.
1.You obviously have lived on this earth successfully for some period of time and can do so again.

2.You are also still fighting since otherwise you would not be here telling us.

Fight a bit more and it will swing around again. and you will enjoy it again.
No different from when you probably didn't want to go to school when you were a kid but can;t remember how hard it was to beat that. Lots of crying? to get your hair cut or something?These were big issues, real terror and despair type stuff.So you got the skills to beat a bit of lost identity syndrome now.

Answer 3

There is no sure fire solution to the situation. Some people get depressed and talking to others can make them more depressed or lead them into thinking there's more there than intended, maybe even tying them to you so you become their reason for going on. On the other hand, some people are so far gone that they just want a kind word from someone. Anyone. Its really up to you to decide where your friend falls as you know them better than we do. I can only say that doing nothing is not the best course of action. I've lost a friend that I often think I could have done something to save and its not a good thing to be left wondering about. Best of luck to you and your friend...

Answer 4

I was diagnosed with depression in 1997 and I have been through a few anti-depressants(didn't like the side effects either), having the best results with Wellbutron/ XL.
I have tried natural remedies with no success.
I am not currently on any medication although I will, more than likely, go back on original Wellbutron if it is still available( if not ,then XL). What I have learned to do, especially during this period without medicine, is learn to recognize depression for what it is and to recognize the symptoms when they occur.( I have Internal Depression, what used to be called Clinical depression-meaning no matter what the circumstance are in my life, I can still have bouts of depression.)
Having learned to recognize the symptoms helps me put depression in its place. In other words I still feel like hell but I know the feelings are not permanent. This does not make it easy or resolve the situation but I do know that I have been here before and I have gotten through it.
My advice is to consult with your doctor and together, find something that works. I know it is frustrating,given the time anti-depressants take to work, but that is the best we can hope for at the present time.
I do not know your situation, but if you can swing it, counseling helps as well.

Answer 5

Don't worry be happy! Life will ALWAYS be better. Sometimes time is the best cure in life. Slow down, take a nice long breath. Do an activity that requires no thought, just action. Take a long walk on a sunny day. Clean the house. Visit museums. Ride a bike. And then realize that life is beautiful and marvelous and that these worries are only TEMPORARY and meaningless compared to the everlasting magic of life. Work on problems one at a time, there is NO rush. No one is asking you to be perfect. Failure is okay. When you strive too hard to achieve in everything, you will always be overwhelmed. Enjoy life to the fullest because these bills and bosses aren't it!

Answer 6

I suggest some alternatives which I used long ago:
- Take tyrosine (a component of amino). It helps to boost your energy level and therefore motivate you.
- Take vitamin B & C to fuel your brain and combat stress.
- Get plenty of sun.
- Get plenty of exercise to sweat it out and pump oxygen into your brain. If you jog, run as fast as you can until you are out of breath before you stop.
- Analyze your diet. Not enough water or too much acid.
- Meditate by focusing your thoughts on your breathing. Meditate will strengthen your mind.
- Pray a lot. Have faith in the religion of your choice. Believing that someone powerful is willing to help you, strengthen your belief you will recover.
- Use auto suggestion first and last thing in the day : "Everyday in every way, I am getting better and better." Repeat the sentence any time your are free like traveling or waiting. Record and play it to yourself. Say it with positive feeling.
- Don't take anti-depression pills because the pills makes you sleepy but it does not help.

Try yoga with relaxing music in the morning and night. Your body is linked to your mind. Once your body feel great, our mind will improve.

Answer 7

You are obviously suffering from depression, but, good news is that you know that and can seek cure promptly. I am sharing this with you based on my own experience.

Seek a doctor for medication immediately - that's important. You can feedback to the doctor regarding the side effects so that he can offer you an alternative medication. Also ask the doctor how long it takes to see results.

Both doctor's medication and natural remedy are crucial for full recovery. Natural remedy takes longer to recover, but, important for long term recovery. For natural remedy, try accupuncture, massage and accupressure. Chinese accupuncture is known to be able to heal depression, based on stimulating the accu-points in our human body, but, it takes longer to see the results, possibly 10 sessions. Learn to relax. Pick up meditation, or once in a while, breathe in and out deeply to absorb the air energy. Human beings depend on air and food to live. So, breathe well and eat well.

Talk to someone about how you feel. Do not keep emotions lock inside your heart. Seek support from family members or friends. It helps.

Answer 8

i think i have a good solution for you... try exercising. i know it sounds useless or strange or just so random. but it'll work. the exercise will help get the tension out. but more importantly, it'll help get that feeling of emotional distress out. you need to also make it a point to eat healthy too. many people say you should go out and do something with friends or something like that. and although that's good advice, what you need to do is to take care of yourself first. going out with people is just an added bonus. you will feel better about yourself on the inside, it'll start showing on the outside, and eventually you will feel better as a whole. i encourage you to take the time to exercise early in the morning or later at night. it'll take about a month, but it'll be worth it.

as for the anti-depressants, there are about 15 different ones out there. they all work differently on different people, so you may want to start something through your doctor and switch around until something works. take it from me, depression will never entirely go away. but once you take care of yourself by making yourself a lot healthier, something will change on the inside of your brain and you will somehow find some of the answers to what you may be questioning now.

Answer 9

I've had this problem to. You seem like you are overworked?

I'm not a fan of meds because I was on about 5 different ones and they seem to mask the symptoms for me.
But if you have had succes give it another shot. Talk therapy is something that can give you alot of room to let out some steam. You might find out something you didn't realize was causing the stress.

Meditation has worked wonders for me. Also cardio for even at least 15 mins. If its jumping around to rock music or running down the street. Something to get the chemicals in the brain to move.

Heres a link for alternatives to meds..
http://www.newhope.com/nutritionsciencenews/NSN_backs/feb_99/depression.cfm?path=ex

You might have to cut something out of your schedule until you feel better.

Answer 10

I felt like crap. I hated myself and I could barely hold my head above water. Then I went to see a shrink in 1991 and was diagnosed with depression. I started taking prozac and lithium and have been on it ever since. The lithium has affected my thyroid to where it doesn't work but other than that my health is fine. It has worked over the years and has kept me stable.