Depression is 'over-diagnosed'

reply to post by St Udio


Not sure how that works in the UK - we don't have those kind of ads - apsirin, ibuprofen etc, but not anti depressants etc.

I think our docs are pretty good - at least mine is, the surgery has a dedicated mental healthcare professional, who advises the doc before he prescribes anything - and you need to have spent at least a couple of hours with her being assessed before any drugs are prescribed, although I know this isn't always the case.

Well i went to see the doctor yesterday. He said "hrmmm, what should i do with you? I'll be back". He grabbed a Physicians sample only box of Luvox (100mg) which is made by Solvay Pharmaceuticals. He said take half a tablet, once a day, come back in a week. He said these are tablets to deal with anxiety and they give you a little bit of a good feeling. Go get a blood test. He said the first seven days you might get a little quezy in the stomach, maybe a little lightheaded, maybe the hands might shake just a little, and perhaps have a little bit of a dry mouth. And he said that he is thinking he might get me to go to a psychiatrist/psychologist (i dont know which one he said), but he said see how you go this week, come back in one week, and we will see how you are and what we're going to do with you.

SO i had the half tablet today on an empty stomach in the morning, before going to work. Caught the bus, had breakfast in the city (i wasn't hungry), went to work I was feeling a little lightheaded, thoughout the day my stomach was a little queezy. Mentally?: Anxiety was a lot further away from me today than it has been in a long long time. There were a couple times thoughout the day when i did feel a little anxious. But they were gone relatively quick. I've been the happiest i've been in a while too. Today was just the starter. It's really shown me how bad my life was living with this constant anxiety all the time.

anyways thi sis what the drug does:
Approved
Fluvoxamine is widely prescribed to treat depression, and anxiety disorders such as Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder, Obsessive-Compulsive Spectrum Disorder, Panic Disorder, Social Phobia, and Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder.[4]

Fluvoxamine is indicated for children and adolescents with OCD.[5]


[edit] Unapproved/Off-label/Investigational
Fluvoxamine is also used for the treatment of children and adolescents with social phobia, separation anxiety disorder, or generalized anxiety disorder.[6]

Fluvoxamine may help in the treatment of Irritable Bowel Syndrome.[7]

Hope the Luvox works well for ya, Rage

That was the 2nd SSRI I tried, and 6 yrs later I'm still struggling...However, life goes on...

The main thing to think about when it comes to depression/anxiety, as with many diseases is that your attitude to it all makes a huge difference...Just as diet, and making your life as stress free as possible does...

There are many resources out there, combined with your meds which can make your life so much better to the point you wont need the meds after a time...

Go out there and seek those resources, and most importantly, good luck with it all...I've been and am still there, and I know what you're going thru to an extent..

Blessings to ya

Peace

Hope it goes well, DA
Anxiety is awful, especially when coupled with depression, as a vicious circle can occur.

There's also breathing techniques to help with anxiety, which I still use - the depression is not so bad anymore, but I still get anxiety attacks, so the breathing techniques come in handy.

The thing to remember is that your body only has a finite amount of adrenaline that it can dump into your system at any one time, the breathing techniques help not only to take your mind off the fight or flight response, but also to get more oxygen into your body, and that helps dissipate the excess adrenaline.

There's lot's of techniques, but the one I found best was to "breathe in 3's"

In for 3
Hold for 3
Out for 3
Hold for 3

You have to time it to your own respiration, but it works pretty well.

Give me a shout if you need anymore, doors always open

I have clinical depression and bi-polar, since i was 16 years old, its very real for me, without my medication i dont know how i would cope, i came off them for awhile on my own accord and within a month i had suicidal thoughts,i didnt want to get out of bed etc.

Its little things like if i was walking across a road id just think "If a car hit me and killed me or injured me now i wouldnt care"

Sometimes i would just lie down for hours on end thinking about death and easy ways to kill myself.

I know bi-polar counts as a depression but my depression was there before i was diagnosed with bi-polar, it was only in the past few years where i experienced my first experience of hypo-mania which ended up me being sectioned under the mental health act,i had a psychotic episode...

I thought aliens taking over peoples body,i thought they were testing my mental strength/abilities by reading my mind and observing me 24/7 with cameras in my room etc its a long story but i was sectioned and had a panic attack headbutted a nurse and got pinned down and injected in the arse with haloperidol (Nice tranq),i escaped from 2 different psych wards and was only contained because they put me in a ward that had 18ft fences.

All sorts of wierd experiences happened to me and my pshrink says i should write a book (which i am doing).

Im not a violent person but i basically went from suicidal depression to thinking i was Jesus Christ himself with my hypo-mania then psychotic episode which led me crashing back down to suicidal depression.

I think it is over diagnosed but i also feel its under-diagnosed for those who really do have it and they get diagnosed with physical symtoms other mental illnesses etc.

With the medication im on now 100mg sertraline (Anti-depressant) and 300mg of quetiapine/zoloft/serequel (Anti-psychotic) im always on a level so im neither high or neither low but just right.

Worse thing about these medications is the way it has dumbed down my creativity levels, when im in a state of hypo-mania i am extremely highly creative. But used to stay up till silly hours in the morning because i could sleep, now its impossible for me to stay up more than 3 hours after my anti-psychotic which is good.

Best thing about anti-depressants (Apart from the erasing of suicidal thoughts etc) is you can have sex for much longer than you would normally do without them.

Anyone who is on anti-depressants and is male will know this!

[edit on 28-8-2007 by markjaxson]

Modern day life style is giving rise to anxiety and depression.

Break down of family
Financial problems
Difficulties find love
Constant pressure due raised expectations
Lack of fun or enjoyment
Poor sex life
Lack of exercise
Poor living conditions
Poor health
Poor diet

Any or combinations of these problems leads to serious unhappiness

Originally posted by thesun
Modern day life style is giving rise to anxiety and depression.

Poor sex life

sorry to hear that mate
(joke)


Seriously though, all good points IMO