Help and advice needed

princess5 · 07-22-2004, 10:38 AM

I hope you don't mind me posting - i just need some help really. I am completely at the end of my tether - feeling so down and emotional. I'm crying all the time and my binge eating has gone crazy. I have PCOS, endometriosis and CFS and am trying to come to terms with that too. I have had a very unstable and abusive upbringing and i think it's all starting to come out. I have been to the doctor and he has referred me to a psychiatrist. He talked about anti-depressants too but i am reluctant to start taking more meds.

What has been your experience with anti-depressants? Have they helped? Have you had nasty side-effects? I don;'t want to put on more weight (need to lose some for PCOS's sake) or lose sex drive or anything.

Also, do you think counselling would be a good thing to try too?

And lastly, how do you manage to live with PCOS aswell as feeling so low?

I hope you don't mind me asking these things - i apologise if they have already been covered in other posts.

Thank you for your help!

vamphile · 07-24-2004, 03:15 AM

I have been where you are. I think a lot of us have.

Crying, hopelessness, misery. " I thought that was just life. I have this disease it makes me physically unattractive i'm destined to be miserable"

or the "helpful advice" excercize more, you'll feel better...my answer to that, BITE ME I"M TOO TIRED TO GET OUT OF BED!

then i finally gave in and saw a dr. Some friends kind of forced me into it when i was about 25... started taking zoloft.

Have never looked back.

Still have PCOS, still fat, and lots of reasons not to be happy, and i'm not always happy, but the all consuming misery, the dark endless hole is gone. The feeling that my skin is the only thing holding me together and i'm hollow and empty inside. all of that, gone.

i felt so good that at 30 i knew i was fine and stopped taking my meds. my life exploded. I almost died, literally, and emotionally i killed a lot of things including a semi decent friendship and a budding academic career.

all because my brain has a little thing that is naturally smaller than it's supposed to be and thus doesn't manufacture enough seratonin and that other one whose name i can't remember at one am.

so what i'm saying is NO there isn't a 'cure' no there isn't a magic way to feel happy all the time, but the pit of despair does not have to be your mailing address, don't hesitate to take the pills the dr reccommends,

and you know yourself better than anyone, remember that and don't hesitate to tell the dr, if the pills make you feel weird, unhappy, or sick.

also if they make you too manic there's a danger there, so be your own medical expert on yourself, and monitor how you feel, but don't convince yourself that you have to feel like this.

okay i'm shutting up now. sorry i ranted so long, please feel free to pm me if you like.

bluedragonfly2000 · 07-26-2004, 10:54 PM

I have tried a lot of different types of antidepressants. I have had some bad experiences with some of them. But some have been helpful. You have to find one that works for you. I am currently starting to take Celexa again.
I would have to say that therapy is what has saved me a number of times. It has taught he how to cope and how to control my thoughts and then my response to them. I have been in therapy for a number of years and I have am grateful for the therapy I have gotten.
I hope things go well for you at the psychiatrist.
Hope things start to get better for you soon,
Take care and stay safe,
Mel

jlucy · 07-28-2004, 10:38 AM

yes, you do have to take one that works for you, but they can definitely help. I was on Prozac for a couple of years. It even took my body about 3 days to adjust to that one but I couldn't take any of the other three. It wasn't a magic happy pill, but it definitely helped me get going again. I'm finding myself getting depressed again now a few years later, but it's not near the intensity of before. It sort of helped me, along with therapy, learn to want to be happy and make myself strong.