I know I should feel a failure but I am all out of everything

[NAB3]

Been and got tablets.

YOU are NOT a failure for taking AD's ! You are brave for going getting help.

I had prozac when dd was 2 and it was the best thing i ever did, I started to emerge from the big black hole i'd been drowning in I started living instead of exsisting, I started caring about the people around me I started to rebuild my life. DD1 is now 8 btw.

Getting help is brave.

The AD's.

NAB, why should you feel like a failure?

Sweetheart, depression is an illness.
Taking ADs is part of the treatment, and helps you start to feel well again, so you can start to recover.
You need to get your GP to get his/her arse in gear, and find you a counsellor that doesn't give you the creeps, and whom you can open up to.

Take them everyday they take about 4 to 7 weeks to kick in iirc, don't give up because they havent cured you over night.

Depression is a real illness, the chemicals in your brain have been affected, that's what the ad's are for to get a bit more balance and to help you.

NAB3

Taking AD's is not a failure it is the start of ackowleding that your depression is an illness that can be cured. if you had an infection, you would take the appropriate medication.

I too am on Ad's. having CBT and taking sleeping tablets. Things are up and down, but I have an illness and this is the way to get better along with the understanding of my DH and BF. If you need to chat just let me know.

But, HC what is the point. I will have to come off them at some point and then I will be back here again.

Eventually you will come off them but by then you will feel a lot stronger, alot more positive and life will be easier you won't need them anymore and then you can wean yourself off them when the time is right.

I was only on mine about 4mths. This doesnt have to be forever as long as you do it for now.

I so won't. Have been on and off them for 6+ years.

Does it matter if you dont come off them?

NAB, am I right in thinking that your GP hasn't been terribly supportive?
Could you get your DH to go to your appointment with you, and insist that you get a referral to a different counsellor.
How about a support group - would you be up for that sort of thing?

When I last saw the doc I told him I would be better off being onthem all the time and he said that wouldn't be best for me or the kids. And this is?

Diabetics always have to take insulin. If you always have to take ADs this does not make you a failure any more than a diabetic is a failure.

Don't beat yourself up over this, life is hard enough and you have been brave enough to go and get help, give yourself credit!

HC My GP has been pretty good. I told him the tablets sort(ed) out the chemical depression but not the emotional and he said only I could do that.

I know all about it being an illness, etc etc. The point is tablets can't fix me!!

NAB3, it depends. I've got a friend who has been on ADs for years and doesn't intend on coming off them. She did try a couple of times and it didn't work for her. She now realises that for her it's a chronic condition like diabetes - you wouldn't expect a diabetic to wean themselves off insulin.

Another friend took a course of ADs for a few months in conjunction with CBT for an anxiety disorder and considers herself now cured.

The short term goal is to get yourself back on an even keel and feeling better. Don't think of the long term at this moment.

I hope you feel better soon.

Sorry, xposted with you.

NAB3. You need to get access to the local Mental Heath Team. They are the people with all the resources. Please go see a different GP and ask to be refered.

I did, was assessed and within two weeks was seeing a consultant, had my AD's changed to more apporpraiate ones, prescribes sleeping tablets and CBT. I see the consultant every 2 weeks and the nurse comes to my home once a week, when my boys are asleep.

I was also given 24/7 access to the crisis team as I was in a very bad place.

Please seek some alternative help you are worth it, maybe a differnt GP will make a difference

I think that the effectiveness of the AD's is increased by the CBT and have been told to use them in conjunction with each other

I saw this thread and couldnt not post

I have written so many threads over the past couple of years like yours NAB3. I had unhelpful GPs and was reluctant to take meds. Eventually I agreed to take ADs - and I think I said exactly the same as you when I started them (about being a failure).

Now my story is slightly different in that I know now that I am not strictly 'depressed'. Following a major breakdown in July and a long spell in an acute psychiatric hospital I have been diagnosed with different mental health problems and I am now taking lots of meds every day. But the reason I wanted to post was because your posts rang true with so many of mine in the past.

Hang in there, take the tabs and see how you get on in a week or so. And in the meantime keep talking on here.

PSx

I don't want to take the tablets.

Why????

I am not a mind reader - but I suspect NAB3 doesnt want to take the tabs because she wants to 'do this without meds'.

Is that right? or am I totally off the wall here?

I understand that too, having had to be dragged by DH to a premade appointment. I made things so much worse not accepting I needed help and that depression is an illness and that the tablets are for the chemical imbalance adn that they make dealing with the emotional things more rational.

I was so concerned they would make me differnet, but DH has assured me that I am more like my pre-depression self on them and the consultant has told me that we will cross coming off them when I am well.