Reactive depression ?

[CMOTdibbler]

10 weeks ago I dislocated and totally smashed my wrist - 3 operations, 8 weeks in plaster, and currently I only have a tiny amount of finger movement, no wrist movement, and a lot of nerve damage so am in chronic pain.

I have been a bit inclined to burst into tears since, although I don't think I'm particularly down, although dh thinks I am a bit. When I was at the gp today to get stuff for the scars he suggested that 3-6 months on antidepressants might be of use (I got a bit teary talking about the nerve stuff).

I'm not sure tbh - has anyone had ads to help them through this sort of event ? Are the side effects as minimal as the gp suggested ?

I have, I'm on a fairly low dose of citalopram, it did help me cope - made a real difference in fact. I've had a few reasonably minor side effects but GP has adjusted dose to deal with these. They do take a few weeks to work so don't expect miracles overnight, also citalopram makes you feel a bit nauseous at first (but you gradually build up to your dosage). I was reluctant at first - it can feel like a big step, but they helped me.

I've been on them over a year now - and currently would find it quite hard to cope without them, but my situation is ongoing, so this may not necessarily be the case for you. HTH happy to answer any questions you may have.

did you feel like you weren't coping before ? I feel like I am, albeit a bit grumpy and teary.

No one knows atm how long this will go on - it's a vv rare injury and am waiting for the nerve tests which will show if they will heal

I wasn't coping but I needed someone to point it out to me IYSWIM. I was feeling lousy (I'd been diagnosed with cancer) and I sort of assumed feeling really down was to be expected, but actually you can do something about it. Sometimes we struggle on when we could get help.

I'm not trying to push you into deciding in favour of AD's (hope it doesn't sound like I am), just giving you my experience. There is a lot of stress in the uncertainty of illness and injury, waiting for test results and so on. And I feel the AD's have helped me cope with that aspect.

Have a good think - I didn't dive in straight away, but its certainly worth considering if you feel its all getting a bit too much.
It might also be worth asking for a referral to the pain clinic if you haven't already, pain in itself can be so debilitating, and getting it managed properly might help you in terms of mood.

CBT may help also.....can assist with how you see things.....can be useful alongside ADs.

Really sorry to hear you are dealing with cancer Kurri. I suppose that I've felt it was normal to be feeling bad with all this. You make a lot of sense.

Pain is manageable - physio is doing acupuncture which def helps. Would rather be off tramadol, but they are loathe to put me on any of the nerve pain drugs while my nerves are still hopefully healing as the interactions aren't well known, but also need to keep an eye on some of it. Am battling the start of crps though