I’m just wondering how severe depression is for others with fibro. I have a history of mild depression usually in winter. SAD is guess. But I have had progressively worse and worse anxiety and depression for the past year. I’m really trying to snap out of it on my own but I cant. I don’t want an antidepressant but I just feel horrible. Im embarrassed to talk to my doctor to even ask him to try something and I’m afraid of side effects. Not sure what to do.
Anti-depressants have been a Godsend for me. I was suffering from crushing depression thanks to my fibro and other matters. It was absolutely dreadful but I stubbornly didn't want to take any drugs for it/treat it until I got help for the fibro. Then I realized that it was one component of the fibro, and I had to get it treated in order to be able to handle the other components (the pain and the fatigue.) And boy, am I glad that I did! It has helped me to have a better sense of self and a handle on the pain I'm suffering, most of the time.
If you get something that gives you side effects, you just tell your doctor and try something else, same as with any other medicine. Please don't feel embarrassed as many people are now on anti-depressants for various reasons. Oh, and the anti-depressant that I'm on also helps with my anxiety.
I hope you find this helpful. Truly, Dawn, you will feel better once you get the depression under control. Why let it control you when you should be controlling it?
Thanks. I have been putting off calling the doctor for awhile now. I’m going to try to call tomorrow I guess. I hate needing it like it makes me less of a person or something. Cant explian it really. But I’m sad and irritible all time its ruining my life.
Hi Dawn, I also have depression. Mine was classified as severe. They first put me on Cymbalta but I had bad side affects with it. That does not mean everyone will. They next tried me on one of the very first medications they came out with. It is called Zoloft and it has made a very big difference not only with my depression but with my coping a little better with this condition. I did not know this, but my pain management counselor told me that it wasn’t until 1980 that they started coming out with medications for depression. I was telling her how depressed my mother was, she had Fibro too and I couldn’t understand why they couldn’t help her. They have been a Godsend for me as well. Their is no longer a need to suffer in silence. Hugs, Leanne
I know where your coming from, I too did not want to be put on an antidepressent. I had a bad bout of depression after my last child back in the 80's and then again with the fibro. I felt bad about having to take a pill to feel better, thought that everyone would look down on me. Well I learned that I needed the medicine and it has helped me greatly. I take Lexapro and it makes a world of difference. I recomend that you talk to your doctor, there is nothing to be embarrassed about. Take care.
I don’t have a problem taking an antidepressant as long as the doctor tells you that is why they are prescribing it. For over 10 years my doctor would try different ones for my terrible migraines, never telling me he thought I was depressed. Looking back now- I know I wasn’t. I just needed to stop the headaches! Needless to say, nothing worked except meds FOR migraines - imitrex and later Zomig. Since July when I had the worse flare ever, my GP put me on Zoloft because I happened to start crying in her office. Why is it doctors think you’re depressed if you cry because you’re in uncontrollable pain?!?! The Zoloft made me more depressed so I stopped taking it and that was the best thing. I do think I probably need some type of antidepressant because the whole lack of sleep, pain cycle gets old quick. I see a therapist weekly who is wonderful and helps me with the guilt, lack of acceptance of FMS by others, etc.
Do what is best for you and become informed as to what you are taking, the interactions with your other meds and possible side affects. We need to trust what our bodies are telling us so that we can be the best we can be!
Hi dawn,
No need to be embarrassed! Depression, to some degree, goes hand in hand with constant pain! If you feel it is interferring with your life, then you need to find a way to talk about it with your Dr. If you don't feel comfortable with this, perhaps you don't have the right Dr, or perhaps talking to a different kind of Dr would help you.
When I couldn't get over the car accident that initially kicked all of this off with me, I talked to a PhD (Psychologist) for a couple of years, she helped me deal with PTSD from the accident, got me back behind the wheel, and helped me to deal with the things that you go through when your life changes in an instant, and all of the sudden, you are a different person, leading a different life, because of circumstances beyond your control. I still hear her words of wisdom in my ear! She had worked with end of life children in major hospitals, and dealt with the most horriffic circumstances that life could throw at a person, so she was able to turn my head around.
I take a VAlium at night, but it is used as a muscle relaxant, after things like Skelaxin did me no good, and surely it is helping me on a different level as well.
Drs acquire wisdom about meds and can help you find a med that is the right kind, at the right dose and hopefully there are no side effects. We all go through trial and error with meds to some degree.
I hope this is of help to you!
Love and hugs,
SK
Oh dawn, don't let it ruin your life, it does NOT make you less of a person, not at all. We have all been through hell with illness, please don't feel this way about it! We all care about you!
Dawn,
I felt exactly as you did. And once I got back on my meds (after years away,) I couldn't believe how much time I'd lost due to my depression. Too many opportunities missed, too many people turned away. Getting help doesn't make you less of a person, Dawn, it gives you BACK much of the person that you were.
Sometimes I forget that others don't know the things that I do simply because of my age. Yes, anti-depressants weren't really available to people until the 80's. Prior to that, women were given tranquilizers to "calm them down." Mental health counseling was also in its infancy in the late 70's. Times have changed so much. We have the opportunity to treat illnesses that even our own parents didn't have. When I was a kid, people were supposed to just "tough it out," when they got depressed. And that's all there really was for help! So imagine if you had lived in 1975 instead of 2013 and you didn't have anti-depressants nor the meds we have now to treat fibro...wow. What a world of difference it would make, huh, to not have those options?
Hi Dawn, I believe our depression is a result of chronic pain, I , like you , have a history of mild depression mostly related to the winter, and chronic neck pain, however since the fibro… I was not able to get my brain off the roller coaster of when am I going to feel better, how can I feel so horrible… After 2 years of this I was finally put on Savella it works like Cymbalta… At the time I would deny that I was depressed, if asked I would say no, after 2 weeks on the Savella I realized I was stuck in this emotional whirlwind that I just couldn’t stop. The Savella has helped so much, when my Dr. Asked how it was working I said it felt like it made me able to Handel the emotional issues around fibro, it gave me the ability to cope. It was like all the sudden I was able to jump off the roller coaster and think about my life, and not just the fibro.
Savella is not for everyone, many can’t take it, for me it was wonderful ! No side effects except I have to cut it in half& take with food & before 5 pm or it keeps me awake, I spent years even pre-fibro, taking a nap daily, since Savella over a year now … No nap ever !!
and recently I started another antidepressant that I was on years ago also for migraine, these meds also help with pain, fatigue and mood. my experience with them have been good, no bad side effects,
Talk to your dr. You don’t have to say your depressed, because honestly that’s a diagnosis, but just explain your symptoms… If your dr. Has a brain he/ she should easily see that perhaps you need something, if not I would see a psychiatric nurse practitioner, they talk through all your symptoms and actually listen, prescribe meds and work to find what may help you the best.
Hugs & blessings
dee
Some of us have been brought up that acknowledging the truth means your weak! Dont go there. Depression is so common among ALL people. May I suggest that you go to a psychiatrist like I did. They are the ones to properly diagnose you and give the right medicine. I had no problem doing this. I was STRONG for going and doing something to help myself. I knew I would be in good hands. I hope this helps. Lisa