Posted by catmint on September 22, 2004, at 15:17:23
In reply to Dysthymia. What to do? ECT anyone?, posted by craig getty on September 22, 2004, at 14:21:34
Hi,
I suffer from that nagging low-grade depression known as dysthymia as well. I also have Bipolar Disorder, so SSRIs are out of the question.I get suicidal about once a month, but not enough to actually take my life, or even hurt myself, I just fantasize about it; I'll occasionally smash something.
I take Lamictal presently. I had to increase it after 2 years, now I'm at 300 mg. It helps with certain symptoms of depresssion, mainly energy levels, but I constantly feel sad, and guilty about something or other. I guess the best for dysthymia for me is exersize. That is the only thing. It actually makes me feel joyful and hopefull if only for an hour or so, but hey that's something. Try that before ECT. Try something really hard like trail running or rock climbing. My friend took numerous ADs and Lithium to calm him down and keep him from killing himself. Now he is med free but works out constantly, he is extremely cut from rock climbing. Learn to climb at a gym. If you could join a yoga class, you'd be surprised.
Let us know.
poster:catmint
thread:393737
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20040921/msgs/393749.html