Posted by redjr on May 17, 2005, at 12:15:48
In reply to Re: Effexor w/ Traz or Remeron; which better for sleep, posted by StayceeIB on May 17, 2005, at 11:26:24
> "Would you just say NO to aspirin if you had a headache?" YES I have very often.... "Would you say NO to a cast if you broke your arm?" ..I juts got out of cast from BROKEN HAND and never took any of the percocets an dtrust me there was pain!! I had to haveit rebroke and manipulated break was that bad :( Why would you say NO to certain ADs if they help to pull you out of the depths of severe depression - possibly brought on by a chemical imbalance? BECAUSE I NEEED to know if I can cope with out...I used to have daily anxiety attacks prior to 3 weks ago and ironically that is exactly when i told a doc NO to effexor..IRONIC or Empowerment?? Trsut me my depresson and anxiety WERE and sill may be bad..I still have trouble leaving house BUT I DO it eventually.. But really the empowerment bit comes from my therapist..he says when i told the DOC no to meds I took control and decided on something..which is empowering instself...(FYI Decisions are very hard for me)..
>
> Is it really impossible to beat this without meds? That is depressing alone to me becuase I a not sure I will ever say yes to them.Yes, you can 'cope' without them and be miserable in the process. Why? For what gain? Just to say you had the personal 'empowerment' to do so without chemicals? Everyone is different and their tolerance for pain - be it physical or mental - varies. I can't answer that question for you. But what if your depression and anxiety is truly related to a chemical imbalance that can't be fixed without an offset of the correct man-made chemicals? How does empowerment fix that? Could my low testosterone improve on it's own? Absolutely not. All the personal empowerment in the world will not change that fact. Sure, I could have continued living without the injections and have a much lower quality of life. No sex life, continued loss of bone and muscle mass. But for me, outside help seemed to be a reasonable solution with no negative side affects. I had to have external assistance. I believe our brain is no different. Sometime the level of the normal chemicals it produces are not enough. It needs help. Maybe just in the short term too - to help get us beyond the affects of external forces, pressures, stresses and other life situations that place our chemical levels at risk. And we do scientifically know that can be placed at risk.
No, it's not impossible to beat depression w/o meds, but I for one believe that God gave doctors the brains(no pun intended) to help heal people and chemists compounds to help heal people too. To take your argument to it's logically conclusion would suggest that we don't do anything, or take anything for pain, or whatever might ale us. Just exist. Just endure. Just 'buck up' and try to solve our problems on our own - without intervention.
Believe me, I share your pain and the affects depression can have on our lives. I wouldn't be in this forum if I didn't. And sometimes just knowing other people are experiencing the same pain lets us know we're not alone in our struggle or quest to find an answer and somehow make it better - even if incrementally better over time.
redjr...
poster:redjr
thread:13781
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20050516/msgs/498936.html