Depression

A lot of people don't like to talk about it. I'll bet money that everyone reading this knows someone with depression although you may not realize it.

I come from a family of chronically depressed people. My maternal grandmother, my mother and my siblings. I like to think of my depression as akin to any other chronic disease. If your cholesterol is high you take a statin, at least I hope you do. If you are diabetic or have high blood pressure you take meds to stay healthy.

Well, my brain chemistry is short on serotonin so I take meds. Been doing this since 1985 (that was the dark ages of anti-depressants). I have come to realize that I will be taking them the rest of my life. But sometimes there are quirks with my meds and things turn dark.

That happened this week. About a month ago I talked to my psychiatrist about the fact that one of my meds (Wellbutrin) was making my heart race. We decided to reduce the Wellbutrin dose by 100 mg (I was on 300 mg) plus 100 mg of Zoloft. I've been on Zoloft forever.

I did fine for a while but then the insidious dark cloud entered my life and wouldn't go away. It slips in so quietly that sometimes you don't even know what's happening. Yesterday I figured out that something was really wrong so I e-mailed my psychiatrist. She figured out a new way for me to include the extra Wellbutrin tablet (take it later in the day so I'm not getting a big hit in the morning) and she increased my Zoloft to 150 mg.

The hard part about these meds is that the relief is not instant. It's not like taking a Tylenol for a headache. But that's okay because I feel good about recognizing what was happening and doing something about it. Each day will be a bit better.

So that's one person's perspective on depression. Anyone else out there care to weigh in on this major health problem. I'd really like to know what you think.