Need help! Depression and anxiety

This is one thing to learn--don't start changing medicines until or unless you have a baseline to go from. In other words, does your blood or system have any deficiencies that wouldn't llow the medicine to work properly? Is it the right medicine to treat the symptoms posed?

Hi my name is Jeanne I'm new to group. I've suffered with extreme depression as long as I can remember. I was going to Counceling but decided to stop as I don't really feel it helped me. My depression is not only mental but also due to my situation which I will explain later. I just wanted to introduce my self and check out the group to see if it's what I need. Thank you

Hi Jeanne. I, too, have had low grade depression all my life, (I'm 75) with bouts of more serious depression. I truly believe, and this is only an opinion, that therapy alone rarely works on difficult cases. I've been on medication for over 30 years, go to psychotherapy, go to a support group, and, believe it or not, I am quite active. My husband just had triple bypass surgery and he is recuperating very well. I think my condition is POSSIBLY caused by faulty brain wiring, and chemical imbalances, as well as environmental factors. You may get some helpful information from this site, but I usually enjoy our populations ranting about their issues, and an occasional post that might be helpful. I really don'td think that I help other people very much, as all I have to say is what I told you. Feel free to contact me at any time.
Callalily74

Hi Jeanne, welcome to Connect! I moved your post over to this ongoing discussion so that you can better connect with the community. I'm happy to see @callalily74 has already reached out to you; also please meet @pirateking, @wolfer1975, @jacko, @ronnie3716, @jay_baruch, @lesbatts and @irvkay312!

We're happy to have you here!

Hey Jeanne. I hope you find what you need from this group. I've had depression my entire life as well, and it has caused me a lot of other complicating things in my years, along with Crohn's. So, I've got the physical and the mental things going on together. Only in the past couple of years have I sought and received any professional assistance to address my psychological ailments. I am on anti-depressant medication, anti-anxiety, and a mood stabilizer to help biologically. The latter help me with the psychotherapy, individual and in group settings. It's rough, but I am seeing improvement.

Hi and thanks for all the feed back from everyone. I fell yesterday and hurt my arm. I can't use it and of course it's my left arm. I'm left handed. I'm going to go get it Xrayed tomorrow if isn't better. I just wanted to say thank you to all for welcoming me to the group.

I was on buspar at one time i was in a fog i wad angry more my anxiety became worse and worse. I will never ever take it again hun.But i was also told some can take it and some. can"t I myself have been dealing with serve panic attacks depression / They come on so fast. i have been thru every medication since i was 15 . This mental illness destroyed my child hood days it wrecked my teens years. More talking to people that didn"t care or what to listen. We still have not found out why i have these attacks ,I have had counsling after counsling changed so many times when i got married the attacks were getting worse. I was scared all the time.. Then one day in 2005 mind you 2005 I find a good phyic doctor and counsler . They put me on 20 mgs of lexapro and because the anxiety was so bad i had to stop working. i went into being scared to work was taking out by ambulance so many times. i became so scared to work.I would go right into panic attacks about filling out applications shake with fear I was put on xanax 1mg 4 times a day i started feeling great.not off the wall not loopy i was finally living a life.Now after 15 years of being on xanax That controlled my outburst an 15 different meds before the xanax that didn"t work They want me to go 200000 steps and ;live the bad life again.I need a doctor for help I"m not going back to that way of life at my age/ As for you get help with the buspar that med scares the crap out me.Please feel better fast and get another doctor please. sorry this is so long/ it just all came out while typing to you. please have them get you off buspar Thank you for listening Good luck with everything

Hi! I'm female, 64 years of age and have struggled with depression and anxiety for the last twenty years. I had a fabulous psychiatrist but moved to Mexico from Canada almost six years ago. I still touch base with him by phone occasionally, but I really miss our regular sessions. I'm not on any medication right now although for years I was on anti-depressants and tranks. I fell into a major bout of depression in the spring. That seems to be the worst time of year for me. I live alone and have two adult children back in Canada, so I have no real supports in Mexico. I do have some good friends, but they weren't in my life when I was going through all that in Canada. And I find that if you haven't experienced these conditions, you can't really understand them or be there in the way that's needed.

I too thought I had depression all my life and nothing seemed to prevent the recurrence of deep depression. That is until I was correctly diagnosed with Bipolar Disorder and a new med regime helped significantly. I still attend therapy but the frequency of appointments is based on how well I am doing.<br><br>

Hi @iamkaren, welcome to Connect! I moved your message over to this thread on depression and anxiety so that you can meet some members of the community that may be able to better understand what you're going through. Please meet @pirateking, @wolfer1975, @jacko, @ronnie3716, @jay_baruch, @lesbatts, @irvkay312, @callalily74, @tomgrinley, @kellieb58 and @65742.

I also want to leave you with this link on coping & support for depression, in hopes that you may find some new resources or new tips that may be helpful: http://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/depression/basics/coping-support/con-20032977