Depression: What treatment can I try after so many years?

I think I have almost used every antidepressant out there. I have found Lexapro to be the one to help me. I also take Klonipin 1 mg during the day and 2 at night to help me sleep. Also take Lamictal which is a mood elevator. It's used for seizures too. I hope this helps some of you guys out there. This virus has not helped. I had to give up my dog because I couldn't take care of her. That's been the most depressing thing for me. I'm going to be having a fusion surgery down my low back from T-10 to my pelvis. It's a big surgery, but I have done everything I can do to now have to have it. I have an excellent surgeon at Mayo so I'm very confident all will go well. They did do a test that showed the surgery will work. Take care all of you. I know it's not easy. I was diagnosed with Bipolar 2, but since I moved back to Iowa I'm dx depression with anxiety. My son is Bipolar 1. It has traveled all through my family. May Peace be with all of you. Bless all who suffer for Jesus knows.

There is a company called Genesight Testing. They can send you a cheek swab which you twirl against your cheek and send back to them. They can then test that swab and based on your genetic makeup can predict which psychotropic meds, pain meds and one other class of drugs which escapes me at the moment, your body can metabolize. They can also tell how fast you will metabolize a given drug.

They will send you a list of drugs your body can metabolize along with a list of drugs that you may not metabolize properly or maybe metabolize too quickly or too slowly. This can eliminate the bouncing from drug to drug that doesn't work.

You can look on the web for Genesight.com. They can give you a list of doctors in your ZIP code who do this testing. Even if your doctor isn't registered with genesight you can have another doctor do the test, explain the results to you, and then you can have that report made part of your medical record and you can share it with your doctor.

Any doctor can register with Genesight. It's free it takes about 15 minutes on the telephone. Many doctors are too busy to do this and not all doctors believe that they need help prescribing for their patients.

Both I and my adult son I've had Genesight testing done and have found it to be very useful as we both live with depression. We're both doing well now because we both have the right drugs. I know that Mayo is offering a similar test at this time. This is new for them. Both my test and my son's test were covered by insurance and I think I was on Medicare at the time mine was done. If you are insurance doesn't cover it they have a sliding fee scale and it's not prohibitively expensive.

Of course it doesn't guarantee results but it can save you from taking a drug that your body cannot metabolize. It can also help with regard to dosing because if you metabolize are drug much slower that the average patient, you could end up with too large a dose or on the other hand if you metabolize a drug much more quickly than the average person, you might have to take the drug more often for it to be effective. I hope this is useful information.

Hi Stephen this is Jeanie @ lilypaws. I had never heard of Genesight testing. Maybe it would help my son who is Bipolar 1. We have no contact with him, but I get information from his wife;s mother. So I will e-mail her and mention it. She should get the message to him.

Agree that this staying at home time really affects my depression and anxiety to the point of crying more and less able to cope with even the slightest change. I am so sensitive to medications that am told that I am "medication resistant", but I did want to suggest a homeopathic option I have tried and seems to be of help. It's called Rescue Pastilles (lozenges) made by Bach and can be found at Swanson's a vitamins/supplements website. It also comes in liquid form. I pray that we get to some sort of "normal" again soon and safely.

I've never used any of these products and I don't know much about them. The one that you're referring to for helping with depression, does that have THC in it?

@wsh66 There are many myths on CBD, everyone has different opinions on it. some people prefer CBD for mental illness and some people oppose it. I personally tried many medications for anxiety and depression and i found cbd is giving better results for me to learn more about CBD their myths and reality check this article. i was unable to give the exact url for because of this website terms and conditions but you can check for this title 'CBD Oil: All Myths Busted and Reality Explained'

@wsh66 There are many myths on CBD, everyone has different opinions on it. some people prefer CBD for mental illness and some people oppose it. I personally tried many medications for anxiety and depression and i found cbd is giving better results for me to learn more about CBD their myths and reality check this article. i was unable to give the exact url for because of this website terms and conditions but you can check for this title 'CBD Oil: All Myths Busted and Reality Explained'