Posted by zeugma on March 3, 2003, at 14:19:15
In reply to TCA's, cant stop thinking....Need HELP, posted by daizy on March 3, 2003, at 13:11:53
> Have had a really rough time of the last few days. Feeling very sluggish and tired. Ive also not been able to stop thinking about everything and anything. Anyone relate? I just get horrible dark thoughts, and then start thinking about how good my life used to be, and how Im wasting time, also thoughts of death.
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> They have reduced my anxiety by some, but I just feel more depressed. I also got this with effexor. I dont get it, arent AD's supposed to stop depression not cause it??? When my anxiety drops down the scale, my depression goes up. I need suggestions :-(I think anxiety can serve as a distraction from depressing thoughts. (When I'm anxious, I can't think about anything at all.) Maybe now you're calmer and able to assess your situation- naturally it sucks being on medication for anxiety and depression. I started thinking about suicide for the first time in many years last October after a few months on a TCA. I know that part of it was simply that I could think about things without the constant distraction of anxiety. I could see that many years had gone by and it was still hard to do anything and basically my life was mostly unlived; who wouldn't feel bitter about that? It's been about five months since I've had suicidal thoughts; partly that's because of the progress I've made and partly that's because of the Buspar I added in December.
I think TCA's are good for clearing the fog and getting a dose of reality; the only problem is that sometimes reality can be depressing as hell. TCA's also affect *emotion* differently from other AD's in my opinion. They seem to create a more emotional state than SSRI's so it's possible to brood on negative feelings. This is NOT an unhealthy thing, but it can make it seem like the drug isn't working to get rid of the depression. I brought this up with my doctor several times and he agreed that the reason I felt worse was that my emotional responses were actually becoming more normal. That wasn't very consoling at the time, but in the long run I think he was right. Hope this helps
poster:zeugma
thread:205530
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20030301/msgs/205545.html