It felt good to vent in Chapter 23! :)
Effexor XR Catchup: I did not feel any side effects from Effexor XR until I started on 150 mg. I had a mild headache and constipation. These are frequent side effects with this medication. After 10 days the side effects diminished quite a bit, so I raised the dose to 187.5 mg. I was relieved the side effects did not flare up again and my depression symptoms improved a little bit.
Ten days later I raised the dose to 225 mg. On this dosage I have noticed my appetite isn't as good. I am not nauseated, but food doesn't sound or taste good. It will be interesting to see if this side effect decreases in the next week to 10 days. I have not been able to lower my dose of Luvox to less than 25 mg in the morning and 25 mg in the afternoon. If I do, the depression symptoms become worse.
It has now been 9 days since I increased the dose of Effexor XR to 225 mg. My lack of appetite has improved as well as the headaches and constipation. I will probably wait to raise the dose to 262.5 mg until next Tuesday, which will be two weeks. The improvement in the depression symptoms is subtle. It has been a long wait! I am hoping for a big improvement soon.
I have been reflecting on the past 29 years of dealing with the disease of depression. I am going to talk about random memories I have. If anyone would like to share their memories, opinions, or experiences about psychiatric diseases, please comment on my blog. I would like to read your comments.
During the 1980's I was seeing a psychiatrist who had a psychologist working with him. The psychologist met with support groups on different subjects. For those of you who have never gone to a psychiatrist, you do not lie on a couch and talk about your dreams, hopes and desires. (Like in some movies or shows.) I have always sat in a chair and focused on my symptoms and what medications may be effective. My life situation was discussed, but not in detail. I have talked about my life situation in detail with a psychologist and a therapist. It can be very helpful. The psychiatrist I started going to in the 1980's was my doctor until he retired in 2009. He had known me for so long I think he did know my life situation in great detail!
I decided to join a depression support group led by the psychologist mentioned above. The first night we met there were several of us sitting in the room waiting for the psychologist. A man came to the doorway and said, "I'm not sure I am in the right place. What group is this?" The man sitting across from me said, "This is the depression support group." The man in the doorway said, "Oh, thanks", and walked away. "He doesn't want to be associated with the likes of us. I can't say that I blame him." This was said as a joke by the man who told him which group it was, and we were all laughing as the psychologist came into the room to begin the meeting.
I hope the prejudice against people with psychiatric diseases has improved since the 1980's. When I was first diagnosed with depression in 1983 there were no ads on television about depression or the medications used to treat it. There is more media attention in 2010, but I don't know if people are being educated about the fact that psychiatric disorders are diseases caused by areas of the brain not functioning correctly. They are not a character flaw, or something you can just snap out of. They are brain diseases that can be severely debilitating!
A lot of people don't realize that depression is an illness. I don't wish it on anyone, but if they would know how it feels, I swear they would think twice before they just shrug it.
Jonathan Davis
Depression is a treatable medical illness like cancer and heart disease. – Judith Peacock
For me being depressed means you can spend all day in bed, and still not get a good night’s rest. – Unknown
That’s the thing about depression: A human being can survive almost anything, as long as she sees the end in sight. But depression is so insidious, and it compounds daily, that it’s impossible to ever see the end. The fog is like a cage without a key. – Elizabeth Wurtzel
Depression is a prison where you are both the suffering prisoner and the cruel jailer. -- Dorothy Rowe
"We don't see things as they are, we see them as we are." — Anaïs Nin
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