Out of curioustiy: who deals with depression here?

[Luminatorz34]

well i ask this, because my famoly is convincing me that i deal with some form of depression. and now that theyir explaining it, aparently ive eebn dealing with this crap since 6th grade. i get into these slumps more and more here leately, where i just dont give a shit about anything, whether it be me, my wife, pets, job, just absolutly everything. what caused me to get into this slump this time is my job situation. i slipped a couple of discs while at work a month and a half ago and have been in pain ever since. the doctor says im getting better but ive been missing alotta work due to pain in my back. their threatening action to terminate me because of it. and thats all it really took for me to do this doward spiral yet again. sometimes they last for a few days and sometime they last for a few months....im just curious if many other people suffer from this. becuase im actually oing to the dorctor for this tomorrow to see if i can get prescribed anti-depressants. im kinda embarrased to say i may actually suffer from depression. but then again i dont even know what im talking about at the moment. any input or thoughts would be helpful for me at this point. ill see you guys later

[Clinical]

I dealt with it pretty much all of 4th grade up until around 11th grade.

No one in my family ever believed I had any issues. I just sat around playing video games all the time avoiding all social activity. I can't say I have too much advice to give as I never did get help - I just kind of around 11th grade started to go out with friends and then my senior year I got into cars and other stuff and things just kind of got better.

I used to show all symptoms of depression - never cared about anything, thought of suicide (yeah I know emo emo).

Since you have a bit more freedom than I do I'd say just wait and go to the doctor and see what happens - maybe consider a psychiatrist - I know some people aren't open to that but I always wanted to go to one but god help my parents ever let me go.

Good luck man - I know it's a shitty road.

[JacobS]

i do. it sucks.

[Fire Hawk]

Going and talking to someone can help really does. Gotta talk to the dr and let him know if what you may end up taking is working or not. I do really feel that talking to someone that can give you a point of view on things really really does help a lot. I've come a long with things in my life and I'm doing really good now. If you need someone to talk to you can always get a hold of myself. Just send me a message and let me know!

[warchild145]

Takes a real man to admit he may have depression. I personally don't have it so I can't vouch with first hand experience but my mom is on anti depressants and I ran across people at work (Paramedic) who have depression as well. I have been asked if I was depressed before just because I am so laid back but I love life and my job even though some days are really bad.

Doesn't hurt to get checked out. Depression is actually a chemical imbalance in most situations, it's not something you can just change instantly. See what the doc says and maybe things can start looking up for you.

[sLoWnStEaDy]

Been dealing with it since like 3rd grade... Tried to put me on drugs a few times but I said fuck all that. I don't think it's depression as much as just the fact that there isn't a whole lot to be happy about these days. Before i started driving and watching the news i was a MUCH happier person though! Now days i get into those "slumps" you are talking about, there have been times where i didn't leave my house for weeks. Used to be the only thing keeping me alive was the fear of going to hell but now I have Landon and no matter how pissy/depressed I am all i have to do is look at him and nothing else matters.

Talking ot people never really helped me to be honest. It was always physical stuff that made me feel better. Be it some kinky rough sex or beating teh shit out of someone, I always felt better afterwards... Probably not the healthiest thing but I am pretty fucked up anyways so ;-)

[ZacFields]

Depression and Anxiety are often confused with one-another, but they should really be approached much differently, in my opinion. I've had severe anxiety twice in the last two years, and I'm just recently getting over the second one.

I have a little different view on anxiety than most do. I think it's good to have anxiety as long as you approach it the right way. Usually when someone has anxiety, they're searching in their minds for ways to make things better. I had anxiety a couple years ago about the fact that I'd dug myself into $13,500 of credit card debt and had to pay at least $550/month for the next 3 years to pay it off and it was draining me almost dry. Due to the anxiety, I created a budget, worked hard at work and got myself promoted, and paid off my debt in about 9 months.

Anxiety is much different from depression. You might have slight chest pains because your heart is beating faster than it should, you might notice that you clinch your teeth sometimes for a few minutes until your jaw is a little sore... the easiest way to know if it's anxiety or depression is when you can identify exactly why you feel the way you do, and you become obsessed with making it better. Usually people with depression have no idea why they feel that way. They just know that they're unhappy and they can't think of anything they could do to make themselves feel happier.

It sounds to me like your doctor might tell you that you have anxiety. I think the medical treatments are the same for both, though.

It sounds corny, but one thing that I found out helps me is looking at the sky at night. I like to imagine the thousands or millions of other "earths" there are out there somewhere with all their people and all their problems. I like to imagine how small and insignificant our world is compared to what's out there, and it makes me realize how small and insignificant my problems are.

That's called perspective... naturally. Other people imagine all the other problems that other people have here on earth, and it makes them feel better... almost makes them feel bad for stressing so much about their minor problems.

I've beaten it twice now without medication. You've just got to approach it the right way. There might be some changes you can make in your life that makes you feel better. Either way, I agree that talking about it can make a world of difference.

[Ashley]

My grandpa died a little over 3 years ago, and I was pretty depressed for about 2 years afterwards. It's really hard. I didn't know WHY I always felt so bad, and nothing seemed to make it any better. I had a really hard time with school.. I wound up dropping or failing most of the classes I tried to take, and even know I still have a hard time. I've noticed that since then, even if something small goes wrong or I get the slightest big stressed, I freak out and just stop going to class or doing my homework, etc.

I've felt pretty solid for almost a year now, minus the school issue, but overall good now. I think it may have gone away faster, or I might deal with it better now, had I gone to the doctor for medicine, but I decided that I didn't want to do that to myself. I didn't want to be dependent on drugs to make me feel happy. Now I just like to spend a lot of time making sure to think about things and have a clear mind, and I actually started reading some books by the Dalai Lama to learn how to cope with stress and even learn to meditate to help get through tough times. I think everyone learns to deal with it in their own way, so hopefully you and your doctor can figure out something that helps. :)

[DustinsDuster]

i guess i'm just lucky- i've always been pretty good about just letting go of things, and not getting upset of stuff that i can't change. either that or i just unconsciously bury it all and it'll all come out some day. yikes.

[Luminatorz34]

well i always thought i was good at letting stuff go. and dont bottle stuff up...but i get into a slump for no reason at all most of the time and cant get myself out of it. just let everything around me go to shit and me being in the slump cant do a thing about it to change it. i hope the doc can give me some advice tomorrow...but im not looking forward to the drug part myself. but if it helps me be me again, well then i think i could deal with it

[Ricky]

i was there about a year and a half ago.... some friends saw me pretty messed up. Im the type of person that hates doctors and doesnt talk to anyone about major problems. But being with people who make you happy can help. I turned to alcohol and i was a complete mess. I know a few friends were starting to worry and my parents (i lived at home). It took 6 months and i was drunk till i passed out every night for 3 months. my body took a hit and my mind was fucked up. I cared about nothing or anything that happened. I finally had one REALLY bad night with my drinking and scared the shit out of me and the girl i was drinking over didnt give two shits about me. I left for Colorado two days later and left my phone off for a week and did nothing but snowboard for 4 days.

You will know if talking with someone will help you or not or if the doctors can help. Im too thick headed to let too many people help.

[Luminatorz34]

well im the same way...i absolutly hate the money sucking doctors..and hate talking bout my "feelings" but then again i can see i cant change this shit from happening to me anymore...the things that used to make me calm or collect again dont do it for me anymore

[Luminatorz34]

went to the doc today...apparently i have adult attention defisate dysorder....she said basically all the shit i have is caused by that....lose interest in jobs easily, numerous girlfriends, cant stay commited to anything. haha. struggled thru school. bunch of shit...she thought it was werd how i can just sit in a chair by myself for hours at a tyime and be perfectly content with myself. haha. its all ive ever known...i got me some pills, so hopefully i can see what its like to be somewhat normal here sometime soon

[ZacFields]

Keep us updated, man. Good to hear you might have a solution to your problem.

[sLoWnStEaDy]

fukkin doctors... I have had ADHD forever and still do. The main thing that got me to check into my situation was when i lost interest in cars. For about a solid year my RX7, Fiero, '66 Cadillac, 3000GT etc... just sat in my garage, I never even went out to teh garage let alone worked on them. I hate doctors and will never pay to "talk about myself" i just found my own way of dealing with shit and my former self started to come back. I am still not 100% to where I want to be, probably more like 40% or so actualy but it is al lot better than before.
I think once i get out of school it will get better though. Starting up my own business helped a LOT too because i am so worried about that every second of the day that i dono't have time to think about much else ;-) I hope everything works out for you, even though i don't know you all that well and have only met you a few times I could tell there was something up the last few times we talked.