Depressed for years

[JazzyApple]

Here's my story. I was on Pristiq 50mg and stable for about three years. I had some ups and downs but not too terrible. I went into a depression and didn't change my medication for over year. By the time I started treating it nothing worked. I took the maximum dosage for Pristiq, Zoloft and Cymbalta. All they gave me were horrendous side-effects. I stay depressed for another two years. I don't know how I survived. This episode was very severe. Cymbalta lifted the depression eventually but I had to go off of it because I couldn't function on it. I tried Prozac and it did the same thing. I'm now on Wellbutrin and it seems to be working without too many side-effects. I suffered for years and can barely remember who I was before all of this. Do you think I would have recovered from it sooner if I had treated it earlier? I also don't know why at that point in time I experienced such horrible side-effects. I've never had that problem and I've been on plenty of other medications. 

Edited June 3, 2016 by JazzyApple

[melissaw72]

Quote

Do you think I would have recovered from it sooner if I had treated it earlier?

Idk about your meds because I've never been on them. 

However, I believe that the sooner something is treated, the more likely a person will recover faster.  I've personally learned this and I regret waiting years before telling something was wrong.

Might not happen with everyone, so YMMV.  But I really believe in it.

[jt07]

I agree with melissa in that letting something go untreated just pulls you farther down the rabbit hole and makes it that more difficult to dig yourself out. Depression can become like a rut, a habit, and it's best to treat it before it gets to that stage.

As far as experiencing side effects goes, I'm not sure any of us here can answer that one. I just know that we all experience meds differently. Maybe your body chemistry changed over time. Who knows?

[Southern Discomfort]

I echo the above. The longer you leave depression untreated the more it becomes the norm for you, and that's dangerous because it can negatively affect your self esteem and confidence and your world just becomes that much more smaller. And it's hard to break out of that corner you've painted yourself into. That all said, regrets are pointless, it's done now and you've got to look ahead to the future, you're got help now and that's the important thing. Think about how you're going to change your situation now, what steps you're going to take. There's a lot of self help books out there, there's therapy if you feel you need it and there's support groups. Voluntary work is helpful too if you've got the time to spare, it can be very therapeutic to give aid other people, it also looks really good on a CV.