Anti-depressants & training

then it's lucky I came back.

((((((((((((((((((((((((((staggers))))))))))))))))))))))

ruffle and mwah!

I'm trying to look for logical reasons why Vrap - I'm usually good at logical. If the levels of the ssri's have dropped too far, then I'm going to be feeling lousy - I'm kidding myself in any way that I'll just take them for a couple of months and everything will be okay.

Prozac does take a while to kick in.
I don't know what to say.
Go to your doctors to get the right sort of help.
When I was in your situation, the more I thought about things, the harder it was to see a way out.
I remember, I was once at a concert (which I'd normaly love), I had all my friends around me and everyone was enjoying themselves. All I could think about was the fact that I didn't want to be there. Despite all my friends being there, I felt really alone.
If you are feeling anything like this, please tell your doctor. Go and see him/her and say, I'm trying hard with the medication but I'd also like counciling. I know you find it hard to speak to someone, (from what you have said about Nottingham) but couldn't you just give it a try? You have nothing to loose, be strong.

just re-read the bit of my post, should have said "I'm <b>not</b> kidding myself in any way that I'll just take them for a couple of months and everything will be okay."

For what its worth in my experience running and prozac were ok. I agree completly with what E.T has written - some pretty sound advice there.

Was very depressed, couldn't be bothered etc. Prozac gave me the push I needed to get up and do things. Completed my first sprint triathlon in Oct 2002 no ill effects other than post race tiredness!
As far as I understand it Prozac promotes Seratonin (the happy hormone), actually something that regular training is supposed to do too. You have to take them regularly over a period they reckon 6 months minimum and then come off gradually, so once started you have to stick with it (or back to square one).
I stuck with it for about 8 months. It took about 2/3 weeks before I began to feel any better. There were some side effects mainly difficulty sleeping - but overall the drug was beneficial.

I DID go for counseling and that also helped greatly. A feeling that things won't get better is I suppose a symptom of depression, but believe me they will.

I'm happy to say I'm ok now, fit and well and still training. I've now done several 5k races and two more triathlons, and none the worse for it.

I wish you well and hopefully within a few days will feel some benefit.

Couple of PS's.

1. Sorry if anybody medical out there disagrees with me. I'm going only on own experiences.

2. When you go for counselling obviously you'll be looking at why you feel depressed. This is important in many ways one of them being when you later see the doc about coming off prozac you've got something positive to report.

this medical hippo agrees with you
Good advice Staggs

This 'used to be sort-of-medical' psychotherapist agrees with you too!

Gawd its Friday already, where did the week go?

Yesterday got better. I was posting some stuff on other threads (FFF and Plodders) when I started to function, I could concentrate and think rapidly. I got my weekly report knocked off in quick time which also made me feel good.

Went home, nice clear thoughts and a bit of self analysis (there are some good things here, I've just got to remember them more often). Got in to tales of woe regarding behaviour of small child and large mucking around a bit when he was supposed to be going to cubs......

Anyway, we also sat and looked at some hotel and flights for our trip, and got a short list of 4. This is good, planning of a treat, something to look forward to.

Today, I feel calm, a little down but calm and clear. Appart from a stinking headache which I 'm blaming on 3 bottles of Grolshe! Slept much better, about 8 hours, but I'm still tired - not surprising as I've about 5 years to catch up on.

Counselling: not sure about it. Okay, maybe I'm being stubborn but I know what some of the causes are. The problem like a lots of these things is to correct any problem some one is going to be hurt to an extent (be that cross or genuinely hurt because of changes that need to be made). I don't like hurting other people in case they think less of me, but as a result I've let people push me around and walk on me - there I've said it. So I need to change not only my life but my relationship with other people including those, or possibly especially those, close to me

I also absorb other peoples' stresses but I don't manage my own. My life needs to change, and I'm the only one who can do it, other people may be able to help me decide what I should do but ultimately I've got to create and implement the plan.

Don't know if I quite understand you but have got the general idea. Drugs will only help if you can change the thing or things that are making you feel down.

In counselling you'll be asked to explain how you feel to counsellor. He/she may well advise you to let OTHERS know how you feel, esp if they're contributing to your depression.

They may also get you to identify the problems yourself. In your case this may mean the need to be more assertive. I don't know what your answers will be but you WILL be able to find some with counselling.

thx jonny, just re-read and you're right, its as clear as mud!

okay try again. I've been through counsellng years ago and can remember lots of it. As to identifying problems, I've been brutally honest to a sheet of paper (well about 10 sheets actually) and identified a lot of things that cause me "unhappiness" in my life, be that people or situations, and why that causes unhappiness. I need to do something about it, no one else cna make the changes or have the conversations that need to be had. I'm hoping the prozac will give the mental stability to be able to do something about it.

Hi SO

as a veteran (now) depressive - ive kinda worked out some ways to understand it more

i agree with what peeps have said generally but also want to add that what works for one may not work for everyone - and its important to find a way out of it thats comfortable for you - counselling and therapy are in essence an excellent idea but beware there are as many types of counselling and therapy out there as there are counsellors and therapists - so choose carefully if you go down that road !

one of the things ive realised is that when i am depressed i will endlessly be picking things over and analysing them - trying to understand whats going on - obsessive thinking is a symptom of depresion -
so strange as it may seem -

if you can 'get out of your head' and way from the constant mental chatter (which is exhausting in itself-) it may give you break from a lot of the lot of the angst that comes with depression

anything that gets you to focus on externals - listening to music, mild exercise, relaxation tapes, watching a favourite movie - just something that you can focus on away from your thoughts and feelings to give you a little break from the depression

i find loud lively music good - especially singing along in the car or when im home alone ( my cats dont agree)


if you are a reader - there are lots of excellent books about depression and how to deal with it

one that was recommended to me was 'Stop Thinking Start Living' by Richard Carlson - basically get out of those bad thoughts and there is another by Pete Cohen - erm Happiness - ill find the title

if you want to understand how to cope they may be helpful at looking at how you think about things

another suggestion - as much as the soul searching and introspection helps - it can take over or become obsessive - try and limit yourself to a slot where you do that 'work'- like 50mins of selftherapy everyday and then put it away - as it can become counterproductive and lead to getting more bogged down and stuck in the depressive mire

A quick post...
Is not been a bad weekend in some ways. Only felt down a couple of times, once when I fed up looking for a new suit whilst I had headache! Managed not to get too wound up at the rugby this morning, but I can feel I'm going to end getting roped in to doing some training because I can see the problems they are having. This might be good, but I'm not totally sure (yet).

Haven't done any running but have had some good time with the kids, which is probably better from a stress point of view.

well done staggs

one minute at a time

Took a sick break today - woke with ear, throat and head ache so mailed in sick and went back to bed. Slept till lunchtime and then wandered around for the afernoon, didn't feel down, but do even now feel absolutely whacked!

No exercise since last Thursday morning, but not going to rush into anything while ear and throat feeling rough. And it doesn't bother me which is good.

being physically ill is quite good in a way becuse it means you have to stay home in bed and sleep can be very healing - take as long as you need - dont rush back as stress and depression do lower immunutity and you dont want to be fighting a chronic bug as well

Taking the advice Bune, still here at home today. Not much better, could cope with going in if I had to, but can do some bits from here so don't feel guilty about it.

Staggers, glad your feeling better these days. Just take things one day at a time as you are doing.

Staggers, hope you feel better soon. Take as long as you need to let your body fully recover.

I think your attitude is fantastic - exercise can wait until you are both physically (and mentally) ready. And you aren't worried by this, which is really good. Well done you!

I saw my psychiatrist on Friday last week. I don't have to see her again until December and she is keeping my medication the same (75mg venlafaxine/Efexor XL). She was really pleased with my progress over the last 2 months. I have noticed the difference too.

Anyway, thinking of you and remember - we are here for you.

Hugs
CC

hi CC that's good news from Friday, glad you feel that you are making progress too. At the of the day, the professionals can only observe and comment, the real progress is how you feel (which is not always what we say).

Deep thought of day: so how much depression is caused by feelings of guilt over something? Or does the guilt just add to the bucket of stress that's weighing on life. I'm refusing to worry about not training, its a minor thing and there's plenty of time to do that. Not going to work is a different matter... but I know i'm not fit enough to be in the office, and I can do quite a lot from home (what's the difference sanding an email to Switzerland from the office or home?).

I'm feeling quiet a bit better in myself, very tired but not down. The next step to normality is to focus some of this into effective work. Then we're starting to knock down the areas that are causing me stress - work is stressful because I'm not being effective at the moment.