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Have you ever had depression?

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Comments

  • Registered Users Posts: 3,779 ✭✭✭A Neurotic


    ohthebaby wrote: »
    87.03?? No way?? I was there tonight for about ten minutes! There was some beer bonging taking place... Which I was not a part of.

    :eek:

    Madness!

    You may have seen me briefly. I was the guy who came in, got soup, and ran away again.


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 1,544 ✭✭✭hitlersson666


    it's good you're telling someone how you're feeling.

    how important you're problems are is a matter of perspective,Failing his exams killed my brother,whereas most people sren't too phased by it.Don't ever feel like your problems aren't important,it's as important as you make it.

    wow sorry for your loss :( depression is a huge underlying issue! and i hope that is this thread has helped someone then i have done a good thing :) thanks to everyone for being so honest and open!

    Now for people in distresse please ring 1life which are a sucide helpline which are free on 1800 247 100 or text help to 51444 or teenline on 1800 833 634 thanks


  • Registered Users Posts: 6,840 ✭✭✭Luno


    Man :( I feel like crap these days,
    Cry at least once a day over how crappy things are and they never seem to look up


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 294 ✭✭Caveat


    I voted 'Yes, no medication needed' which isn't strictly accurate as I am undiagnosed.

    Bascically I have been living with depression for over 20 years but due to a fear of medication and an increasing ability to cope in my own way, I've done nothing about it. Don't think I will at this stage.


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 5,082 ✭✭✭Pygmalion


    Caveat wrote: »
    I voted 'Yes, no medication needed' which isn't strictly accurate as I am undiagnosed.

    Bascically I have been living with depression for over 20 years but due to a fear of medication and an increasing ability to cope in my own way, I've done nothing about it. Don't think I will at this stage.

    Living with depression for longer than most people in this forum have been alive in total, that puts things into perspective I guess.
    I would hope that people get the message that it might not go away on it's own unless you seek help.


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  • Closed Accounts Posts: 294 ✭✭Caveat


    Sorry, a bit irresponsible of me not to say this:

    Just because I am 'managing' it most certainly does not mean anyone else should or even could manage. Everyone is different and depression comes in many different guises and levels. I would urge anyone to take full advantage of any and all support available - be it professional or friends. Fortunately there seems to be less and less of a stigma around depression all the time.


  • Registered Users Posts: 1,136 ✭✭✭del88


    M&S* wrote: »
    Man :( I feel like crap these days,
    Cry at least once a day over how crappy things are and they never seem to look up

    Know how you feel mate.....sometimes it's hard to see the good in the world....recessions, earthquakes, rip of politicians, cheating french footballers (I'm being polite)........but things will turn around i promise.....the darkest part of the night is just before the dawn......hey and if you feel like getting stuff off your chest...go for it...I'm all ears.


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 5,082 ✭✭✭Pygmalion


    Caveat wrote: »
    Sorry, a bit irresponsible of me not to say this:

    Oh that's not what I meant, I just meant you're proof that these things don't always go away if left alone, which is what a lot of people seem to think, I think your post would give people a reason to go get help if anything.


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 6,164 ✭✭✭Konata


    I had mild depression for about 4-5 years but have been at the severe end of the scales for the last 5-6 months. I'm on St. John's Wort at the moment which I want to try before any prescribed anti-depressants. I can ramble on for ages but the conclusion is the same: Depression is ****. You wonder is there ever any end to it - it's often hard to envisage a future without feeling like this.In the last 4 years I've suffered from TWO (you think one'd be enough) eating disorders, periods of self-harm and mild to severe depression.

    There's a million other things I could say here but none of it is coming out coherently :p



    That's my experience anyway!


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 294 ✭✭Caveat


    Pygmalion wrote: »
    Oh that's not what I meant

    I know that, you're grand. Just thought I should say it anyway.
    Only just copped that this is the C+H forum after I posted. I'm probably a couple of decades adrift here! :o

    I'll get me coat...


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  • Closed Accounts Posts: 399 ✭✭lou91


    I voted I dont know - I probably did but compared to some other people in this thread I probably got off pretty lightly.

    +1 on the love for this thread and the honesty. It helps a huge amount to have some place to vent. I think its great that celebrities like Cameron Diaz and Jim Carrey are so open about suffering with it in the past, it makes you realize that literally anyone can have it. No matter how perfect you think peoples lives are and how happy they may seem from the outside, most of the time you can never really know whats going on in their heads. Owen Wilson's suicide attempt came as a shock considering how he always came off so happy.
    It's definitely made me stop thinking "God, they have the perfect life, wish I could be more like them" about certain people, because you really just never know.


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 6,164 ✭✭✭Konata


    I voted I dont know - I probably did but compared to some other people in this thread I probably got off pretty lightly.

    +1 on the love for this thread and the honesty. It helps a huge amount to have some place to vent. I think its great that celebrities like Cameron Diaz and Jim Carrey are so open about suffering with it in the past, it makes you realize that literally anyone can have it. No matter how perfect you think peoples lives are and how happy they may seem from the outside, most of the time you can never really know whats going on in their heads. Owen Wilson's suicide attempt came as a shock considering how he always came off so happy.
    It's definitely made me stop thinking "God, they have the perfect life, wish I could be more like them" about certain people, because you really just never know.


    That is so so true. In my Leaving Cert, I got 8 A1s, becoming a somewhat minor celebrity in my town. Everyone would tell me how lucky I was, how I could do anything I wanted, how they wished they could've done half aswell as me, could I donate them some points etc. etc. It was like that everytime I went anywhere for months afterwards. Now don't get me wrong, I am grateful for those results and I'm by no means blowing my own trumpet here, but I just want to emphasis the point that RandomUserName! made above. I know that people thought I had it all but in reality it was far from it. I had an eating disorder and was self-harming in the years prior to the Leaving Cert, and since then I've had another eating disorder and severe depression. There's often alot more going on in a person's life than meets the eye.

    But yes, this thread is great and kudos to everyone who's posted so far =)


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 399 ✭✭lou91


    Hotaru wrote: »
    That is so so true. In my Leaving Cert, I got 8 A1s, becoming a somewhat minor celebrity in my town. Everyone would tell me how lucky I was, how I could do anything I wanted, how they wished they could've done half aswell as me, could I donate them some points etc. etc. It was like that everytime I went anywhere for months afterwards. Now don't get me wrong, I am grateful for those results and I'm by no means blowing my own trumpet here, but I just want to emphasis the point that RandomUserName! made above. I know that people thought I had it all but in reality it was far from it. I had an eating disorder and was self-harming in the years prior to the Leaving Cert, and since then I've had another eating disorder and severe depression. There's often alot more going on in a person's life than meets the eye.

    But yes, this thread is great and kudos to everyone who's posted so far =)

    Yeah, thats what I meant actually. I got 600 too and people thinking I "had it all" was so ridiculous to me, things like that mean absolutely nothing when it comes to depression. I also had a few eating disorder tendencies, they tend to correlate quite a bit with overachieving. http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2004/06/040614074620.htm


  • Registered Users Posts: 1,136 ✭✭✭del88


    Hotaru wrote: »
    I had mild depression for about 4-5 years but have been at the severe end of the scales for the last 5-6 months. I'm on St. John's Wort at the moment which I want to try before any prescribed anti-depressants. I can ramble on for ages but the conclusion is the same: Depression is ****. You wonder is there ever any end to it - it's often hard to envisage a future without feeling like this.In the last 4 years I've suffered from TWO (you think one'd be enough) eating disorders, periods of self-harm and mild to severe depression.

    There's a million other things I could say here but none of it is coming out coherently :p



    That's my experience anyway!

    Thanks for sharing....Lots of people reading this can't even bring themselves to open up about depression so fair play to you.Could be the start of something.Sounds like your going through it at the moment.

    Depression like a fecking computer virus it convinces you that you will never get rid of or get over ,it robs you of hope , but you can get over it, i promise.....The darkest hour is often just before the dawn

    Have you gone down the professional route ie. counseling ect.Deifinitly helped for me..When i started my brain felt like a big ball of string ,all knoted.Memories, emotions, fears ,urges all caught up together.But slowly things improved.Things put in there right place.

    Don't get me wrong I'm not all rainbows and sunshine and i still have bad days...but mostly good days and when i do have bad day(or a bad week) i know it will pass and things will look brighter again....
    Don't be afraid to look for help....as the shampoo add says...because your worth it (even when the virus is trying to convince you your not)


  • Registered Users Posts: 50 ✭✭hapenny


    bi-polar, it sucks!!


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 6,164 ✭✭✭Konata


    del88 wrote: »
    Thanks for sharing....Lots of people reading this can't even bring themselves to open up about depression so fair play to you.Could be the start of something.Sounds like your going through it at the moment.

    Depression like a fecking computer virus it convinces you that you will never get rid of or get over ,it robs you of hope , but you can get over it, i promise.....The darkest hour is often just before the dawn

    Have you gone down the professional route ie. counseling ect.Deifinitly helped for me..When i started my brain felt like a big ball of string ,all knoted.Memories, emotions, fears ,urges all caught up together.But slowly things improved.Things put in there right place.

    Don't get me wrong I'm not all rainbows and sunshine and i still have bad days...but mostly good days and when i do have bad day(or a bad week) i know it will pass and things will look brighter again....
    Don't be afraid to look for help....as the shampoo add says...because your worth it (even when the virus is trying to convince you your not)


    Thank you for the kind words, I'm always looking out for inspiring stories to encourage me to get through this. I've been attending a counseller for 2 months now. She's amazing and I'm finding it really helpful. Things are still pretty bad atm but I'm learning an awful lot of things that will help me through life in the future. I understand now that I never learned to deal with pain, hurt and discomfort in my life so I turned to coping mechanisms such as eating disorders and self harming. I'm also a bit of a perfectionist but I'm learning how to chill out a bit more and accept that everyone makes mistakes. Life it'd be boring if we were all perfect :p.


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 3,625 ✭✭✭flyswatter


    I made the decision to come off my medication around Christmas. I was feeling pretty well in myself and I just wanted to see what it would be like without it. I decided if anything goes wrong I'll just start taking it again.

    Plus, I was fed up with the side-affects (mainly weight gain and fatigue).

    Last week my mam found out I wasn't taking my meds and she phoned the doctor. He put me back on 10mg and will increase it to 15mg next week. He's afraid I might relapse which would be a disaster in such an important year. Just some advice to other users who might feel they can 'go it alone'. You don't want to end up in hospital (This could well have happened to me if I continued as I did.)


  • Registered Users Posts: 1,136 ✭✭✭del88


    Hotaru wrote: »
    Thank you for the kind words, I'm always looking out for inspiring stories to encourage me to get through this. I've been attending a counseller for 2 months now. She's amazing and I'm finding it really helpful. Things are still pretty bad atm but I'm learning an awful lot of things that will help me through life in the future. I understand now that I never learned to deal with pain, hurt and discomfort in my life so I turned to coping mechanisms such as eating disorders and self harming. I'm also a bit of a perfectionist but I'm learning how to chill out a bit more and accept that everyone makes mistakes. Life it'd be boring if we were all perfect :p.

    I like the saying "progress not perfection"...ye your right if we were all perfect it would be a boring world.... Again fair play for sharing and give the counselor time....the ball of string can be a fecker to try and loosen at times......but it will tease apart in time.


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 399 ✭✭lou91


    I prefer the saying "Everyone is fcuked up in their own way". OK, it's not so much a saying as something I made up, and sounds a little negative, but I really believe it. Everyone, no matter what their circumstances, has crap stuff in their life that they have to deal with.


  • Registered Users Posts: 179 ✭✭sheep-go-baa


    I think just talking and being someone's friend can make so much difference to someone. I think everyone being so supportive here helps more than just the people who reply. My friends are why I would never(hopefully) do anything too serious. I don't want my awesome friends to go through anymore crap in their lives.

    'Happiness is offering what you have to the world and knowing it is enough' We are all human and can be no more :)

    Haha this was so made more sense in my head


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  • Closed Accounts Posts: 7 Mike v


    hhhmmmm ive been reading a few comments here and i think its great way to express your opinions, but who can definitely say that you have depression is it a doctor ? i dont know if i could talk to someone about this tho...( personally id just feel ashamed by what other people thaught and feel im being treated diffrently) even tho it may not be the case because i no i have some of the symthoms for teen depresion which comes and goes in diffrent intensitys for 2 or 3 years now......due to alot of factors.... family losses etc....diminishing school grades since this stared, drug abuse....... but feeling like im stuck in a rut about school and life in genral drives me nuts because i dont know how to deal with it........Maybe i should just really go see a doctor...that might be a good place to start....but is that the place to go if you do think you have a problem?.....thanks


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 290 ✭✭weepee


    The first steps are the hardest Mike. You've recognised there is a problem-step one.
    Making the decision to see a GP-step two.
    Good luck with step three comrade.


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 6,164 ✭✭✭Konata


    Mike v wrote: »
    hhhmmmm ive been reading a few comments here and i think its great way to express your opinions, but who can definitely say that you have depression is it a doctor ? i dont know if i could talk to someone about this tho...( personally id just feel ashamed by what other people thaught and feel im being treated diffrently) even tho it may not be the case because i no i have some of the symthoms for teen depresion which comes and goes in diffrent intensitys for 2 or 3 years now......due to alot of factors.... family losses etc....diminishing school grades since this stared, drug abuse....... but feeling like im stuck in a rut about school and life in genral drives me nuts because i dont know how to deal with it........Maybe i should just really go see a doctor...that might be a good place to start....but is that the place to go if you do think you have a problem?.....thanks

    First port of call should be a GP. If they think you may be depressed or have some other psychological problem they will refer you to a psychiatrist. The psychiatrist will do a full assessment and determine your diagnosis. They will then prepare you a treatment plan - counselling, medication if necessary etc.

    Good luck!


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 7,129 ✭✭✭Nightwish


    I have suffered from it for 13 years. It was bad throughout my teenage years and got worse when I was in college. I had to take a year out because of it. I sought help when I was in college and was medicated for a while. I really hated taking the pills but it did alleviate some of the symptoms but the college doctor was very dismissive of me, and basically called me a typical goth. This experience has left me deeply suspicious of the medical profession and I stopped seeking help. I battled to overcome it for years and I went for a few years with only a few episodes per year. In the past 4 months however I have been suffering quite badly again. I went to counselling for a while but I really hated it. I found it patronising and overall very unhelpful so I stopped going. I am trying to stick it out for as long as possible without going back on Prozac. I dont know for how long I am able to continue like this though.


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 6,164 ✭✭✭Konata


    Nightwish wrote: »
    I have suffered from it for 13 years. It was bad throughout my teenage years and got worse when I was in college. I had to take a year out because of it. I sought help when I was in college and was medicated for a while. I really hated taking the pills but it did alleviate some of the symptoms but the college doctor was very dismissive of me, and basically called me a typical goth. This experience has left me deeply suspicious of the medical profession and I stopped seeking help. I battled to overcome it for years and I went for a few years with only a few episodes per year. In the past 4 months however I have been suffering quite badly again. I went to counselling for a while but I really hated it. I found it patronising and overall very unhelpful so I stopped going. I am trying to stick it out for as long as possible without going back on Prozac. I dont know for how long I am able to continue like this though.

    Have you tried going to a different counseller? I had counselling when I was 16/17ish and didn't find it very useful. When I got to college I tried the counseller here and had an even worse experience. Finally I tried another counseller here in Dublin and I find her fantastic. I've learned along the way that there's good and bad counsellers out there. Sometimes it's just a case of finding someone you gel with, who can cater for your needs. So maybe start investigating other counsellers and their specializations?

    You mention you were on Prozac. I'm on it nearly 3 weeks now - how long was it before you seen substantial effects? I'm feeling better the last few days but can't tell if it's due to medication/counselling or just me.


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 7,129 ✭✭✭Nightwish


    In a small town there are very limited options with regards to the availability of counsellors. I really dont feel comfortable with trying again with another counsellor, if that makes sense? I dont know for how many more times can I go and try get help and be left feeling deeply unsatisfied or sometimes ashamed.

    It took almost 3 months before I saw any difference when I was on Prozac. I hope that your treatment is successful for you, if you are feeling better after a few weeks, it does sound like you are starting to recover. It is a very very long road though.


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 2,325 ✭✭✭ItsAWindUp


    Honestly think I may be starting to develop it, seems like everything in my life is gone to **** lately.


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 4,810 ✭✭✭Seren_


    Aaarrgh, I had a really long post written out, but then my internet disconnected :( Here we go again...

    Anyway, I was diagnosed with depression just over a month ago (as some of you might already know, seeing as I seem to mention it a lot on here :o). I'd been feeling really bad for a good while so I decided to go to the doctor at college. She referred me on to the psychiatrist and he put me on medication after a few visits. The medication has really helped, but it isn't a magic solution. Before I started taking them I thought "oh wow, now it's all going to go back to normal!", but it doesn't. Not straight away anyway. Sometimes I do feel on top of the world, but other times it's just as if I never took them at all. I've only been on them about a month though, so that could be it.

    If anyone does feel really down, you should talk to someone about it. I didn't when I was doing my leaving cert, and that time was probably one of the hardest of my life. Talking really does help. Tell your friends and family, I know it's hard, but you could be surprised at the support you get. I know I was, especially because I was petrified of telling my parents due to some stuff that had happened in the past, they've been great though :) Talk to people in college/school too, there's no point in struggling on by yourself if you feel like crap. There's so many supports there to help you, things that you mightn't even realise. I didn't know of even half the stuff that was available beforehand.

    I know how daunting it is to try and tell people what's going through your head when you can't even make any sense of it yourself. It seems like nobody will ever understand what's happening. I still feel like that, but hopefully it'll get better :) it's weird how much has changed since I posted last on this thread!

    *hugs* to everyone who's written stuff in this thread, and everyone reading it. It's good to get people talking about mental health issues.


  • Registered Users Posts: 2,029 ✭✭✭Extrasupervery


    Word. You speak a lot of sense. I give people the same advice, but don't take it myself.


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  • Registered Users Posts: 656 ✭✭✭Richard Cranium


    A close friend has started opening up to me about feeling worthless and anxious all the time, and not feeling happy in years. He's sort of wondering out loud if he has depression. I won't go into any more detail here, but I think he might be right.

    I don't know what to say though, I feel completely dumb and tactless. I don't know how to go about suggesting that he get help without being unhelpful. I wish I could talk to him face to face now, it would be much easier.


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