Depression

I LOVE THE BLUE ANGELS

Dave and I were fortunate to be at Duxford and saw the Spitfire fly in 2006. It happened to be a lady pilot.

My husband is checking on parking on the internet. The crowd is estimated at 35,000 and he says we're using my handicapped parking permit. We don't always use it, but he thinks this will be legitimate and it appears to be easier parking besides.

You just have to be prepared to go to the Blue Angels. The grandsons will be four and twenty-one. It will be fun. I love to see these cousins together. They are far apart in age, but are very nice to each other.

Carol

I haven't seen the Blue Angels for a while, but I always enjoy the show. Have fun, Carol.

Malcolm

domenic Pappalardo wrote:

Take a stiff drink. Go out into the back yard, and shout, "Fuck it," as loud as you can...you will feel better.

Not in my neighborhood, Domenic. The county sheriff is a friend.

Marie,

I do not want anyone to ignore or dismiss depression.

I just want them to be leery of taking every pill offered to them for no good reason.

I am too stupid to have depression. All the pills did for me was rile me up and addict me.

Marie,

I am so sorry.

You have had a time --I am very glad you made it through.

I remember my worst hospital experience I mentioned earlier this week when a nurse came in and said, "What do you have to complain about? There is a man down the hall who had both his hands cut off." That only made me feel worse. I had been there two weeks. Children were not allowed to visit and I had only seen mine from my window and one was a four month old baby. Believe me, being in the hospital for a pulmonary embolism and stage four cancer last fall was not as bad as that stay. Last fall I had visitors galore, people didn't come and tell me about the woman down the hall who was dying, they even came and told me I had a good attitude, and I already knew the woman down the hall was dying.

Sometimes people live through the most horror I can imagine and come through. Once I had a lady client who told me the most horror filled stories. My partner said they weren't true, that she was crazy. But as time went on, they were verified, and indeed she wasn't crazy but one of the sanest and strongest women I have ever known.

It isn't always what happens to us, but what we do with what happens to us, and how we feel about what happens to us. We are each here on a journey with bumps in the road, detours, horrors of our own.

And I believe that meds can be life saving if used properly and not just given with no follow-up as to their effects.

Carol

Dear Carol,
You are one really lovely person.

"It isn't always what happens to us, but what we do with what happens to us, and how we feel about what happens to us. We are each here on a journey with bumps in the road, detours, horrors of our own".

That is the truth.

Love,
Betty

I take a pill for thyroid that I have taken every day since I was 35 and ruined my thyroid production with a "diet pill" doctor, losing weight. If I don't take the pill (which has its own side effects), eventually, my body will be harmed.

I have no shame in taking that pill or in stating that I have a thyroid condition.

The body is organic, every little piece of it, including the brain. If the brain chemistry is off, the same as my thyroid production is off, a medication may be needed to bring the chemistry back into balance. This proper balance may save a life, give joy back, provide a quality existence where only depression lived.

However, there are different attitudes toward depression than toward a thyroid condition or even the use of insulin to treat diabetes. These attitudes are the result of movies and ignorance regarding the brain and how it functions. They are remnants of an ignorant past.

The body chemistry creates many mood fluctuations that are normal. Situations impact our joy and our sorrow and our ability to bounce back from trauma. Finding excellent physicians who know the difference between a temporary chemical flux and a critical one is important. No medications should be taken without physician regulation.

Situational depression can disappear as rapidly as it appears. Sometimes a change in diet and exercise, new friends, new activities, and yes, a new location or job (in spite of the old addage that you take yourself with you) can overcome the malaise.

Many of the best writers have their most creative moments in their fluctuating mood cycles. I write no better than when love fills my heart and soul or when it leaves.......

I don't believe in the "pick yourself up and move on" philosophy. Sometimes you need someone else to pick you up and carry you forward. Sometimes you need medication. Whatever it takes, a quality life is what we are entitled to as a birthright. That quality definition varies by individual, but we can find it in spite of the traumas we experience because our mind can bring it to us. We just need balance.

Marie, I'm glad you're still with us.

Depression is another one of the things I don't take lightly.

I certainly hope I have not been misunderstood here.
I take pills every day and always wlll .

I am not anti-pills. I am not anti-depression. My mother had a severe case of it, Depression is a serious problem and needs serious treatment. A depressed person needs close supervision along with their pills.

I am merely anti unecessary pills. When I changed doctors my eyes were opened wide.

My doctor had mostly been concerned wth suicide with me. I had not attempted it --his receptionist said he had never seen anyone as motivated and driven as I was.

Consequenty I was under-medicated for Parkinson's disease and over-medicated on anti-anxiety drugs. They were very hard to stop.
My comtention is that this dcoctor wasted years of my life. He had me so undermedicated for Parkinson's I was uanble to drive, walk etc., Then it took a long time to get off of the unnecessary drugs.

Keep an eye on your doctor. Make sure you have what you are being treated for.

My anxiety lessened when they got my PD under control.

I know what is eating me here. It was the total disregard of my condition.

No one wanted to counsel me or do anything other than shove another pill at me. I felt like a porrly controlled experimental project.

Here I am heading for Pancreatic cancer and all they can say is "Here have an anxiety pill. "

At the time they had not even figured out that cancer was looming.

Marie,

It is sad that any illness woudl have a stigma attached to it.