...am taking a brief productivity break. Interesting term, "presenting well". I was able to work straight through a major depression, with serious suicidal tendencies, and put in the crazy lawyer hours and get positive evaluations without anyone noticing. When I talked about it with my mentor at the time, a few years later, he was flat-out shocked. Apparently nobody could tell that I was seriously thinking about hoarding my sleeping meds for a couple of months and then taking a permanent nap. So I guess I present well too.
I sincerely hope that your Wellbutrin experience paralells mine; back during the big depression, when combined with with a bit of cognitive and behavioural therapy and regular exercise, it flat-out changed my life; turned my mood around 180 degrees. After a couple of months, I was feeling a lot better, and was able to go off the Wellbutrin, feeling like a million bucks, in about nine months or so (which was far too soon, my current shrink tells me). The stuff kicks all known forms of antidepressant ass; I would seriously rank it up there with penicillin and the Pill. You may need dark glasses when contemplating your future, and quite soon at that.
My current depression is much milder (manifested mostly as loss of enjoyment of many things, feeling generally, well, depressed, and nausea and vomiting every workday morning). My cardiologist prescribed a tiny dose for me, and my current shrink ramped it up to a medium-small dose. At that level, and combined with semi-regular exercise, it is flat-out destroying my depression at an alarming rate. Think column of tanks running over small dog levels of destruction. Game plan is to stay on it for a few years; apparently continuing it in the medium after the depression is technically cured tends to prevent recurrences in the long term.
So you seeing me mention the depression and Wellbutrin in my LJ actually induced you to look into yours? If so, I'm glad that my LJ has served for something other than just plain old navel-gazing and exhibitionism. If you don't mind me asking, how long have you been reading it, and how did you come across it?
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branchandroot
Posting from work...
Date: 2003-04-07 03:33 pm (UTC)I sincerely hope that your Wellbutrin experience paralells mine; back during the big depression, when combined with with a bit of cognitive and behavioural therapy and regular exercise, it flat-out changed my life; turned my mood around 180 degrees. After a couple of months, I was feeling a lot better, and was able to go off the Wellbutrin, feeling like a million bucks, in about nine months or so (which was far too soon, my current shrink tells me). The stuff kicks all known forms of antidepressant ass; I would seriously rank it up there with penicillin and the Pill. You may need dark glasses when contemplating your future, and quite soon at that.
My current depression is much milder (manifested mostly as loss of enjoyment of many things, feeling generally, well, depressed, and nausea and vomiting every workday morning). My cardiologist prescribed a tiny dose for me, and my current shrink ramped it up to a medium-small dose. At that level, and combined with semi-regular exercise, it is flat-out destroying my depression at an alarming rate. Think column of tanks running over small dog levels of destruction. Game plan is to stay on it for a few years; apparently continuing it in the medium after the depression is technically cured tends to prevent recurrences in the long term.
So you seeing me mention the depression and Wellbutrin in my LJ actually induced you to look into yours? If so, I'm glad that my LJ has served for something other than just plain old navel-gazing and exhibitionism. If you don't mind me asking, how long have you been reading it, and how did you come across it?