Question:
I came to the conclusion that my depression was a symptom, not a root
problem, of a problem that was basically electrical in nature. I didn't
"have depression," I had a nervous problem and the mistakes it caused me to
make then made me depressed. Paxil just made me feel good about making bad
decisions, could this explain the incidents of anti-depressant users
becoming homicidal/suicidal?
Answer:
You may want to investigate trying Tegretol instead of Dilantin. Dilantin
causes gum tissue to overgrow ("gingival hypertrophy") and can ruin one's
dental health. The gum surgery is very painful and expensive, i've heard. Sounds to me by what you described that you were mis-diagnosed by your
doctor. You sound like you have classic Anxiety disorder, not Depression.
I'm not too very suprised that you didn't get complete releif to your
anxiety problems by using an anti-depressant alone. I'm glad you found
something that works for you, but I have a feeling that maybe one of the
more "common" anxiety meds out there would have worked just as well for you,
had you been correctly diagnosed to begin with. "I came to the conclusion
that my depression was a symptom, not a root problem" this is something your
DOCTOR should have concluded long before you did so on your own. I just feel
bad that you had to suffer so long because of a bad diagnosis.
Over the past five years, I too have had many of the same symptoms of
depression. I was diagnosed with something called dysthymia, which is mild
depression that can last for decades. I went on Zoloft, and absolutely
hated it. I didn't like the feeling of being artificially happy all the
time. I've done alot of research on what's called Omega-3's. You may have
heard of them. They're fatty oils that come from fish like salmon. They're
promising in the field of depression treatment. I have had great success
with omega-3's, and encourage you to try them also. They're very
inexpensive, and you can get them at any health hut like GNC.