Depression Poll

Are you depressed?

  • Yes.

    Votes: 55 38.2%

  • No.

    Votes: 89 61.8%
  • Total voters
    144
GracieJ

GracieJ

Senior Member
Messages
780
Location
Utah
I think it is totally possible to eventually work through issues of grief, sadness, depression over all the losses with major illness, and emerge into a new, serene normal. It has been true for me.

I come on the forums for several reasons.

Usually, I am flat on my back resting, and I have time to read up on advocacy, research, treatment protocols, history, etc. It is life-changing to find another piece of my puzzle and find some relief for symptoms. I see no doctors right now, use no prescription meds. It is a lovely ah-ha moment to learn new dimensions of the illness, or why I have relapsed, and what I need to do to continue to function, especially in the area of work. I rather like having a roof over my head.

The rest of the time - I will be totally honest here - I come on here to LAUGH. You guys are hysterical. There are pretty good humorous threads to follow and contribute to, and I make sure I get some good long belly laughs while online on these forums. I routinely got onto chat for over a year just to be totally nonsensically silly for a few hours. GracieJ with the Dory brain - or is that Dottie??

Anyone who thinks all people who have this are automatically depressed, I will give them part of that - all of us go through stages of denial, acceptance - in short, grieving. Each will handle it differently. I know I was in prolonged grief for years, and that was a problem. But it was not permanent, and it was not a part of the disease. It was a reaction to the disease. To insist that we are in denial is just silly.

It is the upbeat feeling in these forums that keeps me going from day to day. It feeds me emotionally in healthy ways. I am intellectually challenged and stimulated, an amusing feat by itself with brain fog. I connect with other people. I feel a wholeness in my life that is vital and wonderful.
 
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Misfit Toy

Misfit Toy

Senior Member
Messages
4,178
Location
USA
There is a difference between being depressed and suffering with straight up depression. Actually, I pay my therapist $40.00 an hour...that is not a large sum. She sees people on a sliding scale basis. I love her. She lifts me up and is so happy when I am happy. She helps me work through what doctor to see, or not see, she listens when I need listening and is there for me more than anyone. It upsets me how negative you are about therapists.

I am not saying that people are walking around suicidal or depressed as in...they see nothing but black. But any illness makes you down. I am sorry, I disagree.

I would say and will continue to say that most people with this illness are down, wish for something better and are depressed...that doesn't mean they are clinically depressed and need a shrink or meds. It means they wish for something better...they aren't necessarily thrilled with their current circumstances. So, there are some "depressed" feelings going on within them. If they are in bed day in, day out and their situation is often out of control, I would say they have some depression going on. If they have lost a loved one due to this illness...I would say they are down, depressed, sad, upset, etc...
 
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Gingergrrl

Gingergrrl

Senior Member
Messages
16,171
@GracieJ It feels pretty constant to me. Misfit Toy was speaking about her own experience of depression and her own therapist and it turned right back into the idea that all therapists diagnose everyone with depression (whether they have it or not) just for the money.

This is NOT directed at Gracie, I am just answering your question.
 
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Misfit Toy

Misfit Toy

Senior Member
Messages
4,178
Location
USA
My therapist hasn't/doesn't diagnose me with depression...as in straight up. She calls it situational. She also says I am extremely resilient. Yes, I am.

I show up showered, with makeup on even in the worst circumstances and I have managed to work with new diagnoses, learning new things, meds, that I may need due to all of my several conditions.

I keep moving. I have never chosen depression. You can tell by my photo..my smile, that I have a sparkle, a glimmer in my eye.
 
M

Mij

Senior Member
Messages
2,353
GracieJ said:
I think it is totally possible to eventually work through issues of grief, sadness, depression over all the losses with major illness, and emerge into a new, serene normal. It has been true for me.

I come on the forums for several reasons.

Usually, I am flat on my back resting, and I have time to read up on advocacy, research, treatment protocols, history, etc. it is life-changing to find another piece of my puzzle and find some relief for symptoms. I see no doctors right now, use no prescription meds. It is a lovely ah-ha moment to learn new dimensions of the illness, or why I have relapsed, and what I need to do to continue to function, especially in the area of work. I rather like having a roof over my head.

The rest of the time - I will be totally honest here - I come on here to LAUGH. You guys are hysterical. There are pretty good humorous threads to follow and contribute to, and I make sure I get some good long belly laughs while online on these forums. I routinely got onto chat for over a year just to be totally nonsensically silly for a few hours. GracieJ with the Dory brain - or is that Dottie??

Anyone who thinks all people who have this are automatically depressed, I will give them part of that - all of us go through stages of denial, acceptance - in short, grieving. Each will handle it differently. I know I was in prolonged grief for years, and that was a problem. But it was not permanent, and it was not a part of the disease. It was a reaction to the disease. To insist that we are in denial is just silly.

It is the upbeat feeling in these forums that keeps me going from day to day. It feeds me emotionally in healthy ways. I am intellectually challenged and stimulated, an amusing feat by itself with brain fog. I connect with other people. I feel a wholeness in my life that is vital and wonderful.
Click to expand...

What a lovely post :)
 
Sushi

Sushi

Moderation Resource Albuquerque
Messages
19,970
Location
Albuquerque
This thread has been edited to remove personal attacks and inflammatory phrases.

Please! Let's not do this sort of thing to each other. We are already sick--we don't need to stress each other (including the moderators) with fights.

We all have different takes on this illness and individual responses to it--both physically and psychologically. Please respect each other's experience and opinions--otherwise this forum won't work for anyone.
 
D

daisybell

Senior Member
Messages
1,613
Location
New Zealand
I think we all have different understanding of what actually qualifies as depression. For some of us, that's the medical definition and for others perhaps it's just the same as feeling down...

I know that at times I feel very distressed, at others I feel very low etc. But, for me, I don't feel that I am or have yet been actually clinically depressed with or by this illness. Doctors have disagreed with me over this, but I argue my corner! Usually what happens in the doctor's office is that I am there because something has got worse or is causing more problems, and I have an assumption that the doctor won't understand it well, and I am not very good at being unemotional in that situation. The doctor sees the emotion and thinks depression. I don't feel it is that, I feel it is a reaction to the situation.

I certainly don't see depression as having any more stigma attached to it than ME.. and I don't see any problem with saying I am depressed. But I am not going to let others say I am if I don't think its true. Of course it is a risk. Our lives have been turned upside down. But that doesn't mean we must be depressed. We grieve, and we ride the roller coaster of emotion that goes with a chronic illness, but it seems to me that by and large, we are incredibly resilient!
 
Sushi

Sushi

Moderation Resource Albuquerque
Messages
19,970
Location
Albuquerque
daisybell said:
We grieve, and we ride the roller coaster of emotion that goes with a chronic illness, but it seems to me that by and large, we are incredibly resilient!
Click to expand...
Well said. I have been sick a long time and have largely found a new way of living that is quite satisfying. Do I wish I were well? Sure, but then I wish that a lot of things in my life had been different. For me the old adage: "When given a lemon, make lemonade," has worked pretty well. That doesn't mean that I am not trying treatments to improve--I am and am cautiously hopeful on this front. But in the meantime I've found new things that I am able to do and enjoy and have actually developed some new skills.

Much earlier in life I did have a period of pretty bad depression and I think I would recognize it in myself if that were happening now. But we all respond differently and each person's response is valid--for that person.

Sushi
 
Cheshire

Cheshire

Senior Member
Messages
1,129
Thanks very very much @Sushi
Your post has been very useful to me. You wrote in simple words what I was thinking in a messed up way, you helped clarify my feelings!
Really loved the adage "When given a lemon, make lemonade" which does not exist in French.
 
Cheshire

Cheshire

Senior Member
Messages
1,129
"Faire avec ce que l'on a" is the French equivalent of "When given a lemon, make lemonade", but it doesn't allude to the lemons of the English proverb. It's pretty less evocative IMO.
 
L

lansbergen

Senior Member
Messages
2,512
Cheshire said:
"Faire avec ce que l'on a" is the French equivalent of "When given a lemon, make lemonade", but it doesn't allude to the lemons of the English proverb. It's pretty less evocative IMO.
Click to expand...

Would that be the dutch; je moet roeien met de riemen die je hebt?
 
ukxmrv

ukxmrv

Senior Member
Messages
4,413
Location
London
45% depression for people with no sense of smell (anosmia). This was on Radio 4 (UK) this morning. Just a survey for quality of life in a support group for people with this condition
 
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