New- first day here

[fallenstar]

Hi All,

I have major depression, and I have not been on my medicine since Sept. I take lexapro and seroquel, and I think both of them are making my blood pressure high. I finally got health ins at my new job that starts this month, so I am going to get my blood pressure under control with meds so I can hopefully take my meds again. I think I figured out it may be the seroquel making my blood pressure high because I am still taking it for sleep (from when i was taking it to counteract the lexapro from giving me insomnia), and the bp is still high. So I guess I am going to have to find some other sleep aid besides seroquel when I go back on lexapro.

Anyhow, since I have been off my meds I have not been myself. It seems like I have to force myself to do things every day. Sunday nights are the worst for me, I always feel very lonely and get anxious about going to work the next day. I also have asthma, and sometimes people's perfumed lotions will make me have to take my inhaler, so I am always worried about my breathing. Sometimes I get irritable at work and don't want to be around anyone, but I work at a call center so I am always around plenty of people. My husband works a lot so I only have one day off that I get to see him. So I spend Sunday off by myself, and I guess I get a bit lonely as I have no friends here, and i have dysfunctional family that I don't like to talk to very much (except for my sister), but they live in a different state anyhow. So if anyone would like to chat sometime, let me know.

Cheers,

Fallenstar

Edited March 2, 2009 by fallenstar

[karig]

hey

I understand where you're coming from. Sometimes this thing is my lifeline. I've dealt with depression for over thirty years. Glad you'll be back on meds soon! I've been on meds for years now. Are you getting any counseling or anything? That's the way I maintain cuz pills are not enough.

Wondering if you just moved to the area since you don't have friends there. I know it can be tough making friends, especially when you're depressed. I only started a couple years ago. Before that it was my daughter and sister. I've got a dysfunctional family as well. Hated my oldest sister from as far back as I can remember. Father was an alchohic. And over the last few years my relationship with my other sister has gone down the drain cuz she's developed mental illnesses that really mess up her actions.

So tell me a bit more about yourself and we'll talk!

[Guest ASchwartz]

Hi fallenstar and karig,

Yes, medications can sometimes create blood pressure problems. Probably it is not the lexapro but I am not an MD and do not know. You need to consult an MD.

The main point I want to make is that medications, in the end, are not the answer for depression. All the research shows that it is Cognitive Behavioral Therapy that helps end depression. What happens with CBP is what is called "cognitive restructuring." All that his means is that you are taught by the psychologist how to change the ways you think from being unrealistic and selh harmful to being more realistic and helpful to yourself. It is a structured type of therapy with useful homework assignments that you bring the next time. It is really good.

I am not dismissing medications at all and am aware that they are sometimes really necessary. However, even then, it is the combination of psychotherapy and medication that works best than just medicine alone.

Allan

[mscat]

Hi there,

I agree that medication alone only helps just a little. I've been on Lexapro for a while and a mood stabilizer. WHen I've run out of the Lexapro , after a couple of days i feel life i crash into a a huge state of sadness. It is horrible. I run out becasue the perscription needs to be filled. Things get worse and worse for me, to the point i am unable to barely function. I've got a diagnoses of Clinical depression and BPD though, and am in therapy and see a psych doc. for medications.

the psych doctor placed me on Clonidine to be taken at night. that medication is orginally prescribed to lower blood pressure in adults, and not is used to treat children with hyperactivity or impulsive behaviors. The clonidine helps me sleep , but, I also take anther medication for anxiety at night, which is benificial . there are a couple more I am suppose to take , however have not in a while. One for thyroid and one , I am not sure what it's for.

Sometimes, I look at the meds and feel like there is a pharmacy in my cupboard. My son has severe allergies , and requires meds for that and we also both have inhalers.

The therapy I think I have is only talk therapy, becasue there is not assigments given, and he is just a LMFC , but still it benifits. i also should be going to a therapy for self injueres , but I hate groups and very highly anxious to to leave my home. So I have not started that therapy.

I hope you are able to go into therapy and start re taking your meds again. The comboination of the two is the best treatment.

[Proverbs31:28]

Fallenstar, I can truly feel for you as I have been in a very similar situation. I remember staying awake all night on Sunday nights absolutely terrified of going into work the next day! I also have HBP and have had issues keeping BP under control while on anti-Ds. I agree with Allan that meds by themself are pretty useless. I would highly encourage you to find a therapist you are comfortable with. I am glad you found out little corner of the web and look forward to getting to know you better.

[fallenstar]

Thank you to everyone to responding to my post. In the past, I was going to weekly therapy for a while, but every time I left I felt like I just talked, and didn't feel any better, and felt like, "why did I even go?". So I stopped going. I went to two different therapists, and felt the same way with both. I remember that I did want to do cognitive therapy, but both therapists that I went to did not offer that. Perhaps I can find someone that does. I feel that my major depression just makes me very negative. When I am not on Lexapro I and my husband definately tell the difference. I cry more, and get more emotional and down on myself. When I am on the Lexapro I am a lot more positive.

As far as the Seroquel, I did read a study that said in a university study, Seroquel made the blood pressure go up in all ages in the study, and it went back down when they stopped taking it as well.

My job- I work in a call center, we only get a 30 min lunch, so there is never time to really talk to co-workers much, so I kinda feel like a robot the last 2 months at my new job. And then there is the asthma issue (people wearing perfume or using perfumed lotions even after I ask them if they can refrain, but they don't). So that makes me very agitated when I already have high bp, and then i have to take my inhaler (which makes the bp higher), and the fact that it seems like nobody cares about anyone but themselves, and I feel like they could care less if i keeled over from a really bad asthma attack). And I need this job, so leaving isn't an option- and this is the first place i've ever worked with really awesome befefits, so I don't want to have to leave here. Ugh....... does everyone see why I am a ball of nerves?

Thanks for listening

[fallenstar]

Fallenstar, I can truly feel for you as I have been in a very similar situation. I remember staying awake all night on Sunday nights absolutely terrified of going into work the next day! I also have HBP and have had issues keeping BP under control while on anti-Ds. I agree with Allan that meds by themself are pretty useless. I would highly encourage you to find a therapist you are comfortable with. I am glad you found out little corner of the web and look forward to getting to know you better.

What medicine do you take for BP? In the past i've tried one with bad side effects- (Cozaar- itchy/sleepy/cough), Lisinopril- really bad nausea, and hctz- probably the best poision out of all of them, but it makes my pule go up too high and they told me to stop taking)... so I guess I am going to have to go through a new batch again to see what I come up with. Then I also read certain kinds people with asthma can't take..

[fallenstar]

hey

I understand where you're coming from. Sometimes this thing is my lifeline. I've dealt with depression for over thirty years. Glad you'll be back on meds soon! I've been on meds for years now. Are you getting any counseling or anything? That's the way I maintain cuz pills are not enough.

Wondering if you just moved to the area since you don't have friends there. I know it can be tough making friends, especially when you're depressed. I only started a couple years ago. Before that it was my daughter and sister. I've got a dysfunctional family as well. Hated my oldest sister from as far back as I can remember. Father was an alchohic. And over the last few years my relationship with my other sister has gone down the drain cuz she's developed mental illnesses that really mess up her actions.

So tell me a bit more about yourself and we'll talk!

Hi Karig,

I've lived here for 13 years, and this is a transient area, lots of military people live here. People come and go, make a friend and they move. I was always closest with my grandparents, but both of them died (and my grandma had alzheimer's 10 years before she died, so I had pretty much lost her then, and when I did get back to my hometown to visit her, it would sadden me a lot that she could not remember me). My mom is self absorbed and my father was abusive to my sister growing up, and verbally abusive as well. I still talk to my mom every few months, I stopped talking to my dad a few years ago. My sister still talks to him, but they get into fights and stop talking for two months and then the cycle with re-begin. I think they mutally like the abuse. So the short answer is that no, all my friends left the area but one or two.....