How do you know you have depression

[freakedoutinVirginia]

Im just curious if you guys can help me out. These last few weeks I have been having these episodes where I just feel really down and just dont care anymore. I get to where I feel really lonely and that NO ONE cares about me anymore. And then just a few days ago, its gotten to where I will be playing with my daughter, having fun, and then the next thing I know, I feel really down and want nothing to do with my daughter anymore. This is really making me feel bad because I love my daughter to death and enjoy my time with her, and I dont know why i get to feeling like that. It makes me feel like a horrible mother, and then I just get feeling worse about myself. All I want to do is sleep and not do anything. Not talk to my husband, nothing. There are times when I just want to smack my husband, tell him to shut up and leave me alone, and just go hide in our room and sleep. Any advice will be highly appriciated.

[jo929]

i am glad that you wrote then you know the reason just sttay busy and fight that ole depressin if you can i knew one person that had depression she did not know what caused it but she reasoned through it and kept a bottle of pills just in case she still has the **** then recently she found the reason and it all worked out   lots luck  jo
   PS the reson i mentioned the pills some dr beleive that is the solution and i have worked at mental hosps where some were so heavly sedated they could not thnk. again i want to clarify that if one needs the meds by all means take it

[freakedoutinVirginia]

i am 24 years old and I love my husband to death. We have been having some financial problems as my husband was unemployed since Oct. 31st. He just recently found an awesome job, and that has relieved alot of stress. I had gone to a doctor at the begining of Jan. cuz I thought that I was experiencing panic attacks, and she told me to see how it goes and if I need to, to take some of the medicine she prescribed, but only if I felt i needed it. I have not taken any because although I have still had some attacks, I havent felt that they were bad enough to constitute me taking the medication. There have been times before this that I have felt like this, but after a few days it goes away, but this time it hasnt. Its staying. I do plan to go to the doctor, and I do have a follow up appointment to see how my panic attacks are doing. I will talk to her about this other problem I am having and see what she says. Thanks for the input.

[jo929]

you do not mention your age or give any information about how you feel about your husband  just haviing these thoughts 2 weeks  does not give one very much information maybe something has been bothering you i do beleive their is more to your story if you know what the reason is find a solution or go the doctor do you work out are you bored i do know that when one sleeps a lot that is trying to escape from reality and that is something you dont want maybe it is best to go to dr or find something to keep you busy also might help to have a hobby keep busy and plese do keep us posted hopefully you can be helped without meds but if you need them you need them  lots of luck   jo

[GoingToMakeIt]

  I did forget to mention. If you are already on an anti-depressant. Do not take these things, without medical supervision.

[GoingToMakeIt]

     There are also a lot of things at the health food store that help with mood. SamE 400mg, Rhodiola, 5 HTP, L-Tyrosine etc..These have almost no side effects...something anti-depressants cant say. Anti-depressants can have sweats, no sex drive, heart palpitations, anger, rage.

[JMG749]

I'm not sure what you can you do, but I do suggest to look long and hard for some alternative other than meds before you get some.
It's like this. In your brain you have things called receptors that things called cytokines lock into to. Think of cytokines as little pieces of mail and the receptors as post offices. Different cytokines "say" different things. Some kinds say to get really stressed out while another might say to get fired up. When your happy, cytokines that say "be happy" are being recieved at the post office (receptors). So then the post office does what its told and "makes" your body happy. Anti-depressant drugs are like an extra boost of cytokines that say be happy. What's bad though, is that if the post office gets tons of letters of everyday that say "be happy" they might "get sick" of carrying out the orders. This means that your post offices (receptors) require a lot more "happy" cytokines to activate. So then over time your results from the meds start to decrease and then if you get off of the meds you might be more prone to sadness than before.
    Now, I'm not a doctor so you should definetly ask him for advice and value it over mine. This is my understanding of anti depressant pills though. I hope you get your depression sorted out. Good luck.

[AshD409]

Depression is definitely not something you should keep to yourself. You must learn to be open to your Doctor and tell them everything that you are feeling. It's not something you should have to deal with alone. Based on what your Doctor thinks, they may have you keep a journal of your feelings, and they will prescribe the proper dosage of anti-depressants based on how much they think you need them. Quite usually, the doctor will start you off on 5mg to see how it works for you. If it doesn't help, the dosage is strengthened until you find something that works for you. The best thing to do for depression is to get out there. Exercising helps tremendously. I use to be on Cipralex. It was great, and I had no side effects. As Please66 said above me, do some research on different things an be careful with what you're getting into. I hope all works out for you. Goodluck!

[please66]

I have been depressed for a number of years. There are questionaires that you can complete. Your doctors office may have some. It sounds to me that you need to tell your doctor....better sooner than later.
Just be careful with which types of meds to take... that is IF you need to.
Effexor XR is giving me the worst side effects now, Im in process of coming off those because of a serious side effect......my heart is racing. This is a nightmare.....
Paxil ....well I had another terrible experience that caused me to be admitted into a hospital.
Research can pay off! Just wish I had done this first. Good Luck.

Hope this helps!!!