Depression?

[Guest guest]

Hi Stacey,

I'm sorry that you are having such a hard time. I have EDS and so does my

daughter Sara who is 19. We have talked before about all that and how hard it is

for Sara to handle the EDS, pain and school.

You have included a lot of areas that you are having trouble with and they do

sound like symptoms of depression but no one can makethat diagnosis for you

but a doctor . You are really smart to be taking a look at all of that though.

Trying to decide what to do next is important and a good first step. A good

pain clinic can also help you with depression and would really want to talk

about that and get that under control too.

An antidepressant can work on more than one thing at a time as you said. What

you are taking now is nnot a therapeutic dose for depression though and that

particular medication is not routinely used any more for depression. At least

that is my understanding but I am not a doc or a nurse. I just play one in

real life!! Joke joke!! It sounds like your doctor is trying to treat sleep

problems with the amitrip.

Having someone to talk to is really important. But you already know that

being here on the CEDA list! I know that my girls don't talk to me about

eveything

and they need to have their privacy but if one of them is not doing well, I

would want to know. It would make me really sad to think that one of them was

hurting and going through it alone. I obviously don't know your mom and dad but

I would guess that they would feel the same way. It may be that talking to

them won't be enough though. Does your school have a good student counseling

office that could give you a referral to someone? If you aren't eating or

sleeping and your pain levels are getting worse, then it is time to have it

professionally evaluated. Living in chronic pain with EDS, dealing with the

inability

to do things that other young people your age are doing, giving up things that

maybe you used to be able to do is too much to be able to handle by

yourself!! This is one of those times that the limitations of a keyboard feels

so

strong when you want to say things and try to help. I wish that I could reach

right through this screen and grab hold of you Stacey! You are probabl thinking

about now that you are mighty glad I can't!! ha ha!!

Please write me any time you want. Follow your instincts and find a good

professional to talk to . Get several names , in fact, and talk to each of them

on

the phone ,tell them that youare dealing with a chronic illness and pain,

find out their background annd just listen to see if you feel like it is someon

e

that you " click " with. If they won't talk to you for a few minutes on the

phone then get rid of that name!!

Take care annd please let me know how it goes nand how your are doing! I have

to go right now though!

[Guest guest]

Hi everyone

First thank you for all the replies to the low cholesterol

question. My problem right now is that I think I am starting to

become depressed. I have looked into it a little bit and realize

that I do have most of the symptoms. Its getting to the point I

have to force myself to eat one meal a day and just feel like I am

become more distant from everyone around here. There is only one

person that I feel like I can talk to and I feel like I am going to

start to overload him with way too much (its a new relationship that

I am afraid I am going to hurt with too much 'complaining'). I am

getting to the point that I really dread night time. I cant seem to

fall asleep anymore and just lie awake thinking about things and

getting really down about the future, both distant and close. I

generally try to go to a friends house and usually only end up

getting about 4 hours of sleep. I cant seem to concentrate much

anymore either which is really difficult since I am in school. I

also dont feel like doing homework (Which for those of you who know

me is a big thing! I am a fourth year honours computer science

student who definatly is proud of her grades). Its not helping my

pain levels / joint issues either, the more down I feel the more

aches and pains I feel. I am on a low dose anti-depressant right

now for pain control (20mg of amitriptyline nightly) as well as an

anti-convulsant (400mg daily of neurontin) and medication for

stomach problems (150mg of rantadine (sp?)). I am just really not

sure what to do. I mean I have read that this is part of the

acceptance part of eds (Only officially diagnosed on oct 29th) but I

still dont know what to do about it. My parents don't seem to

really think that the diagnosis has had an impact on me so I cant

really talk to them about it (plus they have a lot to deal with

right now with issues with my nephews custody). I have a dr's

appointment tomorrow that I am going to 'try' to bring this up in

but its going to be hard (I am not the type of person to really

discuss feelings and emotions) but I am not sure what will come of

it as I am already on a low dose of the amitriptyline so it may

make 'treatment' if needed difficult. And in that part I will have

to go back to the pain clinic to figure out what to do from that

perspective as well as I assume the anti-depressants cant be used

for both depression treatment and pain control at the same time.

Wow sorry I have rambled on but once you start typing its hard to

stop (which i am sure most of you will understand). Thank you in

advance

Stacey

[Guest guest]

Hi

Thank you for your quick reply. I dont really know much about my

school conselling services but I am sure that they will be explained

to me tomorrow. Should I be discussing this with my pain management

doctor or a GP at the school? I am not sure really what all the

pain doctor should be dealing with and what I should be going to a

GP for. I know that my parents will want to know but they are going

through a lot and am going to be going for full custody of my nephew

in the coming months so I feel bad bothering them with all my

issues. I will tell them though after the appointment most likely.

My biggest thing right now is going to be how to bring it up to the

doctor at the school tomorrow :/ Oh well I will see how it goes then

Stacey