Cycling and Depression

15peter20

thanks all for the frank, honest and useful advice. There seems to be an interesting paradox between the number of people willing to discuss on here and the fact that so many people are obviously a bit emotionally stuffed up. Ironically, it's a comfort to me to know that so many others are/have suffering/suffered - I feel in good company.

Prescribed 10mg Citalopram for 1 month - let's see how it goes. I need some of 'my old life' back - well, at least the good bits!

benno68

Hope the prescription works for you, I'm guessing that the 1 month is for the doc to check that it's the correct medication for you before giving you a repeat prescription.

I'm on the same prescription at the moment and has been good for me without affecting my cycling at all.

All the best!

Drysuitdiver

after reading the posts in this thread, it has made me realise that i may have been suffering from depression since i was in my teens. changes to my life/style will be taking place.

it also makes me realise what my wife has had to deal with for the last 12 years ( married for 10 )

thanks

15peter20

Benno68 wrote:

All the best!

Cheers, and to you too.

bagpusscp

15peter20 wrote:

thanks all for the frank, honest and useful advice. There seems to be an interesting paradox between the number of people willing to discuss on here and the fact that so many people are obviously a bit emotionally stuffed up. Ironically, it's a comfort to me to know that so many others are/have suffering/suffered - I feel in good company.

At least 1 in 4 people suffer from depression/ mental illness during their life. The first step to getting better is admitting it.{Not been in denial}.We all now live in the 21century and thankfully do not shut people away in mental hospitals very often.The only people who really understand the illness is those who have been there and got the t shirt.Best of everything to those fighting with the black dog...now where is my lead.

mr_poll

What an excellent post and such a interesting and detailed comments.

For what it is worth I wanted to share my experience and if nothing else perhaps temper the whole drugs/AD debate. I am not for one minute derided the use of them and think they are an important part of any treatment. However I wanted to ensure that no one experiences one under publicised side effect.

In the final years of my marriage i was depressed and my self esteem was zero, my now ex didnt help the situation and i was undiagnosed for years. My marriage unravelled, i was in debt and my life was spiralling out of control. This made my mental state fall even further worse, i saw the doc and was immediately prescribed some AD's. WIthin a week my mood lifted however this took it from apathy to action, the blinkers were off and I saw my life for what it was. WIthout going through too much detail the AD's gave me the impetus to throw a load of pills down my neck and for me to attempt to escape the mess things were in. Only after this did i receive counselling support which along with the AD's helped. I have moved my life on now and no longer have counselling nor use AD's. However I searched around the net and there is research indicating that suicide attempts often follow AD prescription due to lift of apathy.

Essentially to those that find themselves in a situation where they need AD's to move forward please ensure you have some form of mechanism around you to talk and help you deal cognitively aswell as biologically be it friends, family or professionals

Bowden2017

Hi I work for Rethink, a mental health charity. I see lots of people with similar issues and problems some of whom are well on the road to recovery. What strikes me as fundamental to anyones wellbeing is a healthy lifestyle which will include a well balanced diet, meaningful occupation and physical exercise. Whilst I am not anti medication, I have met many people who have extremly poor experiences with a veriaty of medication. I would certianly consider this a last resort.
Rethink provide a range of support services from supported housing to community opportunities which are often direct access and can provide practicle solutions and stratergies to manage anxiety, as well as support groups and one to one support. Check out http://www.rethink.org/ for more information on services near you.
I wish you all the best and hope you feel well very soon.

crankycrank

DevonClimber wrote:

crankycrank wrote:

and even MTFU (Manning The F*ck Up)

This reminded me of a thread i saw on another Forum. Not aimed at you Peter or any others for that matter< just a bit of simple minded relief

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=unkIVvjZc9Y

I love those Chopper video's. Always makes me laugh.

Bunneh

The doc gives you a month to see how it improves you, if you're still having problems they can increase it in incriments of 5mg. The maximum allowed for Citalopram is 60mg a day - I'm on 40mg a day. Like I said it does take a few weeks (a month) to get into your system so try not to be impatient.

I don't care one way or the other if I'm on it or not, my doc tells me o take it and I do, and we review it every couple months. At this moment in time I'm okay-ish, so there is a way out of every bad place, just takes time.

Tim Merc

I was diagnosed by a psychiatrist as having " recurrent clinical depression and generalized anxiety disorder" about six years ago. There seems to be an ongoing debate over the effectiveness of medication versus 'talking therapies'.


Personally a combination of both worked for me. I was advised that 20 mg Citalopram daily was the minimum effective clinical dose. I've been on 40 mg per day as I didn't benefit 'til the dosage was increased.

I've found G.P's to vary in their helpfulness, particularly if they have a special interest in mental health. I did come off medication about two years ago, but within six weeks I hit rock bottom again. I've now been advised that a need an AD long-term. Everybody's different, I think my depression is organic, i.e wasn't primarily cause by specific life events, it's something I've had all my life. Side effects tend to pass quite quickly for most people and are worth putting up with in the short term. Medication hasn't had the slightest impact on my cycling, every health-care professional I've seen has encouraged it. Good luck.

Bunneh

Some GPs are useless.

A family member developed schitzophrenia back in the late 90s, but wasn't diagnosed for a while. He threatened his parents saying he'd kill them when they were asleep; when he was taken to the doctors the doc just told his father to dump him at the Salvation Army.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b0 ... Sectioned/

BBC Iplayer, an interesting documentary on people who have been sectioned. It's unsettling, and quite sad. Don't watch it if you're unstable at the moment.