Originally posted by Jackal1
What I have to say on the subject will piss some people off. nothing new there. :
My wife suffers from what has been diagnosed as post traumatic stress syndrome. Severe depression. Anxiety attacks. periods where she cannot take even the simplest things as grocery shopping , etc.
This all came to light and started after a cancer operation. A very succesfull one.
She has been treated for this for about 3 years now. Therapy, medication, etc, etc.
She goes in. "Is the medication working?" "Absolutely not". What do they do? Add or change medication. I sit on on the "therapy sessions". An amazing thing has came to light about the so called "experts" that I have witnessed in the past few years. These are some of the most screwed up folks I believe I have ever seen. Three I have witnessed are big into 'self medication", especialy the kind that makes you go fast such as Ritalin. They are so far gone they don`t orbit this planet but about once a week. They live in fantasy worlds. Has all this crap helped? Hell no. It has made matters worse by a long shot. In short , they suck.
I have been dealing with an injury to my neck for about four to five years. Very friggen painfull. I have been diagnosed, examined, X-rayed so many times I can`t count them. I have been down the tube in MRI machines so many times I`m thinking about getting a job with the circus as the man who gets shot from a cannon. 
I`ve been to so many neurologists and neurosurgeons to be examined that I think I could pass a friggen medical exam myself. Has the problem been taken care of? Hell no. They are too busy collecting money and diagnostics to actualy do something about it.
Depressing? You answer that one.
The one common thing about all these doctors is the immediate knee jerk reaction that I need to be on antifriggendepressants. To a T, they have all tried to prescribe me this crap. I fell for it once and tried it. Holy Moly... thought I was ready to take up the hobby of gorilla wrestling or eating door jams. Changed medication. Same same.
The last one that wanted to go down that road , I lowered the boom on. I told him" Hell yes I`m depressed". I asked him if he would be depressed if over aperiod of years he had been diagnosed, examined, shuffled like dominoes from one "specialists" to the other and the problem was still there and had not been taken care of. I told him to shove his antis , put down the calculator, and actualy do something about the problem. No more antidepressant prescriptions for me.
I want take the lame bellybutton pain medication unless it reachs the point to where my muscles lock up and I end up in the emergency room for injections. The stuff makes me feel like crap. I take muscle relaxers that I have prescribed to reduce spasms and control them. They are prescribed for four daily. I take them when I need them, no more.
So.......... I know about depression and how I deal with it.
My advise: Deal with it! Do like I do..take the pain and depression and don`t let it whoop you. You are your own defense system. If you feel yourself getting down.....give yourself a good biatch slap and pull yourself up by the bootstraps. Don`t allow yourself to be beaten by anything. Grit your teeth, pull yourself up and go full damn speed ahead.
Sometimes you have to take responsibility for how you feel and how easily you either get whipped or overcome something.
Pick it up, shake it off and take control of it.
Harsh? Maybe, but if you are waiting for someone else to do what only you can do, you are in for a long, long wait.
True depression is a chemical imbalance in the brain.
All the pull your self up by the boot straps crap aint gonna fix it
no more than wishing away a cold LOL.
Good old Tom Cruise that azzclown I woulve to go postal on his scawnny little arse.
He dont know crap about much of anything exept is his hair looking good.
Depression has been proven over the years that it is a real health issue and cant be wished away.
If I where you I would take the word of the funny man with all the letters behind his name like MD PHD ect ect.
He might know more than all of use BBS chatter boxes..
You might feel ok off your meds but when those around you see the change hopefyully they will tell ya.
Thats the tricky thing bout Depression YOU think your fine when your really not.
One more piece of advice If you have ANY firearms in your house
take them to a friends house or you parents.
Depression and guns are a really bad mix IMHO.
Last tip learn to like yourself and accept that fact that you are never going to be perfect.
