/sci/ - Science & Math

[Anonymous No.3919242]

hi sci

Sorry, this is kind of long but i would really appreciate some help

I've been trying to deal with a really bad case of depression for the past 4 years or so and now its gotten really bad.

I was able to still enjoy life in ways until about a month and a half and ago when my psychiatrist started me on mirtazapine for my sleep.

That basically nuked my head, had no energy or interest and i just felt too tired to do much else but sleep until the effects wore off.

Then i went on ambien which felt like it did bad very bad things to my head, making me a lot more depressed and warping my thoughts in negative ways.

So as i said its been about a month and a half and my depression has just gotten increasingly worse and ive been experiencing really bad chronic tension headaches.

I would go to my psychiatrist and ask him what to do but theres an issue with my insurance and i'm not able to do that right now.

I've been on temazepam and ive tried a few things for the head aches but 2/3 of the last drugs ive tried have made everything worse.

Well, i'm not posative if the Topiramate i tried had a bad effect but its pretty clear this CVS brand tension headache medicine has been making it worse.

I took depikote for my tension headaches for 2 days and nothing really happened, headaches didnt get better and it didnt make things worse.

So.. i'm experiencing intense pain on a daily basis and I can't really afford to experience anymore bad medicine reactions

Does anyone have experience with intense tension headaches and or medicine that has been effective with a short start up.

And a medicine that is known to cause a limited amount of negative possible effects as in making the pain worse?

much appreciated

[Anonymous No.3919248]

Stop taking so much fucking medication.

Get a fucking therapist.

Depression is not caused by a goddamn bacterium, trying to "cure" it with a thousand pills is not the way to go.

[Anonymous No.3919254]

firstly, it may take a while to get the correct antidepressant at the right dose. particularly as they can take 4 to 6 weeks to have an effect and often make symptoms worse at first. so make sure your docs persist with trying differing ones.

force yourself to do all the small errday things to help depression (eat well, interact with good people, get exercise, sunshine)

get off temazapam. benzos will srsly fuck with you long term. make depression and anxiety less treatable.

if the depression is treated succesfully the headaches will probably improve by themselves.

[Anonymous No.3919255]

honestly, I don't know what position you're in but pharma will just bake you

If I were you I would try weed; or beer

the tried and true methods of working thru shit


mind numbing drugs just keep you stuck in place (denial). it's no way to make progress

[Anonymous No.3919260]

>>3919242
>>3919255

also, music and reading helped me

pick up a copy of the tao te ching (the one by addiss and lombardo is really good)

ulysses by james joyce, sartor resartus by carlyle

these all helped me


oh, and keep going; perseverance, courage, etc. there's a season for everything and you'll get thru this

[Anonymous No.3919261]

>>3919248
not OP, but guessing you've never been depressed.

pills have helped me with serious depression.

though i'm all for taking as few as possible and sorting out as much as possible yourself

[Anonymous No.3919270]

OP here, for the record, a year ago or more ago i was on nortriptyline for about 5 months and on the process of weaning off I think i felt a reaction, for about 2 or 3 weeks my energy, interest and a bunch of other things skyrocketed.

then the effect wore off and everything has been getting worse.

I'll try to get off the temazepam, it'll be hard since my sleep function is really fucked up now and it takes a lot of effort on my part to enter sleep sometimes

But does anyone have an answer to the main problem i came here for with my really bad tension headaches?

[Anonymous No.3919271]

>>3919261

I have been severely depressed for 12 years of my life. No antidepressant has had a positive effect on me, only neutral default states.

Counseling has helped me cope far better than anything.

[Anonymous No.3919272]

Why the fuck aren't you smoking/vapourizing/ingesting weed for depression and sleep?

[Anonymous No.3919280]

>>3919270
>But does anyone have an answer to the main problem i came here for with my really bad tension headaches?

deal with the cause (depression) and the symptoms will pass.

until then use non opiate pain killers and try and get through it as best you can.

it might be worth trying amitryptiline as an anti-depressant, alone or as a night time low dose with a more modern one as your main antidepressant.

it aids sleep and has some pain killing effects

[Anonymous No.3919282]

>>3919272
no money or job atm

tried weed once it got me maybe slightly buzzed but thats it

[Anonymous No.3919286]

>>3919280
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amitriptyline

aids depression and headaches

[Anonymous No.3919293]

>>3919282
>>3919282

get a job. being productive, active, just something to do so you're not thinking about being depressed; going out meeting other people

there's no substitute for human interaction on the psyche

money is helpful too; good weed works

[Anonymous No.3919294]

dude, i hope this doesn't sound assholish but have you tried eating more healthy oils? like olive oil, walnuts... even lard or cheese will do.

i had some pretty bad depression a while back where i literally was too... dead inside to even get out of bed. i started eating toast with olive oil for breakfast and... well, nothing else in my life had changed but suddenly i was happy and saw only opportunities whereas i had been seeing only roadblocks and regrets. when i stopped eating the fats, i'd turn into an angry, sad little cunt again.

idunno. lots of useful chemicals in the body are synthesized out of fat, oil and cholesterol, like testosterone. i had been living on a super low fat diet up till then. i've also discovered that wheat crackers with water and boiled eggs are also major mood boosters for me.

it's the strangest thing. if i don't eat this shit, i feel depressive but not hungry or like i'm missing anything at all. after i eat this stuff, i feel like i did when i was a kid... energetic, happy, friendly... and there is no downside like there is with caffeine or sugar.

i dunno if this helps at all but eh, give it a try. if you ever crave chocolate AT ALL, please try starting your day with toast drizzled with a copious helping of oilve oil. my fat cravings (chocolate, cream, fried foods) completely disappeared once i began this regimen.

[Anonymous No.3919295]

>>3919280
>non opiate pain killers

I'm unfamiliar with these

I've tried some basic shit for headaches like the generic all around all day pain relief for a variety of things including headaches

Could you briefly explain what they are? Are they available without prescription?

[Anonymous No.3919303]

quit the drugs. try taking vitamin d3, magnesium and vitamin k2 and see if your mood improves any.

try supplementing your diet with healthy oils. try starting your day with (a large amount of) olive oil on toast. or lard. try whole milk. a lot of important body chemicals are synthesized from fats and cholesterols, like testosterone.

try eating (low sodium) wheat crackers and drinking water throughout the day. if that improves your energy levels, you could just be pre diabetic and have low blood sugar.

start working out. if you're depressed, your first set is always going to feel like shit. don't punish yourself. about a minute after that first set, your muscles will be pumped with blood and you will want to do the second. the growth hormones and endorphins from your exercise will boost your mood.

eat onions and garlic and drink plenty of water. sulfur is required for some important chemicals. it also helps bind to toxic metals, so you'll have to drink lots of water to avoid headaches if you don't eat this shit often.

have fruit (not just fruit juice -and pasteurized doesn't count) and have fiber. take citrucel or metamucil or eat flax seeds. if you're plugged up, you're going to feel... shitty.

there's more but i can't recall it at the moment

[Anonymous No.3919311]

OP you should try exersize
cardio raises levels of seratonin

http://www.betterhealth.vic.gov.au/bhcv2/bhcarticles.nsf/pages/Depression_and_exercise

i used to be depressed but have been running for almost a year now

[Anonymous No.3919347]

Thanks for the input, should i wean off the temazepam over the next few days or cold turkey?

[Anonymous No.3919356]

>>3919303
>>3919294
derp. both of these are me. i thought 4chan ate the first post.

a lot of drugs change how the body synthesizes chemicals so don't discount any of this food shit until after you've tried it with the drugs totally out of your system.

soup made from mustard greens is another surprising thing that has me dancing on clouds. i can't explain it but it works for me.

st johns wort is something germans have used for hundreds of years. maybe give that a try.

>mind numbing drugs just keep you stuck in place
>try weed; or beer
>the tried and true methods of working thru shit
yeah, no... the last thing mr unemployed needs is to discover how much alcohol 'solves his problems.' op, you are in a rut that you need to get out of, not to hide from with smoke and drink.

[Anonymous No.3919369]

>>3919295
NSAIDs or tylenol. shit you buy yourself

>>3919356

don't take st johns wort of you are on anti-depressants. very bad interaction

i would go with amitriptyline

[Anonymous No.3919380]

also, can things like tylentol require you to take them for quite a while before the shit gets into your system and starts making changes like antidepressants?

[Anonymous No.3919385]

I feel you OP. I've been there before, albeit for periods of months at a time, not years.

As others have already said; work will give a sense of purpose, this is of course unless it is work that is making you depressed.

Exercise is great and if you own a pair of runners and some old clothes it's free. The hardest part of exercising is getting out the door.

Failing that, beer and weed would seem to be a better solution than the mountains of pharma that you seem to be ingesting. They're cheaper, just as harmful (maybe less) and if you take enough, you may win a free therapy session with the bartender.

Other than that, it's going to be hard to convince you that there's a way out of this. It never seemed like there was for me until it happened. Keep your head up and get outside your comfort zone. Nothing breeds contempt quite like familiarity.

Outside you comfort zone means being uncomfortable. I'm not suggesting you do something ridiculous and cliche dance in public, I'm suggesting that being in a far darker place will make you realise how light things once where.

[Anonymous No.3919460]

>>3919385
>>3919356
>>3919311
>>3919303
>>3919294


this is all good advice

food especially works wonders; what you ingest (not just drugs) has effects; i would also suggest avoiding factory farmed and processed food; more disruptive, and if you believe in karma, even more so (trapped, suffering animals' energy going in you - not cool)

healthy oils, fruits and vegs, fresh meat, herbs, all good


i'm also the one who suggested weed/beer above pharma; granted they come with their own problems especially if you're on them long enough, but drinking is a phase college kids go thru, for example; it facilitates an expedited rewiring of hte brain i think and helps them deal with the disillusionment of being out on their own, away from home, new social dynamics, etc.

weed has been commonly used as a sort of coming of age drug too, and they're both all natural; weed especially helped me work thru a lot of confusion, and once i had had enough i quit smoking almost entirely