Major Depressive Disorder: a quick personal summary [View all]

[steve2470]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Major_depressive_disorder

About age 7, I was no longer a carefree happy child. Something went out of me. Somehow I remember this.

Skip to age 13, when my acne went from very trivial to (IMO) extremely bad. MDD really set in now. Acne stayed around till age 24.

Age 17: This may seem weird to some, but I really latched onto disco music in 1975. It made me happy. Yes, disco is not famous for being intellectually and artistically rich, but it made me happy. A natural anti-depressant, if you will.

Skip to age 18: I went off to school in Gainesville, FL. I had morning classes. It was usually extremely hard to get up and function, and go to class. Yes, I had NOT been partying or drinking the night before, and had tried to go to bed early. I just thought this was somehow normal.

Skip to age 37: I had severe difficulties functioning at work. Lack of energy, lack of motivation, procrastination, feeling like crap, sad. I finally went to a doctor at the HMO (where I worked also), and he diagnosed me with MDD and put me on Zoloft. Ugh, the first few days on Zoloft were horrible. I see why people quit, but I stuck it out and those side effects went away. I did start feeling better pretty soon, which was placebo effect and I suppose some effect of the medication.

I'm still on anti-depressants 21 years later. I've tried going off cold turkey (DO NOT DO THIS, lesson learned), and had my meds changed a few times due to either cost skyrocketing or the beneficial effect wearing off. Life is good now.

Moral of the story (cliched but so true): Get help, get diagnosed, and feel better. Best wishes to all my friends here, especially if you have MDD or bipolar or another mood disorder.