I wonder... what came first?

I have to go with Brenda on this one.  I have rarely experienced depression.  Yeah, there where and still are a lot of emotions rolling around in my head, but depression is not one of them.

Hmmm, good question....Well I know my extended family is very obese, so the genetics are there.  I don't tend to be depressed, my poor food choices came from stress eating/lack of support with disabled DD.  The stress doesn't change, just have to deal with it differently. You post that you wonder if you can drop the meds once the wt. is taken care of.  If you have a chemical imbalence in your brain which is causing the depression then I would say no.  There is NO shame in being on meds.  If it were another part of the body, we would fix it, so why not the brain?  Iam sure losing wt. will make you feel better in general, being able to move about with ease, doing more ect...

Yeah, that's what I was thinking to. If it's an imbalance- I'll be stuck with them forever but if I can counteract the depression with getting out more- more activity,exercise etc., MAYBE I can get off of them.  :) It's not that I'm embarrassed at all about taking the meds but it's such a PAIN. They have me taking 2 in the a.m. and then another around 4. In my line of work- I have a heck of a time getting that 4:00 one in....... it would be so nice to just be able to DROP them all together. We'll see what happens. My Dr is in S Africa but will be back after the first of the year... I'll ask him what he thinks at that point I guess. I can't WAIT to see him then, as he has tried to help me get healthy and I know he's going to be really surprised and happy with my progress :) :) Thanks for your point of view!

I have never been clinically depressed, so i cannot say. True depression is not "caused" by anything but a chemical imbalance or other organic issue.  My family does inherently have depression, so i always wonder about it and watch for it. No dice, though.

My Dr. said there are several different forms of depression and that mine was more a "long term situational" depression.  He said that the chemical imbalance can be familial, or it can be caused by traumatic situations etc.   If you are in a long term slump with it... your brain can stop building the "happy hormone" as I call it :) The reason I am unsure about my situation is that my mother and sister both have battled depression. My mom was never diagnosed and passed away 20 years ago at 57- so never had the option of being treated right.   My SISTER on the other hand- she is goofed up. She has been diagnosed with "long term depression" but also with a different Dr. was told she had "manic depression". She took meds for awhile but divorced her dh and said she got rid of him and now she doesn't need the drugs (HE had talked her into going on them)  We all could REALLY tell when she stopped them. So there IS definitely an imbalance in the blood line but I was danged stable pretty much all my life. Only had the "over board" depressive issues AFTER I hit some real right bumps in the road of life.  So really I am HOPEFUL that with my changing my eating habits, my exercising and just really getting a more positive grip on LIFE... I'm hopeful (but NOT counting on) that my brain might just start doing it's thing on it's own again :)    If not, well- I'm thankful I live in a time they have the right drugs :) :)