VSG Maintenance Group
Wednesday, October 13, 2021
on 10/13/21 8:05 pm
I'm so sorry you feel sad, DD. I'm pro both. I think meds have their place and can help a lot in the short term especially when people are in a bad place, but ultimately talking through and dealing with the underlying thought stuff is what can get you past needing the meds. Like training wheels on a bike. In the end, you want to learn how to ride safely and happily without them. (Though I I know people do just have faulty brain chemistry...)
Like Ceci, I believe both drugs and therapy have their place in combatting sadness and depression. Though, I do believe that sometimes long term use of antidepressants is warranted - especially for those of us with chronic depression - even those of us with mild depression. I had no idea I suffered from chronic depression until a psychiatrist told me it was his belief that the "manic" moments I had experienced on and off over the years were moments of non depression, not mania. I had none of the behaviors associated with mania, just a feeling really positive and great and super happy. Those were so few and far between.... When I started taking Prozac about 5 years ago and being on it for a few weeks, it suddenly dawned on me that this must be what normal people felt like all the time. I've been on it ever since. Just a baby dose, but damn, it helps!
I began Prozac and therapy just before Covid. My dosage was increased after a few months isolated at home. I have been in therapy on and off for 30 + years, combined with an anti-depressant about a quarter of the time. Initially, I believed an anti-depressant would numb me from feeling the feels as I worked through issues. As we know, working on a particular aspect of balanced health is NOT a one and done thing. The layers of the onion reveal themselves during different slices of life, the same issues and challenges popping up over and over in different manifestations.
I am confident that an anti-depressant supports my work toward a balanced, healthy life.
Age: 64; 5' 5"; High weight: 345; Start weight: 271 (01/05/15); Surgery weight: 218 (05/27/15); Pre-Op (-53); M 1 (-18); M 2 (-1.5); M 3 (-13.5 ); M 4 (-13); M 5 (- 8); M 6 (-12) M 7 (-5, Xmas); M 8 (- 9) Under surgeon's goal and REACHED HEALTHY BMI 12/07/15!! (Six months and one week.) AT GOAL month 8. Maintaining at goal range (139- 144) ~ four (4) years !!
