For the last couple months, I’ve been tired, had no appetite, haven’t felt like doing much and have had no motivation to do anything. I blamed all these symptoms on pain, but began to wonder if I might be depressed too.
I saw my psychiatrist for a med check at the beginning of August, and he gave me two terrific pieces of information. The first is that that one or maybe two of my symptoms could be related to pain, but that when they start adding up, depression is much more likely.
He also told me that I’m prone to backsliding quickly. That the medication may work fine for a while, but that if it stops working, I will rapidly sink back into depression. Another doctor told me several years ago that when an antidepressant works, it doesn’t stop working. Operating under this wrong information, I’ve spent much more time depressed than necessary.
Anyway, the new cocktail that my psychiatrist prescribed a month ago didn’t help. I know that sorting out depression meds is one more part of balancing migraine and it’s comorbidities (for me), but it’s a pain in the butt. Even when the pain is unbearable, managing all the other symptoms and related problems isn’t a big deal unless those related problems sap my energy and motivation. Fortunately I’m already scheduled for another med check next week, so the medication trial and errors will continue (and hopefully work) without me having to expend too much energy.
This has been a particularly rough week with the hurricane and the stampede in Iraq. Adding an already existing depression, a horrendous migraine on Wednesday and a Vicodin hangover on Thursday to the news left me sobbing. Both my pain levels and mood are much better today, but I’ve decided to take the weekend off from reading news. I hope you all enjoy your weekends and are relatively pain-free. Take care of yourselves. I’ll be back on Tuesday.
