[SophiaG]

Does anyone know of anyone that started taking the right combination of medication and were miraculously cured and happy?

I'm just wondering.

Does anyone know of anyone that have made a complete recovery from depression? (it doesnt matter the method)

[lynn P.]

I don't know anyone personally but I'm sure it must exist. Look at the sub forum above this one 'Depression Success Stores'. When you click it, there's only one post -but scroll all the way down and click to see posts from earlier dates. You might find some inspiratiion there. Good luck ((SophiaG))

[angelbud]

I'm with you!!!!!!

I often find myself daydreaming about waking up one morning to find this incredible weight lifted, to wake content and dare I say it, "normal". Perhaps the fact that we do think about this is the thing we should hang onto, sort of like there being a light at the end of the tunnel. Knowing we might, can mean knowing we will.

Take care,

[garden gal]

I don't know either. I'm aware that some people get their antidepressants stabilized to the point where they only have to see the psychiatrist every 6-12 months. That has NOT been my experience... in 8 years of struggling with depression, I've never gotten off the every 4-6 week psychiatry plan.

From what I've read, there are people who have a single episode of depression, recover from it, and don't have further episodes. The research I've seen seems to indicate that the more episodes of depression a person has, the more likely they are to have future struggles with depression... I think it at least partly has to do with changes that happen in the brain. But, there's also research out there about the incredible plasticity of the brain... how it can heal and form new neural pathways.

For myself, I think after 8 years of struggling with this, I've realized that there's a good chance that I'll continue to have periods of depression in the future... I think at some point my goal changed from complete cure to managing it and coping with it more gracefully.
Sorry to ramble on!
garden gal

[turquoisesea]

Thanks for asking this question, it's one I wonder about often.

When depressed I don't believe it's very likely. I see people on here struggling for so long. And I know depression is "treatable" but no one offers a "cure".

I'm am SURE that some people are lucky and respond to treatment so well that it's like they don't have depression.

from what I can gather/guess, a complete cure would take a long time. If it's purely biological, the right medicine + therapy to fix the holes depression caused. If it's purely situational, medicine to stabilize + LOTS of therapy to fix the holes life caused AND the holes the resulting depression caused. So I really don't know.

I wish I did. I want someone to tell us YES THERE'S A CURE! Wouldn't it be amazing if we could take insulin, just like a diabetic and be fine!

[Rohag]

Good question! I had to think about this.

Back in the days when I was more functional and social, I believe I met one individual, a middle-aged man, who took Paxil for a while. If I remember correctly, he was no longer taking any antidepressants nor was in therapy. I think it was a case of single-episode depression.

Unfortunately, I don't fit in that category. But this subject reminds me depression takes many forms, and I hope my posts as someone who is a long-term depression sufferer do not discourage others whose depression may be of the short-lived variety.

Thanks for bringing this up, SophiaG!

[siempre nada]

I've never heard of that, but then again I don't know many other depressed people aside from myself. I believe that depression is cured from finding all of our unmet needs and moving to fufill those needs. Maybe if a person was only depressed because he couldn't find a job, then got one the next day one would see that kind of a drastic change. It seems there are more unmet needs for most, and thus take longer to achieve happiness.

Frankly, I am not sure what recovery means. The problem with the term for me has to do with being depressed to some degree virtually my entire life. Which again explains that I gauge my well-being based on functionality. My goal is to function at a higher level. If I get to another level of functionality, am I more recovered? Who knows?

Over the long run, however, the medical profession has been manifestly unable to improve recovery outcomes for patients suffering from mental illness.

See: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/anis-s..._b_347351.html

[tears_of_a_clown]

Originally Posted by SophiaG

Does anyone know of anyone that started taking the right combination of medication and were miraculously cured and happy?

I'm just wondering.

Does anyone know of anyone that have made a complete recovery from depression? (it doesnt matter the method)

I guess it depends on what you mean by "complete recovery." I had bouts of depression throughout my childhood, with a major episode in college. I've had years with no significant depression, but then have had a recurrence. I kind of think of it like recurrences of a physical problem like crohn's disease. You can have long periods of perfectly fine functioning, but you are still vulnerable to flare ups. I'm also pretty lucky in that the second antidepressant I tried, seemed to make a big difference. I used it for a year and have only had to go back on it once (about 12 years ago). I've had about 10 years with no significant episode (knock on wood). Of course many years of therapy also helped.

Hang in there, it can get better.

[SophiaG]

yes, see...this is why I asked the question, because I've read a lot of threads in this section and it seems to me that depression is something that flares up every once in a while like chrones disease with a baseline as a constant.

I just had to create a thread and ask though to make sure this assumption was correct.

Maybe I'm just looking in the wrong place though. Maybe if I looked in the psychotherapy section more i'd see people recovering from these sorts of things because this section acts more as a vent-valve for people suffering from depression from what i've seen.

Am I wrong? Am I right?

[chato]

Originally Posted by SophiaG

Does anyone know of anyone that started taking the right combination of medication and were miraculously cured and happy?

I'm just wondering.

Does anyone know of anyone that have made a complete recovery from depression? (it doesnt matter the method)

Yes... ME! Althought I would say cure... more of a remission. It's been over 20 years living with the constant depressed feeling... 9 years with it diagnosed.... Until I added Remron to my combo I just thought that always feeling negative and depress was just who I was.

After 3 days on it, I was worried It was triggering mania since I felt GOOD! I realized I was not depressed for the first time in years... I could not believe it... It has been the best year of my mental health experience.
I felt so go for so long that I was thinking I did not need any meds... But I knew if I came off them now all might be lost.

NOTE: THIS IS NOT A CURE and I understand this might be temporary but I'm just going to enjoy it.

[chato]

P.S> Please remember that what meds might work for me won't work for you... we are have a different chemical make-up and what may work for me might not work for others...

Still, recovery is possible - check out this post I wrote about recovery.
Words Of The Wisdomless: Nothing More

[justjoanie]

I think of a "cure" in the same way I think of winning the lottery. What would it be like to suddenly have $20 million. What would it be like to be "normal".
My depression comes and goes. I have triggers, and I am starting to learn exactly what they are, and how to combat them. Reading here, and getting insight from fellow sufferers has been a god send. Blogging has also helped. It's amazing how putting everything down gets it out of your head.
I don't know about a cure, but I believe that remission is possible. I'm hoping my remissions will start lasting longer than my episodes.

[Elana05]

Originally Posted by SophiaG

Does anyone know of anyone that have made a complete recovery from depression? (it doesnt matter the method)

[someone very close to me]... has recovered from depression, which was severe and included years of hospitalization when she was younger. She continues to take an AD (effexor) and continues to be aware of what she needs to do to take care of herself. Through her I continue to learn the importance of self-care and the significance of asking for help.

[tears_of_a_clown]

Originally Posted by SophiaG

yes, see...this is why I asked the question, because I've read a lot of threads in this section and it seems to me that depression is something that flares up every once in a while like chrones disease with a baseline as a constant.

I didn't mean to suggest that there was a baseline feeling of depression. More that there remains a vulnerability to the actual episodes. I have had many years with no more that the occasional "blah" day or two.

What you may find, even in the psychotherapy forum, are a lot of people who are still in the middle of an episode, with fewer people who are contributing here who are in the "recovered" phase.

[Vibe]

I'm tentatively wondering if this might be a possibility for me.

I live in a very dark part of the world and have now been taking vitamin D for the better part of a month. (It's also summer.) And I feel a lot better. Whenever I fall back down, it's highly possible that I just missed a dose. So I'm finally starting to allow myself a bit of hope that maybe I won't have a major reoccurrance. It feels very strange, and I'm kind of scared I'll put too much hope in this one little pill, then it'll all disappear again and I'll feel even worse for having hope. Ya know? I tend to have low and high points anyways. But so far it is very helpful.

It also makes me very aware that depression is a very common symptom for other health problems. I'd suggest people (especially newly diagnosed who haven't been trying these things) check with their medical doctors to rule out these causes.

[tears_of_a_clown]

Originally Posted by Araya

I'm tentatively wondering if this might be a possibility for me.

I live in a very dark part of the world and have now been taking vitamin D for the better part of a month. (It's also summer.) And I feel a lot better. Whenever I fall back down, it's highly possible that I just missed a dose. So I'm finally starting to allow myself a bit of hope that maybe I won't have a major reoccurrance. It feels very strange, and I'm kind of scared I'll put too much hope in this one little pill, then it'll all disappear again and I'll feel even worse for having hope. Ya know? I tend to have low and high points anyways. But so far it is very helpful.

It also makes me very aware that depression is a very common symptom for other health problems. I'd suggest people (especially newly diagnosed who haven't been trying these things) check with their medical doctors to rule out these causes.

Excellent idea. First things to check are thyroid, iron, and vitamin D.

Anyone know of other medical issues that mask as or contribute to depression?

[MoonTurtle]

Hi SophiaG,

I think it kind of depends on the situation. If someone has a depressive episode that is an isolated incident, it's possible that they could try some medication, it would help them, and that would be the end of it. For more chronic depression, I doubt a complete and miraculous recovery is possible.

My personal experience has been more of the chronic variety of depression. I've been dealing with mild/moderate depressive symptoms for over 10 years, and had a major depressive episode last year which was fairly severe, which is what finally caused me to seek professional help.

For me, depression is something that can't really be "recovered" from as one might recover from the flu. I've realized that it will probably always be a part of my life, that I will always be at risk of having another severe episode. So, rather than hoping for complete recovery, my goals are more along the lines of:
(1) monitor myself and remain aware of symptoms, so that if I start sinking into another severe episode, I can get help ASAP; and
(2) reduce the milder depressive symptoms I deal with on a daily basis, so that I can enjoy life, have better relationships, function better at work, etc.

I recently saw a sign on a local elementary school that said "work for improvement, not perfection". That is kind of my motto now. For me, I will never have the "perfection" of being completely depression-free, but I can always keep trying for improvement.

[VeronicaPI]

Recovery is hard to understand, but I work with people with depression in a recovery program and what I see when it works is people having hope in themselves and learning to manage their symptoms with a variety of techniques, activities, and writing a Wellness Recovery Action Plan (WRAP) so when the bad times start to be felt the person begins to use the activities written when in a healthy mental state to ward off feeling any worse. I have tried it, and am still working with it. But I do know many who are successful, like I said it is hope that helps them gain the power to see their lives in a positive way. I am better at helping others than helping myself.

[theave]

I think that by posting, and therefore seeking out, a forum like this, means we are a self-selecting group compared to those who may experience depression as an isolated incident. They feel low - they go to see their GP - they have some talk therapy and/or meds which help - they carry on with their lives. But most people here have been on various meds which haven't helped and are still looking for that elusive right combination, had a variety of professionals involved in their care, and tend to be on the severe end of depression. I see depression as a chronic condition - and perhaps remission is a better aim, as I think personally that I will always have to guard against depression returning in a big way. I once heard someone talk about "discovery" rather than "recovery" for depression, and that's what I would like to strive for - that I will know myself much better and so will be better equipped to deal with what life throws at me. Perhaps depression is just one point along the continuum of the human condition?

[turquoisesea]

You might find more in therapist section. But I've also gained alot from this section of the forums too. Guess it's luck... and unfortunately depression IS mostly up and down for most people. I think I'm going to ask my therapist about this tonight, she might have some ideas and thoughts.

[sunshine1status]

Sometimes it feels like I will get better and go for a complete recovery and then I go off my medicine and find a worse case scenario than I had the last time. It's like watching death come towards you and there is nothing you can do to stop it.

[turquoisesea]

Edit after meeting with my T, thought I would share:

she said that people are cured. That in my age group I was less likely to meet someone who WAS cured, but they are out there. And apparently a good number/percentage.

She says it happens when the chemicals in your brain changed, and that therapist aren't completely sure why but that it does happen. That to get there talk therapy and medications are the key. Medications facilitate the temporary, and enable talk therapy to be more productive. And therapy makes changes in the way you are, think and eventually the chemicals that fire in your brain.

She says the two different types of depression - recurring and nonrecurring are different, but that for both you can get better and cured.

She seemed pretty honest about it - I know it's not easy to trust without evidence etc but she IS a good T from what I've seen. Hope you guys can get some hope from this, as I have.

[MoonTurtle]

turquoisesea,

Thanks so much for the post. That gives me hope. I mainly have a milder recurrent form of depression but it can easily blow up into a major depressive episode, so it's good to know that people with both types can (eventually) be cured. I had kind of given up on that possibility.

[feddy]

It's so interesting to read all of these posts, I identify with quite a few. I am also an example of a type of depression success story. I thought I was a single-episode case, until recently. I had a major depressive episode that started in my late teens and lasted four years and then had almost 10 years without any real symptoms. My latest episode started about a year ago and I started feeling better about six weeks ago. I have been in intensive therapy and on the right medication for about 3 months now. Last time (10 years ago) I was on medication for a year (Prozac) and in therapy for about a year and a half. I was also in much worse shape than I was this time. The thing about the 2nd episode was that I wasn't afraid to ask for help. I recognized the symptoms and went to the doctor to ask for help. Because I was "cured" the first time, I also knew that I could get better this time so when the first round of medication didn't help, I asked for new meds and when I didn't like the first therapists I saw, I kept searching until I found the one that I'm seeing now (I love him, he's fantastic and we click so well. He doesn't let me get away with anything.)

When I talked to my pdoc about why I became depressed now, he said that in people like me with a chemical imbalance, we are more prone to issues with depression than the average person. The challenges and issues we go through over the years deplete our seratonin (I experienced physical assualt, the death of one of my best friends, a serious car accident among other things) until finally we come up against one last challenge that puts us over the edge, so to speak and triggers the depressive episode. That's why we have mutiple episodes throughout our lives. For me, my final trigger had to do with work.

Don't know if this helps, but the explanation really made sense to me.

Feddy