[Dakota1]

My husband has been diagnosed with Major Depression with anxiety disorder. He is on Prozac, Seroquel, and Lorazepam. He is getting ECT twice a week, he has had 6 treatments.
This is not a new diagnosis as far as the depression, he has been on meds all of his adult life. The anxiety is new.
This all began in October and spiraled out of control about three weeks ago. That was when the doc recommended starting the ECT.
He has been having bouts of crying. He feels miserable all his waking moments. He has tiny moments of lightness, but then everything gets dark again.
I tell him all the time things will get better. We just need more time and possibly different meds.
But, am I right? I keep seeing/reading people get thru this, but to what end? He loses his job, we lose our health insurance, he can't get treatment? He can't look for a job if he can't work? I actually could care less about the job, money, or insurance, I just want him to not be miserable. And will that ever happen?

[qwerty68]

The maddening thing about mental illness is that people respond differently to treatments and you have to try them to know if they will work.

It sounds like he needs med adjustments, or try different ones. I used to be on lorazepam and it caused rebound anxiety so I am now on Klonopin which is a much longer acting benzo.

Lately, my anxiety has decreased noticibly but is still pretty bad and the only change is that I am on Gabapentin for peripheral neuropathy. That drug seems to have a much better affect on my anxiety than any benzo.

SSRI's like Prozac do nothing for me, either do SNRI's but I have read that SNRI's often work better than SSRI, but they have an annoying habit of giving you brain zaps.

Just because things worked or didn't work for me doesn't mean anything for your husband. I would discuss with his pdoc about changing up meds since what he is on is not working.

Good luck. I hope he can find some relief.

[Skeezyks]

Hello Dakota1: I'm sorry you & your husband are having such a difficult time. I can only tell you that I'm in my mid 60's now. I've been struggling with my own personal demons my whole life. There have been periods during which I've been pretty stable. And then there have been times when I suddenly & unexpectedly went over the edge. I've been on various antidepressants. None of them did much for me. I've seen therapists. They ranged from unimpressive to dismal. I'm no longer on med's nor do I see a therapist. I've never had ECT.

I'm stable at this point mostly because, except for being married, I'm pretty-much entirely solitary. And being that I'm past retirement age, I no longer have to work. So, from my perspective, I would say that your husband's condition may fluctuate. He may have periods of time when he feels fairly good. But then there will continue to be times when he's close to, or over, the edge. I wish you both well...

(((Dakota)))

Skeezyk quote: I've seen therapists. They ranged from unimpressive to dismal. I'm no longer on med's nor do I see a therapist. I've never had ECT.

Man, I'm sorry to hear you describe your therapists as dismal. All that time and energy spent unloading your burdens. I can relate.

Regards, M. Poirot

[Dakota1]

Thank you all for taking the time to talk to me about my husband. We are doing some medication adjustment for another week and I asked for a change in meds. We are going to stay the course for ECT for another three weeks.
Being helpless to do anything but be the cheerleader for the team has been difficult. And I am usually not a whiner... I guess I forgot for a moment that what I am worried about is NOTHING compared to what the sick part of his brain is telling him.

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[Dakota1]

I thought it would be nice to update what has happened since I posted to this forum/site about my husbands struggle with depression.

Things that I have learned from this:
1. Health Insurance was a MUST HAVE for us in this situation
2. So thankful we have laws in place that prevent people from being fired/let go because of a treatable medical condition
3. I wanted someone to tell me that my husband crying all the time and being so emotional was normal. Turns out, I now can tell someone else that IT IS normal and this too shall pass.
4. I do not regret any time or stress I have put into treatment/care for my husband, I just wish I could get assurances that it will never happen again? But I know it will.
5. Getting people to understand that, for my husband, we are treating a lifelong disease. No different than diabetes or high blood pressure.

My husband is back to work. He is on two medications and ECT. We have had a few minor set backs and one serious one, but those too were manageable.

The ECT and meds are keeping his depression under control and giving him time to heal from the mental break he had when this last major episode happened. We know the ECT is helping because we tried to "wean" him off and the last serious set back is directly related to stretching the ECT's out. So, we are going back to once a week for 4 weeks and then going to once every two weeks for about 6 months.

Thank you to everyone who replied. This forum/site was a good place to come when I needed some insight into what we were going thru! And it remains a place I come to when we have a "bobble" in the road ;o)

[Unrigged64072835]

Glad to hear that you and your husband are doing better.