I'm Back

[luvpain (imported)]

Well I have decided to return back to the EA. It has been a long break and I'm still working on getting myself back together.

I know many of you have worried about me since my hospital stay last June but I think I have finally found the right shrink and counselor for me and the right set of medication. My depression and mood seems to be undercontrol and sleeping has been doing better except for tonight for some reason.

I've still been plagued by headaches constantly, pretty much 50% of the days I will deal with them. Between them, the mini-stroke, and medication I am unable to concentrate and focus and then to get worn out easily and want to sleep or rest all the time. That means I am unfit to work full time so I'm working on getting disability which I hope I get to pay bills, and also means I need to take breaks from the computers frequently sometimes so I may be arround for short periods checking in multiple times some days and other days may just check in once if at all.

It is good to be back as I missed you.

[surf_toad (imported)]

welcome back my friend. You have surely been missed by bunches and gobs of us! We love you and are truely sorry the head is still an issue. be well. take your time and feel free to PM me any time you need a spare shoulder. I love you man!

[Quillman (imported)]

Good to see you back, welcome from this side of the pond!

Quillman UK

[Losethem (imported)]

I'm glad you've come back to the archive LP. I hope to see much in the way of contribution from you in the future.

--LT

[Christina (imported)]

Welcome back.

I'm glad to hear you are doing better. I think we all missed you a lot.

[JesusA (imported)]

Luv,

It’s great to have you back. I hope that you are shopping around for a doctor who actually listens to you and takes you seriously. Remember that YOU are hiring the doctor. He is YOUR employee and you can fire him and search for someone better if he doesn’t work out.

While the headaches are probably the most worrisome (and painful) in the short run, your first concern probably ought to be your depression. Depression is basically a brain chemistry malady.

It’s been well known for many years that estrogen helps the brain to fight off depression. That’s why the rate of depression jumps dramatically when women go through menopause. What’s less well known is that testosterone also helps with brain chemistry and helps to ward off depression. Your doctor needs to be aware of the problem and willing to work with you to get you through it.

There is good evidence that, for young people like yourself, the brain CAN heal if you are faithful in using an SSRI to keep the brain chemistry in check. Once you and your doctor find the right medication, if you are absolutely faithful and don’t miss a dose for a year and a half or more, you can talk to him about trying to gradually move off the medication.

Headaches are nasty. Depression can kill. We all want you around for a long time. Take good care of yourself and check in with your friends here regularly. We’ll do whatever we can to help.

You’re one of the “good people” of the world and we really do care about you.

Jesus

[bullgeo (imported)]

Hey Luv,

Welcome back...really.

Bull

[luvpain (imported)]

Well now that I'm on my 5th shrink and 4th anti-depressant and anti-psycotic medication I have finally found ones that seem to work and have few side effects although I don't have to worry about work at the moment so I think that helps.

I know the stuff is defintely working, along with stuff to reduce anxiety and stress I feel a lot better. I do seem to be able to handle things easier now. Although trust me the Headache are a big problem as they get me very down and depressed. I have managed to find medication to help ease them and treat the pain for short periods of times. I'll have a few days where I won't have any and then a few days to a week where I'll suffer with them all day long. At least they have gone down in intensity or I'm getting more tollerant of them.

So far they have not found any cause for the headaches, however they have noted that I have had a small stoke sometime in the past. Talking with my neurologist he indicated that stokes can cause problems with concentration, focus, memory and other tasks. Those are ones I have been dealing with alot lately.

I know I'm on low dosage of the medications since my body seems to be very sensative to them. I'm just very curious as to how much of the depression is related to damagecaused by the stroke, since I seem to be fine normally it just that I seem to have very bad luck and tons of bad stuff hits me all at onces and is hard to take and deal with. I can see the pattern with my depression.

Oh. BTW I am taking my medication regularly. I very seldom miss a dose.

[Riverwind (imported)]

luvpain,

Welcome home. We all have missed you. I am so happy that you are on some drugs that finally are working. I know how that feels myself. I am glad to see you posting again and also loved it the other night when you were in the chat.

River

[Bboy]

Here here ... add my sentiments to the chorus of well wishers. It's good to have you here and to hear reports that, even amid some ongoing problems, things are better than they have been in the recent past.

Your EA family welcomes you home!