My depression manifests itself in severe hypochondria, which is why I have so much trouble deciding if something is worthy of a doctor's visit!

One clue is a lot of blood. Another is having all your invisible friends tell you to go to the doctor.

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Last year I started Lexapro to fight the crippling anxiety. I don't know if it was placebo effect or luck, but it made an immediate difference. However--and without medical consultation--I decided that I didn't want to trust my coping mechanisms to chemicals and tapered myself off the Lexapro. No side effects that I've noticed, and the anxiety doesn't come on nearly as strong any more. Maybe my brain chemistry needed a little "this is how it's supposed to function, remember?" time.

God bless the folks for whom the drugs make the difference. For me, at this point in my life, I'd rather see the monsters coming in all their horror and fight on through. At least I know I've got an extra shield in the arsenal if need be.

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After four months at sea, ghost ship with 11 petrified corpses washes up in Barbados

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This:

I'm not bipolar, I'm just perimenopausal

and this:

One clue is a lot of blood. Another is having all your invisible friends tell you to go to the doctor...

Made me laugh way more than they should have.

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It made me laugh, too Cindy! Even the one about me, because it is so true!

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Somehow, that's the funniest part. I mean, what do you say to the doctor, "I think I'm okay, but my invisible friends insisted, so I'm here to get my cat bites checked"?

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Maybe my brain chemistry needed a little "this is how it's supposed to function, remember?" time.

Sometimes that's all you need. Seriously. I mean, it's not like your life has been stress-free over the past few years. Or even filled with the stresses that happen to everyone (bills, minor illness, the Bush administration). You've been under a constant barrage of unbelievably stressful crap, and that's bound to make your brain go "Oh HELL no, bitch! I am SO not coping with this!"

So you help your brain out, it calms down, and then you and your brain can agree to go back to drug-free stress management.

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Last year I started Lexapro to fight the crippling anxiety. I don't know if it was placebo effect or luck, but it made an immediate difference. However--and without medical consultation--I decided that I didn't want to trust my coping mechanisms to chemicals and tapered myself off the Lexapro. No side effects that I've noticed, and the anxiety doesn't come on nearly as strong any more. Maybe my brain chemistry needed a little "this is how it's supposed to function, remember?" time.

Yeah, I'm on the Lexapro. My doctor explained it in much the same way, that it's a matter of my brain remembering how to do the chemistry thing properly. I tried going off it a little while ago, and I wasn't quite ready. I'll probably leave it until next year at this point.

Somehow, that's the funniest part. I mean, what do you say to the doctor, "I think I'm okay, but my invisible friends insisted, so I'm here to get my cat bites checked"?

Absolutely! Bonus points for working "the lurkers support me in email" in there.

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Really, Sophia, you don't have to mention that we're invisible, just that your friends kept pestering you until you finally gave up and came in. If you go soon, you can omit the finally part!

I used to think that ADs were overprescribed. Perhaps they are, but frankly I know a lot of people on ADs, and very few who don't really need them.

I have a friend who committed suicide early this month. I wish so much that he had taken ADs. Perhaps then he would have believed at least some of the many people who told him what a wonderful person he was.

When I was suffering from depression, one thing that helped me was the Christine Lavin song, "As bad as it gets." The thought that things were horrible but would get better made such a difference for me.

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I resent being called crazy for wanting the pain to stop.

I agree with you, Allyson. However, I didn't think the slight was intended when I read it.

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