It has been several days since I've been off SSRI's altogether and my weight has dropped a couple of pounds, but more importantly, the accelerated weight gain is over. I'm doing okay, although of course things are difficult, since I'm low on serotonin receptors. My doctor says that since I was on them for a short time I'll recover my receptors in a month or two.
I feel very peaceful about this decision. Most of all I feel relaxed that at last the panic of gaining 40 pounds in three months is now over. I've gone from a size 12 to a size 20W. But this provides many opportunities to accept myself and love myself as a large woman. I'm truly getting into these opportunities. Really. About 90% of the time. The rest of the time I feel bad. Bloated. Angry. Sad. Depressed.
Overall, I feel very blessed to be able to get off of these drugs that helped me so very much but that hurt me too in the long run. In my case, they hurt me more than helped me. If you're not depressed, try being somewhat overweight and then gaining 40 pounds really quickly; you'll probably feel pretty bad, especially if you have concomitant health problems.
So today I am grateful.
I am very tired, so I'll write more tomorrow. LoveHubbie got an award tonight and we just got home from a dinner meeting. I want to tell you about the Charles Eisenstein class, but I'll wait until tomorrow so that I can give it a fair shake.
~Above picture of Hawaiian Queen Kaahumanu from Wikipedia
10 comments:
Glad to hear you are coming off of them okay. I can definitely see where they do help for a period of time but there must be other ways to deal with depression, healthier than chemicals.
I took them for a long time also.. and it takes time to adjust to being off them.
I agree with Thailandchani that it does take a period of time to adjust not being on the medication. However, there was a time in my life when depression snuck up and hit me like a truck and I was glad to have the meds to get me back to myself.
Chani,
I am going to be doing short vlogs called Depression Recovery Minutes, each one to be on something that I'm doing to naturally deal with my depression. So far I have 20, so this will be a good topic,
Glad to hear another story of a better future!
xxoo, O
Jane,
They were a godsend for me, too...I just didn't know about the HUGE weight gain. Obviously they didn't do that for you, and I'm glad. I do think that they help many people...absolutely. Thanks for commenting; it's good to see you here at the happyluau and blogging more too (although I still have no idea where you find the time)!!
Blessings and love, O
I understand your withdrawl and bad feelings.
I am not a lover of medication either and if there's a natural option I will take it. For me it means scheduling in exercise (sometimes this is just gardening or cleaning windows!) every day - if I don't, symptoms creep back up on me again.
Fantastic that your weight is beginning to stabilise again.
It is definitely worth looking at other natural options - I will be interested to see what you are doing.
There are a couple of posts here on the mindhacks blog, if you scroll down, on depression and the effectiveness (or lack of) of medication, you may be interested in reading them;
http://www.mindhacks.com/
:) Hugs coming your way...
Thank you for your support, Patti. I'll check out MindHacks. I have a long way to go---40 pounds just to get back to "overweight" and then about 30 more to get to a healthy weight, but I have to start somewhere, right?
Most helpful is the Charles Eisenstein class and reading, helping me to keep things in perspective.
Thanks again, Patti,
xxoo,O
Just wanted to say how much of a beautiful person I think you are.
xxx
Thank you, Sweet Annie! xxoo back, O
You might want to try taking some Inositol or a good B-vitamin complex that includes it. When I went off mood elevators, I found this to be very helpful in establishing and maintaining my mood.
Thank you, Donna for visiting the happyluau, and for your suggestion about Inositol. I used to take an amino combination called "Brain Calm" with GABA and Inositol, but I don't currently take it now, although for the number of amino acids I take I should be the "Amino Acid Queen". Thank you for this...aloha anytime, Blessings, O
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