I’ve been dealing with depression (and anxiety) for well over 5 years now. I’ve tried so many different medications and treatments with no apparent success. Inevitably, in the course of the treatment, the doctor will ask if I’m starting to feel better to see if it’s worth continuing the treatment, up the dose, or swap to something else. And… I never know what to say. If it’s not going to get dramatically better all of a sudden, I don’t really know how to recognize any incremental progress if it’s happening at all and without being able to do that, I might be passing on treatments that could have helped if I gave it more time.
So if you’ve been in this situation, how did you recognize progress? To the extent that you can put it into words, what did it feel like to slowly get better as you were treated?
I’ve lived with depression for most of my life, but in the past year or so I finally feel like I’ve started to get a handle on it with treatment. It’s been like the weight I’m dragging just lightened up some. What would break me down before I can weather a bit better now, and it’s not as taxing to just do the basic parts of living. It took trialling a variety of meds, magnets to the head, shocks in the head, and ketamine for me to get to my current stable level, but most people don’t need nearly that much.
I’d say if by the time you’re asked you’re still feeling depressed and you can’t tell if it’s better, its probably not better enough to warrant continuing at the current dose. But! I’m not a doctor, so grain of salt.