Depression Diagnosis?
Q.depression results from a complicated mix of biochemistry and environmental factors. A person may have inherited the genes to be susceptible to depression, but that doesn't guarantee they will get it. It requires a triggering event in the environment. This could be a bad childhood, divorce, or a death of a close one, etc. Therefore, you never know when a person who is depression-free today, may end up with depression tomorrow.
A.Actually, diabetes and depression are very much alike in this regard: both have bochemical roots, but environment has a lot to do with actual incidence (at least with what I think is called "type II" diabetes) Pregnancy is notorious for triggering *both* diabetes, *and* depression, for example. And diet is a major factor as well in type II diabetes. And with both diseases, usually it's a combination of medication and "life style" changes that work best to control it; sometimes, with mild cases, changes in life style are all it takes. I have done some reading on the connection between diabetes and depression, especially after learning that my good friend from high school now has both. There does appear to be a link, although it may be as simple as the fact that it sucks to be diabetic and that can make you depressed. My problem, as a potential caregiver, was that while you can take a blood sample from a diabetic and KNOW (the CONCRETE EVIDENCE) that their blood sugar is out of whack, you cannot do the same with a depressive. The caregiver of a diabetic has the reassurance of KNOWING that the diabetic who cannot go to work in the morning does in fact have a real biochemical reason, whereas the caregiver of a depressive (and in fact the depressive him/herself) is never really sure. Eventually suspicion of malingering begins to creep in -- there is really no avoiding it. That's what frustrates me the most about my own diagnosis. It is so subjective that I've had conflicting diagnoses. There is no "test." The only way a doctor can confirm dx appears to be one's reaction to the meds. The first "clue" in my doctor's diagnosis was the fact that a mild Rx sleeping pill, Ambien, had no affect on my unrelenting insomnia (I reached a crisis after going 9 days without sleep). Even when I took high enough doses that the doctor said would "knock out a horse," I still couldn't sleep. His initial screening (which is extremely subjective and based on his observation and my own self-report) resulted in a tentative dx of depression. So he put me on an antidepressant, plus a very strong med that knocked me out at night. I was willing to try anything, I knew something was out of whack. He did first run a full battery of tests (thyroid, etc), and nothing abnormal came up. His dx seemed to be logical, having ruled out everything else. But it all didn't make sense to me - and still doesn't - since I had no history at all of anything like this in the past. Well, I didn't respond well at all to the AD's. In fact, I responded quite poorly. They made me jumpy, edgy, and full of anxiety and paranoia. They made my mind race, and made me completely lose my appetite. And, I started to get overly obsessive about my running, I had to keep moving, burn it off.... run away from it all? So my next dx was "depression w/anxiety." And he added an anti-anxiety med to my regime. Why he just didn't take me off the ADs, I don't know. I requested that, but he told me to be patient, that the "process" was one of trial-and-error. When i was "diagnosed" with depression, and put on meds, the meds gave me so many side effects (hearing things, seeing things) that they tried to add ANOTHER med, which when i looked it up, found out it was an anti-psychotic. I put my foot down then, never took that drug, and took myself off the anti-depressants. The "side effects" went away. There's a big difference between being sad/anxious about certain events in your life and having clinical depression. Shit happens.. I get sad about it, maybe even REAL sad and anxious... then i get over it..... i don't think that's depression - that's being human.. Over-sensitive, maybe, but that's not always a bad thing...
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