depression

[lolam]

Are any of you on meds for depression? What are you taking and does a very low dose make a significant difference? I keep thinking that any day now I will wake up from recurrence and treatment and herceptin and be myself again. But I am impatient with this sadness I am dealing with. I hate to go on meds for this and my doctor is not the touchy feely type so I don't mention anything about my feelings to him. But i guess I will have to admit I deal with low grade depression all the time. I guess it wouldn't hurt for now anyway to be on something. Hugs, Lola

[Linda in Calif.]

Hi Lola: I take Lorazepam which is the generic for Ativan. It's more of an anxiety reliever which I found was more my problem than depression. The reason I like it is it doesn't make me groggy and I only take it when I'm having a rough day. It's not something you have to take every day. With everything we have going on in our lives both psychologically and physically I think it's amazing we do as well as we do. I hope you feel better soon. Keep us posted. Take Care, Linda

[JoJo]

Lolam, please feel free to tell your physician ANYTHING about your body. You have the right to bring anything to his attention - it's his job as a doctor to do so! There's NOTHING wrong about mentioning anything to him. You are priceless. :-)

I take lexapro daily. I hope to get off it soon! I gave myself a pat on the back when I was able to quit the sleep pill (either ativan or ambien) when I was still having chemo. I do know that my anxiety level went down a LOT as I was going down on the journey.

I, too, don't like to feed myself with many meds.

[Sandy]

I take Lorazepam for anxiety and have for 2 years. Then stopped it for couple of months to see if I could. Then went back on it recently, because it makes me feel so much better. I was on Paxil but there is some information floating around regarding it raising the risk of breast cancer and interfering with some chemo drugs. One of those being Taxol. The doctors don't seem to know anything about it doing any of that. I have a friend who mentioned it to her primary doctor, who's mother has breast cancer, and he said its not good for cancer patients to take especially if they are in treatment. There are few others that are not good. May want to do your own research. Hugs, Sandy

[Cheryl N]

Dear Lolam,

Please do not suffer through this. We have all endured so much. You would be surprised at the people that take antidepresants. I personnaly don't see anything wrong with it. If there is a pill that will make me happier, and better able to cope, then I am all for it. I do take Zoloft, and I also have ativan on hand for really stressful days. There is no need to suffer. Please let your doctor know you need something.

[Lyn]

Hi there, I was given a booklet at one of my cancer meetings which suggest that when you are on chemo you need to take an antidepressant for the chemo to have a better effect.I take Prothieden 25mg but when I am really down I take 2,like now that I have been biopsed in the neck and it is back, I have been doing this and continual treatment since 1998, they are not addictive and if it wasn't for them I would be functioning like I am made of stone. When I went off them I got paranoid about my 14 year old daughter being safe and anything else I cared about. I even used to picture my own funeral and how it would make everyone I cared about very unhappy, and this is not healthy. Do a bit of web surfing about chemo and anti-depressants. Hope this helps.
Hugs Lyn