Sadness Rx?

[NurseSusan]

Hello.

I read your post, and I have a lot of empathy for you. It's terrible hard to be so sad all the time and to have no hope for improvement.

I just wanted to comment on one of the other replies I saw that you received. One of your replies discussed possible herbal remedies for sadness. I would strongly encourage you to discuss any herbal supplements with a medical doctor before taking them. A number of herbal supplements can interfere with prescription and over-the-counter medications, resulting in decreased or increased absorption of those medications. Herbal medicines can also interfere with the effectiveness of other prescription and over-the-counter medications, so if you suffer from a serious or potentially serious condition, such as high blood pressure or asthma or anything like that, you want to use extra caution when adding herbals to your medical regimen.

Also, the US FDA (food and drug administration) does not regulated herbal supplements. Therefore, no herbal supplement has gone through the clinical trials that prescription and over-the-counter medications do. That's not to say that there aren't some very effective herbal supplements out there - you should just exercise extreme caution.

In addition, since the FDA does not regulate herbal supplements, the herbal supplement producers are not required to give the precise content of an herb on the packaging. While a package might claim that a product contains 50 mg Ginseng (for example) there may actually be no ginseng in the product, or there might be 200 mg Ginseng present. I would recommend consulting your doctor or pharmacist and find out very reputable brands before purchasing any herbal remedies.

And a word about anti-depressants ... I would suggest you research them carefully, including the length of time to achieve effectiveness, the length of typical treatment, the expense, and the discontinuation effects.

Many of the newer anti-depressants (Effexor, Wellbutrin, Celexa, for example) have higher co-pays with many insurance companies. That's something to consider.

The discontinuation effects are also important. I know from personal experience that the discontinuation effects of Effexor are dramatic; it is not an easy drug to get off of. And Paxil has even had class-action lawsuits filed against it, due to discontinuation effects.

Again, these are all just suggestions and not medical advice. I sincerely hope you find something that works for you and that you find happiness again.

NurseSusan