Getting Better

Today is refreshing.

Hello, dear ones! I apologize for my absence, and I promise to try and not go so long between posts anymore. I want to write about a trip to Oklahoma my husband and I took a few weeks ago, but I'm having problems getting my pictures off the memory card and on to the computer...so that's on hold for now. So! I need to update y'all about my depression! I'll try not to be so depressing about it...ha. ha.

First! I had to take Kakashi on a walk before my appointment, and right when we turned the corner there was a mama duck with all of her brand new ducklings huddled around her. The daddy duck had been guarding her in her nest for a little while, so I was really excited to see them hatched! I thought, "This is a sign for a new life ahead of me."



Okay! I finally met with my psychiatrist! She's a lovely woman...soothing and calming...her name is Anne. When she called my name in the waiting room, I stood up to follow her, and my eyes immediately started to water. She said I could sit anywhere; I sat; she asked a question; and I started crying! Oh man, I was apologizing like crazy and grabbing wads of Kleenex...I felt stupid! But she explained that it happened all the time and that it was a very natural response...I felt better.

It was a 2 hour session and I pretty much gave her my life story. By the end of the appointment I was feeling more hopeful than I've ever felt before in this 14 year struggle...relief. So! This is what I have to do. Quit drinking - I'll be fine, though, if I have a drink on special occasions, but definitely not a social drinker anymore! Eat 2 cups of leafy dark greens a day - easy...I LOVE veggies and leafy things! Exercise 30 minutes every day - I was exercising every other day for a while, so I'm just going to incorporate more cardio to my routine. Therapy - that will start next month. And here's the big one...Prozac!

I've always been scared of Prozac. The first doctor to ever treat my depression said it could cause me to gain weight. And in later years, I learned from others that it affected their sex drives. These are not good things in my book! Haha! When I expressed these fears to Anne, she assured me that it shouldn't cause weight gain and that it in fact usually helps binge eaters. And she said that if my sex drive was affected, there is another medicine I can take to counteract it. So far no problems!

I finally feel like I have a doctor who is going to get to know me and really help me. All of my primary care physicians have failed me time and time again. Except for Dr. McKinnon...he was awesome! But all who followed him, were terrible. I would have to share my story every single time and share what meds I had all really been on...every. single. time. So annoying!!!

I've got a long way to go in this healing process...but I feel like I'm going to get there faster than I would have without a good doctor! That shall be my parting wisdom for all of us battling depression...find a great and wonderful doctor!

Hugs and love, my lovelies!