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melting but not down

Sunday 5 October 2008

Dysthymia

Is this me? - 'In dysthymic disorder, depressive symptoms typically begin insidiously in childhood or adolescence and pursue an intermittent or low-grade course over many years or decades; major depressive episodes may complicate it (double depression).' I certainly remember feeling an almost constant melancholy from childhood onward and am wondering whether, despite a promising start with Prozac which seemed to banish the blues, dysthymia was the reason why this weekend I felt detached and unable to fully enjoy life, often retreating to my bed with bouts of weariness. And I'm still bargain hunting! Today I found a lovely touch table lamp in palest green etched glass in a charity shop for £5 that goes beautifully in my back room.

11 comments:

dmarks said...

There is so much I do not know about this. But I do know I like green lamps.

Lily said...

Lol, thanks dmarks. And I'd like to take this opportunity to apologise for the split infinitive in line 6 :-(

dmarks said...

Should I apologize for the one at the top of my blog? :)

rilera said...

Lily, I have seasonal depression which crops up on me this time of year every year. Looking back, I realize that it has plagued me most of my life. I always feel so much better in the spring and summer. But I also have had several bouts with major depression.

Lily said...

No apology necessary, dmarks, I can't see a split infinitive there! Now if the quote had been 'to boldly go'....
((((rilera)))) - have you tried 'daylight' lamps?

rilera said...

Lily, I have a sunrise simulator and a SAD light that seem to both help.

Robbiegirl said...

Hi Lily, I finally made it over here!

I reckon I'm dysthymic too, spent a good part of my life (since I was maybe 9 or 10) not feeling happy. Not exactly depressed, but kind of unconnected and a little unemotional, just sort of, fed up I guess.

Which escalated into a pretty major depression 5 years ago - it took a lot of hard work to get myself out of it, and I'm pretty sure it won't ever go away completely.

But it's definitely possible for me to get to a stage of "remission". My head I can deal with.

If only I didn't have fibromyalgia as well...

I didn't mean to come and moan here, oops!

DD said...

The lamp sounds lovely, dysthymia sounds no fun at all.

Have you looked at the Depression Alliance website at all?

Take care of yourself.

HG

Lily said...

Thank you all for your comments. It's beginning to feel like a real self-help group in here! Thanks Hon, I've added the DA website to my favourite links and will have a good look at it as soon as I can (past my bedtime now!).

Robbiegirl said...

I actually used to run a self-help group for people with depression and anxiety.

Mostly because my local DA group wasn't up to much. It was a "moaning and being on committees" group rather than a self-help group, and it wasn't what I needed, so I set up my own group.

Anonymous said...

Dysthymia is found twice as much in women as compared to men and this ratio does not depend on racial, ethnic or economic background. Until adolescence the rate of depression is not so much between boys and girls but after the age of approximately 12-13 it is more prevalent in girls, the reason could be the rapid changes in their physical, intellectual and hormonal constitution. http://www.xanax-effects.com/