| Is it at all possible that there were other confounding factors? I ask this because I've struggled with depression my entire life. I took fluoxetine (prozac) in 2012 and had similar experience that you describe. I stopped taking it because I really hated the idea of being a med all my life. After about a year, the depression was back. I never returned to prozac, but I've wondered year after year if I should. Nearly a decade later, I still don't know. Why? I still have my doubts though whether or not the medication was doing anything. I had also coincidentally had a ton of success in life around that time. I had learned some new exciting skills, landed a sweet job in my dream city, and was socializing a ton and meeting people. I reflect on that time (roughly 1.5 years worth) and to this day I can't really decide whether that joy was from the meds, or from learning something I was finally good at, landing a great job, feeling confidence from that and meeting people, etc. The return of the depression did seem to correlate exactly with discontinuing the meds, but, it could also have been that the excitement of the year's events was beginning to wear off too. |
Diabetics hate the idea taking insulin all their lives. Paraplegics hate the idea of using a wheelchair all their lives. What makes your chronic illness different?