I’m Here to Remind You that You Are Not Your Illness
Medically speaking, I’m “in remission” from clinical depression. When I get the blues now, the blue mood does not expand and darken into the sinister depression that left me functionally crippled (albeit still highly functioning) for many years. For a while, I struggled with keeping up this website. I used to see this website as a constant reminder of the pain I experienced from depression and emotional abuse. Who would want a constant reminder of these? Moreover, I wondered if keeping this website would be akin to “holding onto my past” instead of “letting go of my past so I can get on with my life.”
I have gone through relationship “crises” with this website, and it’s sort of like parent-child relationship, although I can’t be sure whether I was the parent or the child. At times I hold it in gratitude, for this held a record of the shadows in which I lived for a long time, and a record of my emergence from those shadows. At times I rebelled against it, for I did not like the reminder of the shadows when life seems to be going so well and when I was supposed to be “out there setting big hairy audacious goals for myself.” Read more
Blog Carnival Edition for January 23, 2007
Welcome to this blog carnival edition. I’ve already posted one entry that I expanded upon in my post, “I’m Here to Remind You that You Are Not Your Illness.” I thank you who have sent in your entries for this edition, and for upholding my disclaimer that I select entries based on immediate relevance to personal stories about depression, bipolar disorder, and mental health. Read more
EU Approves Cipralex for Obsessive Compulsive Disorder
Cipralex (escitalopram, manufactured by Lundbeck; in the US the drug is called Lexapro) has been approved in Europe for treating obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). OCD is a chronic disorder characterized by recurrent thoughts and impulses (obsession) and/or repetitive behavior (compulsion). A 24-week study of Cipralex in OCD showed that the 10 mg/day and 20 mg/day dosage of Cipralex were effective in terating OCD. A placebo comparison showed that the 20 mg/day dose of Cipralex showed reduction of symptoms and increase in remission rates. A comparison with paroxetine (brand name Paxil in US and Seroxat in EU) showed that Cipralex had fewer withdrawal symptoms. Given that Cipralex is a member drug of the SSRI class, patients should be aware of the safety profiles and risk relating to this class of drug. Side effects may include nausea, insomnia, problems with ejaculation, somnolence, increased sweating, fatigue, decreased libido, and anorgasmia. Source for side effect information: Cipralex and Lexapro websites.