Depression Pain Depression

[[Buddie]]

Last spring about this time I finally got mirtazapine after a long taper. Before being on mirtazapine I was on doxepin for 20+ years. Since getting off he Mirtazapine last spring I came down with SIBO (small intestine bacteria overgrowth) which has been a long difficult road to treat and I started having low back pain that has gotten progressively worse. The pain interrupts my sleep making me cranky, tired and depressed. There seems to be a direct correlation between back pain and depression. They both contribute to each other. I’m starting to wonder if my back gradually getting worse is because I got off the AD totally for the first time years. Has the depression gradually come back and exacerbated the back pain and if so what do I do. My life is miserable given all the fatigue and pain. I’m 72 and I’m wondering if I should go back on an AD and stay there the rest of my life. The way I’ve been feeling is no way to live and being 72 I’m starting to feel I’m running out of time. I don’t want the rest of my life to be one of pain, fatigue and being depressed. Life literally is to short.

[[Buddie]]

I was writing somebody yesterday about much the same thing.  I'm not one of those people who thinks that these drugs are pure evil.  There are people who took them that probably should have received a little therapy instead (that would be me).  Their (our) lives are probably better (eventually) after getting off these drugs.   But there are people with situations where meditation, breathing, acceptance, distraction, ...  simply isn't going to cut it.  Chronic pain might well be one of those areas.  I totally agree that chronic pain and depression can go hand-in-hand.

I guess I'd want to know if there's a 'safer' approach to managing the pain and see if the depression lifts.  Kind of sounds like you're thinking of attacking this from the opposite side - lift the depression and see if the pain lifts.

I agree with you that life is too short.  However you choose to deal with this, I hope it works for you.

[[Buddie]]

I’ve been checking out the Functional Medicine dept at Cleveland Clinic. They appear to tackle difficult situations that nobody else can figure out. My impression of the doctors I’m seeing locally, like most doctors, is they just focus on your gut, your back or your heart or your mood. None of them look at the whole person and try figure out the underlying problem. My last PCP before I moved to where I am now told me he thought what was going on with me was multi factorial and complicated but he admitted he wasnt sure how to approach the situation. Sounds like they have a whole different approach at Cleveland Clinic. I’m seriously thinking of going there and I live in Oregon. I’m tired of the hit and miss approach that’s been going on a long time and not working.

[[Buddie]]

But there are people with situations where meditation, breathing, acceptance, distraction, ...  simply isn't going to cut it.

^^This 1000%. Going to somewhere like the Cleveland Clinic where they will have experts who specialize in your conditions is a great plan if you have access to it. I tried meditation, yoga, breathing, affirmations, EFT tapping and much more but it wasn’t until seeing specialists at a top hospital that I began to see progress in recovery.