I'm currently being treated for depression, and know the technical clinical symptoms of depression. I'm trying to figure out if I'm continuing to have problems with my depression, or if something else is bothering me.

So I'm wondering, what symptoms did you have when you were/are depressed?

Ive suffered from depression all of my life.

Here are some of my symptoms:

Not giving a damn if the house was clean, feeling like crawling in a hole and wanting to be left alone, not caring if the bills were paid, not sleeping, feeling useless and hopeless, no sex drive and feeling tired all the time.

HOLY COW! You just described me exactly! I'm thinking my antidepressant isn't enough.

Thanks for the reality check!

Here's something good to read.. hope it helps.

http://www.3fatchicks.com/forum/showthread.php?t=24005

The biggest clues for me when it's coming back are that I have no energy or motivation and I'm binge-ing more than usual.

Oh! And this is big. I can always just take a test to see if it's back! The book Feeling Good, by David Burns and its sequel, The Feeling Good Workbook, contain great checklists to score your depression and/or anxiety (or lack thereof.) They also have amazing exercises which work to make me feel better every time.

Thanks for the good links and ideas. The more I read, the more I think I'm heading toward trouble.

Hats off to you for recognizing that something was happening, and for looking for answers. Sometimes when we're headed down that spiral we don't even realize it, and learning to watch for/ recognize signs can be really hard.

I hope you're feeling better soon

Thanks for the vote of confidence.

I'm just not enjoying my life, and the other day I got emotionally upset and thought about swallowing a handful of pills. That got my attention. It was just a fleeting thought, but it was still a thought. KWIM?

I'm bipolar...I know I'm headed for a depressive cycle when:

I start watching a lot of TV.
I can't concentrate on reading or basic homework.
I start stuff and don't finish halfway through...I just forget about it.
I always want to sleep.

Just ride it out, babe. that's all you can do. Find somebody who'll be a shoulder for you...just someone who loves you and will listen to you vent. Somebody who'll ask the next time they see you, "hey how's it going? Up or down today?" That's been the biggest factor in maintaining sanity for me. It's been such a big help to know that there's somebody who'll just LISTEN and let me whine!

I'm sure that I speak for everybody on this board when I say that if you need somebody to talk to I'm just a pm away.

Thanks for the support.

I went to my psych, and he increased my Lexapro to 30mg/day. I thought the max dose was 20, but he went up to 30. I'm game and willing to give it a try if he is. I'm going to try taking it at night to see if I'm less tired during the day. I wanted to try the Wellbutrin, but he was concerned with anxiety, which is a definite problem with me.

So, I keep plugging along. Thanks for the post.