CLINICAL DEPRESSION Hi Muriel, My name is Pat ------, I live in Scotland and I suffer from inherited clinical depression. Vicky Jackson forwarded your e-mail to me as she knows about my struggle with this condition. Luckily, I now have a doctor who understands what is going on inside my head and helps me through. Depression exhausts me and leaves me like a zombie - I am unable to sleep or function. However, I now know how to spot it before it really floors me and I can take some preventative action. The first thing I do is clean and tidy the house. That may seem a little strange but I get very self -critical when depressed so I do what I can to eliminate the triggers. Then I buy some novels so that when I can't sleep, I have something new and interesting to read. After that I fill up the fridge and the freezer with tasty convenience foods because I know I won't cook if things get bad and I need good fuel to get this machine (my body and mind) working well again. Sometimes after all that, the depression fails to take hold and I thank God. More often than not, I do sink into that sticky black pit and then at least I can hibernate in some comfort until it has passed. Thankfully, it has been some weeks now since I have had a down spell. I know it will return but I also know that it will pass and that keeps me going through the bad times. I am blessed with great friends and two wonderful children who carry me through. Without them, I would find it much harder to bear. I get very annoyed with people who don't understand depression and ask me what I have to be depressed about. Depression is not caused by external forces, it is in my genetic make-up. That doesn't mean that I cannot do anything about the symptoms of depression but I can't change the underlying condition. Thank you for sharing your experience with me. This can be a very lonely condition and, in my case, some of that loneliness is self inflicted because I avoid company when I am down. Keep well and busy. Know that you have friends all over the world with the same problem and we are all fighting to overcome it in our own way. With kind regards from a fellow depression fighter Pat. Pat ------ Scotland ====================== The above writer and submitter describes the everyday life of one suffering from clinical depression – we fight in our own ways but not always understood. - Muriel M. Davidson - 11 - ----------------------------- AVAILABLE MEDICAL RECORDS By Larry ------ Your description of the way you live with Clinical Depression was very moving. My wife, Doreen, is one of the people that was at the door of a full breakdown before a doctor realized what was happening. Early retirement as well as medication has done a lot to help -- but crowds are still a very difficult situation. Availability of historical medical records and the genealogical records that would be needed to tie the family together would have, in all likelihood, either prevented the severity of this case or at least forewarned us of the possibility of that type of sickness. Along with that we now know that in my side of the family we go back to my father and ahead to my grandchildren with diabetes. Earlier family members died early, such as my grandfather who we suspect had the dreaded disease. Our latest patient is my granddaughter who was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes at the age of three. Keep smiling – we are behind you! Larry ------ Calgary AB CA * * * * * * * COMMENT RE APPROACH Dear Muriel, I have no criticisms to make about your essay on depression, but I do have to say that I was most moved by it. It was a very brave thing to write this, and I think that many people may benefit from reading it. I was especially delighted to read your counterblast to the prevalent dominant approach to treatment with nothing but chemicals. Power to you, Bob Calgary, AB - 12 - ------------------------------ DEPRESSION (Name Withheld) Muriel - your message was a powerful one.. As a fellow depression sufferer, although one who is helped by the new serotonin reuptake inhibitors, I am beginning to understand the genetic factors behind depression. I was recently surprised to learn that my grandmother's sister most likely committed suicide after the death of her daughter in a fire. It's impossible to know if that's where the gene that keeps my serotonin level at less than optimum levels was inherited, but it's a clue. My eldest daughter has the same condition and is currently taking Zoloft while I take Paxil. The difference these medications make is nothing short of magic even at low dosages. But finding even circumstantial evidence of serious depression in my family history helps us to understand that this isn't a 'character problem' as it was depicted for years, but an actual chemical imbalance that is inherited and is probably the reason that I had suicidal thoughts as young as 8 years old. Thank goodness, those days are behind me but I lived with them for over 40 years. NAME WITHHELD * * * * * * [The following is an inheritable gene - not a disease] STRABISMUS By Jack Hebert Hello Muriel: My name is Jack Hebert. The Hebert family does not have congenital disease, but does have a congenital defect - strabismus, or crooked eye. It usually is the left eye, but occasionally it is of the wandering variety, in other words it alternates from one eye to the other. My youngest sister and I have it, but my oldest sister and my brother do not. I know it has occurred in past generations, but I have not done any investigations in that area. Strabismus does affect the sight, as the inturned eye tries to compensate for the defect so that you don't see double. If the child that is born with it is operated upon prior to age 3 the sight can be saved. If not operated on (to straighten the eye) the retina becomes dead where the vision from the good eye overpowers the inturned eye. In my sister's case, because it was alternating, the sight was not affected - she was operated on at about age 13 or 14, and her eyesight is normal. Jack Hebert, from the sunny Peace River area of Beautiful British Columbia. <coraliehebert@hotmail.com> - 13 -