hey ctaylor:

after long time you updated your blog and it does indeed looks like depression has lifted and you are looking at life the way it is. congratulations on your 4th anniversary post stroke, I can vouch depression does make life little more tougher than it really is. BTW for me blogging on these board about positives in my life helped me immensely to deal with my life the best way I can

Asha

Hi and Welcome BACK. I am still here. but with a new name and avatar you may not recognize. when i first joined.. I was "dawghouse" then to hostbonnie. I am glad the depression has lifted.. hopefully it will stay away. I also hit 4 yrs post stroke this year. Sometimes it takes awhile to work thru grief and into aceptance. Hopefully with the acceptance the depression is gone. Welcome Back..

Welcome Back! I am glad you are blogging. It does help. The way you wrote about your depression is exactly how I felt. The depression might lift for awhile but then it would come back BUT worse than it was before. Having gone through it, I can tell you one thing: You Are a Very Strong Person. Fighting depression takes a lot of energy. Do the drs have you on any medicine? I tried a couple of drugs my dr. prescribed but they didn't help. It wasn't until after I had my stroke and I was in the hospital that the drs put me on a very strong anti-depressant. It worked and so I continued until I felt as bad taking the drug as I did not taking the drug. It took me, I think, about 10 months to get off it. I was very glad I had the drug because it did the trick and I figure my body told me I didn't need it anymore when I physically started to feel bad on it. I was under a drs care when taking the drug and getting off it.

This is only a suggestion to you because I know how hard it is to be in a deep depression. I know the energy its takes from you. Its not a simple matter of feeling blue and going out to be w/ friends to get you out of it. In order for me to go out and visit friends took a monumental effort. Pls let me know how you are doing; if the depression comes back. Do get some help. You don't have to be on medicine for the rest of your life but if it happens that is what you need, it is worth it. Take Care. LK

To me, the answer to depression is acceptance. I had depression my first trip to strokedom but the 2nd time, perhaps because the first time was a simple thing, and my life came back not entirely but almost, I didn't have any because I felt the same would happen. I knew I could not come back as well because the second time was worse, but I did came back. I guess that automatically acceptance took over.

If you are ready to accept that this is what you have (and while it can still get better) and make the most of it, you will not have the depression and will learn to be the new you. There is life after a stroke; we must accept it.

Phyllis

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Glad to see you back with the update, Clark. I've often thought about you and wondered how you were doing. Whatever you have to do to keep yourslef from getting overwhelmed by the darkness of your depression is well worth the effort.

Jean

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