It isn't really curable. It is a chemical imbalance in the brain; when it flares up your brain reabsorbs serotonin too fast, without allowing it to do its job--which is supposedly to keep other neurotransmitters balanced properly in turn. Antidepressants inhibit the abnormal reuptake of serotonin, and the one I'm on do the same for another neurotransmitter, norepinephrine, for the same reason.
It's chronic, but not constant--meaning that without medicaiton, you can go for months being fine, and then something triggers (biological or environmental) triggers the imbalance. Some doctors do suggest just staying on meds forever, since it prevents episodes, but since we don't know the long-term effects of a lot of these brain-altering chemicals, and since they have a lot of side effects as listed above, some patients will use them off and on throughout life or refuse them entirely.
I was sick of the side effects and was curious to see what I was like when I went off it, but it didn't work very well, so I'm looking around for one with fewer side effects. I get to do this sort of shit for the rest of my life.
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timeasmymeasure
no subject
Date: 2009-02-27 10:58 pm (UTC)It's chronic, but not constant--meaning that without medicaiton, you can go for months being fine, and then something triggers (biological or environmental) triggers the imbalance. Some doctors do suggest just staying on meds forever, since it prevents episodes, but since we don't know the long-term effects of a lot of these brain-altering chemicals, and since they have a lot of side effects as listed above, some patients will use them off and on throughout life or refuse them entirely.
I was sick of the side effects and was curious to see what I was like when I went off it, but it didn't work very well, so I'm looking around for one with fewer side effects. I get to do this sort of shit for the rest of my life.