Last August I finished tapering off my Welbutrin. I had spoken with my doc about getting off the meds in June, and although Welbutrin is one of the few antidepressants that you can go cold turkey off of, I wanted to taper it down to ease myself into being in an un-medicated state.
Everything seemed to be going fine for me. I thought my state of mind was good, and I felt none of the depression I originally felt when I started taking the meds a few years back.
To fill in the blanks on this, in early 2000 my blood pressure went up and my moods went down about the same time #1 was diagnosed with bipolar disorder and things in our life became much more … dynamic … than they had been before. Like many parents with children diagnosed with mental illnesses I blamed myself (I know, I know, it’s not my fault) and between the kids, my job, Hubby being gone most of the time, and a few other things going on in my life at that time, my doc thought it would be a good thing to put me on antidepressants until things in our life settled down. He reassured me that both my blood pressure issues and my depression was brought on by external factors, and that it was very likely that when things settled down I could successfully come off both meds.
I will admit that if I would get off my butt and find the will power to get back on a regular exercise routine and drop more weight than I care to admit I’ve gained, my blood pressure would be under control. I know this, and my doc has told me this. As far as the antidepressants go, I’m off them now but considering talking to my doc about going back onto them.
I don’t know what the cause behind my recent and recurrent bout of melancholy and apathy, but it is something I had started noticing and Hubby finally sat down to talk with me about. If it is something he is noticing then I must be bogged down with the blues more often and more extreme than I thought I was. It is time to start taking the Happy Pills again.