Dear D,
I am very sorry to
hear about how depressed you have been feeling. Yes it is quite possible
to have taken Prozac, have it work for a considerable time and then begin
to become less effective over time. At times it is effective to raise
the dosage, but often a different anti-depressant is needed.
In general food, vitamins,
and herbs turn into hormones, and hormones in turn become neurotransmitters.
Neurotransmitters are the brain chemicals that allow a person to transfer
thoughts and feelings from one cell to another. Therefore, if you are
not taking enough good food, vitamins, exercise, and sleep all the anti-depressants
in the world are not going to be effective.
Methamphetamine causes
havoc with all aspects of your body and drains the nutrients out completely.
So, any and all anti-depressants will be next to useless while using this
drug. In the sixties there was a saying, “speed kills”, and
it is an accurate statement. It literally saps the body and mind of all
the building blocks and rapidly ages the body before its time.
It is imperative to
be honest with your doctor so that he can assist. However, this problem
is not appropriate to be left to a family physician. I know you have money
problems at present, but I will guarantee that you are spending more on
the speed and costing yourself money by not being at your best physically
and mentally, than treatment would cost in the long run. It is important
to be evaluated by a quality chemical dependence hospital and I would
also suggest getting involved with NA or Narcotics Anonymous.
In my experience there
are several kinds of problems with chemicals. Someone with emotional problems
can develop a problem with a chemical in an attempt to hide from the problems.
Usually this is a problem of abuse and not addiction. However, abuse can
wreak havoc on a person as much as addiction can.
There are two reasons
people get addicted. The first is they have a heredity that makes a primary
addiction likely. The second is that the addict is often self-medicating
for an underlying chemical disorder such as depression or Attention
Deficit Disorder, or Obsessive-Compulsive
Disorder. Methamphetamine is often the drug of choice for people with
ADD. There is even a type of ADD called Over Focused ADD that mimics OCD
symptoms. I would suggest that you be evaluated for an underlying chemical
disorder.
Your e-mail suggests
to me that this might be a large part of the problem. Please treat this
seriously and quickly. I wish the best for you.
Good luck.
Jef Gazley, M.S.,
LMFT, DCC
© 2004 AskTheInternetTherapist.com. |
