Feeling hopeless

Hello everyone.

So, I qualify as having Bipolar II depression, but I thought I would post here instead of in the bipolar forum as I am mostly dealing with depression here.

I've been taking Abilify as a mood stabilizer and for my depressive symptoms, but I think that maybe the medication has stopped working for me. Lately, I've just been feeling so sad and like I want to hurt myself. I'm not going to hurt myself, but the urges have been there and they've been difficult to deal with.

I feel very hopeless right now too, like I'll never be able to find the right combination of medications for me. I'm ashamed that I have to take any medications at all, but thanks to the chronic fatigue from the depression, I have to keep taking medications. It's terrible.

Have you tried non-drug therapies? Massage? Light therapy? Fish oil? 5-HTP, DHEA, choline or lecithin may help.

Parador wrote:Have you tried non-drug therapies? Massage? Light therapy? Fish oil? 5-HTP, DHEA, choline or lecithin may help.

I've actually tried a lot of the things that you have listed. Some of them help just a tiny bit, but they don't make the depression go away or manage it very much. But thank you for the suggestions all the same.

Is your doctor helping you with this? Have other classes of medications been tried? There are options for medication-resistant cases, like ECT, etc.
As long as you have more options open for you to try, it is never hopeless.
Best of luck to you.

I’m pretty hopeless here as well. In my experience and readings antidepressants and antipsychotics are ineffective and just give you side effects. I’ve been on over 15 different medications and done Electro shock. Still miserable as hell. Sounds like you’ve tried a lot of different things. Have you ever tried a psychedelic such as magic mushrooms? The FDA just granted magic mushrooms breakthrough therapy status for major depression. Magic mushrooms and other psychedelics have gone through a few clinical trials and they performed miracles compared to standard SSRI’s. With one trip people got sustained benefits for up to years. I’m currently trying to get my hands on magic mushrooms. A friend of mine is in the prossess of getting them. Researchers have done some research on how psychedelics treat mental illness. If you want me to post all I know on how they work ask and I’ll do so.
Another unconventional option is CBD. CBD is a chemical in marijuana. It does not get you high. There is some evidence it can treat mental illness. You can smoke it, eat it, or tincture it in your gums. You need to make sure you are getting CBD and not THC which is the other chemical in marijuana.