A tip on depression and a sex drive question.

[Guest guest]

I've been on Prozac on and off (mostly on) for eight years approximately.

I don't need it anymore because my depression appears to have been

caused by an undiagnosed very long-term (15 years plus) Thyroid

problem. I have an under-active thyroid that's being medicated. I have

to keep having the dosage of Thyroid med upped based on blood tests.

So I'm not fully on top of problem yet but I feel a LOT better.

I used to wake up cursing the fact I was still alive. I had mental and

physical fatigue and physical pains. I craved food and found it

difficult to satisfy my hunger for long.

The doctors have been happy to throw drugs at me. It was my insistence

on blood tests (because incessant hunger was driving me to despair)

that led to the Thyroid diagnosis. For years I too thought it was

depression: my childhood was a living nightmare for the most part, so

why should I be able to be happy? That's how I thought then.

Thyroid imbalances (under or over acive) lead to a wide range of

varied symptoms. One or two of you who suffer depression, for

instance, may have a thyroid problem. The long and short of it is

this: most doctors will prescribe drugs for depression rather than

conduct tests for other causes of complaints. I put very little faith

in GP's anymore. Information is power and that tends not to come from

the average doctor (how I manage to be so mild is a puzzle to me!)

On dysfunction:

I used to have a high sex-drive even while on Prozac. But the last 2

years my sex drive has subsided massively. I even came off Prozac once

before for a little while to see if it would come back but it didn't.

What I'm getting to is this: Is my sex drive likely to come back more

strongly now I'm off Prozac for good? I fear I may be one of the

unfortunates who's been messed up by over-use of an SSRI.