The first time was in 1993, the spring following my divorce. A couple
of years before my marriage ended, I lost a lot of weight in
Overeaters Anonymous, but post-marriage, I regained it all and then
some. Then the other indicators: lack of interest in anything, lack of
energy, inability to focus, bouts of crying for no reason, interrupted
sleep... What put things over the edge for me, and what made a fried
decide to intervene was the day I started crying after a professor
submitted my name for an honors award and I literally could not stop
crying. I'd be worried too if someone I cared about cried non-stop for
4 hours. I cried all through my doctor's appt too.

About a year after my depression got under control, I joined WW and
lost a lot of weight. Kept it off for a while but then the depression
came back, as did the crying and the sleepless nights. That time, I
was already in counseling, and my therapist diagnosed me with
post-traumatic stress disorder. Through individual and group therapy,
I finally came to terms with several leftover issues from childhood. I
didn't take any medication during that time. Maybe I should have.

The third time was in 2000. My life was going pretty well, I wasn't in
counseling any more, but some major changes had occurred at work and I
my bearings. By this time, I knew what crying and sleepless nights
meant, and took my butt to my regular dr and told her I needed zoloft.
I stayed on it for a year and then it took me another year to decide I
needed to do something about my weight. I played with a few weight
loss programs, such as Atkins, I joined the Y and began a regular
exercise program, but nothing worked until I realized I had to control
my eating in a way that both satisfied me and reduced my calorie
intake. That was in Feb 2003. I think I went through a minor
depression this winter, but not so severe that I thought I needed
meds. And now I'm OK again.

Headaches, yeah, I've had my share of headaches. The headaches were
part of the lack of sleep. My headaches, though, were also hormonally
related, and that hasn't been a problem for a few years. One of my
daughters gets migraines that are timed with her monthly cycle.
There's nothing wrong with chiropractic if it helps.

I'm finding this thread very interesting, as I have gone through 2 diagnosed bouts
of depression.  The first one drove me nuts, chased to doctors endlessly.  I was
recently married, so .... maybe 24???  I was having chest pains, swore it was
heart problems.  One doctor kept telling me it was depression, I thought he was a
quack.  What did I have to be depressed about.  HA!  I've learned more about it
since then.  Depression doesn't mean just feeling sad, doom and gloom, etc.  It is
a chemical imbalance in the brain, often many physical symptoms that would never
point you in the direction of depression.  Medications are not a magic cure.  When
I was first diagnosed, the only med was valium ... it wasn't a commonly diagnosed
illness.  It was my gynecologist that got me into therapy, which made more
difference than the medication.  Medication seemed to get me functioning again,
kind of put things on an even keel so to speak.  Dealing with the underlying
stresses and issues, helping me think a bit more realistically (no dear, everyone
is not trying to poison your food - you CAN eat)  seemed to be the cure.
Evidentally the new marriage, instantly becoming a mom (stepmom), dealing with
ex-wife issues and overbearing MIL issue was more than I could deal with.  What
pushed me over the edge was the tainted tylenol scare in our area (why my brain
was telling me I shouldn't put anything into my mouth).  I still remember that so
vividly ... police cars running through the neighbors with bullhorns, telling all
residents to NOT take tylenol capsules - but not telling why (probably didn't have
time).  I believe it was 5 or 7 area residents that were killed by this incident,
but somehow it was enough to push me into overload mode, and I crashed.

The second time hit me totally by surprise.  Life was grand, everything was good,
no known stresses that I can think of.  I was at bowling and all of a sudden my
heart began racing and knees buckled.  I couldn't walk, the room was spinning.
Hub raced me to the ER where nothing was found and I was sent home.  Again,
thinking I was having a heart attack or stroke.  Downhill fast from there, to the
point of not being able to leave the house alone.  Everytime I left, I had the
panic attacks (same symptoms as above) and ended up calling someone to come rescue
me ... was easier to just stay home until either sonny boy returned from school or
hub from work, to take me on my errands.  About a month or so later, hub took me
to the doctor for a routine checkup.  Doc asked how I was doing, and I said fine -
joked around a bit.  Hub chimed in with "she is non-functional" and I burst into
tears.  It took those words to make me realize that he was right.  I was NOT
functioning at all.  Back on meds which got me over the hump and feeling a bit
better.  Back to all I learned 20 years prior, and lots of forcing myself to get
out - but I was able to get back to normal.  Occassionally I still do get those
panic attacks, but I know the symptoms now and can easily talk myself out of them.

Listen to your doctor and keep in contact with him/her.  They will be able to help
you and get you back to feeling more like yourself again.

Joyce