Posted by kirbyw on December 8, 2009, at 6:58:02
In reply to Re: Scott, did I go through Parnate withdrawal? » kirbyw, posted by ColoradoSnowflake on December 8, 2009, at 0:54:42
Gayle
Really sorry to hear about these two deaths. Nothing is worse, and anyone would be depressed.
I don't know how people can get through these kinds of losses.In my case, my mother who I was very close to, committed suicide when I was 19 years old, and this has had a profound effect on every aspect of my life. I never got along well my father, who was and continues to be (at age 88) a verbally abusive and angry person, who even to this day, continues his tirades and abuse against me. Whereas my mother was the opposite, kind and nurturing, a professor of biochemistry at the University of Chicago.
At the time of her illness (1967) my mother was treated psychoanalytically for her depression, as an in patient at the "world reknown" Michael Reese Hospital in Chicago. Her treating physician was a psychoanalyst. Can you imagine that. Well, very few medications were available, although MAO's were, but I doubt if she ever received them. I was never told any details of her illness and I was away at college when all this happened.I inherited not only the psychological impact of her suicide, but also the biochemical brain chemistry dysfunction that most likely caused it.
I am single, a gay man, 62 years old. I had several long term relationships, but none of them evolved in something permanent. Luckily I have developed a good relationship with my younger brother and his family and spend a lot of time with them. And I learned on my own, after the death of my mother, how to be "emotionally adopted" by many families that I became close to during the course of my life. Most of these people were in the Chicago area, although some have moved away. As far as I am concerned I was an orphan at the age of 19, because my father could never control his rage attacks. But I count myself lucky to have a lot of good friends.
I had my first major depressive episode in 1982 at the age of 35 and it was terrible. i wound up in two psych hospitals for a total of about 7 weeks. at the first hospital they were giving me tricyclates which had no impact at all, but finally at the depression research unit of Rush St. Lukes hospital in Chicago I received Parnate and this pulled me out of this depression. BEfore Parnate, I had given up all hope and assumed it was just a matter of time until I would end up like my Mom.
The fact that i live in Costa Rica is another story. But I spend about 3 months of the year with friends and family in the U.S. My social support system in Costa Rica is in some ways much less meaningful than my support system in the US but I try to keep busy here, and I had a challenging job for many years, traveling in many Latin American and Caribbean countries.
Anyway, thanks for sharing about your life and congratulations on your success with your 3 sons.
Rick
poster:kirbyw
thread:928422
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20091206/msgs/928502.html