Hi, I'm not sure where to start... I've had bouts of depression since my teens - I'm in my fifties now (tho' don't feel it!) My depression has seemed to be linked with PVFS, and I tick over now on 20mg fluoxitine a day. I'm married to a lovely bloke who tries to carry everybody's problems rather than sort out his own; we've got a 23 year old daughter who has a learning disability - ASD and other neurological pathway problems - when she was born the pathways didn't set properly, so she didn't feed, respond to visual stimuli, communicate etc (she has come a long way, but still needs a lot of support).We've also got a 21 yr old son who has inherited my family's depressive streak - he's had trouble with depression just about all his life. He's tried loads of different anti-depressants but not found one he feels helps. A couple of years ago he went off to Uni, but in his first term became very depressed and his CFS returned, so he came home. This year he felt ready to go back and try again but the panic attacks started up, so he didn't go. The group of friends he made at the supermarket where he works shrank as some went off the Uni, so that has not helped. He had a panic attack on the bus, going to meet up with old school friends, so I'm worried he won't try to meet up. He tries to cope with all this without talking to us - doesn't want to worry me, and hasn't had particularly good support from our mental health service. I've suggested he talks to the GP about trying propranolol for the panic attacks - I now just take 10mg if I feel particularly stressed. We've also got my husband's issues that are another chapter, and a mother-in-law with escalating alzeimers - we haven't got any family to talk to about all this - our problems aren't going to go away any time soon, and it is becoming increasingly difficult to just cover the same old ground when we try and talk it through. Any thoughts gratefully received - though it has been good just to start to put things down in words - if anyone would be kind enough to read it!
