UPDATE: some of you may have gotten an email with this same info, as well as seen it on another site I frequent, but I wanted to make sure ALL of my friends and family got the word.



have had a lot of issues in my life, lately. I was recently diagnosed with a mental illness, and am trying hard to deal with it. This illness has caused me a lot of problems in my life, including driving a wedge betwee myself and the ones that I love, most importantly my wife. I have been blessed to have her as my wife, as she has been there for me for the past 11 years, and has agreed to put up with me for the rest of our lives, and help me get through this particularly rough time in my life. I am not a religious person, but I ask each of you to keep us in your prayers if that is what you do. If not, please at least keep us in your thoughts as we learn to live with this illness. Thank you all for the times you have allowed me to be a part of in your lives.

Will do Jason!

Great to hear the update and keep on keeping on...I've had a rough time as of late withdrawing from a drug for my nightsweats...I'm feeling completely insane with good days and bad days and good hours and bad hours...and have Mike scared half to death...so I can somewhat relate.

Mine will hopefully pass soon, yours will take some dealing with...hang in there sweetie! It'll be worth it!

btw, the drug that my doc decided to test out on me was Effexor. I used it not for it's anti-depressive qualities, but for one of it's side affects. Didn't work for me...only took it for 8 weeks, tapered off for 2 weeks and then all hell broke lose...

Be careful with mind altering drugs! It hasn't been easy for us and it may take another YEAR for it to stop...

I wish you the best my friend!

Marla

Right now I am on Risperdal, and will start up on Zoloft again on March 1st. The doc wanted to stagger starting the 2 just in case of side effects so he would know which one is causing them if any arise. So far, none.

prayers will be sent when I say them tonight hun as will you and your wife and whole family be in my thoughts. Wish you all the best!

Yo tarheel4lyf:

Sorry about your situation, you and your family are in my prayers. Read the below message, it's important.


News Break
02/14/2005 18:08:52 EST Jury Begins Deliberations in Zoloft Trial
By BRUCE SMITH
Associated Press Writer

CHARLESTON, S.C. - Jurors began deliberating Monday in the murder trial of a 15-year-old boy who claims the antidepressant Zoloft drove him to kill his grandparents three years ago.
The trial has been billed as the first case involving a youngster who says an antidepressant caused him to kill. The trial also comes at a time of heightened scrutiny over the use of antidepressants among children.

Defense attorneys urged the jury Monday to send a message to the nation by blaming Zoloft for the killings by 15-year-old Christopher Pittman. They said the negative effects of Zoloft are more pronounced in youngsters, and the drug affected Pittman so he did not know right from wrong.

"We do not convict children for murder when they have been ambushed by chemicals that destroy their ability to reason," attorney Paul Waldner said.

But prosecutors called the Zoloft defense a smokescreen, saying the then-12-year-old Pittman knew exactly what he was doing three years ago when he shot his grandparents, torched their house and then drove off in their car.

Prosecutor Barney Giese said the real motivation for the crime was the boy's anger at his grandparents for disciplining him for choking a younger student on a school bus. And he reminded jurors how the boy carried out the killings - shooting his grandfather in the mouth and his grandmother in her head while both lay sleeping.

"That anger ... came bubbling up - came bubbling up like gas out of an oil pit," the prosecutor said. "I don't care how old he is. That is as malicious a killing - a murder - as you are ever going to find."

Prosecutors also pointed to Pittman's statement to police in which he said his grandparents "deserved it."

"They did not deserve those pellets in their brains," Giese said as he turned toward the defendant. "No, Chris Pittman, they did not deserve it. They deserved better."

Pittman has not denied carrying out the slayings. He is charged as an adult in the November 2001 murders of Joe Pittman, 66, and his wife Joy, 62. If convicted, he could get 30 years to life in prison.

Zoloft is the most widely prescribed antidepressant in the United States with 32.7 million prescriptions written in 2003. Last October, the Food and Drug Administration ordered Zoloft and other antidepressants to carry "black box" warnings - the government's strongest warning short of a ban - about an increased risk of suicidal behavior in children.

Pittman threatened to kill himself about a month before the slayings. He also ran away from home.


JonR

this may be the wrong thing to say but sorry folks...
i just don't buy into most of the mental illnesses of today. my brother has a wife who is a "manic depressive"...now he makes about 200k/yr and she hasn't worked in 20yrs and they live in sunny San Jose but this life depresses her...ARE YOU F*CKING KIDDING ME?????WHATS TO BE DEPRESSED ABOUT??? i told her if life sucked so bad eat a bullet. i just don't buy it. why wasn't she ill when she was working and not living with my brother. answer: she had to feed her face and her kids. guess hunger is a cure for mental illness now.

so i have figured it out. depression is a rich man's disease. don't people in the 3rd world have much more to be depressed about than those in the good ol USA? how come we don't hear about depression rising in those countries? its because they are too busy trying to grind out a living to be depressed.

now my brother sends me all these articles and journals about how the drugs help but i say thats just the drug pushers pushing the drugs. they're are more people today on mind altering drugs in this country today than at any other time in history.
the happy pills are just the way to control the masses. if you're happy you won't think about what bothers you and try to solve the problem.

look at the TV today with all the advertisements. do you suffer from erectile dysfunction, depression, ADD,VD,Hepes,etc..... hell have a drink, get a dirty magazine and whack off til morning while paying attention to a set of killer boobs.

we don't even hold people accountable for their actions anymore. Alcoholism, cocaine addiction, gambling addiction...etc..
i'm not an a-hole,i'm sick....god what a bunch of whiney people we have become.

btw for those of you who are about to call me an a-hole please do but remember i'm not a bad person. i'm sick and need to go to a-holes anonymous.

so please don't buy into what some idiot doctor tells you about your "depression"/mental illness. take responsibility for you life and deal with it or don't but don't sit around and feel sorry for yourself and create an excuse to leave your wife. either make the best of it or get out and accept the fact that your kids won't grow up in a perfect world.

Jekyl

That is one of the first posts that you have entered that I almost agree with you on! Hmmmmmmmm, better check my blood pressure, temperature, etc!

Charlie

tarheel4lyf , You are in my prayers and I'm so happy to see that you and your wife are in for life. If you ever want to talk about anything, I can relate. (dandapper at adelphia dot net)

Hey Jason,
There are several of us holding you up in faith to God in the rough walk that you are going through right now. A right relationship with god is important to good mental health. Go ahead and give Dan a call; he's a good man to talk it out with. JonR does make a good point... keep in close touch with your doctor and watch the side affects. I talked with a nurse thats works here at the med center in Sacto and she had some very positive things to say about how much help she has received from doing the same thing you are. So hang in there..... Sounds like you have a good woman there; a wife that will stand beside you in the storms of life is a blessing. I know that from experience.
Praying for you in Sacramento,
John.

tarheel4lyf, Don't let her take the kids. You have rights, no matter what decision you make. You don't need to try to have a long-distance relationship with your children. She doesn't need support from her sister, you can support her there, just living separately, if that's what you need to do. Just, whatever you do, do not let yourself get separated from the kids. That will be the one thing you may regret later.

PMoreno349, you need to re-read Tarheel's(Jasons) last post again??

Hog