By By Connie Nowlin Managing editor
Looking back on it now, depression is so much a thing of the past that it seems I am seeing it through a hazy mirror.
But when trapped in that reality, I had no way of relating how desperate it felt.
Getting up every morning was an exercise in sheer will power, since the idea of another day was overwhelming. Some days the grip of that disease was so strong that showering was impossible because it entailed finding a towel. Other times, dressing was beyond my reach because I could not decide whether to first put on the right sock or the left one. Time stopped, and a slurry with the consistency of oatmeal filled my mind.
Life was truly haywire, days had no beginning, no end, just existence. Sometimes even that seemed liked more than I could bear.
For years I lived like that, somehow managing to keep it together from one day to the next, always wondering what was wrong with me, why I felt that way. I knew it wasn't normal, but I could neither remember what normal felt like nor how to get back to feeling that way. After a number of years, I began to believe I deserved to feel like that.
Luckily for me, I did find my way back, with the help of medication. It was not a simple process, it took several tries and more than three combinations before I was lucky enough to find one that worked. I was also lucky in that I was able to taper off the medication without a recurrence of symptoms.
National depression screening day is tomorrow. Please, please, please take advantage of it. If someone you know is showing signs of depression, take them to the screenings. They are free and will be held 8:30 a.m. – 4 p.m. at the hospitals in Brewton, Evergreen and Monroeville.
The good news is that there are new medications, and they can help close to 80 percent of those who suffer from depression.
And it is no longer one of those things that nice people don't get, or if they do get it, don't talk about. Talk about it, get it taken care of
There is a way out of the hell you are living in. Believe me, I have been there and lived to tell about. There is a whole world out here, waiting for you.
Connie Nowlin is managing editor of the Atmore Advance and may be reached at 368-2123 or email at connie.nowlin@atmoreadvance.com