It's been over seven months since d-day. There is no doubt that my marriage is on the road to recovery. My wife and I have been working very hard and changes abound in our relationship. I can say that I am honored to be her husband.

However, no matter how great things seem to be, I feel as though I remain depressed and no amount of great happenings are helping me dispense with feelings of depression.

It is very odd to experience progress in my marriage yet have a persistent sad or anxious mood, feelings of hopelessness and helplessness, a loss of interest in things that I used to really love to do, and some loss of appetite. I'll admit that I can cry at the drop of a hat and remain very emotional.

I just started taking Zoloft.

For those of you that have taken an antidepressant, how has it helped you?

jimtex, I am bs 2yrs. Antidep helped me with the helpless, hopeless, cry at the drop of a hat feelings. I no longer have to cry at the drop of a hat,and imagine that, me being a female. It really does help. It gets out the fogginess of depression, I have brighter days now. It takes about 3 wks to really notice a difference, and sometimes people might have to try a different med if one doesn't help. Once you start to feel better, don't stop taking it though. We don't have to take them forever, but I'm going to take mine for awhile longer because I don't want to go back down the depression road. My outlook is so much better. I used to be one of these people that thought I could always pull myself up by my bootstraps, but with this occurrence in my life I found out I needed a little help.

I started taking Paxil when this started and I don't know if it has helped or if it's just been the passage of time that has done it. Since it's only been a little over three months since my D-day I have to assume that it has helped a great deal.

I was on "Celexa" for 4 months last year, and it REALLY helped me over the hump I was trying to pass over. (I had quit smoking, and that started the triggers of my son's death from 18 months previous).

One year later, and new and terrible things are going on, and I find myself on another anti-d. (I have filed for a D, and dealing with court issues... including the eventual testifying at my stbxH's trial on child porn possession). This time it's "Remeron", which is part sleeping pill. I've only been on it for a week, and already I can feel a difference.

The meds alone won't help you out of your slump. But they will help to keep you from being so down that you don't do anything. I believe that is the whole reason for being on them, just to help us think more clearly, and deal with the issues on hand without getting fogged up with emotions. At least that's how it's worked for me. <img border="0" title="" alt="[Wink]" src="images/icons/wink.gif" />

Karen

Hi JimTex,

I was on Wellbutrin for a few months way back, and it certainly helped me. I can't quite put my finger on it exactly, but the gray feeling, like everything always seemed bad to worse did go away to a great extent, and allowed me to better concentrate on me and work on me, rather than constantly thinking of the A.

Best of luck!

I have not posted my story yet (still lurking), but I really wanted to reply to you.

I fought the antidepressants for several months (for a variety of reasons), but after two therapists said I really should try them before I made any decisions about my marriage, I decided they were right.

I started taking Zoloft about 5 weeks ago, 50mg once a day. That seems to be enough for me (I'm just over 100 pounds), even though the therapist said that's a low dose. I am a different person now. Before I even felt they were working, my sister said, "Are you feeling better on the Zoloft or are you just faking us out?"

Yesterday, my husband said I was different, that I don't get angry the way I used to. It is so nice to not be flying off the handle over every little thing. I would say that it has sort of "evened" me out. There really isn't any specific different feeling I can explain.

I am by no means a drug advocate (don't even like taking Advil), but this has done wonders for me. Now let's see if my marriage can be saved (story for another day).

witl