I've wanted to write a journal about this topic for so long, but then again, it's just so darn, DEPRESSING!
Every time I research or even broach the correlation of Sarcoidosis and Depression, I read the same statistic. "More than half of patients with Sarcoidosis are depressed." No kidding. So shocking. This is such a fun disease to have.
I'm always wondering, "what came first, the chicken or the egg"? Maybe they arrived here at the same time!
As I told all of you in a previously posted journal, I am clinically depressed and was finally diagnosed with major depressive disorder, severe. This was when I finally could get the nerve to get off my butt and seek psychiatric care.
In my defense, please don't forget that I was recovering from major lung surgery, confined to bed rest and not even able to drive. It was also necessary for me to be on heavy pain medication.
I finally made an appointment with a psychiatrist after about two months of waking from a sound sleep, and sobbing uncontrollably in my husband's arms practically every night of the week.
I had a disease I knew nothing about. I had to sleep sitting up, as I had an incision running down the right side of my back. I knew I was scarred for life and would never feel comfortable in a bathing suit again. I was finally coming to the realization that I probably had had an unnecessary surgery, and I wanted the middle lobe of my right lung back.
The long term ramifications of this could last for the rest of my life. I had a terrible taste of what post traumatic stress feels like. I felt maimed by the heartless physicians who had convinced me to have the operation, a lung surgery to diagnose Sarcoidosis. C'mon docs, want to take another look at all those medical volumes you so proudly line your bookshelves with?
My psychiatrist saved my life and even helped me to regain the coping skills I needed in order to learn how to live and laugh again. I am still in therapy with her to this day. I will also be on medication for the rest of my life, because I have an illness, a mental illness.
She is also a physician who believes that Sarcoidosis causes depression in otherwise mentally well people. In other words, the patient is not necessarily depressed because they are diagnosed with Sarcoid, but rather this disease may be in your lungs, lymph nodes, or your big toe, but as long as it resides in your body, it's also busy (in some patients, not all), messing with your brain chemistry.
I read somewhere, I can't recall where at the present time, that there is a high prevalence of depression being reported in patients who have Sarcoidosis and that they should be carefully assessed for signs of depression.
Now we all know as patients, that the medical community does not seem to be frantically searching for a cure to this somewhat rare disease. Are we to believe that our treating physicians are fretting over whether we are depressed or not? Let's get real.
I'm a professional depressive, my illness now controlled by a few medications that have profoundly changed my life for the better.
My life experiences have given me the ability to see myself in some of you. I'm not claiming 100% accuracy here but just by reading some of your journals and discussions, I can see you are suffering from depression. If you've never been depressed till your Sarcoidosis diagnosis, it could very well be that it's that sarc-depression combo. Two diseases combined in one.
The people who still attach a stigma to mental illness are small minded, ignorant idiots. I mean that's my real name up there and I am not ashamed to admit to any of you that Sarcoidosis is not my only battle. My depression is a separate disease now under control.
I write this so that none of you suffer in this way. You don't need to tell the world, but you do need to seek "GOOD" professional help. Only a psychiatrist can write prescriptions, so this is who you need to see first.
PLEASE NOTE : If you have a good Primary Care Physician and I mean GOOD, you can obtain all the help you need there, including any prescription medication your Dr. deems necessary, with the exception of the talk therapy that I receive from my psychiatrist. I'm not the type of person who would go to GROUP. I consider all of you to be : "MY GROUP"
Previous paragraph added on: 4/27/08
I've left you a few book titles & the authors' names in a recent journal. Reading the two books that I suggested about depression and stress bringing on disease will help you to see better inside yourself.
I'm convinced that you cannot be depressed and fight this disease successfully. It hurts too badly to feel so much sorrow. Life throws a lot of crap your way. If you even suspect you're depressed, get some help. There is medicine for this and it isn't Prednisone!
I'm here if you need me to help. Be Happy... JanetG
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