Crying for no good reason...

[adavisirl]

Well, this peg/riba tx is a strange trip. I'm in week 10, and I notice I'm more and more prone to crying. I know that depression is  a real possibility while on tx, but I don't think I'm depressed. But I'm very sensitive to emotional situations. I finish a task and the boss thanks me - I'm crying. I watch a movie - crying. Walk down the street, think of my father who died of melanoma - crying. But it's more like a welling-up of tears that I can somewhat control, rather than full-blown blubbering! It happens several times per day.

Anyways, I function just fine at work, I sleep fine, my wife and I have a great relationship and she's very supportive, so things are not so terrible. Should I talk with my doctor about this?
It does lube my dry, sore eyes!

Cheers, and thank you all, this forum is excellent,
Andrew

[jmjm530]

I don't doubt you're correct re shrinks not fully understanding/having experience with interferon-induced depression.

In fact, I think that concept -- no clue of interferon-related symptons -- can be expanded to all of the medical specialties. But no, my shrink didn't seem all that concerned, or tell me to keep a "close eye" on things, but like you say, he may indeed have been clueless -- I've found many shrinks are, including one I dated :)

That said, my main point was that this, let's call it hyper-emotionality, seems very common with the treatment drugs -- so I think it comes down to whether one believes using ADs for most on tx (as btw did my treatment team), even prophylactively -- or does one believe best to leave them alone unless you really need them -- which is the camp I fell into, at least for myself.

Actually I did try ADs a couple of times, but it made my GERD worse both times plus the second time I got quite jittery. Then decided to go without but I was quite isolated from people during tx. Had I worked in an office, for example, probably would have needed ADs to keep from tearing off people's heads on a daily basis.

I'm pretty open on the AD subject, both for myself and others -- but again, just didn't see too many alarm bells here, but your thought about keeping a close eye on mood swings is a good one because there is a per cent of people who can develop the kind of depression that ends treatment.

Not sure if it's still there, but a couple of years ago there was an excellent presentation on interferon-related depression by an oncologist, relating his experiences and conclusions. To oversimply, he identified two types of interferon-related issues often requiring two different drug treatments run simultaneously. One, for what most of us call "depression" -- and in this case he prescribes ADS -- and the other for the interferon type of fatigue that also "depresses". For that I believe he prescribed some sort of stimulant. If I find the presentaion I will post later.

All the best,

-- Jim

[Mr Liver]

To clarify, specifically I was referring to IFN-caused depression. Most psychiatrists will never see these types of cases. I have had some rather up close and personal experience with this fact.
Regards,
Mr Liver

[Mr Liver]

Here are symptoms associated with melancholia , a severe form of depression. For those who have treatment, I'm sure some of these will ring a bell.

low mood
low self-esteem
pessimism
fatigue, reduced energy
disturbances of sleep (insomnia or hypersomnia)
disturbances of appetite (anorexia or hyperphagia)
agitation or retardation
guilt
sense of worthlessness
hopelessness
helplessness
poor motivation
poor concentration
indecision
loss of interest or pleasure in normal activities
low libido
recurrent thoughts of death

[Mr Liver]

Most shrinks are clueless about reactionary depression. Perhaps yours wasn't.
But I would be extremely surprised if he didn't tell you to keep a close eye on your mood during that visit.
Best regards,
PK

[Mr Liver]

I said 'most' not all. "

"I'd bet most of the respondents to your post were on AD before tx or started them for tx".

Depression is not a light switch. It has stages. Crying at the drop of a hat CAN be a classic symptom of depression. You can roll the dice or you can react to it and medicate it . In 70% of those who treat it does not rise to the level whereby discontinuation is necessary. Reactionary (NOT situational) depression can escalate from crying jags to suicidal ideation and pcyhosis in a fairly short timeframe for some. Far too fast to react with medication. This is why almost every tx algorithm calls for psychiatric evaluation and the prohylactic use of AD, not waiting to see if a problem develops.

If depression wasn't a problem then it wouldn't account for the predominant reason for discontiuance of treatment.
I have no theory---I made an assumption.
Best regards,
PK

[jmjm530]

OK, some very *light* sobbing on occasion, but certainly not at "Leave it to Beaver".