Can anyone give me first hand info on agitated depression and treatments please

I had a long bout with agitated depression 5 years ago. It is tortuous, and I really feel for you. What helped me was that they finally found something that let me sleep (Restoril), Antiseizure mood stabilizers and Anti anxiety agent, but the one that did the most was Lithium.

Hi Skeata-

I'm glad you've gotten a diagnosis that seems to fit what you are experiencing. That is often the hardest part of the process.

We have a page on depression: https://www.empowher.com/condition/depression. A couple of great resources on mental illness are the Depression and Bipolar Support Alliance http://www.dbsalliance.org/site/PageServer?pagename=Signs_Symptoms and the National Alliance on Mental Illness http://www.nami.org/

As far as treatment, even though you have an agitated depression, it is often treated the same as a major depression. It sounds like you are taking an anti-depressant and an anti-epileptic. Anti-epileptic drugs are often given for mood disorders, because they smooth out the brain chemistry so there aren't so many low lows and high highs to cause you problems. When given for mental illness they are called mood stabilizers, but they are really the same drugs and work in the same manner.

It will be very important for you to give honest feedback to your doctor about how your moods are progressing. Sometimes it helps to keep a mood journal: Today I felt very sad, yesterday I felt very angry, etc. Sometimes it seems like those details will stay in our heads and then we get to the next appointment and it's all a little fuzzy. You may even make a number chart for yourself, like a 1-10 with one being very depressed and 10 being very happy just to make it a little faster.

Congrats on getting the help you need. Many people do not take that step. If we can be of further assistance, please let us know.