I am 're-diagnosed' as 'a happier person' now.

[trof]

A couple of years ago, in the deepest, darkest throes of the Bush (may his name live in infamy) administration a friend was concerned about my well being.

She's a very close friend of ours and a physician.
She and Miz t. had lunch one day.
She asked Miz t. if I was depressed.
Said I was showing classic signs.
Drinking more, smoking more, seemed to be angry a lot.
Etc., etc.

When Miz t. came home she related the conversation and asked me about it.
I said I didn't feel particularly personally depressed like 'all is lost' or 'life's not worth living any more'.
But I was living in an almost constant state of being pissed off at Bush and his machinations. Usually it was just a low-level state of anger and ill ease, but at times this rose to a state of impotent rage. Probably fueled by what I saw on TV.
I began to watch less TV.

Today they were out for lunch again and I got a better report.
:-)
Our friend said "Trof seems to be a lot happier person now. What do you think made the change?"
Miz t. replied "Two words: President Obama."

And she's right.
Although our retirement funds (which we depend on now that we are retired) are down by 40%.
I think we'll weather it out.
But now I have hope.
And our friend is right.
I'm a happier person.
I think many of us are, in spite of global warming and the economy.
Now we have hope again.
:-)

[Tangerine LaBamba]

1. There is a difference

I know that, in my own life, it took a while to shake off that angry feeling. The helpless, infuriating feeling that no matter what I did, it wouldn't matter.

Took a while, but now I wake up, and, honestly, I feel better. Relieved. Safer.

I feel like I matter again. Like I really am a citizen of this country.

I suspect, and I agree with you, that a lot of folks are doing a bit better these days..................

[Tandalayo_Scheisskopf]

4. Try going off Paxil...

In The Chimpington Years. Oh, I got off it all right, but there is this nasty side effect that takes place, sometimes, like a year later. Think of it as all the Brown Acid ever made, all at once.

So I am back on Generic Paroxitine, I will never be off of it because GSK was not *entirely* forthcoming about some of the side effects and the fact that it has a nasty tendency to become your lifelong friend, but that's ok:

The utter horror of what I was surrounded by, in 2005, is gone. That was the worst part. I was way fucking scared of what I was seeing. The Paxil Kickback just amplified it.

[Elidor]

7. My mother had that same reaction

In fact, if she missed a single dose, she would be cast down into a black pit of despair. She finally weaned herself off of Paxil and onto something else with the help of her psychiatrist, but it was a harrowing experience for her. Paxil is scary.

[Tangerine LaBamba]

13. Well, that truly sucks

I know people who've been successfully weaned off Prozac and Zoloft. I don't know about Paxil.

Those drugs are hateful things, and utterly worthless. Their effects have been debunked more than once, yet the physicians still prescribe them, knowing that they're nothing but bad side effects.

I was in the hospital, badly injured, unable to walk, having to wait for a certain amount of time before the surgery that would fix my leg and pelvis could take place, and I was in constant, unyielding pain. Couldn't move, couldn't even get out of bed. Loaded up with oxycontin and - I love this - Ativan.

The shrink who came to see me wanted to put me on Lexapro. I asked about the drug, and he told me that I seemed depressed, and Lexapro would help me with it.

"Depressed?" I asked him. "I'm here in a hospital with a terrible injury, in hideous pain, unable to walk. I don't know if I'll even be able to walk after the surgery, but I do know that I face about a year of rehab if I can, in fact, ever walk again. My work has gone to hll, my personal life is down the toilet, and you want to give me a pill for that? I'D BE FUCKING INSANE IF I WEREN'T DEPRESSED!"

I never took the Lexapro, and that nice man dropped by quite often, just to chat, but he never tried to push it again.

I didn't know that "lifelong" thing about Paxil. And it's still on the market?????

[Tandalayo_Scheisskopf]

16. Yup.

As Paxil CR, a time release formula that makes me go to sleep several times a day, and generix Paroxitine, which does not.

Oh, that stuff is like a grub that burrows into your brain and cannot ever be removed. Insidious stuff. Evil. GSK already lost one Class Action Lawsuit on it. Now, they cannot be sued again. And so it goes in "The Freest Country in The World". Apparently that means Big Pharma is free to create drug addicts.

[imdjh]

2. Did you have magical power fantasies?

Up until the last day of the B Presidency, I had fantasies of marching into the WH like Yoda visiting the Emperor, except that B didn't have Sith Lord powers. Then I would switch to a Roman fantasy of the defeated being led through the streets in chains. I didn't hate him, I despised him. Hate seems irrational, while despise has a rational quality in my dictionary.

[Uben]

3. Are you sure you are not me?

I experienced much of the same feelings. I am also retired and have lost half my portfolio (I was well divested so I am doing fine). Life is certainly much better these days! I think just seeing Bush or Cheney talk on TV made me angry and I know it must have bled over to the way people perceive me. No worries......




WE MADE IT ! ! !

[trof]

5. I think there are a lot of us soul brothers.

:-)

[wryter2000]

6. Absolutely, I feel different

I'm just getting over a cringe reflex when I hear the words "president" and "White House." I used to reflexively cringe because I knew what was coming next was a fresh outrage. Not just stupid things like Bush I/Quayle used to say, but things I thought I'd never have to hear about our country (like violations of the Constitution or torture or unnecessary wars).

I discovered a few weeks ago, I was still cringing, and then I'd relax because I know that, even though I may not like 100% of what Obama does, I won't get outrage any longer.

[peace13]

8. I hear you!

For eight years we were held hostage and our Constitution was ripped from us. We worked like dogs in Ohio to get Obama in the WH. Since January I have painted the entire fist floor of the house. It needed it six years ago, but I just could not get it together to do it. Now we are putting Humpty Dumpty back together again and it feels soooooo good. Keep up the good work. My motto is, have some fun every day, and we tried to keep that up even under the Dark Lord but it was very difficult. Peace, Kim

[Elidor]

9. Glad you're doing better, trof

I've always enjoyed hearing about life at Chez Trof, so it's nice to hear that things are well there.

I have a strange mechanism for dealing with things that are out of my control. I suppress them mightily. Much later, they will bubble up again and surprise me. By the final couple years of the Bush administration, I was quite calm. It was almost over. Now I feel angry. Mostly, I just need some exercise. As soon as the bitter cold lets up, I'm going to spend a lot of time out walking. I have cabin fever. But the impotent rage thing, yeah. So many times, I've shaken my tiny, impotent little fists at the barbarity and idiocy of it all.

I hope that someday someone will tell me what that was all about in Iraq. We spent all that money, all those lives, just pissed it all away, and what do we have to show for it? Saddam's dead body? And why are the people who conned us walking free? Why is the captive press that helped sell us the propaganda still deemed credible and serious and respectable? When will it change? When will people wake up? Journalism has failed, has been subordinated to profits and political expediency. Reporters comfort the comfortable and afflict the afflicted. And even the new guy supports radical notions of government secrecy. And he seems hell-bent on protecting the Bush gang from the consequences of their crimes, because he doesn't have the stomach for that fight. Until their abuses are repudiated and overturned, the stage is set for the next tinpot dictator to con the masses with his fake folksy charm and then to re-employ everything Bush & Cheney did.

I'm sorry. We were discussing your newfound peace. I should lighten up, heh. Have a good weekend. I bet you have some minor culinary miracle brewing up tonight.

[trof]

11. If I could rec a reply to a post, I'd rec yours.

Although I'm greatly relieved at Obama's election, I have some of the same questions that you do.
I just have to keep believing that he's a lot smarter guy than I am, and knows how to play the political system.

On walking:
I do 3 miles every morning. Happily I live in a climate where I can do that year 'round. And I do Nordic walking.
Google it.

It does help settle the mind.
:-)

[Elidor]

15. That means a lot coming from you

Brightens my whole day.

On the menu tonight: Elidor's homemade chili with cinnamon, ancho chili powder, and mustard. Mmmmmm.

If I tried Nordic walking around here, the locals would be falling all over themselves laughing. "Hey, buddy, Colorado is THAT-away!"

[givemebackmycountry]

10. The Bush administration was like a really BAD strain of crack cocaine....

I hated that I was doing it, but every time he was on TV I had to take another hit.
I HAD TO WATCH.

Why?

Because as a reasonably intelligent American, every time I saw that stupid fucking monkey speak on TV, I had to watch to prove to myself that I KNEW he was an idiot, while everyone else fawned over him as the Boy King.
I would get SO mad after a "major" speech that for days after, I would walk around angry and looking for a fight.
God help the right winger that would say something stupid to me, because I would unleash a torrent of strong language so ugly, so in your face, that I would often alienate those around me that cared for me.

I ruined relationships with friends and potential friends, male and female, because I had a hair triggered mouth with so much pent up anger.

I am much better now, much happier, and so much more at peace.

WE WON.
Now, they can kiss my ass for all I care.

[proud patriot]

12. I'm feeling much better about the future with Obama at the helm

He's the Captain Picard of Presidents ..

[mopinko]

14. a shrink of my acquaintance confessed

that as happy as she personally was to see president obama take over, it is sucking for her business.