Living with HIV by Mark Cichocki RN

Author:Mark Cichocki, RN
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers
Published: 2017-03-30T16:00:00+00:00

Physical Symptoms

In addition to those core symptoms, there are other physical manifestations of depression, including headaches, fatigue, excessive sleep, heartburn, stomach upset, indigestion, and unexplained weight loss. In addition, pain in the joints, muscles, or bones can be significant and debilitating, resulting in the inability or lack of desire to hold a job, attend school, or in the case of HIV, adhere to prescribed medications.

The Most Serious Symptoms

Depression can progress and have serious consequences if left untreated. Living day to day with such profound feelings of physical and emotional pain can become too much for a person to bear. Eventually, feelings of hopelessness give way to anxiety, guilt or helplessness. Feeling helpless and unable to shake the feelings of sadness, people search for a way to end their suffering. They try to find an escape from the pain. Many will withdraw from family, loved ones, and society in general, isolating themselves from the world around them. Some will try and run away from their problems, they will move to another city, they will run to other relationships, they will try and put their current life behind them. Others will choose drugs or alcohol in order to mask the emotional and physical pain. Unfortunately, many people choose the ultimate escape—they choose to end their life by suicide. Initially people will think about suicide as a way out but won’t take the next step. However, if left untreated, the depressed person will eventually act on his feelings and attempt suicide. Unfortunately, in too many cases, suicide attempts are successful.

But there is hope for those people suffering from depression. Treatment options are available that can help people dig themselves out from under the painful weight of depression. An assortment of effective antidepressants is available; the good news is that most are covered by prescription insurance. While some antidepressants have significant side effects, many are well tolerated and very effective. But medications alone aren’t the answer. Antidepressants should be prescribed in conjunction with professional mental health counseling in order to find the root cause of the depression. Think of it this way. If you break your arm you take medication to relieve the pain. However, the medication does nothing to treat the root of the pain—the broken bone. For that, a cast is needed. So it is with depression. While antidepressants can relieve the unpleasant symptoms of depression, counseling will help you identify what has caused the symptoms of depression in the first place. Discussing your depression with a professional counselor will help you identify the cause or causes of your depression and will provide you with the tools you need to deal with your feelings in a healthy manner,

It can’t be stressed enough how important it is for you to recognize feelings and symptoms of depression and to make your HIV physician aware of the feelings you are having. Recognizing the following symptoms of depression can literally save your life or save the life of a loved one. If you have any of

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