Hi painman

I hope something from this is helpful. I'm no doc, so all I can do is speak from my own experiences. Hope I don't offend you or anyone else!

I've fought a few times against the tag of 'depression' over the last few years with this. A couple of docs have mentioned it, if (when talking about how CRPS has affected me) I've burst into tears. I feel quite angry about it tbh. I try to keep positive most of the time, keep myself busy, I found alternative work, continue to try to keep up with my kids and house and husband. Just because I have a few bad patches with this, or burst into tears in the privacy of a doctors office (where they ask you to just speak freely ) I don't think they should rush to that conclusion.

Depression is a terrible thing from what I've read and heard from an acquaintance who has it. Total darkness and hopelessness, where you can't even bear to face the day, or do much of anything. I know there are grades of it, and I would never say that people who regularly feel depressed shouldn't be treated, or that anyone being treated for it and still walking about has been misdiagnosed. BUT in my experience, both with me and a couple of friends, doctors are sometimes quick to offer meds for depression. I wonder whether it's more to do with getting you out of their office within the brief time-slot they have available... I also question how helpful it is to tag someone as 'depressed' when what they are feeling is directly because of the terrible symptoms of the disease they are suffering from. I suppose in the end the judgement about where the dividing line is between 'feeling very down' and 'being depressed' is up to your doctor.

No one can say from your posts whether you have depression. Only a professional can make that judgement. Much of what you say sounds familiar, and I have thoughts like that myself. I would guess that most of us feel the loss of our former selves with sadness and some anger at times - we wouldn't be human if we didn't. While we can 'accept' what's happened and try to move on, we can't erase the past, or not feel bad for what we've lost. Trying not to feel like that is part of the battle we all fight every day.

Some days when the pain is really bad, and I can't do much of anything, I can get pretty low and cry and mourn my old self, I can wonder what I'd be doing if this hadn't happened, and wonder why on earth it happened to me. But I'm lucky that those days are rare, so for me I think they're a natural part of dealing with this, and I believe it's healthy to let those feelings out every now and then. If I felt like that most days and struggled to function, then I'd be daft not to seek some professional help.

Take care of yourself and I hope your day goes as well as possible. Don't be afraid to talk to your doc if you really think you are depressed. It's no joke, and this condition has certainly been known to cause depression.

Bram.