I think it is particularly hard to manage the emotional aspects of illness nowadays when everyone is so keen on the power of positive thinking. It ends up making you feel guilty (or at least me) when you have moments, days or weeks of not so positive thinking.

Don't get hung up on 'oversleeping'. First, your body is fatigued and was just attacked - first by cancer, then by the treatment. And, you are now coping with the fallout of all of that. Give your mind and body some space and time.

Before the Big C, I had a period of depression related to the death of my mother and was diagnosed with PTSD. At the time, I was sleeping 16 hours a day, had to take 6 weeks off of work and was not much use to the world. I felt quite guilty that I wasn't functioning and was sleeping so much, but my counsellor explained that sleep is one of the ways that our minds use to process events that we are struggling with.

Treating yourself kindly and compassionately is the key - and do things that you want to do, rather than worrying as much about what you should do. We all should ourselves to death. I should be better by now. I should be able to (fill in the blank).

I'm glad you posted on this subject, and I know it was about specific medications, but medications just take the edge off. The work, or the processing has to be done by the person. Coming to terms with loss or grief or trauma of cancer can be an uphill battle and it isn't a sign of personal weakness or lack of positivity.

But on the medication subject, in case they end up wanting to switch out your meds, wellbutrin is an adjunctive type anti-depressant that can stimulate the sex drive. Just an fyi!

I hope you have a good appointment and was thrilled to hear that you ate a taco. You inspired me. Tonight I was going to make myself yet another protein shake and my girls were making poutine (something very Canadian! french fries, gravy and cheese curds! Yumm -heart attack in a bowl!) and I had a bit of poutine instead. Was a bit hard to get down, but yumm.

Take care...

The psychiatrist did a profile, looking for underlying problems. She thinks I am suffering from a depressive episode resulting from the trauma of the treatment.

She believes the level of sleep I'm experiencing is not depression, but is a direct requirement of the healing process. She does think the Avanza may be making me sleep longer and I should drop that, but she wants to up my Lovan dose first, and she only wants to change one med at a time. The change is consistent with the medication plan the GP had drawn up a few weeks ago.

On the sexual function side LWP, interesting you mention wellbutrin. Its related to Champix, a quit smoking drug, and I didn't tolerate it well so she mentioned it but didn't recommend it.

My expectations are my enemy. The only person expecting me to be over all this by now is me. I'm not crazy, I'm not addicted to drugs, I'm not just lazy. The recovery is going very well, and within expected norms. Part of that recovery sometimes includes anti-depressants and I just need to accept that and stop worrying about it.

Good job with the tacos LWP! I had a chicken and lamb kebab today

Ah those heavenly poutines! It took me a year of prodding from friends while living in Quebec before I tried them. I'm sure this super tasty dish would go a long way towards alleviating depression for survivors and caregivers here, n you can make them as mushy as you like. Start with French fries, sprinkle white cheddar cheese curds on top and cover with brown gravy. The smaller the curds the quicker they melt. My son mixes a package of brown gravy with a package of chicken gravy to approximate the brown gravy in Quebec. If you can't find the real white cheddar cheese curds you can experiment with some other quick melting white cheese. If you put chicken or a chopped steak patty under the poutine it becomes a chicken poutine or a steak poutine. You can dip everything in the gravy. Yum!

Poutines. You learn something new every day here. I'm just starting to try some sloppy solid foods and that sounds doable.

Glad you have some answers, Dave.

Yes Poutines a new one on me. We do the chips and gravy, the cheese curds are new. I'll give anything a shot, sounds deliciously high calories. Some days it feels like I still have a mountain to climb. Other days I realise how far I've come from boiled rice and milk.

Thanks for the support guys.

If u can't find the white cheddar curds, Monterrey Jack (without peppers) is a good substitute.