Surgery equals misery. Blah. I have ten stitches in the left side of my neck and about fourteen staples on my left side just an inch or so under my armpit. I now have this ‘pace maker’ thing inside of me except it’s not for my heart.

It’s for my brain.



It’s called a Vagal Nerve Stimulator and it’s a new treatment for chronic depression. I’ve suffered from severe clinical depression most of my life, have been hospitalized for it three times and have been on so many meds it’s not even funny. It's not activated yet but when it is it will send a small electrical current through my vagal nerve every few seconds or so. It's sort of like a mild continual electroshock therapy except it's not painful.



t'll be wonderful if it works. It probably won't get me off meds completely but it should drastically reduce my dependency on them.

*crosses fingers*





Pain meds are nice.

this must be the origins of the Borg.

Live long and prosper and all the best to you.

Congratulations! (I think?)

I hope it all works out good, let us know how you get on.

Hello Kellalor
That is first-time that I heard using pacemaker to treat depression
I hope it works good luck

Well, it's not exactly a pacemaker. That's just the easiest way to explain it.

Thanks.

All you really needed to do was stop being depressed. I think that's a much better idea than surgery. Depression is just a mindset that you have to realize won't do you or anyone else any good. Congratulation though...

No offense dude, but you don't know what the hell you're talking about.

Depression is a serious medical condition and it's not something you can just 'get over'. If it was that simple don't you think I would have?! There are so many times I've wished I was dead just so I'd stop feeling so damn awful.

I hope all goes well. Thank you for the site, I wasn't aware that it was done ("pace makers" things) in this fashion. Good luck with it all.

Will you ever die?!

I hope you were being sarcastic. Clinical depression is not just a mindset.

Yep, just a mindset. No sarcasm. =P

I don't consider a chemical imbalance something you can change by your will alone.

I assume you have arrived at this conclusion through years of clinical study? If you have, then you are way off base from the majority of doctors, psychiatrists, and psychologists that deal with this condition everyday.

Yes, at nineteen he obviously has all the qualifications needed for such an enlightened opinion.

Best of luck to you, Kellalor, here's hoping the treatment vastly improves your condition. We tend to discourage topics that address medical issues for obvious reasons, it tends to inspire idiotic responses by seriously unqualified 'experts'. You might consider starting up a personal blog if you wish to keep members informed of your progress. You'll also have the ability to edit irresponsible comments if you need to.

MM