Depression: Symptoms and Treatment

[moonshine]

how do you know if someone has this sickness and is not just depressed in the "normal" way?
my dad appears to have depression... can anyone recommend a psychiatrist or a doctor he can see?
he has been taking tranxene and valium to calm his nerves. sometimes, he drinks a beer to go to sleep. thing is, he has started shaking (maybe bec. of the medicines?) and the shaking (nanginginig) just makes him more depressed. i've told him to stop taking those pills and the liquor too, but he says he can't sleep without the pill/ or liquor.
i think he needs some serious help, because we have continually tried talking to him, giving pep-talks, etc but still he is not getting better. i really need some ideas here.
thanks.

[jkristee27]

hi moonshine,

I don't think it's a good idea for your dad to be taking those two meds with alcohol. alcohol has an additive effect to both tranxene & valium of which might be the cause of his shakiness?

I don't think it's a good idea either for your father to stop taking the pills abruptly dahil it may cause certain reactions. maybe slowly weaning him off the drug would be a better alternative.

The best thing for you to do is to contact your dad's physician. He needs to be reassessed. he's probably not tolerating the meds well and the way he mixes alcohol with his medication is somewhat a concern for me.