I too have a family history of depression. Combine that with the typical "don't talk about it and it won't exist" northern European family, imagine my surprise when I found out a family member had been hospitalized in the 50's! I thought it was just me, then my nephew took an overdose. He's fine now, but God only know how many others in my family are dealing with it. I've been very open with my nieces and nephews, hopefully they'll have an easier time than I did.

I too take a daily anti depressant. It probably is why I'm here today! I'll never forget, after the first two weeks of taking Zoloft, waking up one morning and actually looking forward to the day. Looking back now, I can understand why I did a lot of the things I did in my teens and 20's. Smoking, drinking, you name it, it's all self medication.

I'm so glad I rediscovered cycling in 1999. Like Irulan, I get flare ups every so often. But now I have better tools to deal with it, and I love life!