Are there some that never recover from treatment resistent depression?

I have a loss of interest in things I used to love, just want to sleep all day instead of face it, have anxiety, weepiness over nothing, have to force myself to do anything.  I have had a complete physical, my thyroid was removed due to thyroid cancer, so they keep a close watch on my thyroid meds.  Aren't there some that live their entire lives in psychiatric hospitals and never recover?  I feel that could be me.  How much success has there been with ECT or the new EpCS (Bilateral Epidural cortical stimulation) that has been talked about rather positively.  My depression/anxiety seems to come on for a couple months, then I have a couple months of feeling well, then back into the anxiety depression.  I have been on a mood stabilizer, but it doesn't seem to help.  There is bipolar depression in my family (Uncle and aunt), but have never experienced any mania or hypomania.  I'm wondering if part of this is perimenopause.  My gyno says I'm too young, but I still wonder. 

Hello again

Have you been in psychiatric hospitals as an inpatient? 

What medications or combinations of meds have been tried already by you?

Just wrote an article about perimenopause on our sexual health site that you may want to read.

It is interesting that bipolar disorder runs in your family.  Has any doctor thought that maybe this was something you are affected by?  People who have this often say that the medications for depression don't usually help them.  So perhaps it is worthy of investigation?

Do you have a support system to help you through all this?  I know that this is critical for me. 

Are there environmental stressors...things in your life which contribute to your depression and anxiety?  Or do you feel that your depression is mostly biological and not related to your life's circumstance?

I wish I had some good answers for you.  I have suffered from depression pretty much my whole life and I am now going to be 45 so...I have come to a gentle acceptance that there will be peaks and valleys in my mood. 

Please don't give up your search for answers.  For many of us...it is a continuous battle to find something which works.  On those newer methods...I will try to do some research and maybe interview a doctor who knows more about them.  So stay tuned.

I hope you have a pleasant weekend.

No, I have not been an inpatient in a psych hospital.  I have tried Prozac (which worked in the past for me, but not now), Cymbalta, Lexapro, now on Pristique and Lamictal (mood stabilizer).  I also take Ativan for the anxiety.  Yes, my dr has watched me closely for bipolar symtpoms, but have never had any mania or hypomania at all.  My aunt and uncle were dxed with bipolar in their teens.  Yes, I do have a support system, no environmental stressors.  I feel it is biological.  Have you ever been an inpatient?  Do you still function, i.e. work, have a family, etc.  Do you feel like each day is an effort to get thru?