Question: I have depression, and it is taking years to clear up. What is this illness, what can be done for them, and what is the long term prognosis?
There are many different types of depression. Some forms are a reaction to stresses in your life such as loss of a job or a death in the family, while others are caused by biochemical imbalances in the brain that occur for no apparent reason. Sometimes it can last for just a few weeks, while in others it may recur, or persist for years. Psychiatrists will attempt to determine the type of depression that is affecting you before starting any treatment, but this is often very difficult, as there are no blood or other tests that can help the doctor, and s/he must depend on his/her clinical skills.
Once the diagnosis is made, the correct treatment will be started. This will usually involve the use of one or more medications, counseling, psychotherapy, and occasionally shock treatment.
There are some cases that can be cured, but others may only have their depression controlled. There are many diseases that cannot be cured, but are effectively controlled, and good examples would be diabetes and high blood pressure, where medication must be used life long.
Provided the patient is prepared to carefully follow a doctor’s advice, the majority of cases of depression can be cured or controlled, so that the patient can lead a normal life with minimal side effects from the treatment. Only in cases where there is poor compliance with treatment, poor family support or other adverse factors does the patient face a life of continued depression and risk suicide.

Question: Why do doctors keep worrying about my blood pressure. Is it really that important to keep it low?
Ariy plumber will tell you that if a pipe carries water at a pressure higher than the pressure it was designed for, it will eventually rupture. If the pressure in the pipe is not only to high but varies rapidly in its level, the rupture will occur even sooner because of the excessive stresses on the pipe.
Exactly the same situation occurs in the human body when the pressure of blood in the arteries becomes too high. The arteries of a person with high blood pressure will become hardened, brittle and eventually rupture, causing a stroke, heart attack or other serious injury to vital organs.
The majority of people with high blood pressure have no symptoms of the problem for many years, and by that time it may be too late. Once diagnosed, tests will be done to see if there is any specific cause for the increased blood pressure, but the majority of people have ‘essential’ hypertension, for which there is no single identifiable cause. Treatment is necessary in all cases of hypertension to prevent the serious long-term problems that may occur.
There is no cure for high blood pressure, but it can be very successfully controlled in the majority of patients by taking one or two tablets a day.