It's time I say something about this

[iCeCuBEz v2]

Re: It's time I say something about this

idk everyone here is so anti-medication but I'm bi-polar and if I don't take my meds I'm all kinds of fucked up in the head.

u should play halo 3 all day like me that might make u feel better (add me on xbl)

[remedy1502]

Re: It's time I say something about this

List of stuff that helped me:

CBT was/is very helpful, and having a strong support system.
Remember the things that you used to do before you were sick, remember how they made you feel. Try and get yourself doing these things again, even if you hate doing it at first.
Set small goals for yourself, either weekly or daily or both; ie give yourself a weekly list of things that you need/want to get done, and do one thing a day when you can do it. Look up SMART goals.
Physical activity is very important; going for a walk could be one of your daily goals.
See your doctor. Tell him/her whats up. Perscription meds are probably better than self-medicating, and he/she could refer you to a psychiatrist/therapist.
Schedule your day. Good sleep hygiene and eating regular meals is also extremely important. Set a bedtime for yourself, and a wakeup time. Eat at least 3 meals a day. Sounds obvious, but it's so easy to forget to eat/find motivation to make food.

Obviously there's no quick fix, no magic pill etc. It's something you'll likely deal with the rest of your life. You'll get your shit together in time. Don't rush anything.
If you do end up on some sort of meds, it won't do much on its own. Meds in combination with everything else will help most, naturally.

[Xiz]

Re: It's time I say something about this

I'll keep this short:

- Buy a puppy
- Talk to strangers
- Give


I say this in all seriousness. Especially the third one. Granted, i'm only 21 and know nothing about life... but if I can gift someone by making one person laugh or at-least smile every day, it makes my life worth living just a little bit more. I'm surprised how much more at peace I am...

I wish you the best A2P ~ Skype me sometime. I love chatting with peeps.

[.Layne.]

Re: It's time I say something about this

or dont talk to someone....


does talking about your problems with other people really help? maybe sometimes, but not all the time. Sometimes the only person who can change things is yourself. Sometimes you just need to put yourself out of your comfort zone and try new things, learn new ways of thinking so that you can reexamine yourself with a new set of eyes. there's much more to us than we realize. a lot of people put themselves in a box and think they will always act or think a certain way. thats just stupid. learn to adapt, otherwise you're useless. learn to deconstruct the mental cage thats you've put yourself in! read books, learn new things, get better at interacting with people. trial and error is the only way to get better with people and you will never go anywhere if you are scared of error. be a man and do something with your life!! do it for yourself, so that everyone else who knows you may prosper too!!

rip attractive

[popsicle_3000]

Re: It's time I say something about this

Coincidently, i'm doing my psychiatry rotation atm

What a lot of people don't understand is that depression is a lot more than just feeling sad. Sometimes it's a sort of disease that can't be solved by any amount of rationalization or will power.

this

Medication never helped me. Get a therapist (a good one) who can help you.

meds can help, depending on what is going on.

Your best bet is to go to your family doctor. That's the best starting point cuz then they can appraise the situation and determine what's the best plan.

PM me if you like as well!

[Choofers]

Re: It's time I say something about this

the month or so before I got out of the military i was on prozac and it worked wonders

[Cavernio]

Re: It's time I say something about this

Well, if you've read most of my posts, you probably know that I have suffered depression for many years. I have ups and downs. I'd call myself very mildly depressed right now. I can't say depression free completely, but sooo much better. What NSA says about people feeling like they wasted themselves on depression or something when they're feeling better, that's total BS. I feel nothing of the sort. I feel the opposite, I feel justified that I have a mental illness that my thoughts don't control, and I feel far better about that than when I'm actually depressed.

This isn't to say that thoughts and actions are irrelevant when you're depressed. They certainly still are, but altering your mind and thoughts and actions are a coping mechanism rather than a cure. That said though, if there is something in your life that you're brooding or stressing over, obviously trying to deal or solve that issue will help immensely.

What has helped me more than anything was finding out that I had celiac disease. Mental health problems are common symptom of celiac disease, and I've definitely noticed changes in my mood since being strictly gluten free. I also strongly suspect some of my mood swings I've had since being gluten free were caused by eating something I shouldn't have, since it'd coincide with other symptoms I associate with eating gluten, like a rash or nerve pain.

My first advice to you is to make sure there is nothing wrong with you physically. There are fairly common problems that you should get looked at which can influence your mood and desires and all sorts of other issues that depressed people normally have. Are you vitamin levels good? (And I mean all of them, each nutrient plays its roll. Go do some searching and read about each and every individual symptom of each vitamin/mineral deficiency and see which ones you might have symptoms of. Read about interactions between them as well. You can then buy vitamins for yourself without having to pay a doctor.) Is your thyroid working properly? Do you have diabetes? Do you sleep well? Do you have sleep apnea? How are your bowels? (Seems totally irrelevant, but besides celiac disease, fibromyalgia, which is very comorbid with depression, seems to stem from some sort of bacteria getting into the bloodstream from your digestive system.)
Try and track patterns of your moods and other depression symptoms. For me, morning was generally the best time of day. Looking back, that was probably related to what I ate the previous day, or when I last ate. Any medical professional worth their salt will ask you about patterns, so it's good to be prepared.
I only noticed the very strong relation between being tired and my mood swings (and mood in general) when I allowed myself as much time to rest as I wanted.

I disagree with gold stinger largely, but most importantly medication that affects the brain affects consciousness; there's not some distinction there.

I didn't like medication, although I could concentrate better while on it. But it also had some scary withdrawal, that at the time wasn't disclosed. I would only consider it if you're desperate, mainly because shit's coming out in the open now that it only helps those who are severely depressed anyways. From my personal experience and then reading about them, anti-depressants made me a very skeptical person regarding mind-altering drugs and pharmaceuticals in general.

What has helped me a lot in coping, before being gluten free and diagnosed and something that has become easy for me now (since having a known medical diagnosis), is to realize that it's not your fault. Truly realize that, and accept you as you are. There's nothing to feel guilty about. You're not doing anything wrong (well, probably not, I dunno what you do). Being lazy, tired and moody isn't a crime. Even recreational drugs aren't something you should feel bad about doing. I mean, you should make yourself fully aware that you can be causing yourself harm using them, and could very well be exacerbating your depression, but don't feel guilty about doing them. Ignore people who say that you need to pull up your socks and do better, or that you're just being lazy. That's the hardest thing I find, ignoring all the idiots who don't understand you, don't understand what a mental illness is, and who contribute to your feelings of guilt which ultimately makes everything worse. If you can, surround yourself with people who don't judge you. Yeah, maybe you'll accomplish less. But you'll feel a hell of a lot better, and what's the point of accomplishment if not to improve life?

Also, alcohol and caffeine were practically like miracle pills at some points during my depression. Alcohol makes me care and feel like less of a robot, caffeine gives me much needed energy. I'm definitely not advocating using either, I'm caffeine and just become alcohol free (trying to get pregnant) right now and realize I should probably stay this way for the rest of my life, but rather sharing that I know where you're coming from with reaching towards drugs to make you feel better.

To reiterate what some people have said, exercise is very important. It's as much a help for depression as most treatments. However, if you find that exercise makes you feel WORSE, somewhat during but definitely if you feel worse afterwards when most people have that pumped feeling, that screams that there's something else medically wrong.
Also, starting projects or something can help too. But be cautious, because when you're pretty badly depressed, even something innocuous that you started for yourself could make you feel worse by giving yourself a guilt trip over not working on it. Make sure you have small tasks or games that you enjoy doing, things that aren't a big project, things that you in no way, shape or form will feel bad about if you decide to not do it. Video games have helped me so, so much, and there's always one for varying levels of alertness.

[0]

Re: It's time I say something about this

[Syhto]

Re: It's time I say something about this

just focus on what makes you feel good. fuck the rest, it'll figure itself out, if you give it time, just strive towards a brighter tomorrow and visualize the type of person you'd like to be, rather than the one you are afraid of being. that isn't you, that's your fear. And your fear can embody you, only if you let it. so be strong brotha, and carry on, do what feels right, not what feels wrong, learn from your mistakes, love yourself, take care of yourself and practice gratitude. I swear it's worth it to take time out to learn how to let go of what isn't really you. YOU are everything you ever dreamed of and more. This is your chance to shine. Just go for it, whatever feels right.

I tend to see most people are depressed when they feel stuck, confused, oppressed by their "situation", a big reason why teenagers go through depression, not just hormones, but as a part of growing up and becoming aware of our place in the world. It can be very scary, because there's a lot to life. Not to mention, death. It's confusing. We pay our dues and weed out our demons over time, the ones that say what's the point, I don't care, life isn't worth it. Sometimes new ones come around, but you learn. You have to draw the line and say, I want this. Cuz you're an adult now, and you can do what you want. So go do that. love ya andrew. just let it all out, release all that stress on ya mind. take a rest. do what you need to make your soul come alive. it's really very simple, but we

can be

complicated beings

as you can see by all the opinions in this thread

[Senip]

Re: It's time I say something about this

^^^ And also, teens all feel emotions a lot stronger than most, so mild "ho hum, i'm bored" turns into a crushing "I HATE MY LIFE BECAUSE THERE IS NOTHING TO DO AND EVERYTHING SUCKS OH MY GOOOOD".

I think most people confuse depression with boredom, honestly.


I tried the medicine and it literally drained the color out of my life. Everything wasn't bad, but there was no good, no high times, either.

[Syhto]

Re: It's time I say something about this

also i love attractive

and cavernio is a hypochondriac

[popsicle_3000]

Re: It's time I say something about this

wow, there's a lot of...
wow itt

[Cavernio]

Re: It's time I say something about this

cavernio is a hypochondriac

Close to it. I find it incredibly naïve to assume there's not something medically wrong only because it's not some obvious symptom with an obvious solution, or to think that we're perfectly healthy when we really don't feel 100%, or that perfect health is the norm. Medicine hasn't advanced that much yet.

And in my defense, I've had NO primary care physician (family doctor) for 8 years, and if I hadn't asked walk-in clinic doctors for specific tests for specific problems, and didn't ramble off a full list of my symptoms to back it up, I would still be undiagnosed right now and getting sicker. (Unlike the American system, Canadian doctors want to save money, and I've seen time and time again, for nearly everyone I know, many doctors ignore problems unless you pound things into them.) I kick myself that I waited more than a decade to look, myself, for a medical problem for my mental health problems.

I'd be a hypochondriac if I suggested problems that are rare :-p




Got 2 hours? Watch this movie http://www.youtube.com/watch/?v=vGBJYlsagxM
Great for anyone who doesn't feel sane. So Canadian, gotta love it. Picks me up every time I watch it.

[dAnceguy117]

Re: It's time I say something about this

best of luck, a2p.

I hope all of the people who have posted their own experiences here are doing well now, too.

[Snowcrafta]

Re: It's time I say something about this

I always found it odd people say that antidepressants made them turn into low emotion characters. When I was on them (4 years), I was always able to experience great emotional highs and significantly less emotional lows. I was also on some medium-heavy doses as well (40mg Prozac, 60mg Remeron, not at the same time though). Then again, I actually was clinically depressed. I honestly believe you can "cure" depression, but it takes years of rebuilding yourself, brick by brick.