Anybody here deal with depression?

[ctAL]

Did you overcome it? Medication? Deal with it, good days and bad days? Tips or Insight or stories?

[BoneDaddy]

Ive suffered greatly from it on 2 different occasions. Tried the medication route but that made me like a zombie. A friend told me about CBT....cognitive behavioral therapy. Best thing I ever did. If you're suffering personally, nip it in the bud man.....it will only get worse!!

[ctAL]

i never heard of that. i really appreciate your response

i actually started crying out of no where, it usually happens on days when im off an i have nothing to do but think, i have not even really ate yet my stomach is killing me now. it is hard for me to eat these days i have to force myself

[Cobalt]

Depression is nothing to play around with. I've been dealing with it for most of my life but never got any help until college when I finally got diagnosed. I've been on and off of multiple antidepressants, but finally settled on one and take it daily. It helps out a lot, but I still see a therapist once a month.

On a normal day-to-day basis, I have no issues. I do have bad days, but its mainly triggered by excessive stress from work.

Stress can start to effect everything in your body, its not just a mental thing. When I get overly stressed for hours my stomach will start to hurt and I can get headaches. I used to have a ton of other problems that depression was causing, but they went away once I started on the meds.

Unfortunately, everyone is different and treatments don't work the same across the board. The best I can advise is to go and see a counselor/therapist and see how things go. They can help out a lot and turn you in the right direction. Medication is very popular, but overly used and incorrectly used. Not everyone needs it, but some physicians prescribe it like crazy as an easy fix. Finding a good doctor/PA is worth searching around for.

Depression is a struggle but should be taken seriously. If you need any other advise or need some help, don't hesitate to ask or PM me. I've dealt with it for a long time and want to share as much info as I can.

[Jelisej]

CBT is great, you can even do it from your own computer. Check this out: CBT Self Help - Step 3 (http://www.getselfhelp.co.uk/cbtstep3.htm)

I had few spells of depression and sad feelings, sometimes caused by life events, but even hormonal imbalances had similar effect- and usually those two come together to make things more worse- body and mind do work together.

For me best relief was watching tv shows, it would take my mind of worrying- and in my experience idle brain is playground for depression. Other thing is I found that once something bad happens or sad happens its like avalanche- sad toughts keep coming till they crush you completely- and this is where CBT is extremely effective- basically you learn how to play it down.


Actually, your question should be: " Anybody here that did not have to deal with depression? "

[ironjulius]

if it wasnt for a dog i wouldve killed myself when i was 19. now if i didnt have kids i would have probably killed myself. between my fucked up life experiences and the chemicals in my brain (nature/nurture) im pretty screwed up. i pray to always be in recovery because my life is overall pretty good but its a lot of shit i dont feel like doing at times because im tired/depressed. DBT, CBT, support groups, the gym, just having hobbies and me time and appropriate rest time, writing and talking with people. spilling my shit of BBing forums lol i gotta go do shit i dont want to now so ill post more later maybe

[Jelisej]

if it wasnt for a dog i wouldve killed myself when i was 19. now if i didnt have kids i would have probably killed myself. between my fucked up life experiences and the chemicals in my brain (nature/nurture) im pretty screwed up. i pray to always be in recovery because my life is overall pretty good but its a lot of shit i dont feel like doing at times because im tired/depressed. DBT, CBT, support groups, the gym, just having hobbies and me time and appropriate rest time, writing and talking with people. spilling my shit of BBing forums lol i gotta go do shit i dont want to now so ill post more later maybe

Chemicals in brain (neurotransmitters) are difficult issue, but it can be dealt with.

Sometimes just sorting out hormonal profile is enough- which is sometimes just improving lifestyle, tough most of times its more than that. It depends what the problem is, IMO most of depressions caused by chemicals are connected with adrenals- or low adrenal hormone levels, sometimes E2 can be issue as it has very strong effect on serotonin- so when too much E2 is there person tends to overact be abnormally sensitive (similar to women on PMS) on other hand when its too low it could present itself with similar symptoms or it could be plain depression where one just want to put blanket over top of the head and stay in bed (low serotonine activity),
also if cortisol is low- body will try to compensate with adrenalin(s) which has downside, also it leads to depletion of pregnenolone which is powerfull neurosteroid and has neuroprotective properties....
Low dopamine levels (sometimes because high prolactin) has it symptoms etc...

[KGPL]

if it wasnt for a dog i wouldve killed myself when i was 19. now if i didnt have kids i would have probably killed myself. between my fucked up life experiences and the chemicals in my brain (nature/nurture) im pretty screwed up. i pray to always be in recovery because my life is overall pretty good but its a lot of shit i dont feel like doing at times because im tired/depressed. DBT, CBT, support groups, the gym, just having hobbies and me time and appropriate rest time, writing and talking with people. spilling my shit of BBing forums lol i gotta go do shit i dont want to now so ill post more later maybe

I'm similar in that aspect with a dog. From ages 14-15 I contemplated suicide on a daily basis. Dog helped get me through, it was the thought of coming home every day to someone that actually cared. Depression went away when I lost lost 100lbs, but being obese as a kid really ruins your life. Never want anyone to experience what I did on a day to day basis at that age.

Gym keeps me sane to this day. Any little things can be overlooked as I use them to fuel up a workout. This might not work for everyone, but for me it's the best way to overcome it.

[ctAL]

thanks a lot guys

i looked up a CBT place in my area already

today i had to take a spike shooter energy drink just to function today, i call it "happy in a can" on days like today when i feel really down to the point im just mentally fried.

- - - Updated - - -


Gym keeps me sane to this day.

the gym has been my anti drug for a long time now.......its been harder with each year now

like the older i get the more i overthink

[ctAL]

CBT is great, you can even do it from your own computer. Check this out: CBT Self Help - Step 3 (http://www.getselfhelp.co.uk/cbtstep3.htm)

I had few spells of depression and sad feelings, sometimes caused by life events, but even hormonal imbalances had similar effect- and usually those two come together to make things more worse- body and mind do work together.

For me best relief was watching tv shows, it would take my mind of worrying- and in my experience idle brain is playground for depression. Other thing is I found that once something bad happens or sad happens its like avalanche- sad toughts keep coming till they crush you completely- and this is where CBT is extremely effective- basically you learn how to play it down.


Actually, your question should be: " Anybody here that did not have to deal with depression? "

thank you very much

ive had days where i would go to the movies by myself that has really helped me a lot too

[Jelisej]

thank you very much

ive had days where i would go to the movies by myself that has really helped me a lot too

I would suggest you to avoid energy drinks, altough they help at the moment long term it will make it worse- I do understand you as I used to do same, and still sometimes I take caffeine drink, tough I know I should not.
CBT is good thing, I think it may be good idea to maybe add clomid- to top up your hormone levels, maybe bit of AI and bit of pregnenolone- I bet this would help a great deal, and combined with CBT- its win-win situation, as I body and mind work together, so its always good to address both sides.

Try watching "the Mentalist" or "House MD" or "Lost" or something similar, it will help. Also try to meet some people that you're good with that really like you as it will help, and you can keep posting here as well.

Other thing I want to say- depression is sometimes usefull thing as much as it may sound wrong- your subconscious mind/inner self or how would you say is signaling that you should change something, youre unhappy about things as they are- and if you were not depressed you would probably do nothing about it but because you are depressed you will have to do something- so it can lead to very positive changes.
Sometimes we need to sacrifice today for better tomorrow.

Good luck bro'.

[silverstrand]

Chemicals in brain (neurotransmitters) are difficult issue, but it can be dealt with.

Sometimes just sorting out hormonal profile is enough- which is sometimes just improving lifestyle, tough most of times its more than that. It depends what the problem is, IMO most of depressions caused by chemicals are connected with adrenals- or low adrenal hormone levels, sometimes E2 can be issue as it has very strong effect on serotonin- so when too much E2 is there person tends to overact be abnormally sensitive (similar to women on PMS) on other hand when its too low it could present itself with similar symptoms or it could be plain depression where one just want to put blanket over top of the head and stay in bed (low serotonine activity),
also if cortisol is low- body will try to compensate with adrenalin(s) which has downside, also it leads to depletion of pregnenolone which is powerfull neurosteroid and has neuroprotective properties....
Low dopamine levels (sometimes because high prolactin) has it symptoms etc...

I'm getting this idea that my adrenals might be compensating for low cortisol with adrenalins, depleting my pregnenolone as you say and causing my insomnia. This is guess work at this time without blookwork but my symptoms are very similar. I'm thinking 20 to 30 mg of Preg sublingual might be the answer or same amount 20 to 30 mg split between sublingual and transdermal? I dont want to do all transdermal because of the potential for high conversion to Progesterone that might cause suppression of DHT but then again, it might not even be an issue as Preg will work to balance out all hormones.