Give me Strength - Depression, Anxiety, Stress et al.

[osymandus]

An interesting and relevant piece . Essentially those with depression have more neuro pathways .
http://www.thedailybeast.com/articl...vity-of-brain-regions-a-new-study-shows0.html

 

[Tommy2holes]

Good thread. As someome who has suffered in the past and been on medication at certain times it can be quite hard as quite a few people still see depression as a state of mind rather than an illness.

I am in quite a good place now mentally and even work in mental health so deal with people who are quite unwell.

What i do find strange is that i can wake up full of beans and then feel really depressed during the day and then feel fine again all within the same day.

Two things that i find really help.

Going to the gym and getting plenty of excercise.

When i am feeling down i remember the feeling of feeling better and undertsand that i wont always feel this way.

Healthy eating and moderating alcohol etc also helps

 

[Funky Kong]

Essentially re-training the brain to think more positively and look forward and not back is really important. Keeping the mind occupied is key during recovery. I will post more if I am able to gain access to my account.

 

[southend4ever]

I was working on a longer article to describe my experience with clinical depression but sadly upon writing I was re-living many of the bad experiences and articles sits unfinished on my home computer. I wanted to provide a little different angle on my own experience and allow people the chance to talk.

It seems to me that depression has been given a lot more publicity in the media recently. I wanted to create a thread that would give users a chance to better their understanding of the illness and ultimately communicate with each other.

2011 will be remembered by me as the worst year of my life with recurring effects. A bad stain of flu, thought to be swine, set upon me in late December 2010. Upon losing my appetite and the daily struggle to get out of bed I took myself to the doctors which ultimately led to me being diagnosed with depression.

What depression meant to me?
I was very fortunate to have people around me who had also been sufferers who explained their own personal situations which helped me to understand what perhaps I could expect to experience. I believe that I was lucky to appreciate depression as an illness as opposed to a weakness. After all, I am a firm believer in a positive mental attitude.

The reason I open with my choice of words in the above paragraph is because it is without doubt that I experienced the toughest 3 months of my life. It started when I completely lost my appetite. I would be starving and would be enthusiastic to eat but for some bizarre unknown reason to me I just couldn’t chew or digest my food. My mouth went dry and my body wasn’t interested. This also applied to homemade liquidised soups. There were a couple of days I literally couldn’t consume anything. A good day was taking 1-2 hours to get through a small bowl of fruit or soup. The knock on effect was losing weight. This wasn’t just from my stomach this was all over, my face become gaunt and my legs skinny. I lost two stone in a month. Poor hygiene coincided with this and I didn’t shower because I would shiver if I took my clothes off and standing up for 5 minutes was most probably very unlikely without falling over. Concentration was an issue too and watching the television was fast becoming a chore. Other than having a shower every 5-7 days I was doing very little other than sleep. I had no energy and a severe lack of vitamin D from being surrounded by 4 walls for 24 hours a day.

At this point my body wanted to shut down. I had lost what felt like every bit of confidence and I couldn’t bring myself to even talk to my other half. I could only confide in my parents. At first I believe that the flu led to chest pains but it become apparent that these were a symptom of depression. I was lying in bed for most of the day convincing myself that I was in a dead end tunnel that didn’t even have lights throughout it. The pain was partly physical but the mental strain of telling myself that the chest pains were something severe and losing my identity as an individual was the hardest thing to deal with. In between anxiety attacks I was doing my best to rest my eyes. The pain disappeared and I was most happy when asleep. I visited the doctor again and was prescribed some tablets.

The tablets began to kick in 3-4 days later and with 7 days I was eating a sandwich for lunch. Eating was a big positive, something that we take for granted. My parents told me to grasp the positives and build on them. They told me that without a belief that I could get better that it was most unlikely that I would. They said that I should aim to build on my positives day by day. Even if it was little achievements such as having a packet of crisps for lunch. I began building elements back into my life such as television, walking the dog, use of the computer and phone calls to my girlfriend and my close friends. The phone had to be handed over to my parents though for them to provide updates on how I was doing. The less time I spent thinking about my health the better. I made an attempt to walk the dog with my mum which backfired and within 100 yards I had to walk home arm in arm. I had an anxiety attack and struggled to breath. I re-visited the doctor and was introduced to some breathing techniques via the internet. I was also given an inhaler which was partly a security blanket, a piece of mind.

This was just a small blip though and it’s quite clear that I can support the views that were given to me that with depression you suffer many ups and downs. Perhaps that is why many suffer from depression throughout their whole life. I had become a shy and insecure man who needed a second opinion on everything that he said or did. I didn’t want to socialise and I didn’t have the attention span to do much more than sit in bed. However, with the tablets and an improved mindset and belief that I could get better I set upon doing more day by day. I was honestly at an all time low and the next stage would have been considering taking my life but fortunately it didn’t get to that and I like to think that is because of the love and support of those close to me. On reflection I have absolutely no doubts that without the love and support of those closest to me I would still be in a deep depression.

The intake of food allowed me some extra energy and concentration. I was using the laptop regularly to research depression and take my mind off of being so down. Every time I thought of going back to work I would suffer a wobble which would bring on chest pains, worry and general inactivity. The initial positive steps were intake of food, watching television and using the laptop. This built onto eating a main meal, walking the dog and using the phone to communicate. The final steps and memories for me were visiting my local town centre with my father and having friends round to visit and then of course returning to work.

Quite frankly the process is ongoing. Before this episode whilst I suffered from worrying I had never suffered chest pains and a feeling of weakness in my body. Since returning to work and interacting with people I have been able to build my confidence. However, it does not stop my insecurities; it hasn’t entirely stopped the chest pains, which I never suffered prior to being told I am suffering with depression. I am subconsciously looking for the signs and have a better understanding of how to deal with them now.

The bottom line is that my improvement in health was due to communication. Being open allowed me to understand the illness and establish ways to improve. It enabled me to receive the love, support and understanding of those close to me. I could talk to my friends about it if I needed but by accepting them back in my life I had a communication channel to stop spending 24 hours thinking about my plight in health. I’ll be honest, there were many times that I thought I was dying and I didn’t envisage a road to recovery but with a little belief and a lot of communication I have jumped on the upward curb to happiness. Sadly enough supporting West Ham probably hasn’t been the best for my recovery but at least this year we are at the top of the league! I hope this short article can help you take a good look at yourself and those around you to spot any signs of sufferers and will help to better your understanding of depression. I could go into much more detail but having probably lost some of you already I will stop now and give you the chance to think through what I have said and apply it to your own situation or perhaps someone close to you and maybe just maybe it will help to deal with any mental illness that you or someone is suffering.

It does help to talk so please express your opinions and I am more than happy to receive private messages because I would love to think that this post and my experience of depression can help combat your fears. Thanks for reading and I hope this has been of benefit to you.

 

[southend4ever]

For those that dismiss depression as a case of 'pulling yourself together' I hope the following will help your understanding:

Severe episodes of depression leave people with gross lack of cognition, lacking the ability of recall and concentration. They often are not sleeping, have poor appetite and low energy. They have thoughts of guilt, hopelessness and sadly in some cases death. Their thoughts are negative, bleak and dark. This often coincides with a dibilatating anxiety / agitation that absolutely floors, often, the strongest of people. Their thought processes are often so alien to them and restricted by the illness. It is very much as though the colour has been drained from their world. Believe me, people with a severe depression have tried so hard alone to get out of it before and if they seek help.

The thought processes of people with depression are so grossly impaired that to suggest exercising imagination alone as a cure is deeply misleading and is akin to the rather unhelpful 'pull yourself togeather' tag that some uninformed people band about.

Things such as exercise, healthy eating and challenging negative thoughts {if someone is at a stage where they are capable of doing this} can be of great benefit. Treatment such as Cognitive Behavioural Therapy can be great ALONGSIDE Anti Depressant treatment. In my expereince treatment with Anti depressants has resolved an episode of depression along with a strong support network of friends, family, professionals, therapy and working hard on above mentioned activites of daily living.

Clinical Depression is very treatable with the right help.