Depression and Weight Loss
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19gabriela01 wrote: »Some days are so good. I exercise, I eat well and everything seems perfect. Yesterday I had an appointment with a psychiatrist. I went only because my mom insisted. Didn't really say anything to the doctor tho. At night I cut myself again and now I am sitting in the hospital in tears and no hope.
I am sincerely saddened that you feel hopeless at the moment. Just know that there are always people who will support you and help you with your struggle, even if they can't understand your pain. And you will usually find that such people will live their lives without judgement of others, often because they have had to deal with struggles of their own.0 -
Hi Everyone,
Let's agree that the mechanisms of Depression are real and require investigation and discussion. One strong feature of Depression is knowing when our feelings can bring us to our knees. The feelings of hopelessness, the feelings of isolation, feelings of being a burden to name a few. Depression scars our brain and makes us truly generate GLOBAL thoughts and associated dark and painful feelings. When these thoughts and feelings run our lives, we are in terrible danger of terrible problem-solving and potential harm. The solution(s) have to be considered and without sounding like a cliche, professional help, a healthy social support network, self-care, and time to heal makes sense to me. I decided not to make myself feel guilt or shame if I don't write every day on our thread. I discussed this with my counsellor and he asked me why it was important for me to be so "dedicated". The answer was interesting. I guess it has been my way of feeling important and useful. I suppose that is ok ....but not because I need to be needed but because I play a small part in the history and process of this discussion. I do love the experience. But what I need to love more is me and not making myself feel that I am a good person or a bad person based on my performance. I know that my depressed mind can easily skew my decision making and make me avoid, blame, get scared and not want to do. So...I need to slow my decision making down and decide what is the best way of handling what my world is demanding of me.
I'm not show if this is making sense but I am quite concerned with how we may be swallowed up my our moods. We need to be careful and respectful of ourselves.
I would love to hear your comments about this insert.
Shel
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I pretend im my future fit self traveling back in time coaching myself on how i can get there faster and more efficient i do that with money too but really I try to laugh as much as possible and i workout when I'm down to be my drug its like instead of drinking smoking eating i just go for a long walk and map it or go train and take pictures try to find reasons to love yourself more for who you are becoming1
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shelleygold wrote: »Hi Everyone,
Let's agree that the mechanisms of Depression are real and require investigation and discussion. One strong feature of Depression is knowing when our feelings can bring us to our knees. The feelings of hopelessness, the feelings of isolation, feelings of being a burden to name a few. Depression scars our brain and makes us truly generate GLOBAL thoughts and associated dark and painful feelings. When these thoughts and feelings run our lives, we are in terrible danger of terrible problem-solving and potential harm. The solution(s) have to be considered and without sounding like a cliche, professional help, a healthy social support network, self-care, and time to heal makes sense to me. I decided not to make myself feel guilt or shame if I don't write every day on our thread. I discussed this with my counsellor and he asked me why it was important for me to be so "dedicated". The answer was interesting. I guess it has been my way of feeling important and useful. I suppose that is ok ....but not because I need to be needed but because I play a small part in the history and process of this discussion. I do love the experience. But what I need to love more is me and not making myself feel that I am a good person or a bad person based on my performance. I know that my depressed mind can easily skew my decision making and make me avoid, blame, get scared and not want to do. So...I need to slow my decision making down and decide what is the best way of handling what my world is demanding of me.
I'm not show if this is making sense but I am quite concerned with how we may be swallowed up my our moods. We need to be careful and respectful of ourselves.
I would love to hear your comments about this insert.
Shel
Interesting idea and true for me. Moods often seem like reality and I tend to base my choices on mood instead of fact. Guilt is an everyday part of my life. I find that I set standards for myself that are impossible to attain and that I would never even think of placing on anyone else. I'm willing to forgive everyone but myself. It would be nice to be "careful and respective" of myself. I just need to convince myself that I deserve it and that's the hard part.0 -
shelleygold wrote: »Hi Courageous People
(love the pictures moyer66)
Apologies for not writing much in the past few days. Even now, this has to be a quickie. I had a question for you? What do you do to improve your sleeping patterns? Do you think your sleep impacts on your mood and eating behaviours? I have had some interesting experiences in the past few days which I will write about.
Hope everyone has a lovely day/evening
S
I need sleep. More than exercise. More than food. I treat my bedroom as a sanctuary. It's all lavender/plum and sage/emerald green. I have a couple big bulletin boards with tons of pics of friends and family. Pretty furniture from Ikea that I assembled all by myself--even the stuff that said it required two people. HAH! An oil burner for some lavender oil. Light canceling drapes. My phone is my alarm clock and it's face down. No ambient light. I used to get all worked up over what time it was when I woke up in the middle of the night. (I drink a LOT of green tea.) First I turned the digital alarm clock towards the wall, then I ditched it. I seriously think I made myself tired by thinking I should be tired due to the hours of sleep. I take a little melatonin. I go to sleep listening to my ipod. A comedy or rom-com that I know by heart and don't need to watch.0 -
19gabriela01 wrote: »Some days are so good. I exercise, I eat well and everything seems perfect. Yesterday I had an appointment with a psychiatrist. I went only because my mom insisted. Didn't really say anything to the doctor tho. At night I cut myself again and now I am sitting in the hospital in tears and no hope.
Are you back with us? Sending you healing thoughts and strength--we have hope, use ours until you find your own. You're braver than you give yourself credit for.0 -
Guys, thank you all for those beautiful words. They really mean a lot to me. I've been actually feeling better after a doctor prescribed me medicine. Hope you are all good too.
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Glad to hear it - thanks for the update
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shelleygold wrote: »Hi Courageous People
(love the pictures moyer66)
Apologies for not writing much in the past few days. Even now, this has to be a quickie. I had a question for you? What do you do to improve your sleeping patterns? Do you think your sleep impacts on your mood and eating behaviours? I have had some interesting experiences in the past few days which I will write about.
Hope everyone has a lovely day/evening
S
I need sleep. More than exercise. More than food. I treat my bedroom as a sanctuary. It's all lavender/plum and sage/emerald green. I have a couple big bulletin boards with tons of pics of friends and family. Pretty furniture from Ikea that I assembled all by myself--even the stuff that said it required two people. HAH! An oil burner for some lavender oil. Light canceling drapes. My phone is my alarm clock and it's face down. No ambient light. I used to get all worked up over what time it was when I woke up in the middle of the night. (I drink a LOT of green tea.) First I turned the digital alarm clock towards the wall, then I ditched it. I seriously think I made myself tired by thinking I should be tired due to the hours of sleep. I take a little melatonin. I go to sleep listening to my ipod. A comedy or rom-com that I know by heart and don't need to watch.
Sleep is critical for me as well. Without it, I am just like the studies show - A sleepy brain appears to not only respond more strongly to junk food, but also has less ability to rein that impulse in.
I use the light canceling drapes too and it's like Dracula's lair in here. I also use Macks Ear Seals Ear Plugs with Removable Cord.
I try to get in all my liquids early enough so that I stop drinking a few hours before bed and work at peeing a lot right before bed so my bladder doesn't wake me.
I read myself to sleep. Jean Auel - fantastic; Stephen King - bad.
If I have unusual commitments the next day, I tend to sleep badly due to having anxiety about nmot sleeping well and so take something. I used to take melatonin regularly, but since I ramped up the exercise, don't seem to need it as much.0 -
19gabriela01 wrote: »Guys, thank you all for those beautiful words. They really mean a lot to me. I've been actually feeling better after a doctor prescribed me medicine. Hope you are all good too.
Great news! Thank you for sharing :-)0 -
Just checking in.
Sleep is essential to me functioning well. more sleep the better-I rarely get enough.
Cutting can be from many things. Like double checking you are alive, trying to cut into the ball of emotion because you need a little tear to unravel it. Some people find blood reaffirming.
I've found that grounding(see previous post) and telling myself what is real and not real helps. This blanket is real, it is warm, my dog is soft, etc and finally get around to I have people who love and acknowledge me. I've also found that when i have a ball of emotion, exercising really hard helps me sort thru my emotions because it provides a thread to start to unravel the ball. When it's a ball, i can't distinguish the feelings and can't deal with them then. Having a thread starts the process.
That said, I still have some nasty bouts of depression. I do my best to just walk thru them. Feel the feelings but just let them wash over me and not let them get an anchor.0 -
19gabriela01 wrote: »Guys, thank you all for those beautiful words. They really mean a lot to me. I've been actually feeling better after a doctor prescribed me medicine. Hope you are all good too.
Great news! Thank you for sharing :-)
Hey Myra,19gabriela01 wrote: »Guys, thank you all for those beautiful words. They really mean a lot to me. I've been actually feeling better after a doctor prescribed me medicine. Hope you are all good too.
Great news! Thank you for sharing :-)
You are provide such wisdom and insight. I love your metaphor of the ball and how you manage it. You are a champion!
Shel
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soulofgrace wrote: »It's the holiday season! Yippee. Not. I haven't been sleeping. I fell off a table onto my shoulder a month ago and haven't been able to sleep well since. I am grumpy, deflated, unmotivated and thouroughly unprepared for all the food and sentiment of the holidays. I will get through this, just like every year. But this year is the first year I've been counting CICO. I dont want a setback. Ive been doing so well. I just feel so worn out because of my shoulder. I think I probably ate a 1/2 pint of Ben and Jerry's yesterday because of some family stressors that erupted. I'm just so tired. Oh well. Today is another day. Best wishes to everyone here!
i have been busier than usual lately, and i've just re-read some "old" posts..... i want to apologize for not responding to you earlier. i read it.... but then got distracted by another post and forgot to come back and, well... here i am a couple weeks later.
i can relate to what you wrote in a number of ways: my hip hurts, and the pain does wear me out. it's not that it's all that painful really, but the dull pain tells me i can't exercise the way i need to (and want to) and the psychological impact wears me out. I've been sleeping better than you have
but not as well as i usually do. new meds. oh goodie. i ALSO don't want a setback due to holiday stressors. i lost some control over thanksgiving, but typically christmas derails me like no other. so, there you go. I hope, by NOW, your shoulder is better, your sleep has improved, and we can both make a plan to get through December unscathed! 0 -
nefudaboss wrote: »I pretend im my future fit self traveling back in time coaching myself on how i can get there faster and more efficient i do that with money too but really I try to laugh as much as possible and i workout when I'm down to be my drug its like instead of drinking smoking eating i just go for a long walk and map it or go train and take pictures try to find reasons to love yourself more for who you are becoming
i like this attitude. instead of wishing i could go back to my younger self...... i'm going to follow your lead in pretending my future self is here to talk some sense into me, lol. cool idea!0 -
shelleygold wrote: »Hi Everyone,
Let's agree that the mechanisms of Depression are real and require investigation and discussion. One strong feature of Depression is knowing when our feelings can bring us to our knees. The feelings of hopelessness, the feelings of isolation, feelings of being a burden to name a few. Depression scars our brain and makes us truly generate GLOBAL thoughts and associated dark and painful feelings. When these thoughts and feelings run our lives, we are in terrible danger of terrible problem-solving and potential harm. The solution(s) have to be considered and without sounding like a cliche, professional help, a healthy social support network, self-care, and time to heal makes sense to me. I decided not to make myself feel guilt or shame if I don't write every day on our thread. I discussed this with my counsellor and he asked me why it was important for me to be so "dedicated". The answer was interesting. I guess it has been my way of feeling important and useful. I suppose that is ok ....but not because I need to be needed but because I play a small part in the history and process of this discussion. I do love the experience. But what I need to love more is me and not making myself feel that I am a good person or a bad person based on my performance. I know that my depressed mind can easily skew my decision making and make me avoid, blame, get scared and not want to do. So...I need to slow my decision making down and decide what is the best way of handling what my world is demanding of me.
I'm not show if this is making sense but I am quite concerned with how we may be swallowed up my our moods. We need to be careful and respectful of ourselves.
I would love to hear your comments about this insert.
Shel
Shel.... what you wrote makes perfect sense to me. and it sounds like you are making great progress with your counselor! so congrats on that I must admit.... if you left and didn't come back to this thread, i'd be bummed (for myself). but if that was what was best for YOU, i would be happy that you are taking care of you now, i'm not saying that is what you meant, because i know it is not. you aren't leaving, leaving. you just don't want to feel compelled to leave a post when what you need to do for you is to just read and reflect. as a friend of mine used to say: "it's all good"
I'm still learning what is healthy for me and what is not. i've come a long way, but i know there's more to learn. i also know that what is healthy for me now isn't necessarily what will be healthy for me in the future. I hope you quickly learn (i mean REALLY learn) that you are important and useful by just being the you, you are right now. Your importance has nothing to do with posting on MFP or anywhere else. i enjoy reading your posts, but that is totally unrelated.
You are a precious child of the universe. you are important. you are worth taking care of. you are worth loving.
and this "you" applies to each and every one of us, even me (egad!) like alizesmom, i find it hardest to apply to myself
cheers and healthy December everyone!0 -
Just checking in.
Sleep is essential to me functioning well. more sleep the better-I rarely get enough.
Cutting can be from many things. Like double checking you are alive, trying to cut into the ball of emotion because you need a little tear to unravel it. Some people find blood reaffirming.
I've found that grounding(see previous post) and telling myself what is real and not real helps. This blanket is real, it is warm, my dog is soft, etc and finally get around to I have people who love and acknowledge me. I've also found that when i have a ball of emotion, exercising really hard helps me sort thru my emotions because it provides a thread to start to unravel the ball. When it's a ball, i can't distinguish the feelings and can't deal with them then. Having a thread starts the process.
That said, I still have some nasty bouts of depression. I do my best to just walk thru them. Feel the feelings but just let them wash over me and not let them get an anchor.
i can't help but wonder if you truly know what an amazingly strong person you are. I am impressed with your ability to ground yourself. you have learned wonderful, healthy ways to cope. I've never thought about not letting negative feelings 'get an anchor'...... i'll have to mull over that one for a while. thanks for the food for thought!
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@alyjb1121 I think you can still suffer from postpartum depression, even if you are diagnosed with depression beforehand. Maybe pregnancy can make it worse, I'm going off second hand information here and I haven't really discussed it with my doctor yet. Though, she did say that depression can worsen after pregnancy.
Also, when scheduling your meals, schedule some 'you' time as well. Even if it's just an hour at night to read something you like, make time for yourself. You'd be surprised how much that actually does help.
PPD was something I was terrified of during my pregnancy. I suffer from clinical depression and anxiety, as well as other things that I never brought up to a doctor before. My OB advised me that PPD is more likely for those that suffer from depression. Thankfully, it didn't occur, but I was very depressed after my daughter was born, as bad fights occurred between my boyfriend(now husband) and I. You know, the whole work load and who does what more than the other, needing help, getting up with the baby, ugh.1 -
soulofgrace wrote: »It's the holiday season! Yippee. Not. I haven't been sleeping. I fell off a table onto my shoulder a month ago and haven't been able to sleep well since. I am grumpy, deflated, unmotivated and thouroughly unprepared for all the food and sentiment of the holidays. I will get through this, just like every year. But this year is the first year I've been counting CICO. I dont want a setback. Ive been doing so well. I just feel so worn out because of my shoulder. I think I probably ate a 1/2 pint of Ben and Jerry's yesterday because of some family stressors that erupted. I'm just so tired. Oh well. Today is another day. Best wishes to everyone here!
i have been busier than usual lately, and i've just re-read some "old" posts..... i want to apologize for not responding to you earlier. i read it.... but then got distracted by another post and forgot to come back and, well... here i am a couple weeks later.
i can relate to what you wrote in a number of ways: my hip hurts, and the pain does wear me out. it's not that it's all that painful really, but the dull pain tells me i can't exercise the way i need to (and want to) and the psychological impact wears me out. I've been sleeping better than you have but not as well as i usually do. new meds. oh goodie. i ALSO don't want a setback due to holiday stressors. i lost some control over thanksgiving, but typically christmas derails me like no other. so, there you go. I hope, by NOW, your shoulder is better, your sleep has improved, and we can both make a plan to get through December unscathed!
Thanks Myra. I must admit seeing your response brought weepy eyes for me tonight. I had another family 'eruption' today. I fear I've most likely passed on my depression to my son.
But, at least he has a mom who can relate. We will learn together.
Unfortunately my shoulder has continued to keep me up at night. For 6 weeks now, it causes pain no matter what position I'm in, so I am I'll prepared to deal with life's usual stressors. I told my rheumatologist the bright side of my shoulder injury is that it has over shadowed my usual aches and pains.
My two-day Thanksgiving adventure found me drowning my emotions in an extra large serving of pecan pie...mmm. I'm paying for it now with a nice, slow decline back to my pre-Thanksgiving weight. Sigh. But, pecan pie! I'm okay with it. Another bright side...there usually isn't pecan pie at Christmas! I think I'm in for a smooth landing in 2016.
Going to the Ortho on Monday. Probably physical therapy. Next time I will get the stupid step-stool instead of improvising.
Thanks again, and yes, we'll get through these holidays with a little help from our friends! The ones who best understand.0 -
No one gets through the holiday season unscathed. Kinda like no one gets through high school unscathed.
What we can do is know this, understand which experiences are most likely to affect us and prepare as best we can. Remembering where the potholes are, makes it easier to avoid them. And not letting the new potholes that we run into derail us from where we know we need to go.
Having faith in ourselves, to know how resilient we are, and to see beyond the immediate discussion so that it doesn't draw us in to negative patterns of behavior. Instead of reaching for more pie, go for a walk/run. That's my strategy.
And there's so much pride in each trigger that's diffused. Each piece of bait that's not taken. Each button pushed that we let not set us off as expected. Other folks may de-volve into their familial destructive patterns, but we can continue to evolve in support of healthier selves.0 -
shelleygold wrote: »Having experienced bouts of Depression over the years, I have found that my mood impacts in direct and indirect ways my weight issues. The direct impact is eating more food when I am feeling down and or hopeless as I think less of the longer term consequences rather than the immediate sense of trying to fill a void in my life and/or eating whatever I like because everything is futile and there is no point in worrying about weight since we are all on the Titanic. The indirect impact is a creation of higher levels of cortisol in my system due to increased stress and this reality creates an imbalance in my homeostasis which makes weight loss harder. Also, not eating health foods in a depressed state denies the body of the necessary range of nutrients and this can create lethargy and may even increase the depression. I am wondering if folks might be interested in sharing their experiences with the Depression and weight management and we might discuss some important strategies and ideas that may help? Just throwing this up for consideration.
Sometimes low fat diets will trigger depression. Try a ketogenic diet.
I hope this helps,
Dan the Man from Michigan0
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