I want to get better > Depression

MissShancey1

I cant remember a time in my life when i wasn't struggling with anxiety and depression ... I finally went to my doctor and was prescribed 2 medications, one for each problem... BUT she told me not to take them until i get back from my vacation next week .. i can take the anxiety ones when ever i need them but the depression ones i cant start until i get back ... i dont like the idea of taking medication ... but i have been having a really hard time the last few days... i havent been out of bed in 3 days...

i guess im looking for some sort of diet/exercise related advice ...or maybe just people to support me ... i dont know what i want... or what i need ... i just know that i dont want this anymore...

rose228822

I'm sorry that you are struggling with anxiety as well as depression...I was on anxiety medicine for several years and just didn't want to feel so lethargic and it stopped the anxiety but I started feeling depressed....I know it sounds corny but losing the weight and working out has given me so much more medicine...I look back at pics of myself just a few years ago and I look out of it...I now do not take any meds except high blood pressure medicine but I'm trying to get off that too:)
Enjoy your vacation if you can and you can add me as a friend...try to take baby steps and just don't stay in bed because it will only get harder with each day that goes by....take care.

Sedna_51

Oh, honey. I'm so sorry. I have been where you are. It's a hard place. Take your medicine, please. It doesn't make you weak, it doesn't make you a failure, it doesn't make you bad. It gives you the ability to start moving. Have you ever done physical therapy, or had a friend who did it? Do you know how they tell people in PT to take pain medicine before they start their session? Doctors don't do that because they want to coddle people; the do it because the want to give them the chance to move, and heal, and get better. This is /exactly/ the same thing. Someone with diabetes isn't "weak" because they take their medicine. Someone with a knee injury isn't "giving up" unless they hobble around in pain.

Is there one thing you can do today? One single thing, no matter how small it is? It can be taking a shower, it can be washing a dish, it can be sticking one foot out of the covers and putting on the ground for five seconds. Anything. Do one single thing today, if you can, and concentrate on the fact that you did something. The depression doesn't want you to do anything; it wants you to stay where you are. Do anything-one single thing- and you're spitting in its eye. You're saying "I can do this thing, even though you're telling me not to". And when you do the first thing, then sometimes you're exhausted and you need a break just to keep holding onto that ground you've gained. But sometimes then you can do a second thing, and that pushes it back a little further.

I've been on antidepressants for sixteen years. I take them because I have a disease, one that runs in my family. They don't make me weak, or a failure, or a lazy slob. They make it so I can get up in the morning, and go and do my job, and meet friends for movies, and play with dogs, and sit here and type this message to you.

It can get better.

bethfartman

I've been on and off a slue of anxiety and bipolar meds my whole life and I agree with the other poster, nothing has been more effective in improving my mental heath than exercise and eating right. I wouldn't say I would never get back on meds again, there may be a time I'll need them (and I'm hyper aware of my depressive/manic states, so I don't let things get out of control), but for now exercise is doing the trick. As for anxiety meds, while they're great, for me I feel like they just dull the issues and never allow me to work them out. I still take a xanax every now and then, but once I'm calmed down I sit down and figure out why I had an anxiety attack and what I can do in the future to avoid it (not avoid the situation, but avoid my reaction.) Sometimes just forcing myself to regularly do things that make me anxious really helps long-term, as well. Good luck!