Mental illness and physical health

It's something I've struggled with since I was a kid.

I was put on antidepressants at 18, every variant, every dosage, but came off them a couple of years ago because they weren't helping; if anything, they were making things worse.

After that, I got very depressed and pretty much gave up on life. People always seem to think that a single traumatic event must have happened, some terrible ****ensnian misfortune must have befallen me, for me to get so low, but in reality it was just that everything had been so wrong for so long and I had lost hope of it ever getting better.

Anyway, out of the blue, an Aussie friend sent me Sarah Wilson's book on quitting sugar. It resonated and I decided to give it a try.

It turned out to be the first step in turning my life around

Once I felt better, I wanted to keep feeling better so I made other changes - trying to eat (mostly) clean; trying to eat regularly; trying to make sure I go outside everyday, even if it's just to the shop or the park; trying to exercise regularly; trying to get a good night's sleep (still the worst!) and making sure I'm not isolating myself.

All these things are pieces of the wellness pie, they're what everyone says you should do, but I wouldn't have been able to do them if I was still feeling so, so low. I needed a foundation of wellness to build upon.

And I'm really glad I've been active in my recovery because it's shown me that I'm stronger and more resilient and more determined than I would ever have believed. If I have a bad day, or week, I can draw on that. And I can feel proud of myself (which is not a very familiar feeling.)

Life's not perfect. I'm going through a very anxious and stressful time at the moment. I'm eating a lot of (85%) chocolate. But I get out of bed everyday (which is still the hardest part) and I don't want to die any more.

Please feel free to add me. I hope we can support and inspire each other.

ETA: That word MFP has censored? English writer, greatest novelist of the Victorian period. Not a penis.

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Depression is an ugly thing. Suffered my entire life can even remember wanting to die in my childhood. As an adult, I am so healthy emotionally with the aid of the right anti-depressant and the right mind frame. For me, I notice that mine can stem from too much energy or anxiety. So I have learned in the past few years to try and channel that energy positively with physical activity or creative/productive activity. There is a fabulous link to healthy mind from physical activity IMO. Weight loss helps with self esteem but I really attribute the benefits to be from exercise.

Over a year now I have been off of depression meds (buproprion) and I gained 30 lbs. which I'm now working on losing. Best things that helped me was taking a mindful walk listening to peaceful music. Wish I had found Leslie Sansone when I was going through most of the depression, because you can do her walk-at-home workouts and it's fairly gentle and easy on the joints. But I did yoga when I could muster the strength.

During anxiety and panic attacks my body would jerk and I would have to move in repetitive rocking motions to get through it. I wish I would have discovered crochet back then, it puts me in a meditative state, repeating a motion over and over.

The best thing I learned was not to take my depression on so seriously (always thinking "why me?" and thinking over and over about my problems). I have learned to roll with those "low" days and just adjust and be gentle with myself. This is why I think it's very important to approach exercise from a "gentle" standpoint when I have tough days. You need love and gentleness with yourself and there is no way a "KILLER CARDIO AND BURN" workout is going to appeal to most on those days.

P.S. Meditation! Yes! Yes! Yes!

hey guys, i'd like to jump in on this and share my two cents.
i've suffered from an eating disorder over the years, went through recovery and relapses multiple times. i am also diagnosed with mood disorder nos, and am a counselor at a residential facility for adults with mental health and substance abuse.
this is an interesting topic, but i believe there is a trend when it comes to mental health and physical health.
a lot of our residents, and client's at previous jobs, do struggle with health issues, many i believe due to their weight. we have a handful of residents with type 2 diabetes, and out of the 13 that currently live here, i would guess around 10 or 11 to be overweight. there are many reasons to that though, some being side effects to medication with weight gain, others just being symptomatic, depressed whatever the case and not feeling motivated to move physically. others are just uneducated about health, like many people with or without mental health are, and make poor lifestyle choices.
but i have been there before, where i was so depressed or anxious, and didn't care. i went from extremes to being underweight, and then while in my recovery, that turning into not really caring anymore about if i got up and took a walk or not, because nothing mattered at the time, i didn't matter and i didn't feel like i was good enough to be happy or good enough to deserve to be healthy.
i can't speak for everyone, but just myself. i do believe there is a correlation, and i think it will help a lot for those with mental illness to become educated about there being a higher risk for health issues.

I've dealt with panic attacks since my early to mid 20s. I thought that I could just deal with it, mind over matter. But I was wrong. Sometime in my mid-30s, I finally broke down and talked to my physicians about them. He gave me medication, which helped. Then, when the stresses reduced in my life, I went off the medication and stayed off for several years. Then, slowly but surely they creeped back up on me. I'm back on meds and, as far as panic goes, I'm doing much better.

Unfortunately, depression is a whole other ball game.

I have suffered from depression all my life. I have no idea what caused it. I was raised in a healthy, loving household by two parents that love me and each other. For some reason, I just could not bring myself to discuss my depression with my doctor, at least not until this past January. It took falling to an all-time low for me to realize how bad my depression had become. And it took me three months of trying to "fix" myself before I mustered up the nerve to mention it to my physician.

I still don't talk about my problems with people in my real life. Admitting to myself that I have issues is hard enough. But I could never talk about it with people outside my immediate family.

I have ADHD and do not treat it with drugs and I can tell you some days are a real struggle especially at this time when I have someone in the home that is being diagnosed with depression and I my daughter is having learning issues and under stress and I believe that because I am stressed out that it is causing her issues to. I feel that I have been put into the care taker position in the house where everybody else is getting professional help but me because for them it is free through their job and school but I would need to pay, I have been fighting off taking meds all my life but I think I am losing the battle and may need to go to the doc at some point before I have a breakdown. When I can focus on a workout it is great but I get distracted easily and when I lose focus it is hard to get back. I have also been trying to find people to work out with ( hiking and walking) but most of the women in my community are obese and have no interest in exercise

My dear, is there any way the people in your household can put together some money and get you to a professional? Perhaps there is a clinic somewhere that gives free counselling? Even try online counselling just to vent to someone. It sounds like you are really struggling.

I know it sounds silly but when I work myself up into a stress frenzy (I've had a lifetime of practice at this so I'm an expert) now, I just stop, close my eyes and take a in a deep lung bursting breath, and let it out slowly. Repeat as often as you need. It pulls my mind into the moment and gives me a few seconds to myself.

There is only one income coming into the house, but I am going to go talk to someone with my daughter at some point soon and will see if I can get a referral from them so hopefully sometime by the end of the summer.

I've suffered serious depression over the past year, which has contributed to me gaining around 20 lbs and a lot of the time the last thing I'd ever feel like doing was exercise or eating anything healthy. The upside though, is when you get on top of your issues, the health side seems easier to deal with too and put right.