Depression

corinasue1143 · February 2020

Vitamin D and tyrosine for me.

magnusthenerd · February 2020

If you can't make your own neurotransmitters, store bought is fine.

There's nothing wrong conceptually with being medicated. A particular medication may not be right for you for whatever reason.

I found eventually with weight loss, diet and exercise I eventually felt a part of my life long depression was at a kind of manageable that the side effects of anti-depressants weren't worth it. I also think the particular anti-depressant I had been on for a long time, long before I started losing weight, was helpful during the early parts of the weight loss.

starlightseeker · February 2020

Diet and exercise will help, but in my experience they're no substitute for medication and therapy. I've only been on antidepressants for half a year, after leaving my issues untreated for over a decade. The meds allowed me to do more to help my own recovery than I would have otherwise, without them I would not have been able to do helpful things like exercise regularly or care enough about myself to eat well.

Bear in mind that antidepressants can take several weeks to start working, so if you dont feel different right away, dont worry. I would give them a chance, at any rate, and if you dont like them or they dont work for you discuss it with your doctor.

Exercise-wise, I would say anything you enjoy, but I've heard of the benefits of exercising outside in nature. Also, working out with a buddy or group might make work outs more enjoyable and harder to skip, as I know depression can make motivation very hard.

H_Ock12 · February 2020

I battled depression and suicidal tendencies for many years and medication just made me a zombie frog on a log. I took up long distance running and a Tony Robbins coaching program and between the two, I learned many things about myself and it did wonders in managing my depression. I'll never say I'm cured, but with the right tools I have learned to focus my energy, relieve myself of the things in my past that affected me, and carry on.

Running is alot like life...and there are many life lessons to be learned when you take to the trails and pavement for miles/hours/days at a time.

azulvioleta6 · February 2020

Johnisfat42 wrote: »

Thank you for your replies. I'm having blood tests done tomorrow and it was my GP that gave me them. I was going to give myself a month of trying things...they may work or may not but if not then I have the meds to fall back on. Right now if I had a scale of 1 being mild and 10 suicidal then I'm at a 4.

That sounds like a degree of clinical depression that is beyond what exercise and diet can do. What do people in your life think? If, for example, you have a spouse who supports getting on antidepressants, you should probably do it.

jo_nz · February 2020

slbbw wrote: »

I once had a Dr compare anti-depressant to crutches, in that you would not try to heal a broken leg while continuing to walk on it. Sometimes it is helpful to take an anti-deppressant while you work to find and fix a route cause of teh issue.

This is very much how it worked for me - the antidepressants allowed me to get my head in a better space, get some decent sleep, and basically set myself up for managing my depression without meds (eventually - it wasn't an instant fix).

I had tried to start eating better and exercising before that, but I couldn't quite pull myself out of that spiral without help.

In the midst of my depression, exercise actually made me feel worse!

Good luck - I hope you find what works for you.

ashtree42 · February 2020

Depression meds can help so much. I‘ve had moderate depression my whole life. They’ve improved my life significantly.
But the two least depressed phases of my life where the years I was getting lots of cardio exercise. At one time I did lots of swimming and hiking. Got out of the habit due to life. Then a few years later I got really into running. Lots of cardio really was the best antidepressant I took (definitely needed med kinds too sometimes,).
Pick exercises you like, try different things. Definitely try things that are outdoors and that you might do with friends (such good motivation when your feeling lazy).
You could consider trying meds, diet, and exercise. Then when you’re doing better see if you can cut out the meds . Of course check with doctor for what’s right for you!!!
Good luck

mbaker566 · February 2020

magnusthenerd wrote: »

If you can't make your own neurotransmitters, store bought is fine.

I have never heard this before and it's brilliant. totally borrowing this

chelleedub · February 2020

First of all, why see a doctor if you aren't going to follow his/her instructions? If she prescribed antibiotics, would you chuck them? Food, alcohol and exercise all change your brain chemistry the same way medication will. So I don't know if that's the issue or if you think having an illness makes you weak, but you have it regardless of how you treat it.

That said, why not do all three? Take the prescribed medication, change your diet, and start exercising.

MikePfirrman · February 2020

I'm not a doc and won't pretend to be, but as a Psych major and someone that closely follows the latest R&D related to mental illness and depression (something I've suffered from), I can tell you that there is some really innovative stuff coming out. It will be rebuffed by the Psychiatrists if it proves to be true, because it will show that up until now, we knew hardly anything about depression.

To summarize, there's three or four startups that have found depression is strongly related to the lack of one bacteria in the Microbiome. GABA feeds that Microbiome, so therapies are being created to improve the GABA levels naturally in your system. It seems that if that Microbiome flourishes, depression disappears, so the theory is that depression can be manipulated/treated with treating the bugs inside of you. They just aren't sure the best way just yet. Even though they are figuring out strong causal relationships between certain bacteria in the Microbiome and depression, it's not clear (yet at least) how to manipulate it the right way, but I think they are only a few years off.

Here's the rub. If they find out all the depression meds in the past were ineffective compared to a relatively easy manipulation of the microbiome, there will be mass blowback by the Psychological establishment and Big Pharma, because it's huge business.

Here's just one of many articles on some of the studies going on.

https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2019/02/evidence-mounts-gut-bacteria-can-influence-mood-prevent-depression

bmeadows380 · February 2020

In my experience, depression is a tricky diagnosis because it can be caused by a lot of things, from chemical imbalances, to things not operating in the brain like they should, to being a symptom of other health problems, to being caused by a negative way of thinking. And it can be a combination of things. That's why I'm behind the trying medications but also going to therapy - the therapy can help you navigate your thinking and emotions and help you form new patterns. If your depression is biological, then you needs meds to correct that - which is no different than needs meds to correct for diabetes, or thyroid issues, or whatever.

I do agree with trying lot of different things because everyone is different, and I know that some doctors are quick to just prescribe an anti-depressant and consider it to be done and over with. But not all doctors are that way, and most will work with you to find the right combination of actions and medications to help you get to a better place mentally. The best GPs will admit when they've reached their level of expertise, but they also have connections to be able to point you to others who have more knowledge to help you.

Depression

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