Living with depression is debilitating!!!!!

FairyFox, one of the greatest feelings I get when I meet up with my Veteran brothers is they way they shake hands and a carring HUG, at that time all your trouble seem to be absorbed by the other person, this feeling is reciprical, yet no ill effects and for atime your life appears to be normal, and when parting it is like loosing a big hunk of yourself and things return to the way they were. Hell.

Ivana makes some good suggestions 🙂

I have been living and handling my GAD and Depression quite successfully for the past 7 years and in the last 2 years I have found some natural ways of keeping my mind healthy which you might also find useful.

I make sure I have a written routine which helps organise my daily activities and keeps me on track with my goals. It includes an exercise regime (EVERY DAY) of at least an hour. I make myself (often force myself) to do half an hour at least of cardio (running, or bikeriding) and then maybe weights or yoga. I have found that this has significantly boosted my mood and when I have a lapse in my amount of exercise, in just a few days, my depression will seep back into my life. It is very important for me to stay ontop of my physical activity. I am currently on a low dosage SSRI which has helped me a lot, but I believe the exercise is why my dosage has been able to drop successfully. I now consider exercise as part of my medication, which has been a good way of looking at it as it is very hard for me to get motivated, especially when the depression and anxiety start to build up & take over.

Another element which has helped me a lot is my diet. I used to drink coffee. Which I have completely cut out. I read that caffeine is really bad for both anxiety and depression... and in my case, BOY were they right! It was hard to cut out coffee, but it was worth it. Likewise, I try to limit my intake of packaged / processed foods. If you read the ingredients, it's amazing what some things contain. I believe these things could have a negative influence on some people. Sulfites (preservative 220-228) are one to stay away from too. Migraine causing preservatives in wine and dried fruits and a lot of other things! They are illegal in a few countries, USA & Germany being two, and yet in Australia they're nearly impossible to avoid.

There are quite a few natural depression fighting foods too! Also a lot of doctors will tell you most Aussies have a lack in Vitamin D, this is important in mental health too!!! Likewise, vitamin C, vitamin E, Omega 3, protein & antioxidants. ie, a balanced natural diet and some daily vitamin supplements can do wonders. Some people even claim that not drinking enough water can cause all sorts of issues, although I have not personally experienced this one, a decent amount of hydration can't hurt.

Personally, daily exercise, good healthy natural foods and vitamins are helping me a lot. So why not give it a shot? I look at it as being not only a healthy ticket to a potentially better mental state and part of my way of "normalising" or "stabilising" myself. It is so hard, I'm not saying it is easy. I don't want to make it sound like a simple solution. It is bloody difficult to motivate yourself and the natural food thing is even harder than you'd think, sometimes it doesn't always stick for me, but it has such a huge impact on me and my relationships & lifestyle are all the better for it.

Depression will always be something that is there for some of us, but sometimes we can beat it back with a few techniques that doctors don't always stress. Occasionally they'll mention exercise, but they never push it. I think this is one of the key "medications" that everyone should be forced to try before they go on real medications. And what they often say in amount of exercise is actually less than we need (those of us with mental health issues). Exercise as a medication needs to be taken seriously and EVERY day. I find that a good sign I'm doing it right is the sweat factor. Your body needs to build up endorphans and the sweat is proof of that!

Good Luck 🙂

It is an endless battle, but I hope this helps you the way it has helped me.

Hey @bluejay (& others!)

I noticed that you're very commited to your exercise regime. Maybe you have an opinion to offer in this discussion about exercise?

@FairyFox we havent "seen" you around in a little while - how are you?

Hi bluejay,

Not sure I've said welcome - so welcome! It's hard to keep up with everyone with so many new people joining, but it's great too. (Lately I have needed to work pretty hard at being well and not getting over-stimulated so I am taking most things in small doses, including the forum. I have a long running tendency to turn life-giving things into obligatory "work", which in turn means I no longer find them life-giving but instead draining. When I find myself doing that now I back off and try to seek again the sense of invitation in whatever it is, and then just respond to that. - I hope that makes sense.)

Terrific detailed suggestions, thanks! Also for being very real about how hard it is.

Currently regular exercise is not part of my self-care. Only because I recognised that in the past being extremely fit (and I have been a few times in my life) were definitely periods when I tended to also be manic. I was frightened that it might trigger mania for me. However when I talked with my psych about it she said she felt that it is not the thing itself (whatever it might be - such as exercise) which is the risk factor for me - but doing it to excess (which I have definitely done, not saying yours is - again not OSFA). So I now have an open door which I need to walk through to start. Your post has been a timely reminder to take up the (funded) option of going to the gym again. So thanks!

Also your point about vitamin deficiencies and mental health is very pertinent. It makes a huge and surprising difference. In particular Vit D which many may not realise we get mainly from bare skin exposure to the sun. Vital for many aspects of health. Best of all it's free! Lack of it is related to many serious health problems. Some people may have heard of "cabin fever" in colder climes, but may not realise depression is often an early sign, and you can suffer from it here too. My partner and I found out painfully first-hand when we moved to this valley and lived in a house which got no sunshine through winter. When we moved winter sunshine (particularly a Northerly aspect) was top of the must-have list.

Keep up the great self care, and thanks again for your post.

Kind regards,

Kristin

Wise words as always Sandy!

I so love your humour Che! Ditto to the sentiment

@Maude @ivana @FairyFox @Pipkin @kato

You are so right. It is so easy to say the words "get help" when sadly the reality is that you often have to be a persistent (in my case downright pig-headed) bugger to find it.

Being regarded as too sick or too well for what is perceived as available is an incredibly painful experience. Espeically when you are already suffering terribly, and reaching out is so excruciating that one feels flayed of all emotional skin even before getting the brush-off or knock back.

Having said that I would encourage you to keep looking and asking anyway, as you can.

I say this because I know first-hand how incredibly difficult finding good help is. It took me over 4 years of active asking and searching to find a psychiatrist within an hour or so drive of me who would even consider offering regular ongoing therapy (for much of that time I was without alternate support). And I knew what I was looking for before I started looking. I am now blessed with a good psych who I see weekly and accepts that the best med for me is quiet, pills don't even enter our discussion generally. She is such a gift! They are out there, but they are bloody hard to find.

It can be even worse finding help for a child or adolescent because it is even more specialised. My youngest was 9 months old at the time of the Black Saturday bushfires: she, her father, and myself were all traumatised in various ways. I started looking for help for her almost immediately, I started receiving trauma counselling within months (it was a life-saver).

She is now a 6yo in prep and, after keeping on searching and asking for 5 years, I've finally found a service which recognises, and is appropriate to, her needs (again accessed by driving an hour each way for appointments). For so long most "professionals" either wouldn't recognise she was traumatised, said if I "fixed" myself she'd be fine, or said surviving trauma was good for building resilience! Talk about dismissive. The last is utter bunkum - it is appropriate and timely help (both external and internal) which builds resilience. Trauma untreated is cumulative. We are now in the midst of finding out how much she is carrying around, and hard as it is to deal with sometimes I know it's better out than in.

The greatest irony in finding help for my little one is I found it when I was trying to get help for someone else - my teenage eldest's suicidal friend (and yes we found help for him too). So please hang in there!

I wish you all the blessing of growing in wellness.

Kind regards,

kristin

Hi Sandy,

Sorry I am a bit late coming in on this, I was mostly off the air managing my mania a month ago.

Great links thanks! I think you meant http://www.mhcc.vic.gov.au/ , the .org one is actually the MH co-ord council.

I too hope for some positive changes in the longer term.

Some of the short term ones have not been great in my experience. Eg - a local org with nearly 400 MI clients (and 100 more on waitlist) suddenly has funding for 200, and the "other choice" org not off the ground to take the 40% they're funded for - so services cut by at least 50% in the meantime. Not only that but almost none of the existing clients want to go to the new provider, they are very happy with the one we have. Our provider did pick up more funding overall, but in other geographic locations. The transition has been badly planned for by the Health Dept in my view.

Kind regards,

Kristin