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There was a TV show--60 minutes?--recently that looked at the actual contents of herbal remedies sold. Many have little to none of the promised herb, and some have dangerous additions. Yikes. St. JW is one they mentioned.
I had 4 or 5 sessions with a therapist, and it helped a great deal to talk about the things that were bothering me.
And I find the "Integrity Tone Scale" helpful to figure out why I feel bad about something: INTEGRITY TONE SCALE
1) if an herbal remedy is working then its not because of magic, its because its got a biologically active ingredient, a.k.a "a drug." If you've already sworn off drugs then, that's your choice. The distinction between drugs that happen to occur in nature and those that have been synthesized in a lab is largely in people's heads. Some of the most toxic substances in the world are entirely natural.
In any event, drugs really go to symptomatic relief (which is important) but not root cause. You're not winning any awards for refusing clinically validated medicine. And why is "since I didn't do it when I'm young Im not doing it now" either a good or intelligent rational for not doing something now?
2) Therapy - shop around for therapists that don't pull any punches - goes to long-term changing of conscious and sub-conscious thought processes, and assumptions, that lead to depressive thinking patterns. Its hard work if its done right, and it takes time since neural pathways and synaptic connections take time to reform/strengthen/and/or diminish
3) All the advice here re. a balanced diet, exercise, and environmental changes is good advice. Each of these factors when pursued correctly is correlated with a lower incidence of depressive episodes - so why not. (And regardless of whether you did them or not when you were young).
4) Do also get a blood panel test - Vitamin D and thyroid levels should be looked at just to be sure.
Good luck - please do push yourself to do all these things tho.
When there is clinical depression, one can't talk it out. Like trying to change a homo to hetero. Often it's the thyroid, more often than not I believe. I'm sure those on 60 minutes haven't been working with alternatives for 25 yrs. Most of mainstream works with or trys to work with conventional medicines.
And too often too, Vit D deficiency. That epidemic in the U.S. is rampant.
And for me, I'd rather support the underdogs, alternative world vs pharma hogs. They have plenty of support.
Some depressions are chemical (the brain) and others are situational. Short term anti-depressants can help but I have found they don't work for long. Yours sounds situational and all the drugs in the world aren't going to help in that case. I would try therapy, walking, getting out of the house. I know it is hard to do when you are depressed but force yourself.
I have a book called Nutritional Healing and the first supplement it suggests is Essential Fatty Acids. I take two a day and my D-3 and it helps a lot without having to take pharmaceuticals.
Thanks. I take krill oil and D3+K2 daily. I'm just so worried about my daughter and grandson. They live 500 miles from us. She won't work, period. They both beg or bum food from friends. She has even eaten out of dumpsters--many times--then would call me and tell me all the "fresh meat and veggies" she got off the top . She was not raised like this. Her dad has a Ph.d and her sister is a pillar of her community. Drugs.
Oh; and thanks so much for the Armour Thyroid suggestion. I've had 2 CBC's in 7 years and, of course, both showed my thyroid to be normal. Not that I believe it with my depression and rapid weight gain and crashing fatigue simply from an hour at the grocery store.
OP, if you suspect thyroid and your doc has said you're "normal", first, examine your test results. If thyroid stimulating hormone (TSH) is high-normal, while T3 or T4 are low-normal, you need further testing. That's a sign of underlying thyroid disease. To get that testing, most likely, you'll have to find a doc who works outside the insurance system, because insurance won't pay for the expensive test when your results are within normal range, even if they display the tell-tale sign of thyroid disease. Do an internet search for independent docs in your area, and spring for their pricy fee for an intake, for the thyroid test, and for their follow-up appt. Take your preliminary results with you, of course. If the deeper test (to detect antibodies to thyroid) comes back positive, you can take that to your primary care doc.
This sounds like it might be a physiological depression relating to endocrine issues, maybe not a psychological/mental illness depression. So before deciding whether you might benefit from counseling/therapy, get further testing to see if there could be an endocrine basis for it. The independent doc may, after talking to you about your symptoms, order an adrenal stress index test, as well. Thyroid can undermine the adrenals, which are your body's engine, it's powerhouse. The test is a saliva test.
And yeah, if you're experiencing fatigue just from running errands, exercising won't perk you up.
Thanks. I take krill oil and D3+K2 daily. I'm just so worried about my daughter and grandson. They live 500 miles from us. She won't work, period. They both beg or bum food from friends. She has even eaten out of dumpsters--many times--then would call me and tell me all the "fresh meat and veggies" she got off the top . She was not raised like this. Her dad has a Ph.d and her sister is a pillar of her community. Drugs.
If your grandson is an adult, you need to do your best to disengage from both of them. You said above that you raised him and love him, but you can't fix him and should stop trying. He is probably using drugs too (based on what you said about sending money for dental work and how that turned out) and you can't fix that. All you can do at this point is take care of you.
And you said your husband's leg is weak, but if he can walk, you can stop cooking delicious meals and taking them to him while he watches TV. If he gets hungry he'll go to the kitchen and fix himself something to eat.
You're making excuses for their bad behavior--your husband didn't do PT because the therapist wasn't good. Did your husband call the doctor or PT office and ask for someone else? And the dentist was out of nitrous oxide so your grandson walked out, costing you $150. If his toothache was bad enough, he would have rescheduled or been treated without it.
I understand that you don't want to take meds and I don't blame you. You've gotten some very good suggestions here and should take one or two of them. At least get out of the house for a while every day and don't worry about your husband. And limit contact with your daughter and grandson. Your family is dragging you down and they'll take you as far as you'll let them.
When there is clinical depression, one can't talk it out. Like trying to change a homo to hetero. Often it's the thyroid, more often than not I believe. I'm sure those on 60 minutes haven't been working with alternatives for 25 yrs. Most of mainstream works with or trys to work with conventional medicines.
And too often too, Vit D deficiency. That epidemic in the U.S. is rampant.
And for me, I'd rather support the underdogs, alternative world vs pharma hogs. They have plenty of support.
It depends. For example, if someone's clinical depression is due to childhood trauma, trauma therapy (which is not exclusively talk therapy) can really turn it around. Sometimes, in order for people to be able to get into, and stick with, the therapy, they need meds temporarily. But the goal of that type of therapy is to get the patient off the meds. I've seen this happen, with spectacular results! Lives, transformed! It's very heartening to see.
However, it's sounding now like the OP's issue may be medical, not psychological/emotional. But then, there's the added drag in her case, of worrying about loved ones. Some counseling could be helpful with regard to getting clarity and coping skills with that issue.
I do think you need to distinguish between bummed out because of others and real clinical depression (brain chemistry issues). If you have suicidal thoughts then you need professional help from real doctors and not belly rubbers.
When I am down, and we all are, I go on YouTube and watch humorous stuff such as the old Dean Martin Friars Club roasts. Or look up bloopers of your favorite shows. Any funny videos of dogs lifts my spirits. I love Rodney Dangerfield but perhaps you would like Robin Williams more. Depends on your generation. Laughing brings good results even if temporary. Don Rickles also does it for me. There are many ways to distract from the gloom and doom that infects our environment. Most movies seem to be about violence, murder, mayhem, sex. Books too. We are inundated with darkness. There is light out there but sometimes it is dim.
I do not mean to get into a debate about herbal stuff but herbal things are still chemicals only not investigated with protocols demanded by the FDA. I would be careful about taking anything into my system whether "natural" or prescribed by a physician unless you have clinical depression.
I did not want to go back on meds my doctor had me tested to see what may be lacking and causing my depression. I now take something called "Deplin" which is a folic acid that is missing and has helped tremendously.
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