Alternative medications for anti depressants - my experience.

Hey Izzy. What did you take to make your depression better? I don't want to take an anti-depressant.

First off i think its important to remember that recovery from depression isnt just about medication, whether its antidepressants or alternative medication. Lifestyle changes need to be made as well, trying to change thoughts and habits. .However what the medication help with is to increase serotonin and happiness and to balance chemical substances and neurotransmittors in the brain. Medication is a way to help you and as depression is a mental illness and a chemical imbalance in the brain, medication can help balance those out and make you feel better. But once again, therapy and lifestyle changes will also be necessary in recovery.

As you might have noticed, i am rather anti depressants - not because i think they're bad or because they dont work, infact they do work and help so many people out there. But everyone has a choice, and i am rather anti birth control and antibiotics as well.... though i will still take them when necessary, once again thats a choice i make, but i believe that if there is another alternative i will look for that. And this is because i have grown up with my mum who has always taken alternative medication and given us herbal treatments and so thats just how ive been brought up.

I was debating whether to say what i actually used or not, because i am pretty sure its wrong to give out medical information or to advise others about medication, especially with such a severe illness like depression. However, remember that i am just stating what I have taken and i can personally say that i think the herbal medications have helped me. Whether its placebo or not, i cant tell you... but i also made a whole lot of lifestyle changes at the same time that i began with those herbs, however i do still take them today and notice that if i dont take them for longer periods of time i will start to think more negatively, get more stressed and anxious and sleep less. So i do think they help me.

Also remember, DO YOUR RESEARCH as well. Read about anti depressants and the alternative options, as well as about dosage... More is not always better. And just like with all medication, there can be side effects and too high dose isnt always safe. So with this said, do please seek help or go to someone who works with alternative medicine if you are interested in that and dont just buy something and start taking too much of it - as there can always be a risk.

What did i take/still take?

GABA (read here & here) it is a neurotransmittor which is naturally produced in the body, however people with depression can lack gaba receptors and can lead to increase anxiety and tension. So GABA can help with anxiety and nervous tension.

5-Htp  (read HERE ) which is also naturally a biproduct in the body and works on the brain and central nervous system and helps increase the production of serotonin.

St johns wort  (Read about HERE and HERE) this alternative has been proven to be effective for depression. however there are risks with this altneraitve as well, though pretty much the same risk as taking anti depressants. However if you do take st johns wort, dont overdose/exceed the limit, also make sure to tell your doctors as the medicine affects the absorption/uptake of other medication such as birth control, actual anti depressants , blood thinning medication etc. So when i began taking st johns wort i also stopped taking birth control, which basically was 2 positives because i am pretty sure my birth control was affecting my hormones and mood swings, more than it should have.

And then i also took another tincture/mix with stuff which would help me sleep, help with anxiety etc 

I also take a medication/pill called "stress care" which helps with cortison levels and supporting the adrenal glands function (which can get "overused" when you stress so much as it keeps pumping out cortison and stress hormones).


Remember that all medication takes time to show its effects so you dont notice a different right away.

And of course, nutrition and getting all my vitamins and minerals and essential amino acids and essential fatty acids are also important. As well as exercise, trying to get enough sleep, eating right, socializing, getting fresh air and finding a meaning with life.

This is just my experience and what i have done, but as always.... consult a proffessional whether it be a doctor or someone who works with herbal medication!! We all have different choices and i am not bashing medication, it has its place and benefits!

Also, on the subject of depression - how long do you keep taking medication for, whether its herbal or prescribed? how do you know when you are well enough to stop? Do you just come off of it for a while and see how you feel?
I ask because I have been on medication for years and my doctor shows no sign of suggesting to stop it. Thing is I feel fine now and don`t want to stay on medication for ever. What do I do? I am tempted to stop it but at the same time I`m scared of a relapse.
Do you still take medication izzy or have you come off it?

When it comes to anti depressants i am pretty sure you have to lower your dose progressively over time and see how you feel/the effects. I think just stopping with them can lead to some very negative effects. However i am not so knowledgable about anti depressants and have never taken them myself so my best advice is talk to a doctor. Tell your doctor how you feel and that you would like to stop using medication and they will advice you how to lower the dosage, and then over time you see how you feel and if you are feeling better :)

And with herbal medication, i still take mine. Of course i dont take as much as i did before and i can go 1-2 days without taking them and feel fine, but i do notice that if i go for londer periods of time without my medicine then i can begin to feel more low and less energy, more anxiety and feel more stressed. So i still take them, apart from st johns wort, that medicine shouldnt be taken too long and is like an anti biotic treatment, you take it for a short time and then stop. 

So talk to a doctor, thats my only recommendation - dont do any changes on your own! 


I hope this helps and do comment below your opions or if you have any advice or facts about anti depressants :) But of course, ALWAYS DO YOUR OWN RESEARCH. Most important, never just rely on what someone online says, do your background information and look at different sources. Even with doctors... doctors might prescribe one medication but there is another one you believe could be better for you!

Did I really suffer from depression? Did I really recover?

So recently I got an email which I thought was rather rude. They accused me of either 1) lying about my depression or 2) lying about recovery because no one can recover so "quickly" if I truly struggled as much as I said I did.

So first off... I was never clinically diagnosed with depression.  I didn't want to get help or therapy  (no... I don't recommend this choice for anyone else. I was very hypocritical... telling others to seek help when I couldn't even do it myself. But as I'm sure we all know, asking for help and even admitting you are sick is extremely hard.). Second the depression progressively got worse under 1,5 years and it had alot to do with stress and burn out as well as other things but I think it was just too much stress and a burn out.

Secondly (?) I don't write out all my thoughts and feelings on here.  I've had to restrict my writing and openness a whole lot recently due to who reads or may read my blog so I don't feel comfortable being so open right now.

Thirdly, in summer I made a whole bunch of changes in my life. I began with alternative medicine which has helped a lot and if I miss 1-2 days of my medicine the negatives thoughts can come rolling in and I can find it hard to find motivation or do basic things.  Depression is due to a chemical imbalance and I just need to accept that I need medication for it, even if it isn't anti depressants, it's an alternative form of anti depressants.(everyone has their thoughts and personal choice regarding medication and alternative medication and this is my choice.). Recovery for me wasn't just about thinking positive and smiling, but actually changing mindset and reevaluating things in my life.

I feel so much happier now because I don't feel as stressed, I can't cope with stress and that is one major factor i need to limit in my life or try to rethink stressful situations and not make them seem as stressful. But also I don't feel as lost in life and I socialise more now than I did before as well as just feeling older, more matured and more experienced in life.  But of course I'm still young  and I'm not Always happy.  But I feel like I am as recovered/happy as I can be right now in life. And it wasn't a "quick recovery ", it still took months and different changes in my life.   But I can understand if it seems like I went from suicidal and anxiety filled to social and happy in just a few weeks, when that isn't the case at all.

I don't feel like repeating myself about my depression but you can read various posts I wrote while I struggled HERE and my post "what depression looks like"

Not so sure why I'm writing this post, mostly I think because I felt rather offended of being accused of lying either about struggling or about getting better.

Dating while you suffer with depression

This post is just based on my own experience and thoughts and not based on any proffessional advice or factual studies. But also this post might not be so structured as it is just my own thoughts.

So i was recently asked to write about dating while struggling with depression, which is something i have done. I remember when i first started dating i wrote a post about dating while struggling with an eating disorder and i wrote how i didnt think i would have been able to be in a relationship while i struggled with an eating disorder. When you are dating someone there needs to be compromise and selflessness in some sorts, but both with depression and an eating disorder you become so absorbed in your illness, so isolated that in a way you also become selfish (not that this is a bad thing necessarily), but for me i became so sick with my depression that i did become selfish. I didnt want to see my boyfriend anymore, i wanted to be on my own all the time and wanted to push anyone close to me away... i didnt feel like i deserved to be loved or wanted. The relationship basically become a one way relationship as i completely shut down, but also i unconsciously began to self sabotage the relationship because i felt like "i wasnt worth a good relationship or worth to be with someone so amazing", the self sabotage was mostly just isolating myself and not being so responsive, and in the end it did cause problems.... i mean you cant and dont want to date someone who doesnt really respond and tries to push you away.

I think dating while struggling with depression can work, there are people who with the help of their partner can recover from their mental illness due to the support and loven they recieve. But for me it didnt work because of my isolation, self hate and lack of life motivation.... i completely lost myself and i couldnt even take care of myself, so how could i be with someone else and take care of them. Or how could i make someone else happy if i couldnt even feel happy myself.... at first there were fake laughs and smiles but eventually i didnt even have the energy or motivation for that. And there were times i would completely zone out or get panic/anxiety attacks for no explained reason.

Because i was struggling so much i also felt that it wasnt fair for my boyfriend... i knew he deserved so much better than how i was right then. Ii knew that my depression had changed me, going from the happy and positive and energetic me to someone very cold, distant and isolated.... and its not fun to date someone like that. So for his sake i knew it wasnt fair and that gave me even more anxiety and made me even depressed as i felt so awful for being an awful girlfriend. So in that sense, my relationship made my depression worse because i would get alot of anxiety and guilt over the fact that i wasnt the type of girlfriend i had been/wanted to be.

Relationships can be successful even if you - or your partner - suffer with depression, but it does also put a strain on the relationship. Its tough for both the person struggling and the one trying to help, and i think the important thing is that both sides are open and honest about how they are feeling and what the other one can do to help. Communication is key in all relationships, but also to realise that your partner cant read your mind.

Isolating yourself when you struggle with depression isnt a good idea, so having a partner who shows you love can be the exact thing you need, and someone who keeps you from isolating yourself.

Personally, despite having a great relationship in the beginning and being with the sweetest guy who did so much for me and tried to help me in so many ways, i pushed him away and the relationship ended in mutual terms based on the fact that i would be moving across the country, but in a way the relationship had already been going down hill. For me to recover i needed to be allowed to be selfish and just focus on myself. I needed to stop thinking about others and worrying about trying to be "Perfect" or trying to make others happy and just focus on making myself happy. I didnt need to have any "Musts" or "Have to's" or obligations towards people, i just wanted to focus on myself and thats what i did. Of course i made alot of changes at the same time so i cant say what it was that helped me recover from my depression as i think it was a whole mix of different factors that helped me.

I dont really know what else to write about this topic, it feels like i could keep writing forever but also that there are so many different areas i have missed. Bbut the important thing to remember is that relationships are different and you need to know what is best for you and your relationship, but also what is best for your partner. Its not easy for someone to just watch and unable to do anything if someone is struggling and pushing them away, its not fun to have someone walk away but at the same time i can understand it if someone is struggling so much and shows no signs of recovery/getting better, then it can be very draining for the people on the side. However in  the end, people who truly care will stay and help one way or another. I also think its important for a partner to realise that they cant "fix you" and that the depression *hopefully* isnt their fault either. All that a partner can do is to support the person suffering, to show them love and care for them and try to help them.... but they can not fix/make the person recover. The one struggling has to open up and make the changes to recover and recieve the right treatment to get better, but also the problem shouldnt be ignored... if its ignored it will get worse. Unfortunatly for me, both in my family and in my relationship it was like everyone tried to ignore the fact that i was struggling and suffering... thinking that it was "just a phase" or that it wasnt as bad as it was because i wasnt open about how much i was struggling. But the silence just made it worse.


So... for me personally when i struggled with an eating disorder i was not capable of being in a relationship, not to mention that i wasnt even interested in dating then as i was so obsessed with food and body and weight. And also when i struggled with depression i wasnt capable of being in a relationship, not in a type of relationship i wanted to be in anyway. But now when i am hapy and healthy again i feel like i could maintain a healthy and happy relationship (once again - like back in the start of 2015!), but of course i am scared of being in a relationship again.... scared that it might trigger something or that i would end up depressed again, but also i dont even know how ready I am to date again. But since recovering from depression i am myself again and know that when i am ready for it, i could maintain a healthy relationship and not isolate myself or push others away like i did when i struggled with depression.

But anyway, leave your comments or experience below and i might make a post with some articles or studies based on depression and dating if you would find that helpful as well.

Coping with depression . useful links and resources

Helpful Links:

• what is depression?
• types of depression
• types of bipolar disorders
• psychotic depression
• symptom checklist tool
• what to expect: being screened for depression by a doc
• common treatment options
• treatment for bipolar disorders
• can counselling actually help depression?
• how does cognitive behavioral therapy help depression?
• how to find a support group
• what to expect during counseling or therapy
• pros and cons of antidepressant medication
• dysthymia self help
• self help guide for depression
• coping with depression in pregnancy
• identifying barriers to recovery
• 17 foods to help fight depression
• vitamin deficiency and depression
• more depression self care
• weekly self care checklist
• emotion wheel
• antidepressant skills workbook
• beyondtheblues workbook for teens
• coping with depression workbook
• how to cope with overwhelming thoughts
• 6 self help and coping tips for depression
• 21 tips to keep your sh*t together when you’re depressed

Interactives:

• audioentrainment 
• coffee shop sounds
• depression recovery quotes
• disgruntle me
• disney and pixar movies
• dwd: dealing with depression
• emergency compliments
• moodgym
• nature sounds
• need a hug?
• neonflames
• nowmattersnow
• orisinal: cute free games
• planetarium
• rainymood
• student stories
• weavesilk art

Free Phone Apps:

• breathe2relax: android + iphone
• cbt self help guide: android
• meditationoasis: android + iphone
• mindshift: android + iphone
• operation reach out: android + iphone
• optimism: iphone
• t2 mood tracker: android + iphone

source

How to stay motivated when you are depressed

hey izzy, this is a great post, and i'm afraid i'm in need of some help.
lately my depression has been progressively getting worse, and i have no energy (cant even brush my hair in the morning from tiredness) or motivation to do things. life just seems to be pointless and i'm tired of it all. is there any tips youd recommend to make myself get more motivation?

When you are depressed its easy for life to feel to overwhelming, you have no motivation to get up in the morning. All you want to do is sleep, stay in bed all day. And maybe for a day or two that is exactly what you need, but in the end you cant sleep away your life and hiding under the duvet wont make your problems go away. Especially  not when they are in your head.
  The most important thing is that everyday you GET up and leave bed and preferably do something... not just go lie in the coach.
 But instead decide that every morning you are going to wake up preferably between 8-10am (depending on if you are at work or school). And you are going to drink a glass of water... you are also going to try take a shower if you have time. Focus on those 2 things and also getting some breakfast into you. Those 3 things can be your main focus everyday for a week. Just getting out of bed and getting dressed. The next week focus on getting some sunshine.Getting out of the house or calling a friend/family. Drink plenty of water as well. Focus on those things as well as the others. Then slowly add in other things like going to the shop, meeting a friend, starting a new hobby, getting 7-9 hours sleep each night. Making a delicious meal for yourself.

When you are depressed PLEASE talk to somebody, Dont suffer in silence and alone, reach out for help. Try not to be alone too much either and staying in bed and isolating yourself wont help either.

Eat NUTRITIOUS food, when you are depressed it can be easy to reach for the chocolate and crisps, and in moderation thats fine. But when you suffer from something like depression eating food like oatmeal, dark cacao/chocolate, walnuts, avocado, salmon, nuts are all good to eat. (Foods with serotonin are important as there is usually less serotonin in the brain/body when you are depressed. And also make sure to get enough vitamins and minerals. I would highly suggest getting your blood checked to see if maybe you need extra supplements of something)



Also drinking lots of water.

When you feel you have energy for it, also try to make a vision board or a mindmap of what you want to do with your life. Things you enjoy doing, things you want to do, things that make you feel happy.

Also try exercising, this can REALLY help. I know from experience and also getting D vitamin. So if you are able to go for a 20 minute walk when the sun is out, (or if its in winter - go when its daylight), then you get both D vitamin and exercise which should help. Find good music  you can listen to and find podcasts. Listening to podcasts or radios can make you feel less lonely and can lighten your mood.

Also try do something you enjoy... maybe bake/write/dance/sing/workout/go for coffee/do yoga etc etc do old hobbies which you liked before. Dont just say no and that it wont make you feel better, instead give it a try.

Try to find your happiness, because happiness wont just come like a miracle, its something you have to find and create for yourself!

Also if you can try to eliminate stress in your life... take a break from school or work. This can have the opposite effect though as it makes you feel more lonely and de motivatedc and you never leave your bed. But if the stress is making you feel bad and you feel bad because you cant study or get your work done, that wont help you either. So make a decision that will help YOU.

Either print/get someone to make them for you/or make thems yourself - small sticky notes/notes which you can place on doors, on mirrors and around the house to help make you feel and think more positive.

Meditation and yoga are also very helpful!!

Make a list of 3 things you are going to achieve each day, even if its just to brush your hair, make yourself a cup of tea and to draw  a picture of a flower or a sun. Those 3 things are big things and achievements when you are depressed. And later on your goals can be to leave the house, go for coffee/tea and to make sure to smile 3 times in a day. etc

But most important ASK FOR HELP. Talking to someone, having someone show that they care and listen to you is helpful!!!