Moody

[Iffy_26]

Hi everyone, nice to meet you and be part of a community. I'm having trouble with moodiness, up down and all around. I have days and occasionally weeks where I feel great, endless positivity and energy but it never seems to last long before I'm down low again going through each and every negative emotion known to man, sadness, irritability, hopelessness, anger, anxiety. I feel like I'm forever waiting for an up again, I'm never content in the middle. Is this normal? I've tried to figure it out with mood tracking or maybe thinking its hormones, and I'm diabetic, so maybe bad blood sugar. But this type of thinking just ends up in more waiting for things to pass. I do everything they tell you to do, I walk a everywhere, I practice yoga, and I'm trying mindfulness. But my lows are starting to become an effort now, do I seek help? I don't want medication, and I don't feel therapy will give me anything that mindfulness isn't teaching me already. Any thoughts? Thank you xx

[Whatsthepoint0]

Hi iffy, welcome! When I feel like that I listen to my favourite music and it makes me feel better.

[mrsmummy]

Hello and welcome. You sound to be struggling and my advice would be to see your doctor. He is the one who can help. Sometimes medication is the only thing that helps. I am not sure why you are so against it. Would you take medication for a physical illness? You also write off therapy but it is much more than mindfulness. Do you have a GP you can talk to?

[Iffy_26]

Thank you both for your replies! Music and walking help me a lot, but it's when everything stops, the mind likes to keep going. I've tried medication before and found it helped, but it just feels like it's masking the problem and I know it's not good to be on them forever. I've also been to a couple of therapy sessions in the past where they have told me I'm doing everything I can be, I also downplay what's been going on because I feel silly/like I'm wasting their time. The same with Doctors, they're always so busy and I just feel rushed through. My symptoms don't feel severe enough for either I guess.

[Olderal]

I would see your GP and ask whether there are other conditions that could be causing this swing in moods apart from some sort of cyclic depression and whether you could be tested for them. If these tests are negative then there are natural ways to fight depressive moods. Read Jim Phelp's American site PsychEducation.org for a summary of these. There's a lot of information on this site and its not the easiest to navigate, but its all there.

This gives you quite a bit to do and you'll probably have to be quite persistent with your GP for eliminating other causes (including maybe the diabetes and blood sugar levels).

Your depressive moods do not appear to be as serious as many experience and assuming that there is no other cause than cyclic depression of some kind natural remedies plus your own inner strength may be sufficient.

As a fall back position you may have to take medication for the depression. Although Lithium has historical associations with serious depression and its a bit of a nuisance with periodic blood level testing, at least its a natural substance , not a drug in the usual sense and it is possible to take it for years with no serious side effects, although it can eventually give kidney problems. You would probably find your GP would be reluctant to try this with the milder symptoms of depression you describe. I'm calling it milder because really serious depression would be descibed as more than "becoming a bit of an effort now", but even "milder" is not very pleasant.

You seem to be doing all the right things socially which are very difficult for those with serious depression and these plus natural remedies will probably be enough for you to live a normal , happy and productive life. I have bipolar 2 and have taken ADs for years with no noticeable side effects and I'm approaching 74 so medication for depression can't have that much effect long term.

Olderal

[Iffy_26 in reply to Olderal]

Thank you so much for your advice, it's really appreciated! I'll see what I can find on the website you recommended, see if there's anything more I can do naturally. Like you say, my symptoms aren't severe, which is why I'm reluctant with meds, but it's just not great feeling blue for a good portion of every month.