emotional help and what to do

For the last few years I’ve been pretty down, but not to the point that I was depressed (at least I don’t like to think so), but never entirely ever happy. I tried hinting to my family that I was upset, but I figured they weren’t noticing. So when I started telling them more openly and bluntly they just told me it was all in my head and that if I wanted to be happy I’d be happy. I figured they were right and that I’d just get it over it. Everyday I tried really hard to be positive, but eventually I’d just get emotionally tired and suffer from withdrawal for a while. But despite all my down times I kept trying and trying to be happy. I used to be really extroverted when I was younger, but in the last year or two I’ve started to suppress everything. That caused me to become really emotional, and I’d literally start crying over just about anything. So after that I just told myself that if I let things go and forgot about bad things and moved on I’d be happy. So everyday I focused on that day and nothing else. I wouldn’t let arguments or anything else bother me. I kept at that for a few months and at first I couldn’t keep track of things, but now I’m often forgetting what I did the days before, past events (things from childhood) or if things really happened or not. It’s also caused me to be a bit cold and emotionless at times. I’m not entirely sure if I’m in denial about having some sort of mental issue of if I don’t even have one at all. I’m really at a loss of what to do.

It sounds like you could benefit from talking with a councelor at your school, or work .. or some other place .. find out who and where.. Somtime it helps alot to get counceling from someone outside of family and friends.

shanew - If you feel despondent or emotionless at times, I would recommend non-prescription, over the counter Lithium orotate at 5 milligrams elemental twice per day. If you have any member in your family who is an alcoholic, would increase this emphasis.

Other than that, make sure your Vitamin D levels are high and your Omega-3.

Besides CS's recommendation, I suggest you take a look to the following...

There is a strong relationship between the brain (its function, and thus your emotional state) and the gut. There's plenty of evidence; while the explanation on how this exactly happens is quite complex, the point is easy to understand. To cure atypical depression you have to restore the state of your gut.

Some (mostly technical) information:

http://www.nutri-linkltd.co.uk/education/CAMoffer/GutBrainAxis.pdf

More practical and summarized information from the same author:

http://www.allergyresearchgroup.com/Oct-2009-Focus-Newsletter-Probiotics-Can-Shift-Mood-sp-97.html

A LOT of information on treating depression with magnesium:

http://george-eby-research.com/html/depression-anxiety.html



Also, insulin and sugar levels have shown to influence mood and emotions (not to mention the long list of body systems and processes they may impact). It has been shown that 600 mcg of Chromium (take it in the form of ChromeMate, in divided doses) per day improves mood and depression. You should experiment by taking chromium at this dose and reduce it to 400 mcg after a month. This should help with carb's metabolism. Reduce or eliminate your intake of carb from grains, sugars, sodas, etc.

You have something to research there... Follow the basic recommendations, but I will highly advice you to dig deeper if you really want a profound and lasting effect, a complete reversal.


I have made amazing improvements on my own by following all these recommendations!

shanew,

Don't just believe "it's all in your head". Only you can certainly know if there's a problem. It is more important for you to accept and recognize it than others. If other's won't listen, wether they care or not, the important thing here is for you to take action.

Do a HUGE favor to you, don't opt to take drugs, legal or illegal. The cure for this problem is all natural... a cure that treats the cause, without side effects.

Good luck.

You can also try Increasing how much water you drink, taking cold showers, checking if you're hypothyroid via basal temperature test, and also taking a hard look at your diet.

Here's just one aspect of diet regarding MSG which is in most foods people eat "by increasing blood levels of free glutamic acid, which lowers dopamine levels, and increases prolactin, affects depression on several levels."

"a glutamate blocker that targets the NMDA receptors. This treatment helped over 70% of those patients within one day of treatment"

http://www.msgtruth.com/depress.htm

Also, can look at homocysteine as well. Try a B12 patch.

I agree that glutamate and the NMDA receptor are huge in anxiety and depression that will inevitably result from chron anxiety. Interestingly, lithium acts as an NMDA antagonist. I would try what CS mentioned with lithium orotate.

JDP710,

Thanks for that article! I lost it a long time ago and haven't been able to find it since! I forgot that it was titled magnesium because there is such a huge wealth of info in it.

FWIW, I have always felt better when my sex hormones were in balance, i..e, testosterone was dominant. It is amazing how good you can feel from high levels of testosterone. I really think estradiol is evil shit IME. Maybe get some lab work and see where you stand hormonally. Other than lithium, 5-htp, and the like...you are guessing without lab work basically. The body is a machine that needs to be finely tuned. One thing 'breaks' down and it fails to operate correctly. Goog luck.

shanew wrote:For the last few years I’ve been pretty down, but not to the point that I was depressed (at least I don’t like to think so), but never entirely ever happy. I tried hinting to my family that I was upset, but I figured they weren’t noticing. So when I started telling them more openly and bluntly they just told me it was all in my head and that if I wanted to be happy I’d be happy. I figured they were right and that I’d just get it over it. Everyday I tried really hard to be positive, but eventually I’d just get emotionally tired and suffer from withdrawal for a while. But despite all my down times I kept trying and trying to be happy. I used to be really extroverted when I was younger, but in the last year or two I’ve started to suppress everything. That caused me to become really emotional, and I’d literally start crying over just about anything. So after that I just told myself that if I let things go and forgot about bad things and moved on I’d be happy. So everyday I focused on that day and nothing else. I wouldn’t let arguments or anything else bother me. I kept at that for a few months and at first I couldn’t keep track of things, but now I’m often forgetting what I did the days before, past events (things from childhood) or if things really happened or not. It’s also caused me to be a bit cold and emotionless at times. I’m not entirely sure if I’m in denial about having some sort of mental issue of if I don’t even have one at all. I’m really at a loss of what to do.

Truly best of luck here! I can understand. I feel as we get older and we get deficient on some health/nutrition, these issues arise that we do not feel when we are perfect and young!

I think CS and other's here have great advice. In addition to the supplementation, stay active, social and hit the gym!

Wishing you a speedy recover from this brother.

Thanks everybody for the help. Do you all think that it is a actual mental disease because of my forgetfulness and memory? I assume it can't be alzheimer's because of my young age. Are there any other mental diseases this could be or is it all in my head?

Anxiety can contribute to memory loss. I wouldn't worry about it; it's not alzheimers. If you are thinking about using ketamine from that link on msgtruth- DON'T! Ketamine is an animal tranquilizer. It can be used in humans but isn't anymore because it has an intense out-of-body-like hallucinogenic affect. I have used it personally for recreation in my younger years and it will totally incapacitate you. There is no practical application for its use in depression. They wonder if people are self medicating...Of course they are, but not for depression....for mild altering and hallucination. Maybe extremely miniscule amounts might work but I wouldn't even consider it a viable option. Look into lithium orotate for NDMA blockage. In fact go to iherb, type in "lithium orotate" and read the reviews. Good luck.

correction... should be NMDA

shanew wrote:Thanks everybody for the help. Do you all think that it is a actual mental disease because of my forgetfulness and memory? I assume it can't be alzheimer's because of my young age. Are there any other mental diseases this could be or is it all in my head?

I don't think so.

The most essential thing to fix, I believe, it's your gut. It influences directly your brain (neurotransmitters) and all other organs, including glands like the adrenals! So I would advice focusing also at the root cause (most likely): your gut. For example, d-lactate levels have shown to causes braing-fog, depression, etc. Propionate levels too.

Also correct your nutrient deficencies...

In my opinion, all the advice given here is worth to try!

Shanew- I have sufferd from anxiety disorder and depression issues. Exercise helps relieve stress for starters and a healthy diet can help. However it can't change the way you think. Neil Slade's book ''The Fronta Lobes Supercharge'' teaches you in a fun way how to turn on the pleasure centres of your brain through simple thought exercises. He has helped me overcome my emotional issues. And he's no scam artist. Loads of info is free on his website: http://www.neilslade.com/ I recommend the aforementioned book though definitely.


I wish you well,

theprophet88

Hello shanew
It was interesting reading what you wrote.. i was having the feeling i was in a mirror... i feel exactly what you feel... and already passed years... but in my case i know where the problem is, since i started losing hair all my life got down...this is the main reason of my problems. Good luck mate

Thank you all for the help.

CS- Are there any foods which have a good amount of lithium? And is lithium the reason why people get relaxed when they smoke tobacco?

How do I get my vitamin D levels checked?

Littlefighter-

How do I do things beneficial to my gut?

Thanks all

JDP710- Can you go into more depth on homocysteine and B12 patch?

While it is absolutely essential to look into your diet, deficiencies, and exercise, it is also absolutely essential to get psychological help. It all fits together.

Stress from the mind causes problems in the body, problems in the body causes stress in the mind.

There is no need to suffer with this depression. It is a serious condition. You need to talk to a professional counselor. If you are in school then talk to your guidance counselor or school psychologist if there is one. Sometimes, something as simple as Cognitive Behavioral Therapy can help immensely.

You are going to get through this and come out with great wisdom. Hang in there.

jdp710 wrote:You can also try Increasing how much water you drink, taking cold showers, checking if you're hypothyroid via basal temperature test, and also taking a hard look at your diet.

Here's just one aspect of diet regarding MSG which is in most foods people eat "by increasing blood levels of free glutamic acid, which lowers dopamine levels, and increases prolactin, affects depression on several levels."

"a glutamate blocker that targets the NMDA receptors. This treatment helped over 70% of those patients within one day of treatment"

http://www.msgtruth.com/depress.htm

Also, can look at homocysteine as well. Try a B12 patch.

And what is a good glutamate blocker?

shanew - Lithium Orotate, 5 mg elemental twice per day.

shanew wrote:JDP710- Can you go into more depth on homocysteine and B12 patch?

Here is a study. You can also check google for homocysteine and depression or B 12 and depression for more info

Vitamin B12, folate, and homocysteine in depression: the Rotterdam Study.
Tiemeier H, van Tuijl HR, Hofman A, Meijer J, Kiliaan AJ, Breteler MM.

Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Erasmus Medical Centre, PO Box 1738, 3000 DR Rotterdam, The Netherlands.

OBJECTIVE: The associations of vitamin B(12), folate, and homocysteine with depression were examined in a population-based study. METHOD: The authors screened 3,884 elderly people for depressive symptoms. Subjects with positive screening results had psychiatric workups. Folate, vitamin B(12), and homocysteine blood levels were compared in 278 persons with depressive symptoms, including 112 with depressive disorders, and 416 randomly selected reference subjects. Adjustments were made for age, gender, cardiovascular disease, and functional disability. RESULTS: Hyperhomocysteinemia, vitamin B(12) deficiency, and to a lesser extent, folate deficiency were all related to depressive disorders. For folate deficiency and hyperhomocysteinemia, the association with depressive disorders was substantially reduced after adjustment for functional disability and cardiovascular disease, but for vitamin B(12) this appeared independent. CONCLUSIONS: The association of vitamin B(12) and folate with depressive disorders may have different underlying mechanisms. Vitamin B(12) may be causally related to depression, whereas the relation with folate is due to physical comorbidity.



And regarding a glutamate blocker look into lithium as has been mentioned. Here is a link for reviews http://www.iherb.com/Nutrient-Carriers-Incorporated-Advanced-Research-Lithium-Orotate-200-Tablets/6766?at=1

BTW, regarding increasing water intake it may sound simple and I'm sure everyone overlooks it because of the simplicity but it may be helpful for you.

Here is a free ebook on the subject

http://www.scribd.com/doc/7425586/Eb-Fereydoon-Batmanghelidj-Your-Bodys-Many-Cries-for-Water

Cool thanks JDP,

Which brand of the b12 patch do you get?

Guys, you might want to look at TMG. This is the Jarrow description from iherb:

Description

* Trimethylglycine
* Reduces Homocysteine and Protects DNA*
* Dietary Supplement

TMG 500 contains Trimethylglycine (TMG, also known as anhydrous betaine), a highly effective methyl donor extracted from sugar beets. Methyl donors, such as TMG and folic acid, are required for the converting homocysteine back into methionine and for the accurate synthesis of DNA and RNA, which is essential for the production of normal cells. Methylation is inhibited by inadequately functioning key enzymes, excessive protein and fat intake, poor diet, inadequate intake of methyl groups, coffee, alcohol or by smoking. Impairment of methylation results in abnormal cell synthesis and elevated levels of homocysteine, a toxic amino acid and a serious health risk.

shanew wrote:Cool thanks JDP,

Which brand of the b12 patch do you get?

http://www.amazon.com/Vitamin-B12-Patch-8-Patches/dp/B002GVT9UI/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=hpc&qid=1260502255&sr=8-2

JHarsh - TMG is a good idea and I have been using it to endogenously increase stomach acid. I came across some material that warned agaisnt copious use of TMG as it could steal some cafactors needed down the stream for more important reaction. I will look it up and post it - you guys may want to research that angle as well...