Adhere To Medication Plan
If you were prescribed antidepressant medication as part of your treatment plan, it is very important that you adhere to the medication schedule that you were prescribed. Do not abruptly stop taking medication if you do not like how it is making you feel.
Instead, schedule an appointment with your doctor to discuss your medication and possible changes that you could make. Abruptly stopping your medication could lead to withdrawal effects instead, follow the advice of your doctor before stopping or changing any medication.
What Risks And Complications Can Depression Cause
Having depression can cause other problems. It can affect your mental health as well as your physical health, and it may affect other areas of your life too. For example, depression may cause:
- disturbed sleep,
- difficulties with work and your hobbies,
- difficulties keeping contact with friends and families, or
- suicidal thoughts or thoughts of self-harming.
Some people might also drink more alcohol to try and relieve depression. However, as we said in the previous section above, this can actually make depression worse.
If you have any of these problems, speak to your GP.
The Medication Is Doing What Its Supposed To Do
A final indicator that your depression is getting better has to do with the effectiveness of your medication. You will know when the medication is working when you experience not just the signs listed previously but also fewer side effects.
Medications can have side effects and it may take some time to fine-tune the right dosage. However, when that happens you should be able to experience all the benefits that medication can offer with alleviating symptoms without having to experience any serious side effects.
Although its important to recognize the signs of depression, thats not enough. Rather, its critical that you learn to identify when things are actually getting better. These truly are victories, whether they be big or small. Collectively, they can help you overcome depression.
To learn more, talk to a therapist who specializes in depression counseling. I invite you to contact us to find out how we can help, 256-686-9195.
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Signs Of Irritable & Angry Bipolar Depression
Sign #7 Affection Has Disappeared
If the fun flirting and hand holding has disappeared and theres no kissing and cuddling, you have to entertain the idea that your man doesnt want you anymore. He might very well have lost his feelings for you for a variety of reasons.
Think about it. If you want to be with someone in a romantic sense, dont you want to be openly affectionate with them?
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Emerging Trends In Substance Misuse:
- MethamphetamineIn 2019, NSDUH data show that approximately 2 million people used methamphetamine in the past year. Approximately 1 million people had a methamphetamine use disorder, which was higher than the percentage in 2016, but similar to the percentages in 2015 and 2018. The National Institute on Drug Abuse Data shows that overdose death rates involving methamphetamine have quadrupled from 2011 to 2017. Frequent meth use is associated with mood disturbances, hallucinations, and paranoia.
- CocaineIn 2019, NSDUH data show an estimated 5.5 million people aged 12 or older were past users of cocaine, including about 778,000 users of crack. The CDC reports that overdose deaths involving have increased by one-third from 2016 to 2017. In the short term, cocaine use can result in increased blood pressure, restlessness, and irritability. In the long term, severe medical complications of cocaine use include heart attacks, seizures, and abdominal pain.
- KratomIn 2019, NSDUH data show that about 825,000 people had used Kratom in the past month. Kratom is a tropical plant that grows naturally in Southeast Asia with leaves that can have psychotropic effects by affecting opioid brain receptors. It is currently unregulated and has risk of abuse and dependence. The National Institute on Drug Abuse reports that health effects of Kratom can include nausea, itching, seizures, and hallucinations.
Resources:
Signs Of A Midlife Crisis Coming To An End
WhatToGetMy Instructional Article
- A midlife crisis is what happens to men and women when they reach their 40s and start contemplating their life choices, their mortality, and their purpose on earth.
- The realization that life is short and that they havent accomplished much in life often drives some people into a temporary panic that resembles an existential crisis.
- This panic is what is known as a midlife crisis. Continue reading this article to learn what it is, how long it lasts, and how to effectively treat it.
Watch the video version of this article:
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Signal Two Hes Consistently Curious About How Your Day Went
This is another subtle but often true indicator that your ex-boyfriend misses you. When he seems to want to know how your day is going, thats telling you straight up he still misses you.
If he didnt care, why would he ask?
He would have moved on and never bothered to contact you again, at least on a regular basis, if he still didnt have feelings for you. Thats the truth.
Often youve got to separate to understand for real if you really want to be with someone.
NewsflashIf youre thinking about him and hes reaching out to you, then you can be pretty sure he wants you back.
Causes And Risk Factors
While some illnesses have a specific medical cause, making treatment straightforward, depression is far more complicated. Certain medications, such as barbiturates, corticosteroids, benzodiazepines, opioid painkillers, and specific blood pressure medicine can trigger symptoms in some peopleas can hypothyroidism . But most commonly, depression is caused by a combination of biological, psychological, and social factors that can vary wildly from one person to another.
Despite what you may have seen in TV ads, read in newspaper articles, or maybe even heard from a doctor, depression is not just the result of a chemical imbalance in the brain, having too much or too little of any brain chemical that can be simply cured with medication. Biological factors can certainly play a role in depression, including inflammation, hormonal changes, immune system suppression, abnormal activity in certain parts of the brain, nutritional deficiencies, and shrinking brain cells. But psychological and social factorssuch as past trauma, substance abuse, loneliness, low self-esteem, and lifestyle choicescan also play an enormous part.
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How To Get Your Wife Back After Separation
Winning your wife back after separation requires a step by step approach. The right moves to make. How long it takes to reconcile.
Helping her to feel in love with you is a far better way to get your wife back than trying to convince her.
If I asked your wife if she loved you, she would probably tell me that she loves you, but that she is not in-love with you. Regardless of what has gone on in your marriage up to this point, her feelings are the main obstacle to your getting her back.
Because she does not know how to turn that feeling on again, she will not believe that anything you can say or do could change that. Apologizing and convincing wont change the way she feels about you. Thats why they dont work.
There is something that does work. You need to work on switching on that in-love feeling again. I know thats something you can do because I help men do that every day.
What You Can Do
No two people with depression feel the same. If you have any of these warning signs or symptoms that concern you, talk to your regular doctor or a psychiatrist. They may suggest therapy or more medication to prevent a relapse. Cut your stress and do something every day that makes you feel good. You might need long-term treatment if you’ve had three or more depression episodes.
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REFERENCES:
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Symptom Awareness & Management Can Lead To Bipolar Stability
If you recognize yourself in these symptoms, write them down. Memorize them. When they show up again, you will be able to stop yourself from acting on the symptoms.
I was rude to someone during the episode that compelled me to write this list, and I felt terrible. I knew I was sick, and I knew I needed to be careful, but this illness is strong! I apologized and went into management mode the episode was gone by the evening.
I believe that the secret to stability is the awareness and management of symptoms.
Julie
Develop A Journaling Habit
If you are facing a depression relapse, one way to help manage your symptoms is to develop a journaling habit or expressive writing habit.
Journaling or expressive writing can be helpful to manage your mental health because it allows for the expression of and exploration of emotions, similar to what you would be doing in a therapy session. The difference is that you will be doing self-exploration rather than exploration with the aid of a therapist.
If you are interested in starting a journaling habit to cope with a depression relapse, the best way to start is with a time block set aside for free-writing in your journal. Choose a time of day when you will be relaxed and not likely to be interrupted.
Use a blank journal, and begin writing about whatever comes to mind, good or bad. Be curious about what you write and try to “get to the bottom” of your feelings. If you are feeling sad or down, ask yourself what’s going on in your life or what might have caused you to feel that way.
Journaling can also be a way to catch negative thought patterns and reframe them in a more realistic tone. For example, if you write in your journal, “everything is terrible and I will always feel awful,” you could examine that thought for negative distortions.
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Plan Time For Relaxing Self
Some focused self-care often helps when you’re in the depths of the depressive episode itself. Self-care can include anything from taking a bath to listening to music to meditating â and if you know that a depressive episode is coming, you can fiddle with your schedule to ensure that there’s time to do some self-care.
Dont Wait Getting Help Is Time Sensitive
When these 7 signs of depression get in the way of your ability to function in daily life, its time to reach out for help. Reoccurrences of depression are both common and treatable when they are proactively addressed. However, the longer the symptoms loom, the worse depression gets. Here are a few ways you can address a relapse in depression:
- Talk to a trusted family member or friend let them know how you are feeling.
- Record all of the symptomsboth mental AND physicalyou are experiencing.
- Make an appointment with your doctor to discuss your symptoms
- Visit a therapist for talk therapy an important tool find solutions and coping with feelings and problems.
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What You Can Do To Feel Better
When youre depressed, it can feel like theres no light at the end of the tunnel. But there are many things you can do to lift and stabilize your mood. The key is to start with a few small goals and slowly build from there, trying to do a little more each day. Feeling better takes time, but you can get there by making positive choices for yourself.
Reach out to other people. Isolation fuels depression, so reach out to friends and loved ones, even if you feel like being alone or dont want to be a burden to others. The simple act of talking to someone face-to-face about how you feel can be an enormous help. The person you talk to doesnt have to be able to fix you. They just need to be a good listenersomeone wholl listen attentively without being distracted or judging you.
Get moving. When youre depressed, just getting out of bed can seem daunting, let alone exercising. But regular exercise can be as effective as antidepressant medication in countering the symptoms of depression. Take a short walk or put some music on and dance around. Start with small activities and build up from there.
Eat a mood boosting diet. Reduce your intake of foods that can adversely affect your mood, such as caffeine, alcohol, trans fats, sugar and refined carbs. And increase mood-enhancing nutrients such as Omega-3 fatty acids.
Coping With A Depression Relapse
Susan went to her doctor after experiencing many weeks of severe depression. Her doctor prescribed antidepressants which she took for 6 months. After that time, her doctor advised her to slowly take herself off the medication. Within a few weeks she was back to where she started feeling desperately hopeless about life. Unfortunately, like many mental health issues, depression can be complicated to treat and not all treatments will work for all people.
The following treatments have been recommended by the National Alliance on Mental Illness:
Therapy Both Mindfulness Cognitive Behavioural Therapy and Cognitive Behavioural Therapy have been proven to reduce the risks of depression relapse. These talk therapies help you work through your depression by changing the way you think and behave.
Exercise High-intensity exercise releases endorphins which are the bodys feel good chemicals. Research by Harvard indicates that even low-intensity exercise is beneficial to fight symptoms due to its ability to improve brain function.
Medication Studies show that taking antidepressants continuously for 6 or more months can make it less likely for you to fall back into depression.
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The Correct Steps For Winning Your Wife Back After Separation:
Focus on the relationship, without being overly concerned about the state of your marriage. Focusing on preventing divorce, rather than building your relationship, will actually make you do things that are damaging.
Focusing on your relationship is more likely to save both your relationship and your marriage. As you can tell, a number of skills are needed in addition to patience and perseverance. A coach can help you to re attract your wifeeven when your wife is involved with someone else.
Learn Your Warning Signs
The first step is to develop your ability to sense the beginning of a depressive episode. The earlier you notice depression creeping in, the sooner you can take proactive steps.
What are your early signals does your sleep pattern or appetite change? Do you become apathetic? Are you more irritable? Do you withdraw from loved ones?
Once you become aware of your particular signs, take action early, and youll be more successful in heading off depression.
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How Can I Help A Loved One Who Is Depressed
Its important to remember that a person with depression cannot simply “snap out of it.” It is also important to know that he may not recognize his symptoms and may not want to get professional treatment.
If you think someone has depression, you can support him by helping him find a doctor or mental health professional and then helping him make an appointment. Even men who have trouble recognizing that they are depressed may agree to seek help for physical symptoms, such as feeling tired or run down. They may be willing to talk with their regular health professional about a new difficulty they are having at work or losing interest in doing things they usually enjoy. Talking with a primary care provider may be a good first step toward learning about and treating possible depression.
Properly Charge Your Body Battery
Sometimes when people struggle with depression, it can be very challenging to practice good self-care. In fact, some people take better care of their smartphones and devices than they do their own bodies.
How often do you forget to charge your phone compared to how often you forget to properly nourish yourself or get adequate sleep?
Taking care of your body might sound like a common sense tip, but its too important for me to skip over.
When depression is high, logical thinking and energy levels tend to be low making it far too easy to neglect our bodies. And yet, taking good care of your body can really help to decrease depression. So how well are you taking care of your body battery? Lets take a look.
Nourishment
When people are depressed, it can often lead to a loss of appetite and/or overeating. How are you doing at lovingly nourishing your body? Are you making daily efforts to eat a balance of all the various food groups and stay properly hydrated? These are really important ways to manage blood sugar, energy levels, and depression.
Sleep
Movement
One thing that helped me move my body when I was in my darkest days was to tell myself I could go for five minutes and if I wanted to stop, I could. Sometimes I stopped after five minutes, but most of the time it actually felt surprisingly good and I wanted to keep going.
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Hygiene
Substance Use/Abuse
Medical Care
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