Let's Talk About Depression......

Hi Bunny,

Even though I was only recntly diagnosed with IDB, I have been dealing with depression for years. I know what it feels like to be at an absolute low: Miserable. But I also know what it is like to get out of bouts of severe depression, and how good it feels to live life normally again.

My advice to you would be to try an anti-depressant. Depression, like all Mental Health disorders, is caused by both environmental and genetic components. Their is a genetic basis to depression, in that if someone in your family has it you are more likely to have it as well, that needs to be addressed. This is normally what you will be told to be the "chemical imbalance" in your brain. But, this isn't the ONLY cause of your depression. When faced with certain environmentla factors, such as a death of a loved one, stressful situations, poor grades, a flare and a variety of other circumstnces, your imbalance will be 'triggered' or magnified, causing you to fall into a deep or deeper depression.So, in order to really 'fix' your mood and become happy, it is uually best to attack both causes of the illness.

    So, to start, you can try and fix the environment, by seeing a therapist, by learning coping skills and thorugh cognitive therapy (readjusting your way of thinking). Talking with a professional can be extremely helpful and can help you not only get everything off your chest, but teach you how to live more effiviently and help prevent future bouts. Also having people other than your therapist is helpful as well, so that you can talk to them and with them, and so that they will be able to understand why you may not 'be yourself' sometimes. I also like doing a lot of research on the subject, just so I can actually understand why I am feeling sad and what I can do about it.

    On the other hand, you need to address the other cause related to depression as well: genetics. This is where medication will come in. Anti-depressants come in a variety of classes that each act on different neuron receptors in your brain. I am on Zoloft, which is an SSRI (Selective Seretonin Reuptake Inhibitor). This means that my drug inhibits certain neurons in my brain from taking seretonin it has produced back into it, so that an excess supply builds up inbetween neurons, and is therefor more easily and more often taken up by the next neuon. Other drugs act on Neuroephrine or Dopamine in various ways. Anit-depressants help to maintain a balanced chemical level so that environmental influences cannot aggrrevate you as easily into depression. Having a chemical imbalance is like having a pre-dispostion to depression, and the environment is what can simply turn it 'on'.

    With that being said, its not that an anti-depressant will solve everything. It is only part of the solution, and can be hard to figure out. Some people will react negatively to certain drugs, I cannot take Wellbutrin because it makes me sick, and you have to play around for a while in order to find what dose works best for you. The point is though, that anti-depressents can help, not only in attacking part of problem, but by also giving you a sense of hope. Just knowing that you are doing something that could potentially help you can be a world of help.

    Sorry to have written so much, but not only do I have depression so can relay you some of my experience, but I am studying psychology, so I like to spread the word around as best as I can. I think the main thing to think of is, like your IBD, you need to take the proper actions in fixing it. Depression is not like the cold: it won't just get better, or go away. Depression is like you IBD, in that its going to take time, patience and trial and error to fugure out what exactly will help to get it better and to help prevent it in the future. You need to be able to take control of your depression by looking into every possible way to make it better. Plus, depression can lead to you internalizing a lot of emotions, can lead to you to miss events and friends and a world of other things that will only make you more stressed, and being more streseed will only make your flares worse, which will make you more depressed. Its a vicious cycle, and it needs to be broken somehwere.

    I hope this is a little bit helpful! Depression is a very difficult thing to deal with, and it isn't made easier with a chronic illness. Stay strond, keep trying, and talk to your doctors about treatment options. It may still be a whiles away from being back to 'normal', but you do have to start somewhere...

Best,

Sara

Welcome to the forum, BunnyMomma.

I'm sorry that you've been feeling so "down" lately, but I am glad that swimgirl

was able to dive right in with some heartfelt, practical advice.

(Did I make you laugh? Smile, maybe?)

I wonder how much your nutritional status is affecting your emotional state, as well. Are you taking a good multi vitamin, with extra vitamin D and calcium?

Forvia brand vitamins, especially made to be bio-available for people with IBD, is an excellent one. You can only buy it on line, directly from the company's website (www.forvia.com).

You mentioned that you know that your B 12 level is low. A deficiency of vitamin B 12 is often seen in Crohn's disease of the small bowel, and in some other malabsorption problems related to small bowel disease.

Lack of folic acid and/or vitamin B 12 is often a cause of a type of anemia known as macrocytic anemia. It is the anemia which causes fatigue--not the other way around!

Be well-

Hope