Well Women Guide to Depression and Anxiety

However, I was fed with antidepressants over the years since the symptoms I presented were not sufficiently investigated.

One of my more noticeable problems was an inability to swallow. Whether this was a thyroid condition in the making or Globus-hytericus is a mystery still.

My depression was caused by my thyroid conditition and only that, although my other symptoms would have indeed made it worse. The problem was that no one knew that at the time, nor took the trouble to find out. I did not know it either.

My son Sean has also been suffering from depression, and this to me was extremely worrying since his behaviour changed so much. (See below)

I think that patients suffering with symptoms of depression should be investigated as a matter of course for other conditions like thyroid disease as when the cause is treated, the depression will go away and anti depressants will not be needed.

Any one can suffer from depression and many things can trigger it. It runs in families although that does not mean that if you have a family member with depression that you will automatically suffer from it either.

What are the symptoms?

Feeling "down" for a long period of time.

Basically, no matter what "joy" comes into your life, you can not react to it with any real feeling of happiness. Inability to obtain pleasure from life. Inability to laugh at anything anymore. This is the symptom I remember most. I just could not see beyond the black cloud and feelings of complete depair. This frame of mind would not lift.

Feeling of Cotton Wool in your head A general feeling of numbness, brain fog, mentally worn out.

Constant feeling of sadness, anxiety, tearfulness over anything.

One thought that has stayed with me is when I saw a dead fox in the road and wept for days over the sadness of it. I could not reason with these feelings at all. It just seemed too incredibly sad for words and I could not get it out of my mind. Subconciously dwelling on problems and sadness regardless of what pleasure comes into life.

Lack of interest in yourself or your home

Lack of personal care and no pride in your appearance. Letting yourself "go". Not feeling bothered about the state of your house or tidiness or cleanliness. It all seems to much for you. Reduction in libido or no libido at all.

Feeling tired all the time.

Inability and lack of interest in getting up in the morning. Wanting to "hide" away from the world. motivation at absolute zero. No energy. Insomnia or sleeping too much. Interrupted sleep patterns. Lying in bed thinking and worrying.

Inability to cope with life

Problems seem insurmountable. Bills go unpaid, tasks left, inability to deal with simple things such as a teacher meeting, shopping, using public transport etc. Inability to make decisions and poor concentration. Feeling worse in the morning.

Low self esteem

Feeling of worthlessness, inability to feel pride or value about achievements. Feeling that you are better not around and that everyone would be better off without you. Feeling like you are a disappointment and that you have let everyone down. Feelings of guilt and that you are at fault.

Weight loss or gain

Appetite changes. Feeling unable to eat or eating too much. Nausea, diarrhoea, constipation. Stomach pains. Cramping and butterflies in stomach.

Feelings of suicide and death

At this point if not before, help should be sought.If you feel like you may do something to harm yourself, go straight to your local hospital.

Unexplained aches and pains without physical cause

Generally run down and listless with aches and pains similar to flu feeling, chest pains and headaches or migraines.

Self Harming

Some people harm themselves as a feeling of release or even as a punishment. My experience of this is not personal, but my teenage son has been suffering with depression for around two years and has only just sought help around eight months ago. As of this year June 2007, he is now on the road to recovery, has stopped self harming and is much happier. He is however, taking Fluoxetine and having weekly councelling sessions with a child psychiatrist. She is happy with his progress and he is seeking employment since choosing to leave school this year without taking his A levels.

His reasons were feeling that he had let everyone down and caused disappointment but the trigger for his depression was his grandfathers death in 2005 and his father leaving the family in Nov 2000. It was a bad time for him in 2005 since he was at a crucial stage coming up to his GCSE's. We moved house, he had a new girlfriend and schoolwork was forgotten. Consequently, he became disruptive and withdrawn and although he passed 10 GCSE's without revision, his grades were B's and C's and his teachers had him at A's for everything.

This is the problem with children who are expected to achieve or who have always been labelled as "bright". They often feel under pressure by their parents and teachers to do well and consequently life becomes too much when they have other problems such as bereavment family break up, their mother re marrying and relationships to deal with as well.

Feb 08: Update on Sean, 18 in March 2008: Sean no longer sees the councellor and has been trying to find full time work since before Christmas07. He is another worrier, like his sister, and really is not sure, like most teenagers, what he wants to do long term.

He has recently decided to return to college to do the A levels he intended to do in the 6th form Sept 06. He no longer takes medication but has lost regular contact with his group of friends due to leaving school and being fairly isolated at home all day and without an income.

He is academically above average, although his opinion of himself and his abilities is quite low, despite encouragement and praise.

I feel the split with his estranged father in Nov 2000 and the death of his Grandfather in 2005 has contributed towards his lack of interest in life.

We recently suggested something special for his 18th birthday and he is not interested in making it special or in a nice present or party, weekend away or trip to London, Paris or anything.

He seems to be looking forward to studying again although I wonder whether this is just the easy option to seeking employment.

He has discovered that getting a job at 17 with 10 GCSE's and no Alevels or university education is very difficult and his brief experience of employment in WH Smiths and a Garden centre have rather shattered his illusions of the workplace.

We have explained that we can not carry him financially, since he smokes and that in order to maintain the habit, he needs to earn money, either part time or full time. He does not seem to grasp this.

He is, however, a lot better than he was and I will continue to document his progress to encourage other parents and teenagers in the same boat.

What are the Causes?

These vary from family history and a predisposition to it, Stress and trauma, including difficult family life, life changing circumstances such as divorce, death and bereavement, birth of a baby for any family member but especially the mother as in post natal, pregnancy, losing a baby, termination of a pregnancy, illness or dealing with someone who is ill, a pessimitic outlook in your personality and low self esteem, feeling under pressure to achieve or feeling that high expectations are demanded of you.

Medication can cause depression and indeed the medical condition it is treating, eating disorders and other mental illnesses such as schizophrenia, drug abuse and many others. Even giving up smoking can cause depression or giving up anything on which you have a dependancy or has become a habit.

Causes can also be environmental through exposure to chemicals in our daily lives.

As is the case with most illnesses, women are twice as likely to become depressed due to hormonal fluctuations like pregnancy, birth, menopause, puberty etc. Then there are the hormonal fluctuations of a thyroid or endocrine disorder, such as Graves disease, Hashimoto's Disease, Adrenal illnesses such as Cushings, and autoimmune disease in general due to the weakening of the immune system which is turn causes or contributes to depression.

Men are the most likely to remain undiagnosed as they are not willing to seek help. This in itself is dangerous. Men will show additional symptoms such as anger or violence or turn to alcohol or drugs in an effort to conceal the condition from themselves as much as everyone else.

The Elderly often get the condition. This is because they are often suddenly left alone due to the death of a loved one who in most cases, they have been with for more than half their life. This was certainly true of my own mother who suffered terribly after the death of my father in 2005 and also my husband's mother who lost her sister who she had lived with since birth and nursed throughout her illness up until she died. She suddenly had time on her hands and was no longer busy with the care of her sister. However, this gave her too much "time" to think.

Post Natal Depression.

This is very distressing and should not be confused with the "baby blues" as these only last a short time (less than two weeks). PND does not go away and gradually, as with all depression gets worse. Baby blues last a matter of days where mothers "just feel a bit weepy" Post natal Depression is different and can start up to six months after the birth.

It is particularly hard to deal with as you have been looking forward to the baby and now that it is here, you feel guilty as to why you should feel depressed. Also, feeling like that when you are trying to cope with a newborn and sometimes other children too makes the condition more severe.

You can barely drag yourself up to deal with the baby, you feel overwhelmingly tired from night feeds and feel like a zombie on auto pilot. This can make you feel phyically ill too. You start to neglect yourself thinking that by putting the baby first, that you are doing the right thing.

You lack interest in your partner and in sex and you can't enjoy the baby or anything for that matter.

You often feel overwhelmed with love for your baby and worry constantly about harming him/her. You become paranoid about the baby's health, crying, feeding, weight, breathing, anything really. You feel guilt all the time that you are not being a good mother because you simply should not "feel this way"

You are tearful much of the time and feel like you need constant reassurance from your partner and midwife/health visitor/doctor.

You are prone to panic attacks, and imagine that you have serious illnesses all the time like cancer or that you may have a heart attack.

Your self esteem is rock bottom and you feel lonely and isolated even if you are not.

Visits to the shops or friends feel like too much.

You develope fears about your partner leaving you, dying, leaving you alone and can be irrational when you partner goes to work by begging them to stay with you and clinging desperately to them. You hate being alone but feel like you can't interact with others either.

You feel worse in the mornings and sometimes an overwhelming feeling in the early evening.

You have all the symptoms mentioned above in addition to these.

Why would I get this?

You are more likely to get PND if there is a family history of it, you have had PND or depression before, you have had recent traumatic life stresses like a death in the family, divorce or separation, an unsuppotive partner or family, you have money difficulties etc.

There is also a rarer condition called Puerperal psychosis which affects around 1 in 500 women and needs urgent medical treatment, usually in hospital. You should be your baby with you. You don't generally get this unless the is a history of bipolar or puerperal psychosis is the family.

The symptoms are extreme excitability, hearing voices, saying strange things, bizarre behaviour and belief, rapid mood swings, and unpredictable behaviour. Your partner or someone close to you such as a friend or family member may notice this first. Treatment in hospital is required as the condition can be life threatening.

Nb. This is rare and the treatment will differ from that covered below.

It is rare for a woman with normal PND to harm their baby, even though they worry incessantly about doing so.

It is however, important to get help as soon as possible.

Many things stop a woman from doing this such as a fear of their baby being taken into care, fear of being seen as a bad mother, fear of being viewed as someone who can't cope, feeling ashamed that you can't enjoy your baby.

One thing my own mother said to me is: "pull yourself together, you have a new baby and everything to be happy about. Don't be so selfish"....yeah right.

If these things are said to you, don't take any notice. No-one with depression can pull themselves together or feel happy at the flick of a switch. If we could, we would not choose to have it in the first place!!!

Your health visitor, midwife etc will support you in recovering since PND is common. You are not the first and certainly won't be the last, even though you may feel this way.

Anti depressants will normally be prescribed and support from your medical team. You could opt for natural methods, but the full backing of your doctor should be sought and be prepared that antidepressants may be needed if natural methods do not help. Everyone is different.

What can I do about depression in general?

Depression is very treatable and it is important to seek help as soon as you get the warning signs. Chances are that once you have had a bout of depression, you will then be susceptible to developing others.

Anti depressants do a very good job of treating depression and often when combined with therapy, will be just what is required to obliterate it. The longer you have depression untreated the longer it will take to get well again so prompt action is necessary. It may take several changes in type of medication and/or dose before you will feel well, and once the medication is right, you can expect to feel a bit better after around 2-3 weeks. You will be kept on the medication usually for not less than 6 months and a much longer course may be needed.

Never stop taking antidepressents without your doctor's permission This can cause unwanted effects like nausea and vomitting and a return of the depression. The longer you take your medication continually, the more chance you have of getting well and reducing recurrent episodes.

The problem arises when depression is caused by other problems like a thyroid disorder and indeed depression is one of the symptoms. In this case, antidepressants will not help and may make you worse. It is important to make sure that your depression is not accompanied by other symptoms such as those mentioned on the thyroid pages so that you can get a proper diagnosis.

Synthetic hormones like HRT and the contraceptive pill can also cause or contribute to depression. Changing to natural progesterone, whilst not a contraceptive, will help enormously.

What else can help?

If you are well nourished and eat a healthy balanced additive free diet with plenty of fruit and vegetables and take supplements high in essential fatty acids like pure fish oils (Which have been proved to help fight and even reverse depression and bi polar disorder), rosa mosqueta, extra virgin olive oil, coconut oil, and other superfoods mentioned on this site, this can go a long way in the fight against depression.

Also make sure you do not have a thyroid condition which causes depression. Medication in the form of thyroid medication will disperse this fairly promptly.

St John's Wort is said to help depression, but this should be supervised and NOT taken with prescription medications for depression such as antidepressants.

Provided you are not pregnant, breast feeding, taking anti depressants of any kind or tranquillisers, or indeed any kind of neurological medications, Etherium products may be extremely beneficial in helping depression by getting rid of negativity and balancing the brain, helping focus and calming anxiety. This will eliminate the need to take often frightening medications with some alarming side effects, as Etherium Products are Natural Minerals Taking them with any kind of medication as above (neurological, anti depressants etc will affect the effects of the powders and is not recommended)

Etherium Gold and Black are the recommended products for this purpose and potentize eachother. The effects can be awesome bringing about mental clarity and clearing feelings of negativity very quickly. Also Aulterra DNA Powder

Check out Etherium Gold and Black Here as well as the Aulterra Powder

Antidepressant medications have health risks too and can cause feelings of suicide. They are not recommended to take with thyroxine or any of the Etherium products.

I personally had bad side effects with this. I was on antidepressants (fluoxetine) at the time I was finally diagnosed and prescribed thyroxine.

The combination made me jittery, anxious sweaty with severe palpitations. I felt a worsening of my thyroid symptoms and after taking one tablet, decided to abandon the antidepressents.

Fortunately the thyroid medication alone improved the depression within weeks.

Exercise is important in treating depression and I can honestly say I felt very well when attending the gym which seemed to give me a new lease of life.

I am currently looking into more choices for helping depression, so please watch this space. One that I am looking into is Amoryn as a natural antidepressant with no side effects.

These may help before you embark on the antidepressant route. Please note also, that just because a treatment is natural does not mean that it is safe and many natural supplements can interact with medication, so please check that it is suitable before you take it. Never stop taking antidepressents without referring to your GP, even if you decide you want to try a natural method. Speak to them first.

Please Click HERe for more information about Etherium Products by Harmonic Innerprizes

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