Zomese I now have very little depression and some manageable aggravation. So I'm still working on my type A personality to see what else will help there. I use a 3-4 fold approach. 1st is the general mental aspect of learning to control my feelings and behavior that I use 24/7/365. I've learned to monitor my "self talk"..in other words I've leaned to be very aware of what I'm saying to myself. You can get your self all worked up or calm your self down just by what you are telling yourself. Try it yourself and you'll see what I mean. So I try to make sure I only say positive things to my self to help control my feelings and behavior. Now that's only a part of the over all composite of things that work together for me to help me control this disease, so thank goodness for meds, vitamins, and other mental and physical exercises I use to keep myself on an even keel.
On the physical level, on a daily basis, I take 300 mg of Wellbutrin and a number of vitamins and some herbs. I've spent a good amount of time reading on the vitamins and herbs to be sure I understood what they did and how much to take, etc., before my husband and I started taking them. I can tell you what we take, and those may and may not help you...what works is so individual, but as a starting point you could read up on some of the things we take that do work for us.
Everyday we take 1000 mg of natural E and 200 mcg of selenium, but if we are having a bad day we will take this up to 3 times during the day (but it's rare we do that). In addition to the E & Selenium, my hubby takes 25mg 1X a day and I take 25mg in the am and in the early evening. When we're really agitated we take Kava Kava and that helps both of us a great deal. We buy the Kava Kava (225 mg) at a health food store and we take just one capsule at a time and a second one perhaps 1 - 2 hrs later if we really need it.
We also watch our diets. We drink no or very little caffeine or sugar. We eat very little junk food, but when I do, I always self monitor to see how it affects me. some things like tea with caffeine, make me much more agitated, so I only rarely drink tea or anything with caffeine an eating too much sugar causes about the same problem as I discoed many years ago when I used to eat lots of ice cream cones.
We also take about 20 other vitamins daily that seem to all help with one problem or another. I feel they are also all react with one another and that their benefits are intensified when you add other vitamins and herbs into the mix. But again, it's all very individual. For example, both my husband and I have some problems with our joints and for me, a combination of Glucosamine and Chondroitin will work, but it wont' work on my husband. Only when he takes a combination of Gluscosime/Chondrotin/MSM will it work.
We also take a good multi vitamin [which we get from Vitamin World], Ester C, folic acid, D, Flush free Niacin, Grape Seed Extract, B 12, Flax Seed Oil, [Calcium, Magnesium, & Zink], Spirulina, Omega 3, and a few others for specific problems. But let me say that we've read and understand what each one is for and the dosage to take, so before you buy any of these, do yourself a big favor and read up on these because some of them can make you feel ill if you take them in the wrong amount or do nothing at all. Also, knowledgeable employees at the health food stores we go to have been very helpful. When you start to take a new vitamin or herb, you need to add each one in separately, over a period of days or weeks, to see how your body reacts to that new substance.
There are other things that I also do to help with agitation or depression. For example, exercise or a nice walk will do wonders for depression or agitation. Also, if you need immediate relief and control over agitation or racing thoughts, you can try putting your hands under warm running water and focusing on the water running over your hands... how it feels, how it looks, etc. My old psychologist also told me to try focusing on watching a clock tick off seconds, as that will slow down your heart rate and in turn your agitation or racing thoughts typically will slow down. It's rather like watching paint dry...but hey it really does work for a number of people. Learning how to control this disease and controlling it is a 24 hr a day job, 7 days week, 365 days a yr. I've had it now for over 45 years, but I know it can be gotten under control. It just takes a lot of work to find out what are your triggers and what will work to keep your self on the right path, but if you keep at it, you'll find what you will work for you. Good Luck