Severely depressed

Sorry to see you are so down. Maybe it is time for a little counseling. This disease can be hard to cope with, especially if you do not have a strong support system.

You may also want to check your Vitamin D levels. I always feel down in the dumps when my D falls.

One other thing that helps raise my spirits is doing something good for someone else. I rescue shelter dogs and also donate to animal charities. When money is low , I use my computer to match certain dogs in shelters to specific breed rescues. If you were to see the sad state of dogs and cats on death row, it can give you a whole new perspective on Crohn's disease.

I hope you feel better soon!

Post Edited (pmedic) : 7/22/2012 12:27:58 PM (GMT-6)

I'm severely depressed lately, too. It's hard when nobody understands what you are going through, and I think just laying around most days doesn't help the situation. I always feel better if I'm able to get outside, even if it's for a small amount of time.

Therapy would probably be good. I've been thinking about setting up an appointment myself. That way I'm not constantly dumping on my husband or the small amount of friends I do have. Might be good to just unleash it all on a neutral party.

I can't believe people tell other people to go see shrinks. Jeez, it's not a psychological problem, it's a physical problem.

If crohn's goes away, you will feel great. Counseling and therapy are good to repair stuff like relations not chronic diseases.

Work on "fixing" your crohn's problem than trying to find ways to cope with it. By fixing it..you won't need to cope at all (or as much).

my opinion.

@Somedude - I 50% agree with you, 50% don't. The disagreeing part derives from the knowledge that I was depressed pre-Crohn's and that there are certainly many other reasons for being depressed other than physical illness. I know pretty much why I was depressed from a young age, although it would suit my mum very well if I got 'over it' - as though I had any conscious influence over it. I don't.

But to some extent, the passing of time does help. Some scars run too deep to be healed, but they can fade.

However, I do also agree with you to the extent that incurable physical illness is just intriniscally depressing. One way or another, it will impact for the worst on your health, mobility, energy or pain, with knock-on consequences for your social life and career. In such situations, you don't exactly have to use a magnifying reason to detect the clues for the depression.

Nowadays if I had just one wish which could be granted it would be for the disappearance of the Crohn's and the restoration of full health. If I would wish for that above a million pounds, you can take it as read that I think it would be a good thing.

The trouble with the 'fixes' that you mentioned are that 1) they are not cures, but only symptom alleviation, which means the disease can still come back at any time, and 2) sometimes the fixes themselves are socially inhibiting. By the latter, I mean it's almost impossible to go out and have fun socially on a seriously strict diet, since you can hardly drink or eat anything. Some people don't seem to mind that, but it personally depresses me, not being able to eat the same as everybody else.

Still, not that I am against anybody trying to 'fix' their disease I should hasten to add. I'm very, very close to the stage of adopting a low-carb diet myself - but I do know that, for me, that will likely trigger an even bigger food-related depression.

Apologies for rambling; tiring again. Oh, and gumby - thanks :p

Hey NCOT! I like your posts (well, almost all). I may not agree, here and there, with some opinion, but that's natural in a forum, insn't it?

I don't know if acid and sarcastic remarks are terapeutical, but I can't help enjoying it. I'm sure I have some emotional disfunction.

I hope you get some answers (and then give it to us!!), and find a CURE!!! And then, still remain around this healing and depressive forum.

Somedude said...

NiceCupOfTea said...
@Somedude - I 50% agree with you, 50% don't. The disagreeing part derives from the knowledge that I was depressed pre-Crohn's and that there are certainly many other reasons for being depressed other than physical illness. I know pretty much why I was depressed from a young age, although it would suit my mum very well if I got 'over it' - as though I had any conscious influence over it. I don't.

Oh, if you are depressed for other reasons than physical, then I won't argue there. I only argue on the fact of going to see shrinks for physical problems. My view on the latter is different.

It's like:

(fictitious example)

Random person: I crap my pants every day, my life sucks, doc. What to do?
Doc: Just think of the positives instead.
Random person: Good idea doc, I'll think of the fact that for that 30 min span in between, I don't crap my pants. Marvelous.

This example is raw and crude I know. But that is the way I see it in a nutshell.

It's just that depression tends to go hand-in-hand with a crohn-ic (see what I did there?) illness. There have been days where I've just felt like giving up because of this, or days where I'm just so sad or angry or whatever and wish I had someone to dump on. I also find that most of us just don't deal with stress very well and if a therapist can shed some techniques (or prescribe something if you don't mind the drugs), it's worth checking into. Basically ANYTHING to help better manage this disease or help maintain remission.

I agree that if you're not really depressed about the situation it's not worth going to a therapist for. But that doesn't tend to be the case.

I will chime in here about therapy. When I went through my several years of depression and therapy my therapist told me that sometimes, depending on how severe your disease is (notice all the qualifiers there :) having Crohns is like dealing with PTSD. In my case, my disease started out with a bang, 99 days in the hospital after being married 2 months (7 weeks in ICU to start). Being so near death and getting swatted down so thoroughly is very traumatic. I didn't deal with it until 10 years later. YMMV

Sudsmom

sudsmom said...
I will chime in here about therapy. When I went through my several years of depression and therapy my therapist told me that sometimes, depending on how severe your disease is (notice all the qualifiers there :) having Crohns is like dealing with PTSD. In my case, my disease started out with a bang, 99 days in the hospital after being married 2 months (7 weeks in ICU to start). Being so near death and getting swatted down so thoroughly is very traumatic. I didn't deal with it until 10 years later. YMMV

Sudsmom

Heavy start!

Mine was the diametric opposite. Literally could not have a milder start. I felt pretty much as well as a healthy person for the first five years. But then when things did start getting worse, I didn't know what was happening. Sounds stupid, but I wasn't even entirely sure it was the Crohn's for a long time - some things were atypical. And ever since then, while I've certainly not been in ICU, I've been through some traumatic times - not all Crohn's related, but some of it was. I wouldn't like to self-diagnose PTSD, but a mild form of it in my case makes a certain kind of sense.

OK. Aunty Ivy is going to get moderately cross for a minute.

Note to NCOT's family: NCOT IS VERY SICK. Stop asking so much of her.

Yes, it's fun and good to go to the fair, but it's not good to eat lots of junk food on a sick tummy, nor is it good to stay for so long and use up all her spoons.

Honestly, NCOT, I do understand your Mum's reasoning in getting you to spend so much time with your brother and his children, but I do think that there has to be a better way to address your physical and mental health... one that doesn't use up all your spoons and emotional energy, and doesn't send you off into depression so regularly.

Have you noticed the link between long days babysitting and your depressive episodes? Because I think I have.

Enormous hugs to you, dear chook.

Ivy (stretching out a protective wing)

@WingZero - FB is cool :p ... Not the site, I mean the meeting up on there <_<. I'm not on there as often as when - shameful secret alert - I used to play Farmville every single day, but I do check in most days.

I've hardly played Uncharted 3; it's my nephew's game. I did play it last night after he'd gone to bed, and I got as far as the London Underground, but there was a massive room I kept on getting killed in, so I stopped there. I was very tired by that time - well, that's my excuse :p

@ivy - The Wednesdays aren't so bad anymore, but you're right: there was a link between babysitting and me being drained and depressed afterwards. The reason the Wednesdays aren't so bad is 'cos they are less gruelling than they used to be. Instead of trekking with my mum all round the town centre, I'll often sit in a coffee shop with a book and wait for her now. And the boys, especially the older one, are happy to spend hours watching films or TV.

But these past two days were kinda more like the old days. And of course I don't always feel the effects of activity or eating too much rubbish until it's too late.

I don't expect my nephews to understand, really. My mum does sort of understand - but then doesn't, if that makes sense. Like today, I don't think she got just how terrible I truly felt. Didn't want an argument, so I didn't push it.

Anyway, thank you for the hugs. Hugs back to you :p

PS: Gotta couple emails to reply to; meant to do that this evening, but time somehow scurried past while I dozed on and off at various points and thoroughly depressed myself even further with an article in Observer magazine. Will reply tomorrow now; gotta go to bed. Night folks :p

EDIT: Thanks Becky! Hugs back to you as well. Sorry to rush off like this, I only saw your post after I'd posted.