Today I woke up and thought that it would benefit me to have a cup of regular coffee instead of decaf, seeing how I've been depressed for a little less than a month now. What brings me down is my anxiety, which tends to constantly shave away my happiness and sanity. I am pretty certain (though not diagnosed officially) that I have GAD, which means General Anxiety Disorder. My brain locks onto things it doesn't like and it never lets go until the scenario has been beaten to death mentally. And this can take weeks, even months to get over.
Anxiety has affected my life considerably, and not for the better. I have problems in crowds, have issues dealing with work-related stress, blank out in arguments, fear the unknown, over-think negatively, and compare myself to others a lot. When I tell myself not to do these things, they always stay there in the back of my mind and it always irritates me. At night when I am about to sleep, these thoughts usually just unload and do their thing, and after a while I start feeling better. But these things take time, and for a person like me, being happy again while not having my brain attach to something bad is uncommon, but not rare.
Part of the reason why this happens is because of a likely chemical imbalance where serotonin is not being secreted effectively. I'm not sure if it's having too much or too little, but after being to doctors and having been on medication before, they have told me that it has to do with serotonin handling anxiety and fear.
Back to coffee, though. There is something positive about caffeinated coffee that stimulates me and actually picks me up. It's bad for me though, and taking too much caffeine (having even one cup) can give me serious jitters, and if I am feeling anxious, can put me into a serious panic attack. For the longest time I've been drinking decaf, but every now and again when I am feeling down I will drink a good cup of regular. It really does do the trick, it feels like.
I'll only have one, of course. It's been said that drinking one cup of regular can have positive effects, whereas drinking much more yields negative consequences. There's also the factor of becoming tolerant to caffeine, which is actually a rather quick process. Caffeine is a chemical that people can become well adjusted to in just a week. This can compel a drinker to drink more to achieve the desired effect as they did when they felt it the first time.
Wow. I feel way better with that cup of coffee. Maybe today will be a good day.
ID:1436749
 Dec 3 2013, 4:45 pm
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Dec 3 2013, 4:47 pm
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Vrocaan
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i usually just take an antidepressant.
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I'm looking into that myself actually.
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You should see a professional if you feel unwell, mentally or physically. Diagnosing yourself with guesses and assumptions and treating it by trial and error is not a healthy pattern to establish.
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smoke some weed.
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You should only take anti-depressants if you have depression. If anxiety is making you feel like shit, then you should be taking anti-anxiety meds.
That said, I always try to promote "natural" or "do-it-yourself" ways of getting better. Have you seen a therapist? Do you exercise regularly and eat well? Do you have a job that you can at least tolerate, do you have friends and things to do in your free time? Have you ever tried yoga, meditation, or anything like that? | |
The anxiety can get bad enough that it's very hard to control. I'm going to a doctor tomorrow to talk about if medication is going to help me, and I had taken medication beforehand.
As far as physical health I am pretty good there. My weight is fine, and my work is demanding and requires a lot of physical exertion, which is where I get my exercise from. I do not have a lot of friends, but I am more of a loner anyway. Meditation is something I do. Sometimes it is clearing of the mind, or it can be in the form of other mental practices. | |
Magicsofa wrote:
You should only take anti-depressants if you have depression. If anxiety is making you feel like shit, then you should be taking anti-anxiety meds. Well, that's just not true. Internet people should stick to the internet, don't try to give medical advice. OP: If you are concerned, you should go see a physician. Self-diagnosis for mental disorders can be dangerous by assuming to understand the nuances of diagnostic criteria and potential outcome. Certain symptoms can resemble a disorder, but may be nothing to worry about. Other symptoms may be part of multiple of clinical disorders and misdiagnosed. Good luck. | |
I've heard that excercise can produce serotonin efficiently. Do you get any excercise? Or you stay on the computer all day. If not that could be half of your problem.
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Kalzar wrote:
Magicsofa wrote: I'm pretty sure we are all internet people here, and Makeii understands that. Unless you happen to be a physician yourself...in which case you might explain what your alternative proposition is. Because in my mind the reverse of my statement would be "If you have depression, it's OK to take anti-anxiety, and if you have anxiety, it's OK to take anti-depressant." And maybe that is true for some people, but depression and anxiety are not the same thing. And you should not take klonopin if you are trying to increase serotonin! You might say "a doctor would know better" but no, they can be wrong too. BornASaiyan23 said: I've heard that excercise can produce serotonin efficiently. Do you get any excercise? Or you stay on the computer all day. If not that could be half of your problem. Yeah, he just said his job is physically demanding enough to count as excercise. Although doing cardio probably wouldn't hurt (maybe that's what his work is like, but I assume he meant heavy lifting) | |
Doctor's appointment in about 4 hours, so we'll see how it goes. The anxiety is usually worse at night. Right now I am pretty calm. I played with the dog and walker her. Dad would be pretty pleased to hear I've been interacting with her more so he doesn't come home to a hyperactive dog.
I always stick to saying cardio is the best exercise. Also, I dno't drink caffeinated beverages at all except for the occasional cup of coffee (regular). Otherwise it's sweet tea, decaf, or juice. I also take a multivitamin daily to make sure I get all I need for the day, and for meals it's usually something simple like sandwiches or cereal. For snacks I skip chips and go for nuts or raisins. However I am a sucker for chocolate. I like trail mixes but they usually add in too much salt for my liking. I have a bag here, but it has this same problem. Cereal I usually use 1% milk, so it's not very fattening. Skim milk is okay too but I've become accustomed to 1%. A little bit of dietary fat (both saturated and unsaturated) is good for the body. For sandwiches I generally don't like to use mayonnaise. I'll have dijon mustard with some ham and american cheese, and possibly a slice of romaine lettuce in there too. The bread also matters as a health factor, but for me anything works. I find just general white bread to be easier to eat, and not as filling, so I get more meat and filling than bread. I do enjoy multigrain bread, as well as wheat. On not-so-common occasions I get a real hunkering for pizza. Like last Halloween I indulged in some Domino's. I'm pretty healthy, but I am always striving to get my weight down. 5'8" at 180 lbs is pretty decent considering I used to be around 210 lbs. edit: The work is pushing carts from 4-7 hours a day. I usually work 5 days a week. | |
Magicsofa wrote:
I'm pretty sure we are all internet people here, and Makeii understands that. Unless you happen to be a physician yourself...in which case you might explain what your alternative proposition is. Because in my mind the reverse of my statement would be "If you have depression, it's OK to take anti-anxiety, and if you have anxiety, it's OK to take anti-depressant." And maybe that is true for some people, but depression and anxiety are not the same thing. And you should not take klonopin if you are trying to increase serotonin! You might say "a doctor would know better" but no, they can be wrong too. I'm a neuroscientist with experience in neuropharmacology. Right, well klonopin (clonazepam) decreases utilization of serotonin by neurons but the truth is psychiatrists and neurologists do not have a strong grasp of the neuroscience behind the mechanism of action for most psychiatric drugs. We do not fully understand why a certain behavior occurs or diminishes with the use of a drug. That's why antidepressants, anxiolytics, and antipsychotics have label and off-label uses. For example, antidepressants are often prescribed for ADHD, sleeping disorders, eating disorders, and anxiety disorders. Good luck OP. It sounds like you reflect often about your behaviors and actions, getting help is the best step before deciding what you think is wrong. | |