Posted by Hombre on April 22, 2011, at 12:53:38
It seems like people are trying to find a balance between stimulation and sedation. Depression, on one hand, is a sort of hypoactive state, often associated with tiredness and sleep problems. Anxiety and mania, on the other hand, are symptoms of hyperactivitiy and overstimulation.
I've personally never responded to just an SSRI, often getting even more sedated. SNRIs can add more of a boost by working with norepinephrine and dopamine, but they often come with anxiety, insomnia, and anorexia.
In my experience I've found it necessary to oversedate at the beginning especially if coming off along period of just being a wreck, not sleeping well, not eating well, stressed out, etc.
Just getting some real sleep and not being anxious all the time can do wonders for your energy. You free up so much energy by not being in fight-or-flight mode all the time.
Once you've achieved some sort of stability, adding activities and perhaps some stimulating drugs or even the judicious use of caffeine may be necessary to pull one out of the sort of ambivalent state that antidepressants can cause.
Exercise is a wonderful way to increase norepinephrine and dopamine, and it also alters your hormonal profile to stimulate the release of HGH and sex hormones. It raises your metabolism and trains your body to produce and expend more energy.
But most people don't know how to relax. It's better to be a bit too busy and stressed out then too depressed to even work. A lot of brilliant people live horrendous lifestyles, eating fake food and running off of sugar and caffeine.
That will only last as long as one has the reserves to handle all that stimulation. Without periodic rest and complete relaxation, the body and mind will not recover as quickly. You might not notice until it seems too late.
There are also forms of exercise that stress relaxation and natural movement. Yoga, Tai Chi, Feldenkrais, Alexander Technique, and so on are all ways of restoring and rejuvenating the body and mind.
We need to learn how to turn it on when we need to, and turn it off when we need to relax. If medication can help you find balance between stimulation and sedation, by all means tweak away at it until you find something workable.
But you have at your disposal a number of more subtle but equally effective ways to either stimulate, sedate or both. There are a number of legal and quasi-legal research chemicals, ethnobotanicals, herbals extracts, supplements, and exercise programs that can be tailored to complement your strengths and bolster your weaknesses.
If you aren't already planning your recovery in terms of multiple changes, you may not be ready to take on that task. You just need to find a general balance so you can start cautiously trusting that the future may indeed be hopeful again.
Good luck and never keep looking for what you need to be well and do what you want in life.
poster:Hombre
thread:983517
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20110418/msgs/983517.html