feeling tired and fatigued most of the time-am i depressed?

[refujiunderground]

some years ago, i developed a really bad habit where i would sleep all the time during the day which started from masturbating. after i would masturbate which involved me humping my mattress, i would fall asleep right afterwards. that led to me just becoming bed ridden where whenever i felt shitty, tired, sad, angry, cold or whatever, i would just go to bed. around that time which was junior high to my first two years of college, when i was wide awake, i would feel sad and angry for days on end with an occasional day where i didn't feel it so much or when i was geniunely happy. that was maybe once or twice every two weeks.

however, starting in 2007, i decided to try some experiment to see how i felt or was affected if i decided to sleep only at night and force myself to stay awake during the day even when i was very tired where i wanted to go to sleep. it eventually became a habit which i did for about 4 years if you count this year. i found out that besides being tired which probably affected my moods, i still felt angry, sad, and all these negative emotions and at times, they even intensified to the point where i could physically feel it. the times when i wasn't depressed, i felt happy or numb. sometimes my happy moods were a bit too happy but it wasn't anything which i would consider out the norm or weird. but when i went back to being sad or depressed, i felt it hard.

as of recent, i've been feeling very tired and i've been sleeping during the daytime and all times during the day. i still feel tired and somedays, i don't feel as tired. could this fatigue be a sign of depression or something else? i've been to therapists and other psychs, i've mentioned this to them and none of them said that i had it and i was just fine. are they right or could they be missing something.

 

[JayQueer]

First of all, from what you are describing, you need to see a doctor as soon as possible. Specifically, a psychiatrist -- which is a doctor who specializes in mental health. This is not the same thing as as a counselor, therapist, or a psychologist.

I do think that your counselors or therapists who you saw may have been missing something. It is not "normal" for someone to sleep all day and all night.

When you say that you feel "tired" or "shitty" or "angry" or "sad", how has it affected your life? Are you still able to go to college or work? How is your school or work performance? Are you still able to see your friends & family, and go about your usual tasks & errands, even though you feel "blah"? Do you still try to wear nice clothes when you go out, and do personal grooming tasks like shaving your face, cutting your nails, getting your hair cut, etc. regularly? Do you eat more or less food than you used to?

Or has your feeling "tired" impacted your life to the point that you never leave the house, sit inside your bedroom all day, never see anyone, and don't maintain your personal hygiene or appearances? Has being "tired" or feeling "sad" caused your grades to fall in school, or be fired from work?

When you say that you feel "happy" occasionally, what kinds of activities do you do? Do your eating or sleeping habits change when you are "happy"? How so?

From what your saying, it sounds like you might have bipolar II (which is characterized by long periods of chronic depression interspersed with brief periods of mild happiness), or you may have major depression or dysthmia (mild form of chronic depression).


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bipolar_II_disorder

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Major_depressive_disorder

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dysthymia


If you do have bipolar disorder or depression, there are medications available, which should help alleivate what you're going through.

Regardless, I think you need to see a psychiatrist as soon as possible and share everything you have experienced with him or her.

 

[refujiunderground]

First of all, from what you are describing, you need to see a doctor as soon as possible. Specifically, a psychiatrist -- which is a doctor who specializes in mental health. This is not the same thing as as a counselor, therapist, or a psychologist.

I do think that your counselors or therapists who you saw may have been missing something. It is not "normal" for someone to sleep all day and all night.

When you say that you feel "tired" or "shitty" or "angry" or "sad", how has it affected your life? Are you still able to go to college or work? How is your school or work performance? Are you still able to see your friends & family, and go about your usual tasks & errands, even though you feel "blah"? Do you still try to wear nice clothes when you go out, and do personal grooming tasks like shaving your face, cutting your nails, getting your hair cut, etc. regularly? Do you eat more or less food than you used to?

well, the funny thing is that it really hasn't affected my schoolwork when i was in college and neither my work. maybe it's because i've dealt with feeling this way for so long that i've figured out how to manage it. the only time my school grades really went on a huge decline was my first two years of high school but that was a transitional period since i went from a catholic school to a public high school. i just didn't have myself straight but i got the grip of things in my junior year of high school and have been managing ever since. i do recall that the stress i felt from my schoolwork affected how i felt especially in college. for instance, if i was feeling bad, the stress from my schoolwork made me feel even worse but somehow, someway, i managed and i was able to graduate college with a good gpa.

as for work, being that the nature of my job affects how i feel, depending on the day and who i'm dealing with as well as who i am, i can be a good mood or a really bad mood. my job performance can be really great or really terrible on my mood. i can say that it affects my motivation towards life where i pretty much lose interest in something, it pretty much has left me in a state when i pretty much don't have any interest in doing much besides the things that i've forced myself to get accustomed to like school work, work, the gym, and other things. i pretty much pushed myself to do it despite not having much of an enthusiam for it. in order for me to get into something, i pretty much have to force myself to do it or i'll just sit on my ass all day and come here.

Or has your feeling "tired" impacted your life to the point that you never leave the house, sit inside your bedroom all day, never see anyone, and don't maintain your personal hygiene or appearances? Has being "tired" or feeling "sad" caused your grades to fall in school, or be fired from work?

well, you can say that. i have nowhere to go and have no interest in going anywhere except for the gym in which like i've said earlier, i force myself to go. i pretty much stay in my room all day and pretty much have to go look for a career job or study for the LSAT, which are two things i pretty much have stalled on doing. i only wash after i come from the gym. as for appearances, as of recent, i'm trying to buy myself new clothes and i'm trying to get rid of my old clothes that i've been wearing for how many years now because i didn't have any interest in buying any new clothes except for sneakers which my mom pretty much would remind me about buying. otherwise, i wouldn't have gave a shit.

When you say that you feel "happy" occasionally, what kinds of activities do you do? Do your eating or sleeping habits change when you are "happy"? How so?

well... as of recent times, nothing since i'm not in school anymore. i go to work here and there but i plan on quitting soon since i can't stand my job anymore. i don't do anything much except go to the gym, eat, sleep, and keep it lazy. my eating habits have changed a bit. i was eating a lot over the past year because i was really deep into the gym but in the past two months, i haven't been eating that well at all. my eating habits have been fluctuating crazily. i'm not eating as great as i used to mainly because i really don't feel like eating much. my sleeping habits have never been great to begin with because as a kid, i used to stay up all the time and would never sleep. i would be energetic as could be but it started catching up to me when i was a teenager which led to me falling asleep in all of my classes and elsewhere. i've never been a good sleeper. there's times when i'm so tired that i can fall asleep as soon as i hit my pillow and there's times when i can't sleep at all where i'll still be on the computer, listening to music and the whole nine. it depends.

From what your saying, it sounds like you might have bipolar II (which is characterized by long periods of chronic depression interspersed with brief periods of mild happiness), or you may have major depression or dysthmia (mild form of chronic depression).


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bipolar_II_disorder

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Major_depressive_disorder

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dysthymia


If you do have bipolar disorder or depression, there are medications available, which should help alleivate what you're going through.

Regardless, I think you need to see a psychiatrist as soon as possible and share everything you have experienced with him or her.

i thought that i had manic depression too some years ago but now, i doubt it. i may have little periods where i have lots of energy but i don't think it would be characterized as having manic episode at all. i've seen bipolar people on youtube and i know that i'm not that. i also do not have all the symptoms of that disorder either. i just think that i may be suffering from depression though, that's all.

well, all of the shrinks i went to agree that i probably need to do something and one of them agreed that this is happening when i go through a transitional period in my life where i don't know how to manage where this comes up. however, that doesn't explain why i constantly have felt this way for years. i can say that feeling like this has helped me be able to confront certain things think that these feelings would go away if i just get rid of certain problems BUT however, i still feel like shit. i wonder if i just get a career job, go off to law school, come out the closet, or when things get a bit better and i have less stress problems if these feelings will go away. then again, i don't fucking know anymore and when i try to go get help for this shit, i get turned away by shrinks and my own family as well as my homies are all unsupportive and tell me to man up. they think that i'm crying for attention or making this shit up.

 

[Gnarlibar]

You should see a physician and discuss blood tests. To me some of your symptoms could indicate a thyroid problem. You don't mention it, but do you also feel cold when others are hot?
Thyroid problems are easy to treat unless left and easy to check with a blood test. That will also rule out anemia and so on.

 

[refujiunderground]

You should see a physician and discuss blood tests. To me some of your symptoms could indicate a thyroid problem. You don't mention it, but do you also feel cold when others are hot?
Thyroid problems are easy to treat unless left and easy to check with a blood test. That will also rule out anemia and so on.

wow. might have to take a trip to the doctor next week then or as soon as possible.

 

[burke67]

You should see a physician and discuss blood tests. To me some of your symptoms could indicate a thyroid problem. You don't mention it, but do you also feel cold when others are hot?
Thyroid problems are easy to treat unless left and easy to check with a blood test. That will also rule out anemia and so on.

RU,

I was about to reply with Gnalibar's observations... I will, instead, add notes as to my experiences of hypothyroidism with the caveat that it's not necessarily the same in your situation;

Your stated symptoms are similar to my experiences of life a few years ago. I was "existing". I was cold, off my food, had variable sleep cycles, fatigue, depression, experienced migraines, and had no libido.

Do have your MD do a full-spectrum blood test. Thyroid drives the entire body, and influences brain chemistry secondarily.​

Be aware that if you do test "low-normal" on your thyroid levels that your MD may not want to prescribe thyroid replacement therapy. I will note that my experience required me to request the lowest dose of thyroxin available. "Low-normal" results across the population were in truth "low" for me. Low-dose thyroxin therapy changed me and the way I saw, and interacted with the world immensely; all to the better.

Here's hoping some simple blood-work and a thorough study of the results might provide some answers.

Cheers,

B67

 

[dsh122]

I concur with the previous posts. If the medical evaluation turns up normal, seek out a psychiatric evaluation.

 

[TheOscar]

I don't think it's Bipolar II disorder, ping-ponging from JayQueer's post. You seem to really just be feeling depressed and the happiness only lasts about a day and it's not manic happiness, at least not according to what you said.

But there is a strict guideline to diagnosing someone with Major Depressive Disorder. If you've seen a few psychologists/psychiatrists and they are telling you it's not depression, than it may not be that. It could be something entirely different. Which is odd, because it does seem like it would be depression. Do you still enjoy doing things that you always did?

 

[refujiunderground]

I don't think it's Bipolar II disorder, ping-ponging from JayQueer's post. You seem to really just be feeling depressed and the happiness only lasts about a day and it's not manic happiness, at least not according to what you said.

But there is a strict guideline to diagnosing someone with Major Depressive Disorder. If you've seen a few psychologists/psychiatrists and they are telling you it's not depression, than it may not be that. It could be something entirely different. Which is odd, because it does seem like it would be depression. Do you still enjoy doing things that you always did?

well, no. one day, i can be completely into something and the next day or sometime later, i lose complete interest. it depends on my mood. i know that today at the gym, i didn't feel like doing shit and i felt lousy as hell. i managed to go on with my workout despite what i would say was almost close to breaking down and crying while i was doing the lat pulldown.


and my weight is really fluctuating. i was 146 last week, now i'm back at 150. wtf?

 

[TheOscar]

well, no. one day, i can be completely into something and the next day or sometime later, i lose complete interest. it depends on my mood. i know that today at the gym, i didn't feel like doing shit and i felt lousy as hell. i managed to go on with my workout despite what i would say was almost close to breaking down and crying while i was doing the lat pulldown.


and my weight is really fluctuating. i was 146 last week, now i'm back at 150. wtf?

I see. Well, if that's the case, I'd recommend you go once again to a therapist and let them know. But see, if you've been to therapists and they tell you don't have Major Depressive Disorder. And that's weird. Hmm. Still, go to one more....

 

[Gnarlibar]

well, no. one day, i can be completely into something and the next day or sometime later, i lose complete interest. it depends on my mood. i know that today at the gym, i didn't feel like doing shit and i felt lousy as hell. i managed to go on with my workout despite what i would say was almost close to breaking down and crying while i was doing the lat pulldown.


and my weight is really fluctuating. i was 146 last week, now i'm back at 150. wtf?

Weight changes are another physical symptom/warning sign. The emotional fluctuation too... Get that blood test as soon as you can mate

 

[evanrick]

you may just have a blood sugar problem or be anemic like others have said.

i have both where if i dont eat anything i get in a really bad mood and dont want to talk to anyone. im also somewhat anemic so i take longer to recover. it just may be as simple as changing ur diet.

 

[refujiunderground]

refujiunderground, let us know how it goes.

your intuition must have picked up something because i just got a call about the results.

they said that everything came back fine and i'm about to get a copy to make sure everything is straight. funny thing was on tuesday when i went to my doc, he said that if everything comes out fine. i might have to see a shrink once again because there might be something wrong mentally. he said that it could possibly be anxiety issues.

so now that any possibly physical ailments are ruled out. what now? looks like jay queer and oscar could be on to something. funny thing is as of late, i haven't been feeling shitty and depressed as how i was last week. i actually been taking care of business, feeling great, emotionally feeling great, happy, stable. nothing manic like though. could it just be that i have a down day or something but then again, who knows, i might not feel like this tomorrow at all being that i have to work a job i hate over the weekend. it usually brings me down even though sometimes i don't feel down at the job.

 

[refujiunderground]

What you're experiencing is actually quite common. There are anti-depressant drugs that can help with not only depression but anxiety. Definitely go see a psychiatrist and don't take no for an answer. You should have to be feeling this way.

i'll try, man, even though i'm hesitant because i used to go snooping around for shrinks telling them my issues and all kinds of shit and all i got was mixed results, bullshit and the run around. some of them thought that i was bullshitting around with them, making things up, overexaggerating (which i do admit because i would look at wikipedia, book and such and do self-diagnosing where i thought i had bipolar disorder, ocd, general anxiety when i honestly didn't know)and they said i was fine. they said i just was going through a few bumps here and there. one of them was like "you're fine. just give your parents 20 dollars each whenever your paycheck comes in. appreciate life because it could be much worse". another one which was a shrink at my college when i was a student told me that she nor the shrinks at the college could help me and told me to go over to another hospital in another county if i feel the way i do or if i feel suicidal or whatever. another doc which was famous researcher that my mom was able to meet through a friend that set up an appointment for me said i was fine and put me in some bullshit ass research program to be a guinea pig for mental health research. they wanted to put me on some medication without a proper diagnosis.

the last shrink which was about 2 years ago. i told her the same shit i said to the rest of these doctors about how i feel sad, experience mood swings, experience anxiety, have ocd tendencies, homicidal and suicidal thoughts and basically everything i heard about mental disorders and things that i've been going through. she was going to work with me, give me meds, do cognitive behavioral therapy like what one other shrink was about to do with me but i got cold feet well mostly because of what those in my inner circle told me especially my mom and my homies. they were like "don't do it" so i backed out of it. her words when i told her that i was going to discontinue going to her was that "well, if you leave now, good luck on helping yourself because that's all i can tell you". looking back at it now, i don't even know. i don't want to say that she's right but i also don't want to say i'm wrong. i've been the same way for the past 12 years. funny even talking about this shit now, i don't even feel like i need help when i know that if i feel like how i felt like last week tomorrow, i'll probably be crying for help again. i don't know anymore, man. i want to be better but these people that are shrinks most of them geniunely do not give a fuck about their patients. i don't even care what my inner circle even says about this shit anymore because they're the same way too. i told my mom the same shit for the last 12 years and she didn't and still doesn't give a fuck. according to everyone around me, there's nothing wrong with me and it's only me that thinks there's something wrong with me and i can't accept that i'm normal when i feel like shit. i give up.

 

[burke67]

<SNIP!> i want to be better but these people that are shrinks most of them geniunely do not give a fuck about their patients. i don't even care what my inner circle even says about this shit anymore because they're the same way too. i told my mom the same shit for the last 12 years and she didn't and still doesn't give a fuck. according to everyone around me, there's nothing wrong with me and it's only me that thinks there's something wrong with me and i can't accept that i'm normal when i feel like shit. i give up.

I'm gonna be blunt and state facts here...

"Shrinks" do give a fuck. Your family gives a fuck, and your friends give a fuck. We members of JUB give a fuck.

None of us can change you though. You have to give a fuck about you before any of them, or us, can help you help yourself.

That being said...

If you truly feel you have things you need to sort with a "Shrink"; go to one and be prepared to have him or her help you help yourself.

I'm sure it's been a frustrating 12 years... It would appear getting into some form of therapy, working with the therapist, and (I'm guessing here) overcoming your fears regarding personal change or stating personal thruths will help both of you help you. Do not discount drug therapy... it can help you get to the point where you're no longer running in circles. You can then deal with the real issues, come off the drugs, and be you!

Best of luck,

B67