What kind of depression is this?

[Rex]

I seem to go through cycles of depression that has nothing to trigger it.

For one week I'll feel on top of the world and myself and happy and in a great mood. Then after that week or so I'll go through a depression for two weeks where I'm less social, have some anxiety, avoid social situations and tend to want to be alone for longer periods of time and stay in bed a lot. I also find it harder to concentrate and more out of touch with everything when I'm like that.

I don't know of anything that is triggering it to happen. It just happens and it's been happening for a long time. I don't know why I can't just stay in the normal mood I'm in where I can be myself.

I know seeing a doctor is the best thing to do but I don't have insurance and am just wondering if there is a specific kind of depression that this is.


I wish I knew how to get through it and why it happens.

 

[Rex]

After doing some research online I think it's Cyclothymia. It seems to be the most accurate description to what I have.

 

[Telstra]

not an expert, quote from this site:
http://www.wholeperson-counseling.org/doc/cycles-d.html

Quote:
Very few people are depressed all the time, although some may press the point. Depression often comes in cycles or seasons. It may be important that an individual plot the cycles that he may understand the source of depression and overcome it.

We live in a world of cycles. We have a cycle of day and night and cycles of weeks, months, and years. There are also physical cycles of hunger and eating, even exercise and rest. In marriage there is a cycle of sexual desire and satisfaction. There is a cycle of women called the menstrual cycle. There are daily cycles of activity. We get up, get dressed, go to work, spend the day working, come home, eat with the family, watch TV, bathe, and go to bed. We may also observe a week cycle by working five days, doing home chores one day, and attending church activities one day. We may also do different types of work during different seasons of the year. We celebrate seasonal events such as Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Year's Day, and Easter. We also may observe other annual events such as birthdays and anniversaries.

So what causes cycles of depression? One major cause is negative thoughts or emotions that we have attached to a portion of a cycle. For example, a lady may get up depressed each Sunday morning. Why? Sunday is the day that the kids want to sleep late, but the day she also wants them to get up and go to Sunday School. The conflict each Sunday morning with the kids turned into a cycle of depression.

Here is another situation. A man gets depressed around Christmas time each year. Why? He had a major conflict with his father over his decision to go into the military some twenty years ago. The conflict occurred at Christmas. Now each Christmas the young man experiences a depression episode.

Another illustration is of a thirty-five year old woman who suddenly falls into a state of depression. She has a son who has just turned eighteen years old. What is the source of the woman's sudden depression? When she was in college, an eighteen year old young man whom she was dating forced her into her first sexual experience. She hated the experience and broke up with the young man. She experienced episodes of depression for months after that before they faded away. Now her son's eighteenth birthday has triggered the painful memories.

A final illustration is of a young woman who gets depressed about a week prior to her menstrual cycle each month. The problem is that she sees no reason a woman should have a menstrual cycle. She hates the necessity of having to use feminine products and all the inconveniences involved. She has established an emotional of dread that has led to depression.

Other factors include improper diet, physical exhaustion or lack of exercise, and poor lighting conditions. Also, many antidepressants actually may cause depression. Of course a lack of spiritual care may be a major contributor to depression.

 

[ByronMc]

Since you describe your feelings as sometimes high and sometimes low, you might have what is known as bipolar disorder, sometimes called "manic depression" because there is a manic phase and a depression phase. It can be diagnosed and controlled with medication and guidance, but treatment is quite different from that of the more simple fors of depression, and you should get it checked out by a specialist in bipolar disorder. There is an excellent book on bipolar disorder by Kay Redfield Jamison called "An Unquiet Mind," who is not only a top specialist in the field but bipolar herself.

 

[Rex]

I read up on bipolor disorder and it says that during the highs people might have irrational feelings of self confidence and and things of that nature.

I do feel some of the symptoms they described during the highs but I don't feel that. I just feel like myself and fine so I'm not sure if it's bipolor.

 

[KaraBulut]

It is most likely Cyclothymia. Everyone has a bit of cycling to their moods but when it begins to affect your social life and activity level, it needs to be addressed.

Out of curiosity, are the mood swings consistently up and down year round or does it seem to worsen in the fall and winter?

 

[Rex]

They seem consistently up and down.

Like 1 week of "up", 2 weeks of "down" and it keeps repeating similar to that. I don't know if it's worse in the fall or winter but it's defintely always going up and down and nothing seems to trigger it and I don't really have control of when I feel up and down. It's strange.

Lately I've been in one of my "down" moods and been staying in bed all day and haven't gone to the gym in almost a week. I've just had no motivation to do anything.

 

[haberfuckingdashery]

I know seeing a doctor is the best thing to do

Actually i think that has to be the worst thing you could do.

you should alter your diet, remove any (ALL) artificial colors, preservatives, additives etc. they fuck your brain! try and eat organic as much as you can and do a regular detox to help clear the build up of all this western poison circulating in your blood steam which flows thru your brain.

Try to get fluoride out of your water (only reverse osmosis filters or steam distillation removes this)

the brain is very sensitive to the chemical overload, why do you think so so many westerners are sick with this? look at the millions of fat ass depressed kids! it's just sickening watching this shit.

so fix this first and you will improve.

good luck!

 

[freefall]

Cyclothymia is, however, a form of bipolar condition, though it didn't really follow the basic bipolar condition. And actually, going to a psychiatrist may help. That is if you really think this mood swing is really bothering you.

 

[KaraBulut]

They seem consistently up and down.

Like 1 week of "up", 2 weeks of "down" and it keeps repeating similar to that. I don't know if it's worse in the fall or winter but it's defintely always going up and down and nothing seems to trigger it and I don't really have control of when I feel up and down. It's strange.

Lately I've been in one of my "down" moods and been staying in bed all day and haven't gone to the gym in almost a week. I've just had no motivation to do anything.

True bipolar disorder usually has longer periods of mood swings- typically 3-6 months. This does sound like what would be called dysthmia or cyclothymia.

You're at a decision point. Normally, I would recommend that you try an SSRI which you can get a prescription for from your family doctor- these are the drugs like Prozac, Zoloft, Lexapro, etc. They work well to flatten out the mood swings and put the person on even keel.

But if I remember correctly, you were planning on going into the military and treatment with antidepressants might require a waiver for military service. So, it's something that you should think about.

There are some other things that you can try.

The reason I asked about the season portion is that you live in the upper midwest where the days go from 14 hours of light in the summer to barely 8 hours of light in the winter. There's a connection between sunlight and mood. Many people who are prone to depression find that their depressions get more frequent during the fall and winter and they generally feel better in the spring and summer. There are sunlight simulators that you can get for your home that help by simulating daylight and these seem to help.

Even though you feel like staying in bed, the best thing to do for this kind of depression is cardio. Exercise- particularly cardio- really helps with depressions.

And a lot of people who are depressed gravitate toward carbs because they get a buzz from the "sugar rush" after they eat high carb foods. As difficult as it is, it is better to avoid the carbs and the up-down sugar rush-crash cycle that comes with it.

 

[fetaby]

Hmmm. It seems mild whatever it is...

I would ask myself if the feelings I felt during the "down" time is strong enough to prevent me from going outside..

You may not want to, but if your able to then yeah...

I don't think there is anything wrong with not wanting to be "outgoing' all the time.

 

[Rex]

Thanks for everyone's input.

Yes Kara since I'm leaving for the military in a couple months I want to try overcoming this without any medication since they won't allow medication to be used during basic training and something like an antidepressent would raise eyebrows. Plus I don't have health insurance anyway so I don't know if I could go see a doctor about it if I wanted to. I didn't think of it before but maybe the weather does have something to do with it and how the daylight ends so quickly around this time of month. I wasn't aware things like that can have such on impact on someone's mood.


As for it being mild, well it's not a severe depression but it's enough to make me not want to leave the house for long periods of time and stay in my room for the most part of the weeks, which sucks. I am going to go to the gym though later and do some cardio. My diet and exercise has been pretty bad when I'm in these low moods. I've been really inactive and eating a lot of junk foods.

 

[fetaby]

If your going to the gym... when your' done would you come back and update us?

I'd like to know if it helped... interesting stuff.

 

[Rex]

I did about 2.5 miles on the treadmill. I do feel a little better yes.

I don't usually do cardio at the gym except when I warm up before stretching. I'm always worried I'll burn off muscle that I gained if I do cardio but maybe I should start doing it more. I didn't do any lifting today but I might go back to the gym and do some lifting.

 

[KaraBulut]

As voodoo-ish as it sounds, seasonal affective disorder (which has the acronym, "SAD") is a recognized problem that affects people who live in areas where daylight hours get shorter in the fall and winter.

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

http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/seasonal-affective-disorder/DS00195

There are light boxes that you can find on the internet that have full spectrum white lights that seem to help (price ranges $75-$500). There's also dawn simulator alarm clocks that use lights on a timer in the morning.

I'm not a fan of tanning beds but there is some recent research that shows that many "tanorexics" are actually addicted to the mood-elevating effect of the lights in the tanning beds. Since most tanning memberships can be had for $20-30 per month, that's also an affordable alternative if the light boxes are too expensive.

 

[fetaby]

Good to see, I'm happy your getting out. Gimme a tim tam?

 

[Rex]

Going through one of my down moods again and have been all week. The thing is though I have been going to the gym regularly and doing lots of cardio. I usually run 2-3 miles every day or every other day and physically I feel good but mentally I still feel down. A week ago I was feeling great and that feeling lasted for about 2 weeks. I always feel like I overcame the "down" mood when I'm in my "up" mood but it always come back.

I know seeing a doctor and taking medication is probably the only way I'll ever get over this but because I'm leaving for basic training in a month and they don't allow you to use medication, it's not really an option right now.

 

[maxpowr9]

If exercise can't get your endorphines running, it could possibly be your diet. Malnutrition can cause depression also because your brain may not be getting the proper nutrients, leading to chemical imbalances.

Has the "ups and downs" only been a recent thing or has it been occuring for an extended period of time (greater than a year)? If it is only recently, most doctors won't diagnose you with Cyclothymia due to the short medical history, even if you match many of the symptoms of the disorder. However, most bipolar people don't even cycle that fast (fortnightly).

Could you also be feeling depressed about starting training for the military? It is a life-changing experience.

I'm kind of shooting in the dark here though.

 

[Nomenclature]

After doing some research online I think it's Cyclothymia. It seems to be the most accurate description to what I have.

It's great that you're trying to understand your condition, but keep in mind that self-diagnosing through Google can be very dangerous, and is absolutely not a replacement for a diagnosis from a licensed doctor. I strongly suggest that you talk about this with a counselor/psychologist and get on the road to beating this ASAP.