Help With Mood

[Tutahl75]

Does anyone have any good ideas on how to deal with depressing states during recovery? I have been officially Celiac for four months now and have had my first bout of depression since my diagnosis. I get really paranoid about my symptoms and restless at night. I have had some liver disfunction as well and haven't responded well to medications like effexor and prozac. Does anyone have good remedies to get them through the tough spots.

[Guest Nukapai]

Hi - sorry to take this slightly off topic, but are your liver problems in any way related to Celiacs? Just asking because I am kind of going through tests for both.

[Tutahl75]

Well it started with low ferratin and then elevated liver enzymes. I talked to my nutritionist and she told me they didn't know about the correlation between elevated liver function and celiacs until recently. Don't fret though, because my liver functions improved with the diet and exercise. My stool has improved color and consistancy ( I still get some symptoms because of celiacs, but that is expected).

I"ve recently tried milk thistle as well as this is thought to be good at detoxifying the liver and improving function. Might want to look into that in your area. Hope this helps.

[tarnalberry]

A couple standard non-medication routes:

• exercise, something somewhat vigorous
  
• 8 hours of sleep - no over or under sleeping
  
• eating well - not excessively heavy on the carbs or excessively low fat
  
• meditation or some quiet-mind activity
  
• behavioral and cognitive therapy (not necessarily at a psych's office, of course)
  

The exercise is important, as the endorphins released during vigorous exercise are known mood lifters. For me, doing something twice a day is important, particularly getting something in the morning. (I usually do a fairly vigorous ashtanga yoga series in the morning, which includes meditation at the beginning and end of the practice.) Even if you can't do much, and even if you can't do it for very long, the point is to get YOUR BODY to the point of having an elevated heart rate and your body moving. Exercise will also generally improve circulation to help keep you from getting achey. Don't compare what you do to anyone else, the point is producing those happy brain chemicals! :-) A good rhythmic exercise (like the vinyasa flows of ashtanga yoga I love so much, or even a good walk/jog/swim) also can be meditative if you focus on the rhythm of the motion or your breathing.

The last item, the behavior and cognitive modification are both methods in psychology for working with patients. You don't have to see a psych to do them, of course, but it's harder! The basic premise is that you change how you FEEL by changing what you DO and what you THINK. When you start thinking depressive thoughts, you mentally pause, correct yourself, and actively replace that thought with a positive one. When you sit at home not doing something fun, you pause, figure out something better to do, and replace your unproductive activity with a productive one (even if "productive" just means that it's making you happier). Obviously, these are hard things to do when you're depressed (that's why I noted that it's easier with someone to help), so you start small. It is a slow process, both behavior and cognitive modification, though it's a technique that can serve you for a lifetime.