Medication Treatment for Depression Can Change Your Quality Of Life
Do you wake up sad?
Do you cry even when you don’t want to?
Do you have trouble falling asleep? Or staying asleep? Maybe sleeping too much?
Do you feel hopeless or helpless?
Do you have little motivation to do even the things you used to enjoy?
You may feel despair or uncertainty about the future, that doing simple things like showering or changing clothes is too difficult or takes too much effort. Life has become so difficult you can’t feel happy or enjoy the hobbies you’ve loved. You may stop taking care of yourself, stop eating well-balanced meals, stop reaching out to friends and family. Your mind might be traveling to a deep hole.
You Are Not Alone.
According to the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), an estimated 17.3 million adults in the US have had at least one major depressive episode, that’s 7.1% of the population! Eleven million people suffer from depression that is so severe that they can’t do their job, isolate themselves from relationships, and stop caring for themselves.
Depression Can Cause Medical Problems
There is a multitude of medical problems associated with depression including weight gain or weight loss, insomnia, constipation or diarrhea, headaches, chronic pain and inflammation, and even increases your risk for a heart attack or stroke! You might start to feel muscle pain, joint stiffness. You might feel fatigued and under the weather.
People Around You Don’t Seem To Understand
You might have been taught to push through uncomfortable feelings. Feelings of grief, despair, guilt. You might have tried to “get past” this part in your life, or isolated from friends and family because you didn’t want them to worry about you, you didn’t want to let anyone down.
You’ve done all of this to try and live up to a standard you believe people have for you. Maybe it’s your boss at work, or your family has high expectations of you. Maybe you have reached out to the people who are important to you but their sentiments like “pick yourself up by your bootstraps” or “everyone’s feeling down right now” have left you feeling guilty or like a failure.
You probably want to know how you got into such a depression, and more importantly how to get out of it and prevent it from happening again.
Most People Believe That Some Depression Is Normal
Everyone can feel down occasionally. It is natural when you lose a job, your dog dies, or you face a major illness. But depression is not normal. You might be feeling isolated because of COVID-19, not going in to work like you used to, having lunch dates with friends, or Friday night drinks and dancing.
This Is Hard.
Your isolation can be even more apparent when you see other people on social media living life as usual or with big families still doing stuff you just don’t have the energy to do like hiking or being outside. We see the life people want us to see on social media, and it is easy to get into the habit of comparing yourself to them.
There’s a Difference Between Dysphoria and Depression
Dysphoria is a low level of depression. It doesn’t last long, you can still go about your business, you get to work on time, you continue to meet your obligations, but you don’t feel happy. You may have a general sense of unease or the things you are doing take more effort than they have in the past. Depression, on the other hand, lasts for at least two weeks and is a change from what you had felt before. You could have feelings of guilt or worthlessness. You might have brain fog, trouble thinking, or making decisions. You could even start to have thoughts of suicide or death.
Depression doesn’t typically resolve on its own, and many people don’t understand it can be a deadly illness. It is for this reason, we need to take it seriously.
As a psychiatric nurse practitioner, I have seen countless patients coming in saying they are a shell of their former selves. I’ve seen the dramatic change that can occur with medications or with supplements that improve quality of life. I have over 14 years of experience with treating depression, I can help you turn things around and feel normal again.
Depression Treatment Can Help You Gain Control Of Your Life Again
You may feel so overwhelmed with getting to a doctor’s appointment. That is the beauty of telehealth. You don’t have to shower, you don’t have to change out of your pajamas, we see you as you are, bed head and all. There’s no judgment: we’ve all had days where we didn’t want to get out of bed. It is during these times we want to see you the most when you’re feeling your worst, so we can help you!
Using a broad spectrum probiotic** once daily can help the body produce more serotonin naturally*. This might mean that the medications, if prescribed, can work better or faster. Sometimes this may also mean that the body requires lower doses of prescribed medications.
Together we will come up with a treatment plan that is right for you and your needs.
*Always check with your provider before starting a new medication
**Link to Amazon affiliate
What Can You Expect From Depression Treatment?
First, we will spend our initial assessment talking about your history and what you’ve experienced in your life. I want to be sure that we are treating the root cause of your depression, be it post-traumatic stress disorder, insomnia, anxiety, or even a mood disorder. Then, I will provide you with multiple treatment options, all of which are effective. You can choose at that appointment what option is right for you, or if you need time to research or think about the options, we can schedule you a follow up to discuss what you’ve selected. This approach is part of the shared decision-making model, you are in control over your treatment plan. This leads to much greater success in feeling better than if I were to select an option for you. Depression symptoms can start to improve after just a few days in some circumstances but can take a few weeks. That’s ok, we have some strategies to make the medications work faster and better so you can be back to feeling like yourself quicker.
Why Medications?
It is a good question. We understand most people don’t want to be on medications. And we’ve been known to tell people there are other, better options for resolving their depression that do not involve medications from the pharmacy. We promise, we always try and use the lowest dose for medications to achieve your goals, for the shortest duration possible. We need to do a reset in your brain, and then give it some time to get used to the new way of feeling and thinking.