Things are becoming more depressing every day and I can’t afford for professionals and don’t want to jump to the last resort or drugs. Is there a medicine that can make me happy if I take it in proper doses and does not require a doctor’s prescription?
Vitamin D3 is a good idea, generally the recommendation is 1000 IU a day. Especially now after the winter (assuming you’re in the Northern hemisphere) your vitamin D storage is probably depleted (the body needs a certain amount of UV radiation on the skin to produce vitamin D.
Regular exercise has been proven to help against depression and I think it’s probably the best and most important thing you can do. While helping your depression it will also help your general health and fitness.
Eat well: lots and lots of veggies, legumes and whole grain products. If unhealthy food makes you happy, don’t cut it from your diet completely. Allow yourself to eat sweets etc every once in a while and in moderation, but try to have a very healthy diet as a basis.
These things are probably hard to implement when you’re depressed in the first place but I guarantee you they’ll help and become easier as you go if you consistently stick to them. It takes about 66 days on average to build new habits. So if you manage to stick to it for about 2-3 months, it will become a lot easier.
Good luck!
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Pawn to A5.
You sank my battleship!
Anyway the big three are St John’s Wort, Ashwaganda, and Moringa.
Do they require a doctor’s prescription? Do they have addictive effects?
St John’s Wort can interact with several medications.
None require a prescription, and as far as I know none of these are addictive.
This is anecdotal, but I got horrible nightmares while trying Ashwaganda.
Go on hikes through forested trails on a regular basis, no bullshit.
Honestly, morning walks in the park really bring my mood up for the rest of that day.
This kept me sane during 2020/2021. And I didn’t believe it till I tried it. Nature is awesome.
All the people saying exercise… I swear that has to vary across people. I went to the gym thrice a week for two years and hated every gd second of it.
It really does seem to very considerably. I know a guy that’s addicted to running and will just do it all weekend, because he starts and doesn’t want to stop. I’ve never gotten a buzz from physical activity of any kind.
I’ve heard of the “runners’ high”, but even as someone who used to be very athletic, all I ever got was the “runners’ ‘please fucking kill me right now so I never have to do that again’”.
Depression is a chemical imbalance in the brain. There is no one-size-fits-all solution. Sometimes it’s fixed through diet/exercise. Sometimes it’s fixed through therapy. Sometimes it’s fixed through medication. OP is seeking a solution that doesn’t involve prescription meds, so everybody is suggesting other possible solutions. While exercise may not have worked for you or me, there are plenty of people who have successful results with it.
In short, yes, it definitely varies across people.
I was going to the gym before getting laid off. Gym helped me with my mental health.
I swear that has to vary across people.
I am sorry it didn’t work out for you.
Then you really are the target audience for all these “go active” advice, which is actually great! The thing is, exercises are great for most relatively healthy people (the ones who do not require professional mental help), as they strengthen your body in the same way as savings strengthen your financials. You just can do a little more of anything with it. So - you are not a lost cause, congrats! ) That said, you do not need a gym to stay fit. Not sure where you live, but there are normally public spaces with fitness equipment available in many urban areas. Or you can google some fitness sets that only need a flat surface for you to do. Something like this would be a good start. And remember, that too shall pass.
Gym going made me uncontrollably hyper. Beat Saber has worked wonders.
Beat Saber 100%. Playing a game ans exercising at the same time, genius.
Have you ever tried pistol whip? That game feels so good to play for similar reasons
I just hate how difficult it is lol
Synth Riders is fun but I still have no clue how to play it
It probably does vary to a degree, but it also needs to be the right kind of exercise for you. I always hated the gym and thought I just hated exercise, but then I discovered folk dancing. I went from never having enjoyed any sort of athletics to dancing 14 hours a week because I fell in love with it.
I didn’t notice immediate effects, but a month or two after I started, I realized that I was cooking more and staying on top of cleaning and errands much more consistently. Then the pandemic hit and I stopped dancing. I started gradually having less motivation to clean or cook. I haven’t started back up sadly, but I got an active job about a year and a half ago, and it was just like before: not until I was getting regular exercise was I really able to stay on top of things and feel like an adult.
Exercise can be whatever you want it to be.
Why not walk outside instead of going to a sweaty gym and being bored and miserable?
going to a sweaty gym and being bored and miserable?
Going to the gym isn’t exactly like this. It helped me a lot with my mental health but I am in a position now where I can’t resume it, so that’s why I am considering the medicines temporarily.
Please reread this chain, I’m replying to someone who literally said they hated every second of it, if you hate the gym you don’t have to go and there are plenty of other things to do.
Ditto. Exercising never feels good. I don’t like being sweaty and I don’t like moving around unless I’m going somewhere for a purpose. The only way I’m able to “enjoy” it is if I smoke weed before or numb out on a tv show/movie so that I can pretend I’m not exercising. And then after working out I’m exhausted and need a nap. The entire process sucks. I’ve never been into sports either. Or riding the bike or swimming. Yoga is tolerable, but it’s better when I’m high.
Just mentioning this because I see all the others: spicy food. Your brain makes happy chemicals to help with the pain, apparently.
Adrenaline and endorphins, specifically.
Cats
15 years takin perscriptions, now a shrink like ‘i dunno, maybe get a kitten’
-Aesop Rock
Exercise boosts endorphins.
Physical contact boosts oxytocin.
Sex does both.
Chocolate helps produce serotonin.
Capsaicin-heavy foods will make your body produce adrenaline and endorphins.
Caffeine is a drug but can give you a long hit of dopamine — but overdosing will make anxiety worse, and can fuck with your sleep cycle. It’s also rapidly addictive and the withdrawal symptoms include malaise and depressive feelings.
A stable sleep cycle is A#1 for happiness, though. It won’t make you happy on its own but screwing it up will make you unhappy on its own, so it’s the foundation to build everything else on.
Exercise boosts endorphins.
Physical contact boosts oxytocin.
Sex does both.
My body does not do any of these
Sex does both.
I wish I had someone for that.
It won’t make you happy on its own but screwing it up will make you unhappy on its own, so it’s the foundation to build everything else on.
My sleep cycle is currently from 4 am to 11 am. Think I should sleep earlier? I do coding at night and surf social media during the day.
Try to reduce social media. I did and feel much better without the constant input from others.
Nah as long as it’s always 4am to 11am you’ll be fine. Consistency is the main thing.
What the above commenter said is generally good advice, but I would add on limiting your social media intake. Finding an online community to interact with (with voice or video chat kinds of things involved) is a better use of online time. For the coding, you could try moving that to the morning, and socialize in the afternoon/evening, and that will help you get on a more normalized schedule. If your leisure time is spent mostly with other people, it’s a lot easier to sign off and go to bed when everyone else does as well.
Edit: Also throw in a multivitamin and 2000-5000IU of Vitamin D3 because nutritional deficiencies can cause psych problems as well as exacerbate or prolong said psych problems.
Medicine won’t really help if you’re feeling depressed due to external factors. People who feel depressed because of their life situation typically benefit more from therapy both to learn how to cope more effectively and for guidance/support on making life changes. Look for sliding scales or low/no-cost therapy options in your area
Exercise, sauna, and completing small projects can help.
Vitamin D
A lot of people, especially those who don’t go outside, have a vitamin D deficiency. This is especially prevalent this time of year as winter is just ending.
A lot of depression symptoms can be tied to Vitamin D deficiency. Go out and get a supplement and take it for a week, see how you feel.
Also vitamin K. Had low vit D blood work and doc upped vit D intake until we started to see side effects, still low on blood work. Added vit K, halved vit D intake and blood work is good now.
Seconded. A lot of people don’t realize just how piss poor their nutrition is, and how its impacting their mood.
If your emotional distress is related to inflammation then even ibuprofen can give you some relief.
As for solutions outside of pills, exercise has always been the most effective thing for me in improving my happiness.
In terms of mental health, drugs that give any kind of relief should be treated as a shelter from the storm so you can rebuild. This means if you’re not rebuilding while you’re in shelter, your happiness is only going to last as long as your shelter is standing. Drugs wear off, and it is very easy to just want to keep putting your shelter up ad infinitum. This is where the second problem of drugs for relief comes in. The shelter is sub-standard compared to doing the things to build a lasting happiness. You can get stoned as shit, but if you and your life is still in shambles there’s only so much that can do.
All the above being said cannabis can help when you need a break. Psychedelics can help as well and microdosing incurs minimal risk. Neither of these will fix any of your problems, but they can enable you to work on your problems yourself when it was too difficult to before.
Alternatively, if you want to avoid drugs altogether meditation can be an option in some circumstances. This is barely a recommendation because meditation is a skill that you have to practice in optimal form consistently before you’ll get anything at all from it. It’s impossible to actually know whether you’re doing it right until you start to feel relief from it and so many things can make practicing mediation as a beginner almost impossible if you’re in crisis. If you attempt mediation with absolutely no expectations other than that you will fail at it until you happen to approach it in a way that works you may eventually get some relief from it. If you get it working consistently, it is far stronger than anything you can get legally without a prescription in terms of providing relief. I can give you some guidance if you’re interested in this path. Secondarily, Kava can help a little in that it dulls the pain.
Vallerian root, kanna, ashwaganda, etc. might work if you believe strongly that they’re working. Avoid depressants like alcohol because although they provide temporary relief they also make things worse when they wear off which can be a terrible cycle.
St Johns Wort can help. It’s not as effective as prescription medication, but can help deal with mild ‘low mood’ type symptoms. It’s comparable to the effect of a compression bandage on a joint. It will help with the equivalent of a pulled tendon, but will do next to nothing against the equivalent of a shattered elbow.
It is worth noting that there are 2 sorts of depression. Feeling sad, while unpleasant, is a lot easier to treat. It’s generally caused by external stimulus. While this is harder to treat with drugs, it responds a LOT better to lifestyle changes. Basically, you need to figure out 2 things. What is making you sad, and how do you remove that effect. Implementing it can be an absolute bitch, but it’s worth the effort.
The other sort of depression is proper “clinical depression”. This is a chemical imbalance in the brain. It can be brought on by external stimulus, but it’s not dependent on them. With this, your brain starts losing the ability to care. Motivation becomes a lot harder, and so the cost to payoff with positive activities gets worse. Internally, it’s like having the chroma on a TV turned down. Everything gets muted and dull. Nothing is worth the effort required to do it. This sort of depression does need proper treatment. It’s far more insidious and will grind you down. To beat it you need to change your very brain wiring. This can be done, but generally requires significant external support. If you could beat it alone, you likely wouldn’t have become trapped within it.
I’ve experienced both. Neither are pleasant. Just keep in mind, both distort your thinking. Often, you can’t fully trust your own thinking. Situations that seem impossible to cope with will just crumble when actually attacked. However, without enough motivation, you often won’t even try.
An just to note, if you get to the point of intrusive, self destructive thoughts, that’s when you need to seriously reach out to external help. Even if you think you can cope with them, they can send your mind spiraling downwards.
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5-HTP is a mood-regulating supplement, like a mild anti-depressant. I once took it for a year and it actually helped. But for the first week it made me more emotional. Read about it on webMD so you understand it and the risks.
But the real answer is exercise, healthy diet, and maybe vitamin D. Boring answer, I know, but the absolute best one too.
Be careful if you take MDMA or any other serotonin drug while on 5-HTP. This supplement assists the body in making serotonin, and can cause serotonin storm in rare cases when combined with party drugs.
Yeah, I think this includes psychedelics. Magic mushrooms for sure.
Vitamin D and some exercise is generally helpful for me
Big one for me too. I notice a massive downturn in my mood when I haven’t managed to stick to my exercises.
Exercise = endorphins = happy
It’s works for me and makes sense that it is how our bodies have evolved to work.
Good food and lots of water also
dose: 1k-2k
