How To Deal With Hormonal Depression

Mental Disorders: Depression Bipolar Disorder Schizophrenia

Unfortunately, mood swings can also be a symptom of many mental disorders, including mood disorders such as depression and bipolar disorder, and schizophrenia.

• In the case of depression, there are relapses of depressive episodes and periods of remission when the patient returns to relatively normal functioning. We can therefore notice changes in the mood of a loved one, which may be signaled by this increasingly diagnosed mood disorder. There are no periods of remission in severe depression

• When it comes to the symptoms of bipolar disorder, in this case, mood swings are much more noticeable. The disease is manifested by alternating episodes of depression and mania

• Mood swings can also occur in schizophrenia, especially in the case of schizophrenia with productive symptoms, i.e., experiencing hallucinations or delusions.

What to do in this situation?

In this case, there is only one way: follow the recommendations of your attending physician and take the medications prescribed for you regularly. In the event of a deterioration in functioning, you should urgently visit your psychiatrist or go to the nearest Mental Health Clinic to conduct a thorough diagnosis of your current health condition.

You Cant Just Snap Out Of Depression

Well-meaning friends or family members may try to tell someone with depression to snap out of it, just be positive, or you can be happier if you just try harder. But depression is not a sign of a persons weakness or a character flaw. The truth is that most people who experience depression need treatment to get better.

If you are a friend or family member of a woman with depression, you can offer emotional support, understanding, patience, and encouragement. But never dismiss her feelings. Encourage her to talk to her health care provider, and remind her that, with time and treatment, she can feel better.

How To Deal With Depression

The world has been difficult to deal with for the past years of our lives due to COVID-19. Many have died including our love ones, some have lost their jobs, others have been frustrated and a lot of people have suffered to what is so-called depression.

Smiling has always been easier than explaining why youre sad

What is depression?

Depression and sadness/grief are always being thought as the same condition. However, these have different definition. And to understand the difference, one must know that:

• In sadness, thoughts of death may occur when thinking of deceased loved one while depression, thoughts are focused on ending ones life due to feeling worthless
• When you are in grief, painful feelings come but intermixed with positive memories of the deceased while the later , mood are decreased for most of two weeks.
• In sorrow, self-esteem is usually maintained while another, the feelings of worthlessness and self-loathing are common.

Why is this happening to a person?

Several factors can play a role in this condition:

• Genetics which can inherit from the family members
• Personality refers to the people with low self-esteem
• Environmental factors is when exposure to violence, neglect, abuse or poverty
• Biochemistry is the differences in certain chemicals in the brain occur

Can this be treated?

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Tip : Eat A Healthy Depression

What you eat has a direct impact on the way you feel. Some women find dietary modifications, nutritional supplements and herbal remedies can help aid in the relief of depression symptoms. These include:

Cutting back on salt, unhealthy fats, caffeine, sugar/refined carbs, and alcohol can help improve depression symptoms.

Not skipping meals. Going too long between meals can make you feel irritable and tired, so aim to eat something at least every three to four hours.

Boosting your B vitamins. Deficiencies in B vitamins such as folic acid and B-12 can trigger depression. To increase your intake, eat more citrus fruit, leafy greens, beans, chicken, and eggs. Vitamin B-6 along with calcium, magnesium, Vitamin E, and tryptophan have all been shown to benefit women suffering from PMDD.

Eating foods with Omega-3 fatty acids. Omega-3 fatty acids play an essential role in stabilizing mood. The best sources are fatty fish such as salmon, herring, mackerel, anchovies, sardines, and tuna, or vegetarian options such as seaweed, flaxseed, and walnuts.

Making sure youre getting enough iron. Low iron levels can produce common depression symptoms like irritability, fatigue, and difficulty concentrating. Iron rich foods to add to your diet include red meat, beans, leafy greens and dried fruit.

Adding herbal supplements may be helpful. Primrose oil and chaste tree berry have both been found to be effective in the treatment of PMDD.

Tip : Support Your Health

In order to overcome depression, you have to do things that relax and energize you. This includes following a healthy lifestyle, learning how to better manage stress, setting limits on what youre able to do, and scheduling fun activities into your day.

Aim for eight hours of sleep. Depression typically involves sleep problems whether youre sleeping too little or too much, your mood suffers. But you can get on a better sleep schedule by adopting healthy sleep habits.

Keep stress in check. Not only does stress prolong and worsen depression, but it can also trigger it. Figure out all the things in your life that stress you out, such as work overload, money problems, or unsupportive relationships, and find ways to relieve the pressure and regain control.

Practice relaxation techniques.A daily relaxation practice can help relieve symptoms of depression, reduce stress, and boost feelings of joy and well-being. Try yoga, deep breathing, progressive muscle relaxation, or meditation.

Care for a pet. While nothing can replace the human connection, pets can bring joy and companionship into your life and help you feel less isolated. Caring for a pet can also get you outside of yourself and give you a sense of being neededboth powerful antidotes to depression.

Develop a wellness toolbox to deal with depression

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Effects Of Stress On Depression

Stress can make you feel less able to maintain positive habits or coping strategies, which are important to managing depression. This can make symptoms of depression feel more intense. Interrupting a healthy routine can result in negative coping strategies, such as drinking or withdrawing from social relationships. These actions can result in further stress, which can then make depression symptoms worse.

Common Hormonal Imbalances That Can Causedepressive Symptoms

Of the hundreds of hormones our bodies produce, here are four that are known to lead to symptoms of depressive disorders when they are out of balance.

• Thyroid: The thyroid is a small, butterfly-shaped gland that plays a powerful role in keeping your brain and body healthy. It is involved in the production of many neurotransmitters, including dopamine, serotonin, and GABAall of which are involved in mood regulation. Problems occur when thyroid dysfunction causes the gland to produce too little hormone or too much hormone . In fact, thyroid dysfunction is directly linked to one-third of all depressions.

• Estrogen: Estrogen also influences the production of the neurotransmitters serotonin, dopamine, and GABA. Too much or too little estrogen can alter neurotransmitter levels and lead to feelings of depression.

• Progesterone: Often called the relaxation hormone, progesterone has a calming effect when it is produced in optimal levels. When hormones are off-kilter or when the relaxation hormone is in low supply, it can lead to depression, as well as irritability, anxiety, sleepless nights, and brain fog.

• Testosterone: In bothmen and women, testosterone helps wards off depression, in addition to cognitiveimpairment and Alzheimers disease. Low testosteronelevels have been shown to increase symptoms of depression and anxiety, such astrouble concentrating, lack of motivation, and fatigue.

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Create A Positive Mindset

Creating a positive mindset is crucial to overcome your depression and to prevent depressive symptoms in the future.

In depression, you have a negative outlook on life, yourself, and the world around you. Lets say youre perfect at negative thinking. Thats your default modus right now. So to turn that around, you need to train yourself in positive thinking.

See the mind as a muscle. If you want to have bigger biceps, you need to train every day in the gym to become stronger and see it grow slowly. Well, the brain works the same way. Its also a muscle.

And you have powerful negative muscles in your mind right now. You paved so many roads within your brain that ended up in negative thoughts.

To change that, you need to train new muscles that arent strong yet and create new paved routes that lead to positive thinking. And to be able to create a positive mindset is to train the mind consciously every day until it becomes unconscious behavior. And this can take months. Some experts say that creating a new habit takes between 30 60 days of daily repetition before it becomes an autopilot mode.

Does Depression In Women Happen During Pregnancy

Pregnancy was once assumed to be a period of well-being that protected women against psychiatric disorders. But depression is almost as common in pregnant women as it is in those who are not pregnant. Things that can raise the risk of depression in women during pregnancy are:

• A history of depression or PMDD
• Age at time of pregnancy
• Living alone

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How They Are Related

Many women going through perimenopause or menopause can tell you that extreme shifts in hormonal levels often lead to feelings of depression. Whether its a new onset of depressive symptoms or exaggerated symptoms from an existing diagnosis, managing the mood swings along with other symptoms can, at times, feel very overwhelming.

It is only recently that the medical community created guidelines for the evaluation and treatment of perimenopausal depression.

Some of the challenge in evaluating perimenopausal depression is due to the fact that several of the symptoms related to its hormonal changes overlap with common symptoms of depression and other menopausal symptoms that often present similarly.

Symptoms including, insomnia, hot flashes, sleep disturbances, and mood problems are common during perimenopause and menopause.

The risk of developing symptoms related to depression is known to increase among women as they transition to menopause.

Why Does It Happen

Experts arent sure about the exact cause of PMS, but its likely linked to hormonal fluctuations that happen during the second half of the menstrual cycle.

Ovulation happens about halfway through your cycle. During this time, your body releases an egg, causing estrogen and progesterone levels to drop. A shift in these hormones can cause both physical and emotional symptoms.

Changes in estrogen and progesterone levels also influence serotonin levels. This is a neurotransmitter that helps regulate your mood, sleep cycle, and appetite. Low levels of serotonin are linked to feelings of sadness and irritability, in addition to trouble sleeping and unusual food cravings all common PMS symptoms.

Your symptoms should improve when estrogen and progesterone levels rise again. This usually happens a few days after you get your period.

Theres no standard treatment for depression during PMS. But several lifestyle changes and a few medications may help relieve your emotional symptoms.

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Challenge Your Negative Thinking

Once you identify the destructive thought patterns that contribute to your depression, you can start to challenge them with questions such as:

• Whats the evidence that this thought is true? Not true?
• What would I tell a friend who had this thought?
• Is there another way of looking at the situation or an alternate explanation?
• How might I look at this situation if I didnt have depression?

As you cross-examine your negative thoughts, you may be surprised at how quickly they crumble. For example, the negative thought: My boss hates me. He gave me this difficult report to complete, could be replaced with: My boss must have a lot of faith in me to give me so much responsibility. In the process of challenging negative thoughts, youll develop a more balanced perspective and help to relieve your depression.

The Hormones That Affect Depression

There are several hormones that play a part in depression. The relationships between hormones and depression in women include:

Estrogen: Boosts serotonin, which helps fight depression and promotes sleep. It also increases GABA, the calming neurotransmitter and raises endorphins, which help you feel good. Low estrogen levels often found in menopause can cause feelings of sadness and hopelessness.

Progesterone: This hormone helps to balance estrogen, helps promote sleep and has a natural calming effect. It also normalizes libido, is a natural diuretic and a natural antidepressant. Abnormal levels of progesterone cause insomnia and contribute to bad moods.

Cortisol: This stress hormone can cause depression if levels rise too high or fall to far below average. High levels of cortisol can create agitation, increased belly fat, insomnia and sugar cravings. Low levels can be associated with inability to handle stress, extreme fatigue, low libido and mood instability.

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How To Deal With Depression: 11 Easy Ways Really Work

How to deal with depression? Depression can be an exhausting emotion to deal with. It leaves you feeling weak, disappointed, and extremely sad. The good news is youre not alone! In fact, 1 in 3 people experience a major depressive period in their lives. If youre reading this article, you have probably experienced an intense feeling of sadness, disappointment, or helplessness.

Sadness is a normal human emotion, but when this feeling becomes intense and affects your life substantially, you may be suffering from depression. You must remember depression is a feeling anyone can experience, especially if you are going through a significant life change, hormone changes, loss, or disappointment.

Without the feeling of sadness, you wont be able to enjoy those happy moments. Depression is a medical disorder that accompanies excessive sadness, low motivation, and mood swings. The feeling of depression usually arrives when you are experiencing a life event.

It is a little different from the mood swings that happen during your typical day. In most cases, depression occurs with a drastic change in your life. For example, you may feel depressed when you lose a loved one.

Depression can linger for many months and return at significant times, such as the anniversary or birthday of a lost love or family relative. If you feel sad from time to time, you may not be depressed. In fact, sadness is not a sign of depression.

Tips For Eating Healthy:

• Limit sugar, and too many carbs Too much sugar or high fatty carb meals lead to energy and mood crashes.
• Eat regularly Between 3 6 times a day. So dont skip meals because you can feel irritated and tired.
• Dont eat your feelings Many people reach for food when they feel bad. They seek comfort in food, but that isnt a healthy approach to comfort yourself. You want to challenge negative thinking by creating a positive mindset.
• Boost your vitamin B levels with foods like citrus fruit, leafy greens, beans, chicken, and eggs.
• Stabilize your mind with Omega 3 in fish oil supplements or eating fatty fish

Also, the use of turmeric can influence the balance of neurotransmitters in the brain. Studies have shown that turmeric can reduce anxiety and depression. Check out more information about the benefits of turmeric.

And check out this article if you want inspiration and recipes that improve your mood.

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How To Feel Better Tip : Reach Out For Social Support

You can make a huge dent in your depression with simple but powerful self-help steps. Feeling better takes time and effort when you dont feel like making an effort. But you can get there if you make positive choices for yourself each day and draw on the support of others.

Getting support from people who care about you plays an essential role in overcoming depression. On your own, it can be difficult to maintain a healthy perspective and sustain the effort required to beat depression. At the same time, the very nature of depression makes it difficult to reach out for help. When youre depressed, the tendency is to withdraw and isolate, while an irritable mood brought on by depression can cause you to lash out over situations that wouldnt normally bother you, further distancing you from others.

Ask for the help and support you need and share what youre going through with the people you love and trust. You may have neglected your most treasured relationships, but they can get you through this tough time. If you dont feel that you have anyone to confide in, you can find help to build new friendshipseven if youre shy or introverted.

Depression Mood Swings Weight Gain Maddy’s Story

Weight gain, mood swings and severe depression were the main side effects Maddy experienced with going on the pill. As I explain in Beyond the Pill, there are several reasons why we can experience weight gain on hormonal birth control. And there are several studies that have shown a correlation between hormonal birth and depression.

For Maddy, she struggled for years with severe depression after beginning hormonal birth control. It was finally after she met with a therapist who encouraged her to track her cycles that she came off of birth control. Maddy wasn’t totally ready for what came next.

Maddy experienced post-birth control syndrome symptoms and lost her period for a year after discontinuing the pill. Her periods were regular prior to starting hormonal birth control, so this was a new experience for her. But her mood improved in a short period of time. Her mom actually said to her after she came off the pill, wow, we finally got Maddy back!

In the below video, Maddy discusses how dietary shifts helped her get her period back and improve her health overall. I hope you enjoy this discussion and the other Beyond the Pill discussions on my channel.

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