Are You Truly Depressed? Maybe it is Something Else Entirely – Vol. 88 May, 2010

Vol. 88 May, 2010 – Are You Truly Depressed? Maybe it is Something Else Entirely

Article written by Donna N.

Depression is a symptom and our body’s way of telling us something is wrong. It doesn’t have to be just in our minds. It can be in our bodies organs such as the thyroid or adrenal gland  as I found out recently after 30 years or so of feeling depressions wide and varied, yet vague symptoms of tiredness and lack of energy, amongst other symptoms.

We have read about doctors removing the wrong kidney or operating on the wrong knee. It does not happen often that we hear or read this fortunately.  However, the diagnosis of depression is given more often than not and is just as devastating as removing the wrong kidney if one is not dealing with the right diagnosis. We are diagnosed with depression when often it is a symptom of “something” and not simply a disease. It is like diagnosing some one with a heart attack, which is a symptom and the cause of a disease or problem. It is almost as if depression is the “fall-back” diagnosis if there is no other diagnosis to give. It is the effect of some unknown cause and until we discover the cause we will forever be “the effect”.

The diagnosis of depression is not a definitive diagnosis because there is no blood test to confirm or definitive rash to view. There is no positive lab test to prove the diagnosis. Yet physicians base their diagnosis often on their “opinion” based on the patient’s complaints and the doctor’s observations.

So if the patient sees his doctor and feels sad one day, he may leave with a prescription for an antidepressant. The patient may not even realize his sadness can be from a variety of other issues that can be treated.

Some of these issues are as follows:

• Folic Acid and Vitamin B12 deficiency-both vitamins play a role in producing neurotransmitters needed to regulate mood
• Deficiencies in Vitamin B, C, K, Calcium, Copper, Iron, Magnesium, biotin
• Hypoxia
• Hyperglycemia
• Endocrine-diabetes
• Cushing’s/cortisol disease
• Neurological-Parkinson’s or Alzheimer’s disease
• Diet
• Muscular-degenerative arthritis
• Anemia
• Medication-beta blockers, some cold medicines, progestin synthetic hormone version of progesterone in birth control can lower serotonin levels
• Tagamet, blood pressure medications
• Stress
• Adrenal gland issues
• Food allergies
• Excessive caffeine
• Anabolic steroids
• Asthma treatments

Any of the above can contribute to the symptoms of depression.  Most of the above can be treated there by eliminating the symptoms of depression.

All my life since I remember, I have felt depressed. I began to see therapists thinking I was “doing” something about this problem and it was only re-enforced, “I was depressed!” But, WHY???

This  was a problem for me because I just did not enjoy life or want to be with people. I felt down on myself and the more I tried to seek help, the more I seemed to get all the wrong answers.  Just more prescriptions for anti-depressants that did not help much.

Therapists and doctors would tell me based on my symptoms that I was depressed. They would label me “depressed”  and that label would carry through my life from doctor to doctor, therapist to therapist, teacher to teacher, and person to person.  It appeared in “their” world of allopathic and western civilization medicine, that this disease of depression can not go away.  But is it really a disease? Or merely a state of mind. Is it really due to a glitch in the brain or a hormonal disturbance? A vitamin deficiency?  An adrenal gland over stressed?  A secondary illness such as anemia?  Does it have to be life long?

I found out after years of going to my doctors and complaining of no energy that it can be due to adrenal gland stress. I found out that after going to my doctors for years complaining about not sleeping and waking up in the middle of the night that it wasn’t due to “depression”, that I actually had “Restless Leg Syndrome”.  You see, once you are labeled with depression-all things are blamed on that label-lack of energy, lack of a good nights rest, no motivation, no appetite.They tell you to talk to your doctor if the following occur:

• If you have itching, right upper belly pain, dark urine, yellow skin/eyes, or unexplained flu-like symptoms, which may be signs of liver problems. Severe liver problems, sometimes fatal, have been reported
• If you have high fever, confusion, and stiff muscles to address a possible life-threatening condition
• Before stopping Cymbalta or changing your dose
• If you experience dizziness or fainting upon standing, especially when first starting Cymbalta or when increasing the dose
• About your blood pressure. Cymbalta can increase your blood pressure. Your health care provider should check your blood pressure prior to and while taking Cymbalta
• If you experience headache, weakness, confusion, problems concentrating, memory problems, or feel unsteady while taking Cymbalta which may be signs of low sodium levels
• If you develop problems with urine flow

Seems to me you now have more problems than you started out with! The above was taken directly from the anti-depressant Cymbalta website. So you go to your doctor complaining of lack of energy and not being able to sleep. They say you are depressed and prescribe Cymbalta, a popular antidepressant.  But now you have the chance of all of the above symptoms, when in fact there is no proof, no lab test that says this is your problem. Depression just does not “happen” for no reason, and this is the issue I have.

Instead of trying to discover “why” a person is depressed, doctors hand them a prescription for an anti-depressant treating it as its own disease and send the patient on their way, when in fact a simple supplement of chromium for example or an adjustment of diet may solve the problem.  And I repeat the words,SOLVE THE PROBLEM, not just cover it up.

It is a problem isn’t it. Because you have been taking this medication for over a year now and you feel worse. So is it really “depression”?  And just what is depression.

The label of depression can cause your life insurance rates to go up because you are a bad risk for suicide. It can cause a pilot to be grounded for having to take too much medication. The simple label of “depression” you are given can be a life altering catalyst for the way you are to live your life.

Well, as I have had the good fortune to discover -depression is merely a label given to a variety of symptoms that are caused by problems that if addressed can allow that depression to disappear for good. Even if that is contrary to what “they” say.

Once I dealt with my “problems” through hypnosis, and coupled that with dealing with an adrenal gland issue, I have more energy and have not had the need for anti-depressants for well over one year now. I am functioning most days with 4-5 hours of good restful sleep, eating well and accomplishing more than ever.  There do not seem to be enough hours in the day anymore-this from a “depressed” person who slept-or at least was in bed over 10-12 hours a day! This from a person who was led to believe she could not live and function without anti-depressant pills. This from a person with a diagnosis of depression which is not curable, merely manageable?

So I urge you to not accept any diagnosis of depression, for it is a “symptom” and one needs to discover for them self the CAUSE.  Once you discover the cause you can deal with the effects and eliminate them once and for all.  Depression does not have to be a disease which is for life. It can be treated and eliminated just as if you had a infection.

For there is always a cause as I have found out the hard way.  One just has to know where to look, and not accept being labeled. Let me re-qualify that, not accept being labelled what they do not wish to be, for I am now a “non-depressive”.  What is a non-depressive?  It is a state of mind that if I went to my doctor and was told as many times as I was told I was depressed, I would have been better off.

So you want to become non-depressed?  This can be accomplished thru hypnosis, and once you discover that you can re-program your mind, you can find a competent doctor to discover whether you have other underlying issues such as I did.  You are worth not just treating the symptoms with pills and therapy, you are worth ending the problem by discovering the cause and eliminating the effects you no longer wish to have.  You just have to know where to look, and not accept “their” answer until you are satisfied.  Unless you are satisfied with taking pills and being what they tell you you are-  ” depressed ”  -for the rest of your life.

About Donna

Donna M. Novi's passion for the Life Sciences began at the age of 16 when she became fascinated with Biology and Chemistry. So much so that her teachers allowed her to teach basic genetics to lower class men. After landing a Quality Control position with New England Nuclear, she completed her Associates degree from Middlesex Community College. After which she became the first person in the company to be promoted to Chemist prior to receiving her Bachelors of Chemistry from Almeda University. As of 2012 and 38 years following a Life Sciences career, Donna has worked with everything from Multi-step synthesis of steroids to Bio-safety level 2 work with inactivated HIV virus. Currently, she is employed by PerkinElmer in the processing of radioactive nuclides directly from a live reactor for use in Cancer treatment and research.

Bringing her considerable professional experience to bear, she is a very active contributor to Dawning Visions Hypnosis, Inc. as she believes that many more people should be able to benefit from this method of treatment.