All Entries Tagged With: "moods"
“Happy Wife: Happy Life”
Leslie decided to stop blogging for a while as she made new discoveries about herself and codependency. I took it as an opportunity to take a break also but as she has had several people contact her wanting to discuss symptoms and such I thought it might be time to put my two cents in again. Leslie has been awesome the last couple of months. Earlier in the year I was feeling the pressure and weight of her depression in our marriage. It was making me feel down and incapable of helping the person I really love. I felt overwhelmed and really didn’t know what I should do. What I did know was that our marriage will not be a productive and happy one if we don’t figure out how to overcome this problem. We escaped to Australia earlier this year to spend time with my family. For me it was a time to just do nothing and think about nothing. I was exhausted from work and from Leslie’s depression and other symptoms. Since coming home I believe that Australia trip to be a life changer. Leslie figured out that she was codependent and started to research and learn about it. She has been helping me understand it and watching her come to terms with her life experiences with determination to change the way she thinks has been inspiring. In addition to that she started trying acupuncture as a method to reduce her allergy symptoms. This treatment includes NAET principles of energy manipulation. The way I understand it is that your body is out of balance with things around you causing allergic reactions. Leslie is allergic to everything. Since starting these treatments she has been cured from eggs, milk, lactose and histamine. It makes me so happy to know that my Leslie is going to be able to be free from a vast majority of her allergies over the next few ears as she continues her treatment. In addition to these two different changes in her life there is a significant third- and that’s the sun, it came out.
I asked Leslie a week ago or so if she was depressed and she said no. I would have to affirm that statement. She hasn’t been acting depressed and I haven’t felt it effecting my moods negatively at all. She has been visibly happier which really puts a smile on my face. Is the journey still going to be difficult, you bet but at least we are heading in the right direction. I believe eliminating just 50% of her allergies will increase her ability to manage her depression. With her new found discoveries of codependency she is working at adjusting the way she thinks so she can become mentally stronger. I don’t know the role the sun plays in all of this but I know it helps so bring it on.
I’m hoping to have her completly cured of everthing by Christmas……is that to optimistic?
Australia trip
Leslie and I are having a great time in Australia. She genuinely looks and seems happier right now. The change in environment and spending more time with me may have contributed? I think the big thing is that we have a plan for the next three years. That plan is really simple and realistic. The thing that stresses Leslie out the most is our mortgage, or rather it is the thing that stresses me out the most which then stresses her out. The idea that my mortgage will take thirty years to pay off really bothers me, but since I’ve been in Australia I have worked out a new financial plan that will allow me to pay the house off in about 8 years. That idea really excites me and Leslie has noticed an improvement in my countenance. I don’t realize how my moods affect Leslie and it’s something I’m going to really have to work on. She has enough to worry about and doesn’t need me stressing out over our finances to make things worse, especially since we are not in a bad situation like so many people out there.
Leslie has been working with me here in Australia to help me understand her a lot better. Understanding her more deeply will help our relationship grow. It will help me better understand how I can help her best eliminate depression from her life so she can be that vibrant and happy woman that I know is waiting to escape her mental prison.
Vitamin D Therapy
About a month ago my dad called and told me about a website called the Vitamin D Council. You may have heard about the recent studies that show most American’s have an extreme Vitamin D deficiency. In an article from March 25th it states: “Low vitamin D levels among adults are fast becoming a growing epidemic and could spell trouble for the future health of the nation, according to a new study. Researchers found that not only has the number of Americans with low vitamin D levels increased, but average vitamin D levels among adults have also decreased from 1994 to 2004. Vitamin D is produced by the skin in response to sunlight and is also found in vitamin D fortified foods, such as milk.”
I always knew that I felt better when I had a regular dose of sun, but I never knew why. It is because my body has been craving Vitamin D most of my life. On the Vitamin D Council website there is a section that addresses the possibility that Vitamin D could help with depression. It does state though, “nothing could be a crueler message than to tell those suffering from major depression that physiological amounts of vitamin D will cure it.“ There are no conclusive studies that have been done with depression, but there are many indicators that Vitamin D can indeed help.
“Evidence suggests that vitamin D may help mood but that evidence is not conclusive. (Remember, the way our medical literature system works, scientists often do not publish negative studies). The two positive studies above used vitamin D to treat seasonal affective disorder, not major depression. We were unable to find any studies in the literature in which patients with depression were treated with enough natural sunlight, artificial sunlight or plain old cholecalciferol to raise their levels to 35 ng/mL or higher. We all know how we feel after a week at the beach, but is that bright light, vitamin D, or something else?”
Since reading the studies highlighted on the Vitamin D Council website I have been going tanning regularly for the past few weeks. I have been going only once or twice a week for just 10 minutes, but the days that I go I see an improvement in my mood and am usually more productive those days. I may start taking Vitamin D supplements as well, but research suggests that more Vitamin D is absorbed by being in the actual sun than though the use of supplements. For now I’ll risk getting skin cancer and just enjoy the fake sun.
“Catching” Depression
In some ways I think of depression as being like a cold. It makes you feel just bad enough that you don’t want to do anything, but you know that if you could somehow convince yourself to get going you are physically able to be productive. Depression is also contagious. Unfortunately Tareak “caught” depression from me a while back and has been quietly suffering in his own way.
I married Tareak for his passion. I have never been a passionate person (even when I’m not depressed) and admired the passion for life that Tareak possessed. After getting married I slowly watched as I sucked some of that life and passion from Tareak and replaced it with depression. He has been frustrated that he hasn’t been as motivated and passionate about life as he used to be and has even caught himself buying into the “9-5″ mentality, something he swore to himself and to me that he would never do.
Every once in a while I say something, or something happens that springs Tareak out of his “caught” depression temporarily. These past two weeks I have been feeling a bit better than usual for reasons still unknown to me. Tareak has fed off this energy and has sprung higher than I have seen him in a while. In addition to my “up” moods he has been reading the book, “The 4-Hour Workweek”, which basically outlines how to have a mobile lifestyle, which is what Tareak has always dreamed of having. This book has fueled hours of internet searches and many long discussions about all the possibilities for our future. I love seeing him so excited about life again.
I hope that this re-found excitement isn’t just another temporary boost, but that both of us can figure out how to make excitement about life something a bit more permanent.