[monochromatic]

How do you cope?

I crashed last night and am restless but don't know what to do with myself. Everything seems pointless.

[IndieVisible]

I pretty much do nothing or very little and will self medicate some times. I try to find a topic of interest and then research it if I have enough energy. Otherwise I just wait until it passes. If it doesn't pass in a couple of weeks I may need to adjust my meds. Energy and motivation is important. Without that your stuck. I hope your on meds. Good luck to you!

[gayleggg]

When im in deep depression I usually sleep as much as possible but lately I'm taking med that interferes with my sleep so I just lay and stare at the TV. I can't do anything productive when I'm depressed. I'm hoping a change in my meds are beginning to make a difference.

[unlived]

I veg out in front of the tv, sleep or play things like solitaire on the computer and listen to music

I crashed 2 weeks ago, the first week I slept through most of 4 days and pushed myself through the family weekend, saw my T twice. The second week, I saw my T 2 days in a row then my pdoc who changed my meds. I still slept part of the first couple of days, Wed thru now has been better, depression has lessened. Latuda was supposed to make an effect in about 4 days and so far I can feel some difference towards the better. I couldnt do this without my drs and family though.

[nbritton]

Originally Posted by monochromatic

How do you cope?

I crashed last night and am restless but don't know what to do with myself. Everything seems pointless.

I take a couple prednisone. I used to say, what goes up must come down, but that doesn't hold true with the strategic use of corticosteroids to revert depression. It's well established that these compounds can induce mania, so why not use it to our advantage when we're down?

[monochromatic]

Originally Posted by nbritton

I take a couple prednisone. I used to say, what goes up must come down, but that doesn't hold true with the strategic use of corticosteroids to revert depression. It's well established that these compounds can induce mania, so why not use it to our advantage when we're down?

I wish there was a way to come down softly so we didn't crash into depression.

[nbritton]

Originally Posted by monochromatic

I wish there was a way to come down softly so we didn't crash into depression.

There is, you simply taper and stop taking it before you hit mania. I'm still experimenting, but I've found, in myself, that taking 10mg at bedtime, then 5mg at bed time the next night, then 2.5mg at bedtime the next night gets me going without actually inducing mania.

I've been toying with the ideal of doing something like this on a continuous weekly basis, for example: Fridays 10 mg, Saturdays 5 mg, Sundays 2.5 mg. I'm not there yet though, I'm still playing with what times and doses to administer it at. I know if I take 10 mg for more than few days I get wonky. However, eventually I figured out I could extend the effects without going wonky if I tapered it.

I haven't explored why it works, it seems somewhat counter intuitive, as cortisol is lowest at night and highest in the day, by taking the prednisone at night I'm effectively inverting the natural cortisol cycle. Maybe this disruption resets circadian rhythm.

[monochromatic]

Thats really interesting. Did your pdoc come up with this, or is this something you're doing on your own?

I'm struggling with coming down softly from hypomania. I haven't mastered how to avoid a crash. For example, I posted this at 7:40 and was in a deep depression. At 9:00 I went to the gym, walked on an incline for an hour, and now am hypomanic. I hate this ultra rapid cycling, it's so frustrating. I tried to take a bath and relax but it's not helping. So now I'm hypo, but dreading the inevitable crash.

Is there anything I can do naturally to not result in a crying mess in a few hours?

[@nonymous]

Exercise helps.

Hi, monochromatic. For initial question, I'm not very good at using coping skills with depression (I tend to do a bit better hauling out the ol' toolbelt for anxiety), but one thing that's a go-to for me is watching a funny show or movie. I may well not actually laugh, but at least it's a harmless distraction.

For the second one.... not sure, as that isn't how my ride goes. But possibly similar is when I'm trying to keep myself balanced and from being sucked in to reacting to other people's chaos is to do something that holds my attention and keeps me doing something. Like... painting or working on some project. Nothing stressful, just again, something to occupy the mind.

(nbrtitton, that is a very unusual strategy. Prednisone's quite notorious for being problematic for people with psych issues. A wildcard anyway. My BF was prescribed it for a physical thing, and it really messed him big time.)

[vans1974]

Hey monochromatic- sorry to hear. For me typically, getting taking a cat nap, or getting in the sun can help. Otherwise, I have to tweak my med cocktail! Best of luck!!

[Victoria'smom]

My depressed days: get up cry in a hot shower (the steam hides the effects of crying so you get no bags under your eyes or red face, and the sound is muffled) grab an outfit (all my cloths are in 15 pre-made outfits, shirt, paints, underwear, socks and bra on the same hanger. So does my husband and son (W/O bra), Yeah for ocd tendencies), avoid SI throw my shoes on, throw food in for my son, take out dinner to defrost, make my way to the desktop instead of a lap top ( I can cry quietly there if need be as long as I use the bathroom fast for clean up), go to the bathroom to clean up if I cry, avoid SI and falling apart, If I do either clean up and apply make-up to hide it, cook dinner, and 'eat' dinner, assure husband I'm not purging or SI'ing unless I am then I just stare at him for a second and walk to the computer that I can quietly cry at or go to bed, take sleeping meds if I've had thoughts of suicide, planned suicide, or having thoughts that would concern others. Repeat as needed.

I'm thinking about getting my make-up tattooed so I don't have to worry about it.