[Rose76]

I used to be really skeptical of that Cymbalta commercial that says, "Depression hurts." After over two years of being very depressed, I am now hurting a lot, physically. Some of this is the normal achiness that I believe goes along with getting older . . . and not being very active. However, I think that I am way more conscious of feeling achy because I am depressed. Here is a link that seems to explain the relationship between depression and feeling achy:

Does Depression Hurt?

What do you think?

Does being depressed make you physically sore?

Do physical problems seem to feel worse to you when you are depressed?

I'm becoming alarmed at how sore I feel, especially in the morning. I wonder if there is a way out of this. ??????

Does being depressed make you physically sore? For me, not really...

Do physical problems seem to feel worse to you when you are depressed? Not really. I don't remember what it felt like before I was depressed though.

I'm becoming alarmed at how sore I feel, especially in the morning. I wonder if there is a way out of this? Well, yeah. Plenty of people have come out of this.

[Poppy Princess]

It's known to cause headaches and fatigue which I get a lot of.

[Rohag]

Great topic!

One basic self-observation from years of depression and anxiety is that I am erratically both oversensitive and under-sensitive to pain. Sometimes painful stimuli elicit a response far beyond what they would normally warrant, such as feeling global pain and descending into deep personal withdrawal after bumping into a chair. At other times I find I've cut or burned myself with no memory of the incident.

All I can say as a depressed person is my nervous system is somehow out of whack.

[Vossie42]

Yes, depression has made me feel like I was coming down with the flu all the time. I even ran low grade fevers at the same time everyday. No. I didn't have any auto-immune disorders. I was checked out for those. Long ago a medical doctor told me that depression can cause physical pain like back aches.

Here's a link to WebMD listing the physical manifestations of depression:
Depression: Recognizing the Physical Symptoms

This article on MayoClinic.com talks about how depression and pain are closely linked. One can cause the other and end up being a vicious cycle.
Pain and depression: Is there a link? - MayoClinic.com

I think also that lower levels of serotonin leads to feeling physical pain more.

Does depression hurt? For me, no it doesn't, at least not physically. Does it hurt, yes it does. It hurts me to my core. It takes from me the entire person that I am. It hurts more than the most intense physical pain that I have ever felt. It hurts my spirit. So, does it hurt? Yes it does.

[healingme4me]

Yes, Depression sometimes physically manifests itself with me. It's complicated sometimes for me, with having a neurological illness that can attack my central nervous system. Or I can get the common cold, start to have a bit of my MS, that those symptoms will disappear, but then I realize I'm in a depressed mood. Am I somatic or is one illness playing off the other?
Last round of depression, er, the physical depression time my body did ache, my son said, that it seemed like I was just 'pausing'. The last round of emotional depression, my body didn't ache, but wow, it brought me 'there' in my mind, forcing upon me, every coping technique I've ever learned.

Often when I am in a crisis, I also feel physically ill. I can't separate what's physical from what's emotional, so I just tell any medical personnel I come into contact with everything that's going on, and let them sort out which is which.

Right now, I am quite ill. I've been that way for days, barely able to eat, stomach cramps, what I'll tactfully call digestive urgency, dizziness, headaches, and now vomiting too. Besides depression, diabetes, and arthritis, I get migraines. Yesterday when I felt like one was coming on, I took the medication for it, and it did help, so there's a vote for physical. The doctor who prescribed it had said that if I take it for a headache and it doesn't go away, then it is something else, not a migraine. It did go away. But then that's when the vomiting started. And, although the headache part is still improved, I continue to feel awful in general. On top of this, I am emotionally fragile, and the slightest stress will trigger SI thoughts.

So is this depression or the flu? I don't rightly know, because sometimes they feel the same. One illness playing off the other, as Healing says above, is a strong possibility. I have felt awful for so long that if I were not already depressed, I think it would depress me.

most defenetly

i've always thought that.. ever since i started to get these un explained pains in my kneck.

and other things..

[catsrhelm]

I once out of curiosity googled "pysical symptoms of depression" and low and behold, my occassional aches and pains were in there. Most of the time, when I am depressed, I get daytime sleepiness or the feeling of being sick.

[akekaomen]

I get serious pain when I have a bad episode of depression. My body will feel like I have the flu and ache horribly. The worst part is the pain in my head. I can feel the conflict hurting so much because my mind will not stop obsessing about hurting myself and I have to fight it. That kind of struggle leaves me exhausted and in even more pain emotionally. So even if there aren't physical symptoms, the psychic pain is so bad that it makes me feel like ending everything. I have to fight it. I don't expect people to understand, but I want them to. Sometimes I want to show them the pain I am in by demonstrating it in front of everyone. I of course am able to hold myself back, but that is when I usually have to take an unpaid day off work (I never have time off because of my depression).

[Bluegerbera1]

Yes. Headaches, sore skin and generally feeling horrible.

I suppose. If I had pain, I would not just settle that depression is the reason I have this pain. If the pain persists for a few days, I call the doctor. Usually the pains for me go away or it's nothing much at all.

I've known people that had pain and get it checked up. It would turn up to be nothing at all. But then they'd come to a conclusion that it was their anxiety and depression that was the cause of it.

I had extreme pain this past week on Wednesday and Thursday. By yesterday it was completely gone! It could have been depression for me that caused that pain. On Tuesday I went to the pool area where I live and saw a couple there that I really do not like at all. So at 3AM on Wed. I felt bad pain while I was in bed. I felt that pain throughout Wednesday but not that bad. On Wednesday night, that couple was there again. And then the pain came back and it was terrible during the day on Thursday. On Thursday night, that couple was not there, so I felt relaxed. The pain went away. Coincidence? I wonder!

Also at that time I was having a major problem with a co-worker that just came up. So I guess it was the stress and aggravation that caused my pain.

Yep. Psychic and physical pain are bound closely together.

[shortandcute]

I agree that it does hurt physically for me in that my pain is magnified. But, for me it is also very painful emotionally and mentally, and feels as tho my soul is being weighed down by an anchor or millstone.

[Rose76]

I send a (HUG) to each and every one of you above. I am touched by how much you each struggle.

There was a time when I did not connect being depressed with feeling sick physically. That has changed and now I get really sore along with feeling blue.

As it is hard for me . . . and challenging to try and go on with daily life, I know . . . I hear in your posts . . . how it is that for you above. May we all get through the weekend with some moments of respite from feeling unwell. (Cold gel packs on achy spots are helping me a lot.)

[xxhanna]

I think it does. My depression sarted about 4 years ago and i tried to ignore it, didnt get any therapy and it just got worse. I was strong enough to carry on with daily life more or less, but i cried when i got home, wished for nothing more than being dead and my body refused to carry on. I got headaches, they went so bad i couldnt get to school anymore or do anything. Meds didnt help for long, the headaches were there all day, nearly every day.
I saw a doctor and he thought it was lack of vitamins, but after taking vitamine pills they didnt stop, nothing helped. i was already worried it might be brain cancer or whatever, i was scared cause i had no idea where it came from.. Now im finally done with this horible school, which i guess was a main factor of increasing the depression.. and i was pretty shocked that they are just .. gone.
For almost two month i didnt have headaches anymore, just perhaps one or two days, im pretty sure it has to do with the depressions!

[sewerrats]

Sure can, when your run down with cronic depression all manner if illness can seem real. You can feel physical pain just like the real thing . If your brain want,s you to feel this way then you do. Half illness is psychosomatic in depression , a hell of a lot of small illness becomes a big deal far more than it is. My trick to find out what was real or not was to take a benzo and if the pain disappeared then it was all in my head, and I blotted it from my mind. if its still there then your ILL