[hardknocklife4me]

Hello All,

It's been a while. Depression is a real set back for me. I do have health insurance through my job and had a great psychologist but she left private practice to work for the VA and ironically I'm a Vet that can't see her. But I've been without any type of help for the better part of a year. My insurance went up extremely on my deductible and made it virtually impossible to see anyone this year. Outside of dr's being booked solid. So I have switched to kaiser for the 2015 year simply because it's affordable and they offer dr visits plus groups sessions that I'm interested in. I've never talked about my depression in open groups other than this. But I feel I have to try something because this year has been filled with nothing but lows and I'm at a serious breaking point.

No family that I can confide in about life's pitfalls except an older brother but he's battling depression to. So called friends who stare at me as though speaking Chinese when I discuss how I've been feeling. Or they just simply disregard what I say and talk about them.

[vital]

Originally Posted by hardknocklife4me

Hello All,

It's been a while. Depression is a real set back for me. I do have health insurance through my job and had a great psychologist but she left private practice to work for the VA and ironically I'm a Vet that can't see her. But I've been without any type of help for the better part of a year. My insurance went up extremely on my deductible and made it virtually impossible to see anyone this year. Outside of dr's being booked solid. So I have switched to kaiser for the 2015 year simply because it's affordable and they offer dr visits plus groups sessions that I'm interested in. I've never talked about my depression in open groups other than this. But I feel I have to try something because this year has been filled with nothing but lows and I'm at a serious breaking point.

No family that I can confide in about life's pitfalls except an older brother but he's battling depression to. So called friends who stare at me as though speaking Chinese when I discuss how I've been feeling. Or they just simply disregard what I say and talk about them.

Hi hard. Group sounds great to me. I did that and found it very helpful to talk to other people with the similar problems.

I have some UNprofessional additional advice. Have a look at this talk by Mark Hyman. It convinced me that there are many possible underlying medical causes of depression that will not be obvious to you at all.

About 13:44 in, he talks about depression specifically and points out the any of the following can cause it:

1. Gluten -> Autoimmune disease thyroid
2. Acid reflux -> acid blockers -> vitamin B12 deficiency
3. Vitamin D deficiency
4. Took antibiotics -> Altered gut flora -> Changes the way peptides and neurotransmitters are produced
5. Love Sushi -> Mercury poisoning
6. Hate fish -> Omega 3 deficiency
7. Love sugar -> Prediabetes

He specifically mentions that Veterans often end up with Omega 3 deficiency because of the military diet.

For finances, you might be in luck. My impression is that the inexpensive treatments for depression actually work better than the expensive treatments. You can find hints in the "depression success stories" on this site among other places.

- vital