[Rose76]

Physical forms of illness can lead to depression, and vice versa. Yesterday I suddenly got very sick physically. I felt awfully weak and started throwing up. A medication I'm taking for pain (indomethacin) could be part of why, but I don't think there is just one cause. I've also been what I would call mildly depressed. I've been feeling too sore and weak to do much. Then, again, I think not doing much is making me weaker and sorer.

It's like a "which came first - the egg or the chicken?" situation. I wonder if other people who deal with depression find that it aggravates physical ailments? When you feel crummy, do you sometimes have trouble figuring out what is mental and what is physical, or what's causing what?

[MickeyCheeky]

i think i can relate. Though i wouldn't go as far as saying that i am feeling sick i'd say i am feeling more fatigued despite not really doing much physically. i am not sure however if it is simply me being lazy or the result of something else. i think you're not alone in this and it can be difficult to improve things also for this reason i believe. Still, i do believe it is possible to get back in shape. Please do not give up. i Hope things will improve soon for everyone. Sending many Safe, warm hugs to BOTH you, @Rose76, your Family, your Friends and ALL of your Loved Ones! Keep fighting and keep rocking NO MATTER WHAT HAPPENS, OK?!

[Scooter9]

Yes depression makes me feel bad physically and makes other problems worse for me.

I get body pains and my joints hurt. Also my posture has become really bad over the past several years - I don't stand straight and walk slowly.

I blame all this on the depression which has been bad for the past several years despite med changes.

All this makes getting exercise very hard because I'm not motivated and in pain overall. It's even uncomfortable taking a shower.

Depression is really awful and I hope you find your way through it soon.

[Rose76]

Scooter - you sound like I feel. I have arthritis in my back that bothers me after the least bit of exertion. It gets so discouraging.

[3rd rock]

I feel exhausted all the time, no matter how much sleep I get or how much I exert myself. I don't mean that I just feel unmotivated, although I feel that as well.

[Rose76]

Well, I see I'm not alone in having a physical dimension to my struggle with depression. At a real young age, I experienced the fatigue. Now, further along in life, I have pains and aches that xrays say are connected to mild-to-moderate arthritis. I've read that depression "lowers the pain threshold." If I was less depressed, I think I would ache less. But a lot of what has me depressed is that I can't get as much done in a day, as I used to. I know we slow down, as years go by. But this is way beyond what I expected. I don't have any real tough, chronic, physical disease.

I can relate to not feeling rested from sleep. Also, staying motivated seems to just get harder and harder.

Originally Posted by Rose76

Well, I see I'm not alone in having a physical dimension to my struggle with depression. At a real young age, I experienced the fatigue. Now, further along in life, I have pains and aches that xrays say are connected to mild-to-moderate arthritis. I've read that depression "lowers the pain threshold." If I was less depressed, I think I would ache less. But a lot of what has me depressed is that I can't get as much done in a day, as I used to. I know we slow down, as years go by. But this is way beyond what I expected. I don't have any real tough, chronic, physical disease.

I can relate to not feeling rested from sleep. Also, staying motivated seems to just get harder and harder.

I can really relate to not doing as much in a day as you're used too, and I don't just mean from a physical point of view

I have fibro, which limits me to what I can do physically anyway (and it's on a really bad level, so can't do much at all in a day without serious agony), but you know what gets to me most?
what gets to me most is my rapid physical and mental aging

I used to, for example, have a really good memory and could remember lots of stuff
but over the years, that's just gone- these days I require sticky notes everywhere to remember the most basic of stuff

the other thing that gets to me is going to the bathroom. we all do it, and that's fair enough, but 50 60 times a day?

this body's failing me now and it's certainly not what it was, and I miss the days where I was just... well, me. shockingly, I'm not that old- but my health has really done a number on me lately.

[Rose76]

The aging process seems to speed up at certain junctures of your life. I'm having a hard time accepting this. I don't feel well this morning. I want to talk to my primary care provider about this worsening anxiety/depression connected with increased pain issues. I'm afraid that would just get me labeled as med seeking. I would like more hydrocodone, but I don't dare ask.

[Rose76]

The last few hours have been awful. I just called that national crisis line. I felt so anxious and despondent that I wanted to talk to a human being. I was breaking down crying like I was starting to get hysterical.

That hasn't happened since last August when I got hospitalized for 8 days, due to grief over the death of my S.O. I wasn't looking for a trip to a hospital today . . . just someone to talk to for a bit.

It was a pretty quick call. Once they figure you're not a danger to anyone, they tell you to go use your coping skills. I hate being told that.

What has me upset is I feel weak when I get up to do anything. I don't know why. I don't know if the main cause is physical or mental. They reinforce each other.

I go next week to see my provider. She can order some labs. I've had severe anemia in the past, due to a bleeding ulcer. I don't think that's the problem now. When my stomach ulcer opens up, I get severe pain. I haven't had any GI pain.

I'll go in the kitchen now. Try to find a snack. Maybe I'll make a drink. I don't do much drinking. But I need a mind-altering substance.

I come on here because the people in my life that I could call are not good to talk to when I'm in a bad state. I end up hearing all their troubles.

[Rose76]

I have a headache from tension and anxiety. I feel so crappy mentally and physically. But I think depression is driving most of it.

[Rose76]

I have gotten more depressed for hours. I don't know what happened. I had been going along pretty good.

In the morning I have to find away to improve. I need help. I don't believe there is any.

[downandlonely]

There is help out there @Rose76. And if you need someone to talk to, you can come into chat. There are several of us there right now.

As for your first question, yes depression does make me feel worse physically. I have trouble sleeping, but am exhausted all the time. It has not really caused physical pain yet, but I won't be surprised if it does in the future.

[Rose76]

Thanks for inviting me to chat. I'm just seeing this now. I did sleep fairly ok. Just woke up.

I'll have to talk to my PCP about increasing my antidepressant medication.

[Rose76]

I got so weak and dizzy, I had to come to the hospital ER. Something is physically wrong with me.

[Rose76]

I guess this muscle weakness is what made me so inactive. It looks like I was depressed because I was finding it so hard to be active. Not the other way around. I'm in the hospital.

[Buffy01]

Originally Posted by Rose76

Physical forms of illness can lead to depression, and vice versa. Yesterday I suddenly got very sick physically. I felt awfully weak and started throwing up. A medication I'm taking for pain (indomethacin) could be part of why, but I don't think there is just one cause. I've also been what I would call mildly depressed. I've been feeling too sore and weak to do much. Then, again, I think not doing much is making me weaker and sorer.

It's like a "which came first - the egg or the chicken?" situation. I wonder if other people who deal with depression find that it aggravates physical ailments? When you feel crummy, do you sometimes have trouble figuring out what is mental and what is physical, or what's causing what?

Yes all the time.

[RoxanneToto]

I definitely felt physically awful when I first got depression - I was on holiday with my family at the time. I went to bed my normal, relatively happy 10 year old self, and woke up feeling lethargic, with heavy limbs and like I just couldn’t do anything. I don’t think I’ve ever been quite like my pre-10 year old self again, though I’ve improved a lot over the years, especially once I realised what had happened to me.

[Rose76]

It turned out I was seriously anemic . . . to the point of needing a blood transfusion. The hospital admitted me. I went for tests. They gave me a unit of packed red blood cells. I felt much better after that. Now I go again Wed. to get intravenous iron.

This means I suffered for weeks with a worsening physical problem that I thought was all in my head.

[T4bbyCat]

Yes, definitely. Years ago, I even went to a doctor for leg joint pain, thinking I may be injured or losing cartilage or something. They did xrays, which were normal, then MRI, also normal (or "normal wear and tear" for my profile). There was apparently nothing physical to it.

Since then, I try to figure out whether any pain is physical or possibly due to depression. In some sense, it's "better" if it's depression and nothing physical. On the other hand, curing depression is as hard as or harder than dealing with physical ills.

[Rose76]

T4bbyCat - yes. I agree with all you say. In my case, there was a physical problem that had a physical cure or treatment. I got the red blood cells in the hospital. Now I go back for intravenous iron. Then I can switch to oral iron. Just have to monitor my blood. I wish I haddiscovered this sooner. Instead I went way downhill physically, which wasn't necessary.

Now I'm depressed because of so much I neglected when I was weak. I have a lot of cleaning to do.

This COVID resurgence has me down. Seems to me that life will never go back to what used to be normal.