When I was going through some of the worst bouts of clinical depression I always seemed to be ill with something else; usually something to do with my liver or gall bladder or some blood condition. I almost always had some pain in my back, or my knee, or I had low-grade cold and flu symptoms.

It seemed that whenever I was ill depression quickly followed in the wake of the illness.

But I've read many medical reports since then that show me that it might have been the other way around – that the depression came first and then the aches and pains and illnesses came afterwards.

It turns out that doctors who treat chronic pain and depression have known for years just how closely the two conditions are linked. There's even some research that shows pain and depression share common pathways in the emotional part (the professionals call it the limbic region) of the brain. It's thought that this goes some way to explaining their association.

I came across this article on the WebMD.com site that talks about the link between pain and depression in detail.

“Physical pain is a common, but often ignored, symptom of depression; and pain severity is a strong predictor of the degree of depression and health-related quality of life, findings from a newly published study indicate.

Two-thirds of the depressed patients beginning antidepressant treatment in the study reported being in physical pain, with the most commonly cited symptoms being frequent headaches, back pain, joint pain, and abdominal pain.

Physical symptoms persisted longer than depression symptoms in more than a third of the patients, leading the researchers to conclude that pain may serve as a barometer for gauging the effectiveness of depression treatment. The findings are reported in the August issue of the journal Psychosomatic Medicine.

"It is important to recognize that physical symptoms like pain can be part of the picture of depression," researcher Kurt Kroenke, MD, tells WebMD. "Even though the physical symptoms may be related to or aggravated by the depression, they can linger longer than the emotional symptoms."
Source: WebMD.com

Here's a question for you - which do you treat first? The physical pain or the emotional and mental pain?

Well, in my case I ended up getting help for both – when I finally did get round to seeking help that is...

I ended up in hospital a couple of times with doctors leaning over me chatting casually about surgery. I remember being in such pain and wondering how I would be able to live my life if I had to put up with such discomfort for another 5 years. It made me feel even more hopeless and exacerbated the depression.

I thought to myself, if I have these difficulties, and I'm not emotionally strong, I simply won't be able to handle all these health issues as well, and I made a decision to seek counselling and coaching to help strengthen me so I could cope.

Well, I cannot diagnose anyone, including myself, but I do know that in the 18 months during which I worked on my emotional state, treating my depression through as many natural nutrition and talking therapies as I could afford, the physical illnesses and the aches and pains have melted away.

Not overnight you understand. But after 20 years of such troubles, to find that they lessened so much within a year and a half seemed – and still does seem – pretty miraculous to me.

I'd encourage you to have a little think about how your physical state and your depressive episodes might be linked. Don't ignore the one and treat the other.

Our bodies and minds and souls are linked – even doctors know that now... We have to treat ourselves holistically.

Wishing you health, wealth and true happiness.


Lorraine

 
 

What? What d'you mean they don't work​? Millions and millions of people have found relief from taking antidepressants over the past years. So what's this headline about?

Well, recent research from the University of Hull in northern England has shown that many of the most popular anti-depressants are no more effective than placebo tablets (such as sugar pills), and the news is sending shock waves throughout the medical profession and amongst those who are struggling with depression in their lives.

In this article, that appeared recently in the hugely respected newspaper The Independent, the health editor Jeremy Laurance states;

“They are among the biggest-selling drugs of all time, the "happiness pills" that supposedly lift the moods of those who suffer depression and are taken by millions of people in the UK every year.

But one of the largest studies of modern antidepressant drugs has found that they have no clinically significant effect. In other words, they don't work.
The finding will send shock waves through the medical profession and patients and raises serious questions about the regulation of the multinational pharmaceutical industry, which was accused yesterday of withholding data on the drugs.

It also came as Alan Johnson, the Health Secretary, announced that 3,600 therapists are to be trained during the next three years to provide nationwide access through the GP service to "talking treatments" for depression, instead of drugs, in a £170m scheme. The popularity of the new generation of antidepressants, which include the best known brands Prozac and Seroxat, soared after they were launched in the late 1980s, heavily promoted by drug companies as safer and leading to fewer side-effects than the older tricyclic antidepressants.”

It's always good to hear both sides of a story so, in the interests of presenting a balanced view, the companies that make antidepressants have made vigorous comebacks to the findings of the research, as we can see in this BBC News report here;

“...the makers of Prozac and Seroxat, two of the commonest anti-depressants, said they disagreed with the findings.

A spokesman for GlaxoSmithKline, which makes Seroxat, said the study only looked at a "small subset of the total data available".

And Eli Lilly, which makes Prozac, said that "extensive scientific and medical experience has demonstrated it is an effective anti-depressant.”

My personal experience is that anti-depressants (once they've been correctly prescribed of course), can have a dramatic effect on mood and emotional stability. But then I've also seen them wreak havoc on the lives of people who found themselves spiralling even deeper into depression and chaotic thinking. I think it's almost impossible to explain how or why the exact same tablet can have completely different effects on two people.

Anyway, I think these findings confirm something that I've thought for a long, long time now – that for most people it's a much better idea to try to overcome depression through the use of therapy, coaching, psychiatry and other such 'talking' disciplines.

It seems I'm not alone in thinking this.

Wishing you health, wealth and true happiness.

Lorraine