tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-61415872007-12-29T12:57:19.483-05:00MaryBlogger30125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6141587.post-26234422462190389672007-12-29T12:51:00.000-05:002007-12-29T12:57:19.513-05:00

If you have chronic or recurring depression that's been resistant to traditional treatment options, there's a fairly new treatment you ought to know about. It's called Vegus Nerve Stimulation (VNS). It's mostly in testing stages at this point, so don't expect your psychiatrist to be well-versed in it. Here's a book that I recommend you get and read if you want to know more about VNS: Keep the

Marytag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6141587.post-81048587859898654182007-12-27T11:21:00.000-05:002007-12-27T12:31:00.069-05:00

The build-up to Christmas is more than over-hyped; there's no way anyone can wake up on December 26th and not feel some sense of disappointment. Maybe you didn't get exactly the gift you wanted or the recipient of one of your gifts wasn't as pleased as you'd hoped. Maybe you burned the cookies or the turkey wasn't as good as you remembered. Maybe you felt slighted. Maybe ... a million little

Marytag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6141587.post-74994721308217900302007-12-23T10:20:00.000-05:002007-12-23T10:53:52.364-05:00

The holidays can be very challenging for people with depression or dysthymia. Even if we're under successful treatment for our illness, the holidays can bring up sad feelings and memories. Sometimes it's the good memories that make us sad. If you've read much of my writing on this site, you'll know that I lost my mom to lung cancer when I was 10 years old. My life has been a journey of living

Marytag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6141587.post-86008629925899827092007-12-12T19:06:00.000-05:002007-12-12T19:31:21.285-05:00

Many people think that taking an herb or an over-the-counter (OTC) medication is 100% safe. But it's simply not true. Aside from the potential for allergic reactions (which can happen with anything that you put into your body, though some people are more prone than others to such things), there is a risk of the herb, supplement or OTC medication interacting badly with a medication you are already

Marytag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6141587.post-34198256082213947892007-12-09T09:06:00.000-05:002007-12-09T09:17:36.752-05:00

We all know that exercise is an excellent adjunct to any treatment for depression. But we don't do it because, well ... it's hard! I find that if I put all my effort into getting moving first thing in the morning, then it helps me to keep moving all day. Today is no different. Yesterday I realized that I might have much more major problems with my car than I thought. Mind you, I don't have any

Marytag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6141587.post-33746502917184868832007-12-05T08:36:00.000-05:002007-12-05T09:13:40.687-05:00

Why do the holidays have to come in the winter, when the shortened daylight hours are already starting to cause problems? It's almost as if it's a conspiracy. I don't know how many Christmases I spent fighting back tears, despite being surrounded by my family. I'm a lot better now because of the meds, but emotions still run high for me at this time of year. There's still that roller-coaster

Marytag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6141587.post-1168126019296390242007-01-06T18:24:00.000-05:002007-01-06T18:26:59.310-05:00

Some interesting correlations between depression and drinking in women. If you're depressed or you think you drink too much, check out this article from the CNN website: http://time.blogs.com/daily_rx/2007/01/what_gender_has.html --Mary

Marytag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6141587.post-1165087994008985532006-12-02T14:15:00.000-05:002006-12-02T14:33:50.486-05:00

If you have seasonal affective disorder or any type of depressive disorder, creature comforts can play a role in helping you feel as well as possible. One way to stay comfortable during the winter months is to set up humidifiers in your home, especially in bedrooms. For years I'd end up with itchy, dry skin during the winter because the heat would make the air very dry. Granted, a little dry

Marytag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6141587.post-1162860358572395752006-11-06T19:39:00.000-05:002006-11-06T19:46:46.453-05:00

I just read this on my local newspaper's web site: Clues to mental illness Genetic variants linked to mania and depression are under study; may lead to treatments I'll look for a place where it might be more of a permanent link, because I know in a week or so the article will become a paid-only link on the Newsday website. The most interesting part of the study is that SSRIs (selective

Marytag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6141587.post-1138232495949537392006-01-25T18:35:00.000-05:002006-01-25T18:42:38.450-05:00

I just read another good article on depression at WebMD: Exercise May Lift Cloud of Depression If you don't already subscribe to the WebMD Emotional Wellness Newsletter (e-mail newsletter), you really ought to think about doing so. There's often a lot of interesting and useful information. Just go to their home page (www.webmd.com) and scroll to the bottom to the link for subscriptions. When

Marytag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6141587.post-1133847144149004762005-12-06T00:28:00.000-05:002005-12-06T00:58:50.243-05:00

Until I can get this link on the links page, I'm putting it here: http://www.webmd.com/content/article/115/111736 This is an excellent article on recovering from depression. Please read it! I'll be back with an update on the things that have been happening to me, including how I'm dealing with the difficulties of a car accident in which my thumb was broken. (It has pins in it and is splinted

Marytag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6141587.post-1128956738409939332005-10-10T11:01:00.000-04:002005-10-13T23:34:49.896-04:00

I haven't been posting much on this blog, but I'm looking to remedy that. I've set up a new blog where I can categorize each entry. That way I don't have to wander around to a bunch of different web sites to post to my various blogs. So take a look here: http://www.maryshefferman.com This is the depression/dysthymia section of my new blog: http://www.maryshefferman.com/category/

Marytag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6141587.post-1115678557311045122005-05-09T18:36:00.000-04:002005-05-09T18:42:37.316-04:00

Being depressed or dysthymic means forcing yourself to do things you might not feel like doing. Yesterday I was feeling kind of down. Not really bad, but I felt blah. Mother's Day does that to me sometimes. Instead of calling off everything, I did exactly what I had planned to do: visit Eric's mom and then have dinner with my parents. By the end of the evening, I felt much better. So go out and

Marytag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6141587.post-1112404871815630312005-04-02T18:30:00.000-05:002005-04-02T18:30:29.486-05:00

The last week has been a bit of a blur and stressful. Some of the hardest things to deal with while you’re under treatment for depression or dysthymia are the normal ups and downs of daily living. Disappointments, obstacles, jealousy, resentment -- all those more difficult human emotions -- can send you right back down that black hole. But they don’t have to. On Monday we decided that our ferret

Marytag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6141587.post-1112462005751559302005-04-02T12:10:00.000-05:002005-04-02T12:13:25.750-05:00

I've rearranged the blog/journal template. I added in the "previous posts" list in the right sidebar. It took a little recoding, but it's done now. I hope these are useful links for you. --Mary

Marytag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6141587.post-1111852767113357562005-03-26T09:52:00.000-05:002005-04-02T12:02:28.656-05:00

It's official. Sort of. A March 18, 2005, Associated Press story says that many mental health professionals recommend exercise as part of an overall treatment program for their patients with depression. Although no studies definitively prove that exercise helps in the treatment of depression, there is a copious amount of anecdotal evidence. The article describes the experiences of several people

Marytag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6141587.post-1109629225553208092005-02-28T17:18:00.000-05:002005-04-02T12:00:55.400-05:00

I made some modifications to DepressionPlace. Mostly it was just futzing with the layout a little. I'm hoping to have time to continue adding information. --Mary

Marytag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6141587.post-1105337830281025172005-01-10T01:51:00.000-05:002005-04-02T12:00:02.230-05:00

I can't very well just start in again now without making mention of the multi-month gap in blog entries. More than half a year. The short version... I have been completely off Remeron since June. I've lost about 15 pounds as a result of stopping that medication and exercising (and eating mostly well). Only about another 10 to go. The summer was quite nice. I spent time out at my brother's &

Marytag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6141587.post-1087310636326322842004-06-15T10:27:00.000-04:002005-04-02T12:05:40.256-05:00

I've been under treatment for this episode of major depression for two and a half years now. I feel pretty good, despite how crappy my life generally is right now. I'm stopping one of the medications I'm on (Remeron) because I've gained so much weight that I'm uncomfortable. I'm excited about losing weight. Excited about exercising again. I'd lost interest and motivation for exercise because no

Marytag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6141587.post-1079449628947487002004-03-16T10:07:00.000-05:002005-04-02T12:06:01.136-05:00

I've had to put aside DepressionPlace for a little while to work on other web sites. I'm finding that I enjoy this work. It's not too taxing and it's creative. It's a nice balance. balanceThis is the key. After working for years on Modern Ferret magazine and doing little else, I've finally learned that a person simply can't do that. Humans are multifaceted. We need to tend to all our needs or we

Marytag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6141587.post-1077511951259035622004-02-22T23:52:00.000-05:002005-04-02T11:57:47.196-05:00

I've added more information to the web site. Slowly but surely. I'm also working on a journal design that actually has lines in it (I prefer journals with lines -- I'm a sloppy writer). That should be up in a few days. DepressionPlace was ranking higher on Google searches, and I'm not sure why it fell out of the first four pages. It kind of bums me out, because I really want people to be able to

Marytag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6141587.post-1076269875095509672004-02-08T14:51:00.000-05:002005-04-02T11:57:17.570-05:00

It's a normal part of life. But I find that each loss brings back each previous loss. We had to put Trixie to sleep on Wednesday. It wasn't as sad as other losses; Trixie was over 7 years old -- a full life for a ferret. But now I'm thinking about Koosh (who died just before Christmas) and other ferrets I've lost over the past few years. Some of them were just too young. Bosco was only 4 years

Marytag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6141587.post-1075091402684577352004-01-25T23:30:00.000-05:002005-04-02T11:56:33.656-05:00

Husband's shoulder is a slight tendon tear -- much less serious than we thought possible. More physical therapy. Relief. trixie the ferretTrixie is now our oldest ferret (to be correct, she's the older, since we have only two ferrets now). She's been home a little less than a week after a long stay at the vet's, trying to get her stabilized after a diagnosis of renal disease. The most stressful

Marytag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6141587.post-1074787445880880892004-01-22T11:04:00.000-05:002005-04-02T12:07:31.676-05:00

My husband hurt his shoulder some time ago and finally got an MRI last week. We're waiting to hear from the doctor. As if I'm not anxious enough. --Mary

Marytag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6141587.post-1074220027975158242004-01-15T21:27:00.000-05:002005-04-02T11:54:06.623-05:00

I've been slowly adding things to the Depression Place web site. I figured out how to do affiliate links, so I did a bunch of those to products I think can be helpful to people who are living with depression or dysthymic disorder. I've been feeling low. The ferret I wrote about on Dec 18 died. Koosh was a big, handsome ferret; an angora with a fabulous coat. He loved to play -- with other

Mary