4-14-2021 8:57am

Farrah Rudd: Depression, Part 3

Rick Amburgey Neighbor

Depression Part 3: not just sleeping all the time. Although that’s a symptom. Depressions actually hard to diagnose because there is no laboratory test, biopsy or imaging result that go along with it. There are other mental health concerns that mimic depression & a few of those are: hypothyroidism: Hypercalcemia, vitamin D deficiency and diabetes just for starters. I could go on and on about any of these topics & please take note topics like these will definitely be on my podcast!

While it is important to use coping skills to help relieve some of your distress, coping strategies shouldn’t be about constantly distracting you from reality. We are human! We do forget, we do start over & we do need breaks.

Some of my researched coping skills with depression that I’ve also found to work:

#1 - giving yourself grace

#2 - Hi-five yourself in the mirror, you can do this! Even Mel Robbins does this!

#3 - Naps!

#4 - managing your time

#5 - & friends whether you feel like it or not we’ve got to exercise. Grab an accountability partner & go...! Are you ready https://www.facebook.com/bryn.karpowiczgill 😉

Food and mood: the direct correlation. How much do you pay attention to what you eat? In the past I’ve done food journals and it’s helped greatly especially while paying attention to how you feel after eating. Whether it’s an apple, something heavy like pasta or dairy. You would be very surprised if you start with a clean slate just how much what you eat affects your feelings.

I know we’ve all heard you are what you eat. Whether you believe it not or not. I have found it true. Still a great source of my information coming from The Medical Medium ( https://www.medicalmedium.com ) I would strongly suggest getting his books, mine are so written up & no, I haven’t always stuck to the rules of his recommendations but I am beginning again. There’s never a bad time to start friends. It’s never starting that’s the problem. Another book I was reading about a nutritionist who had overcome her own anxiety issues by changing her diet. She convinced a client to switch up her diet to see if it had an effect on her diagnosed depression. The friend began by drinking bulletproof coffee in the morning, reaching for nuts as a snack, salmon/homemade burgers with veggies for dinner, & savored a small piece of dark chocolate she allowed for the sweet she craved.

I tried to do the same for my thyroid, arthritis, etc. and though the jury is out, I’m still doing what I can & if you want to take this conversation over to my podcast (coming soon at https://straighttothepointwithfarrah.com ).

While I do my very own research with diet I can tell you great news about the book I read. Yes, indeed the nutritionist that convinced her friend went on to say her friend started to feel so great she didn’t focus anymore on what she couldn’t eat; she was too happy to care & didn’t want to bother with changing anything. Now 100% free of antidepressants! No more of the crazy highs or lows from the sugar and she reported changing her diet to clean, healthy, balanced meals helped to change her entire lifestyle.

Through my research, I’ve found two diets I can let you in on.

🔹 The Mediterranean Diet

🔹The DASH diet

One of the plans is about taking away while one is about what you can add. To find out which works best for you, I suggest researching these proven diets. And please, share your knowledge with us.

I never thought there would be a value to feeling sad or depressed. But I’ve learned it’s sort of like being in the valley and being at the bottom of the barrel in life. Feeling as though there’s nowhere to turn and nothing to look forward to. Without feeling hopeless and helpless or sad how would we know what happiness, brightness or joy felt like? I don’t think I’m saying there’s a value to being depressed or sad but I am saying there’s definitely value in learning a lesson that life is not always fair or even great. We are always going to have ups and downs. Learning ourselves and the way our body or feelings react & respond is key.

Here’s what I want to leave you with from my experience friends.

At the end of the day when I’ve felt depressed and not diagnosed I’ve found I wasn’t living my true self. I wasn’t making decisions that made me happy, I was making decisions because I was afraid. I was making decisions from a place of no, timidity, fear, and what if’s...? And those decisions made me feel down, sad, mad at myself, sometimes sick to my stomach & plain depressed. I would go through the feelings for quite some time because let me let you know I don’t always follow my own advice. And again, I’m going to speak truth here because like I said before I want to help myself by helping you. So while continuing with transparency & honesty what do I do? I challenge myself by asking myself if I want to stay in that place mentally or if I’d rather move on from it & feel happy, healthy & whole again. Guess what? I choose happy. I can remember a very specific time I absolutely had to remove something from my life. A situation that wasn’t making me happy so I dug my heels in, did what I needed to do and I’ll tell you from the bottom of my heart the feelings of despair & depression left, nearly instant. Why do I tell you all that? To challenge you just like I challenged me. Ask yourself; is this depression or am I not living my life the way I want to? We have one life friends, dig your heels in, change up that diet, have the conversation, cut the cord if you must. Do what needs to be done and choose you! Choose peace & happiness.

My prayer for you reading this is that you believe more in yourself today and know you’re worth it.

I hope you enjoy reading my column & have a better understanding of depression after the past few weeks. And remember: I’m always listening, thank you for the engagement I receive. This is just what I wanted! 😄

❗️Regarding my podcast: to stay ready for my next announcements you can find me on IG and FB at Straight to the point..with Farrah. Don’t forget to “follow” & “join”. I am eager and excited to continue this journey with anyone who’s reading this. My friends or my colleagues or anyone I don’t know yet, please shoot me your questions as you have been and help me navigate these issues we all have together. ❗️