So, I’m feeling a world better than I did just a few days ago. I’m sure the exercise and the extra meds have helped, but I think working on my diet has probably helped the most — anti-depressants usually take longer to make a difference, and the simple depression theory just didn’t fit the facts: it didn’t explain why I was still hungry after eating a decent meal, or why I was waking up so hungry that my stomach was practically in knots, or why my mood would lift within an hour of eating and drop again if I hadn’t eaten for two or three hours. And when I looked at the changes in my diet over the last few months — particularly the foods and supplements I had discontinued — it suddenly seemed blindingly obvious that my main problem was nutritional deficiency. The evidence suggests I’m lacking some combination of iron, calcium, and magnesium, so for the last few days I’ve been extra-vigilant about my supplements and eaten a good bit of red meat and spinach. And the difference in my mood is just unreal. I’m still having some anxiety and I’m a bit tired, but I hardly felt depressed at all today. I even worked a few hours. Go, me.
The one downside to otherwise good news is that part of the problem is my beloved tea. Too much tea can interfere with iron absorption (and some sources claim it also depletes magnesium) — and I had been drinking an absolute truckload of black tea almost every day. I hate giving up my tea, but I’d rather do that than take a lot of extra medicine.
Anyway… I’m not at 100% yet, but I feel like I’m well and truly on the mend — and right now, that’s a pretty good place to be.
