need advice

[heavenlyboy34]

My mom has depression, and has had this for about 30 years-since her nervous breakdown back in the day. She takes sinequan for this. Got any suggestions for dealing with depression/nervous breakdown patients-specifically, mood swings and irrational behavior?

Thanks!
Matvei. xoxoxo

[hadenough]

St. Johns Wart is a good supplement.

[pinkmandy]

http://www.ronpaulforums.com/showthread.php?t=174072

[tmosley]

Don't let her sit in the dark, and make her exercise.

Exercise releases endorphins that make her feel better right away, and it also helps to restore brain chemistry over time.

[heavenlyboy34]

Don't let her sit in the dark, and make her exercise.

Exercise releases endorphins that make her feel better right away, and it also helps to restore brain chemistry over time.

She could probably use a lot of that. She's a boob tube addict. :p Thanks!

[driller80545]

She could probably use a lot of that. She's a boob tube addict. :p Thanks!

I think that depression is a natural reaction to tv.

[RickyJ]

Don't let her sit in the dark, and make her exercise.

Exercise releases endorphins that make her feel better right away, and it also helps to restore brain chemistry over time.

How do you make someone exercise?

[hadenough]

It was on the news not too long ago that "People who watch too much TV are depressed"

[heavenlyboy34]

It was on the news not too long ago that "People who watch too much TV are depressed"

local or national network news? :confused:

[mellamojuana]

God bless the children of someone suffering from depression, I say first.

A son or "dotter" is in an excellent position to counter some of the helpless, hopeless, worthless, useless beliefs that are part & parcel of depression. Could you make a list of the good things your mom has done for you, for others, for family???? Can you list her good points? You know them. Right now, she can't see them. But it's hard to argue with black and white print when it won't answer back. Something will likely resonate with her. She probably won't tear the list(s) up; she might cry over them!



Mood swings? Bipolar? Anger, angst, grief (look at losses thru her eyes; is part of her depression actually unfinished grief?), sadness, exhaustion, and the helpless, etc., thoughts are all part of the illness.

How's her nutrition? Check out foods that help fight depression. Could you take her out to get a 1/2 decent meal and get her out of the house? (???)

Put a good joke on the bathroom mirror.

Give her a good hug. Tell her you love her.

Find a book in the public library abt depression, & take it to her.

Depression usually lifts after abt 6 mos. That's assuming everyone involved lives thru it.

How sedating is the medicine? Is she taking the right amount and at the right time of day/night?? Regularly? Some meds take several weeks to do their job.

Tell her you know it doesn't look like it now, but life can and will get better.

Remind her that God loves her, even if she doesn't feel it.

Pray. With her, too.

Pray.

[heavenlyboy34]

Thanx for taking the time to reply, y'all. hugs all around! :)

[ForLiberty-RonPaul]

spend time with her! spend time with her! spend time with her!!!!

Even if all you do is sit there and watch TV. and be sure to give time for yourself to decompress. Don't think of beating her depression because you can't. Only she can. What you can do is help her to endure it.

I can't tell you how important it is for someone who is going through depression to have someone else there who loves them. Even if the depressed person says "i don't care that your here." or "i don't want you here." or says nothing at all.

Props to you for asking for help!

I highly recommend this (http://www.amazon.com/Noble-Heart-Retreat-Befriending-Obstacles/dp/1564555763/ref=cm_cr_pr_product_top)...


provides hours and hours of a soft and loving voice speaking compassionately about these things. (based on Buddist teachings, but non-religious in nature) I believe it was recorded in Boulder, CO. Most of those in attendence were probably Christian.

[Ninja Homer]

Convert that TV to pedal power!

Seriously, does she want to change? Some people are just content being depressed and don't want to change, and there's nothing you can do to help them until they change their mind.

Half-hour walks out in the sun every morning will help a lot.

It's my experience that EFT is as good or better than any medication for depression. Free instruction book and info here: http://emofree.com and you can find videos on youtube.

Kava kava is a nice natural mood elevator for stressful times.

A nice little exercise to improve your mood is to stair up at the ceiling and smile as big as you can and hold it for 30 seconds. I know it sounds weird, but it works and it's easy enough to try.

If she insists on watching TV, try to get her to not watch the news. There's nothing more depressing that the nightly news.

[mellamojuana]

Numero uno. Take care of you first in any way you can. Sometimes more easily said than done. :)

Re: exercise. If you do go out w her, you can always park as far away from store, etc., as possible. You can always be "saving gasoline." What, Americans careful abt resources? :cool:

If I had known how sharp RPF is, I'd 'a' been asking for feedback, too.

[heavenlyboy34]

Convert that TV to pedal power!

Seriously, does she want to change? Some people are just content being depressed and don't want to change, and there's nothing you can do to help them until they change their mind.

Half-hour walks out in the sun every morning will help a lot.

It's my experience that EFT is as good or better than any medication for depression. Free instruction book and info here: http://emofree.com and you can find videos on youtube.

Kava kava is a nice natural mood elevator for stressful times.

A nice little exercise to improve your mood is to stair up at the ceiling and smile as big as you can and hold it for 30 seconds. I know it sounds weird, but it works and it's easy enough to try.

If she insists on watching TV, try to get her to not watch the news. There's nothing more depressing that the nightly news.

I can't tell that she wants to change. She doesn't talk about it.:p Thanks for the info, though. ~hugs~

[JeNNiF00F00]

weed.

[M House]

Weed isn't exactly gonna make her get up and go get some exercise and stimulation to work off the adrenal slump she's in. Heavenlyboy34 here seems to be kinda musically inclined can't you engage her some from that approach. Involving her in your music, teaching her to play an instrument or singing with her can be pretty engaging.

[heavenlyboy34]

Weed isn't exactly gonna make her get up and go get some exercise and stimulation to work off the adrenal slump she's in. Heavenlyboy34 here seems to be kinda musically inclined can't you engage her some from that approach. Involving her in your music, teaching her to play an instrument or singing with her can be pretty engaging.

I turn on classical music on her radio whenever I can, which seems to help. :)

[M House]

Classical music is pretty cool but you need something more engaging you outta just take her to a rock concert. That or hand her a guitar. I went with my mom to an Andrew WK concert years back and she still talks about it. She doesn't even care I can play the guitar with her, she's a cellist, but she definitely won't get over going with me to a rock concert.

[Birdlady]

She has to believe that she can get better.

Also you may want to look into her diet. Has she or is she currently being exposed to any toxins in her diet (artificial sweeteners, TBHQ, soy, HFCS)? Has she ever had her hair analyzed of toxic and essential minerals? Mood swings can be caused by hormone imbalances especially if she isn't in menopause yet. (sorry you didn't mention how old she was)

She may have heavy metal poisoning and not even realize it. Or she might just be depressed because she is holding something in. What happened to her just prior to being diagnosed with the depression? Why did she have a nervous breakdown? What was going on in her life? These are questions you either have to answer yourself or ask her. It may be something very painful she never told you about.

I suspect her depression is a much deeper conflict she's been holding inside herself for a LONG TIME. Someone else already mentioned this, but I will too. I recommend finding a therapist who does EFT (emotional freedom technique) (http://www.emofree.com/). This should help her pretty quickly. I have used this on myself with success.

[M House]

Unfortunately, you can't do anything about menopause as the bio equivalent hormones are doctor controlled and prescribed retard-idly. You want to avoid giving her the majority of hormone replacement drugs anyway. Synthetic estrogens are pretty much useless and the phytoestrogens(plant derived usually the supplements) have been known for 50 years to cause problems but continually get pushed for use. Women actually get all the hormones they need from their own systems and can readily convert everything except the estrogens which are pretty much a last stop hormone. Considering this all they really need for a boost after menopause is probably bio equivalent progesterone and bio equivalent testosterone in low dose. Hell they can use other things too but the majority of bio equivalents are steroids. These are controlled and anything remotely related to testosterone is schedule III u can thank professional athletes. Anyway, they androgens(testosterone) can be converted to estrogens and other compounds as needed. The majority, maybe all, of the estrogen in womens' bodies as far as I understand is just converted testosterone. You have major sites placed strategically around the body that do this with something called aromatase(ovaries, breasts, heart, muscles, skeleton, brain). Heavy metals are just eliminated slowly from your body and some stay for ever. It gets worse as you age, majority of methods to get rid of them ex. say giving yourself diarrhea does not do anything to remove these. It's a chemical process for the majority of these.