Depression and Anxiety at an older age

@merpreb What do you mean by stimulation?? The VNS was stimulating my vagus nerve to stop depression and made things worse. I surely don’t want that again. I cannot have an MRI. See the ortho NP next Monday and try to find out if we are on the same page. I am so confused.

@parus- I phrased it wrong. What went wrong before? What did it do to make it awful?

@merpreb Maybe this will help. The VNS has/had nothing to do with physical pain. It was for for the depression and the doctor could not keep it set as the electricity in my body continually changed the setting. The lead is still around my vagus nerve which prevents the VNS has been removed. The lead makes it unsafe to have an MRI which the NP ordered to be able to refer me to a doctor. It is the wire remaining which has nothing to do with pain. Sorry for the confusion. Maybe you are thinking of a stimulator that was for pain. Should have not mentioned thus as it is confusing.

Still struggling with trying to be even a little optimistic. Taking a break from proactive as kept becoming more discouraged and I realize this doesn’t make much sense. Just need to work on getting recharged.

@parus Pull your self up to our cyber table. We will be happy to offer you a cup of tea and a shoulder to lean on. Some days are just so rough, aren't they? I am reminded of the saying that there is no strong sunlight without dark shadows. Not sure the exact quote or where it came from. Keep plodding along and keep your focus on the future. Getting through each day can be a struggle I know. Been there recently myself. Gentle hugs.
Ginger

@parus. Parus..... I’m still here! Giving you a Grizzly Bear hug!!!........Karen

@parus If you need help finding the "recharge" plug, let us know. We care about you!

@gingerw- Good morning Ginger. What a beautiful response to @parus. It seems very timely that I came across a couple of articles about the connection between pain and depression. Although things aren't settled yet about the true connection and implications just knowing that there is a physical connection soothes my mind a lot. I say this because it's no longer just "in my head".
That being said there still needs to be much more research for a final ideal solution of non-addictive pain control.
I will look more closely at my patterns and look to see if there really is anything that I can do, myself, to offset these two enemies. Do any of you see any of these patterns?
@karen00, @pearlbaby7 please join in on this too.
https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/depression/expert-answers/pain-and-depression/faq-20057823?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=managing-depressionhttps://www.health.harvard.edu/healthbeat/the-pain-anxiety-depression-connection
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5494581/

@merpreb You're right, this is a timely article! I am not sure about having to know the details of connections between pain and depression, but I know there is and that's enough for me. Yes, that's pretty simple but that's as basic as it can get. Treating both pain and depression is understandable. Not sure that we need to know which came first. It is kind of like the chicken and the egg theories.
Ginger

@gingerw- You are right, it's not really that important what came first. I'm sorry if that is what came off as the main idea. The connections are what's important. I offer the links for anyone interested to read about them. As you said, the basics are what count.