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Do you have depression/anxiety as well as autoimmune illness?
Autoimmune Diseases | Last Active: Jun 5, 2023 | Replies (36)Comment receiving replies
My depression/anxiety (once explained to me as two sides of the same coin) diagnosis and treatment started decades before I could pinpoint any autoimmune symptoms. I had previously had one big relapse of depression too over the years. So I kind of think, for me, my most recent terrible relapse went right on the list along with the physical symptoms I was having- it was pretty high on the list because mind and body are interconnected and fixing the physical without the mental seems silly. I went to my PCP with my list (crushingly awful relapse of depression right at the top) and asked for referrals- psych consult to adjust meds and therapy referrals got going right away. Med adjustments were really helpful along with getting back in therapy. Fixing my awful depression - lifting that fog - didn’t make my physical body feel much better, but my capacity to deal with the way I felt was so so so so so so much better!
Unrelated to your actual question, but interesting nonetheless. I feel like when I was early in my nursing/nurse practitioner education that the “serotonin imbalance” was the theory out there for what was physically happening in the body/brain with depression. That model has been thrown out the window! The shortest answer is that biomedical researchers are still searching for the physical changes that either cause- or are caused by- depression. Here are some interesting (albeit narrowly focused) findings I have come across in medical research reading: 1) low iron levels (as measured by ferritin) can worsen or trigger depression, even if the person does not have anemia (yet) 2) autoimmune disorders are pretty strongly associated with depression and 3) there seem to be some people who have an association between chronic inflammation and depression (does the inflammation make changes that lead to depression or do the physical changes of depression induce inflammation?? No one knows!).
It’s fascinating stuff and the only things I do know- down to my bones- is that you cannot think, or will, you’re way out of depression. You don’t have depression because you are “weak”. Depression is a complex and heterogenous disease - it can look and few different across different people. There are treatments and you can feel better.
Replies to "My depression/anxiety (once explained to me as two sides of the same coin) diagnosis and treatment..."
Before having my GCA and losing sight in one eye... I had two bouts with depression; 18 months earlier and 15 years.
My life changed on a dime that day in 2019. Initially, with so much prednisone, my brain fog protected my psyche ! I'm sure your life has to @marymaryoregon
For me, there doesn't have to be a chemical involvement. If you've been living an everyday life and can get around and take care of yourself and suddenly, overnight, you are challenged at every turn. That is an overwhelming adjustment for anyone. The situation is depressing. Thinking positively and talking to people in remission was huge for me. If they could get better....I would. It didn't take much for me to think of how much worse off I could be.
I'll share....at the time of diagnosis, my husband of 40 years and I were separated, and I was living in an apartment in Maine...happy as could be. Bang! I couldn't shop, hired help, paid to be driven to appointments..physically, mentally I was drained and it was indeed affecting me financially. After 18 months, my husband told me he was buying a home to rent near him. I asked if I could rent it ...and if he would take me to my appointments etc. So, I moved back to Indiana, and he has been tremendous. I kept my Maine therapist, and we have a visit every Monday via Zoom.
To me, getting depressed over the situation was a normal and healthy reaction. My Monday sessions are lifesavers. I 'buried' my old life and have built a new one which does improve all the time. I took a shower standing up last weekend for the first time in three years.
I know it takes a lot of work, and I appreciate so many of the points you made. It sure isn't a weakness...it is just plain real feelings, and dealing with it head-on helps us manage our response to what has been dealt to us.
I think stress is more damaging physically than depression~~what do you think? My apologies for the length of this...but it is therapeutic. Three cheers for Mayo Connect! 💞
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Hi Mary Mary Oregon,
That was a great, informative reply!
I thought the serotonin angle was still current. Thanks for that update!
What do you think of this? I was "gas-lighted" about my autoimmune disease for more than 30 years, by doctors and -worse- by my family. To be fair, though, they knew even less back then. I am sure that the gas-lighting contributed to my depression and anxiety back then. Or, do you think the depression and anxiety were completely the function of my autoimmune disease? They still persist now, post diagnosis and with treatment.
Curious, isn't it?
Hope you have a chance to reply. Thanks! And good health to all who may read this post.