Advice on getting moving?

Hi Jen, Yes, when you actually get used to being up and about you will feel stronger and more alert.  However, vitamin B complex can help promote nervous system health and support energy metabolism.  Also there is a company called Purechimp which produces a matcha green tea which has really good reviews on it's site.  There may be other similar products elsewhere.  I haven't tried it, as it is quite expensive, but it is on my "Wish" list to try.  The company is in the process of talks with a high street retailer with a view to them stocking this tea.

Whilst I don't suffer quite as badly as you do, sometimes I don't want to get up, although I do, but it doesn't mean that I actually do anything once I'm up.  I'm quite a couch potato.

I'm glad that you are really trying to beat this and hope you find something useful to give you the energy to feel like getting up.  Good luck and best wishes for a good recovery.

I know what you mean about how difficult it is to get going. The approach that helped me was setting myself really small goals - just getting out of the house for 5 minutes, spending 10 minutes putting things away, walking to the end of the street and back - the aim being to set myself really easy goals so I would manage them and feel a sense of achievement (ie too small to fail!). Then I gradually increased the time/complexity. It doesn't always work every time, so you need to try not to get into the cycle of feeling bad if you don't manage to achieve every goal. Baby steps!

Hi Jen

I was just like you.  I would stay in bed until late afternoon and then when I did get up I would lie on the sofa.  I couldn't do anything and I could not imagine ever feeling back to normal.

I had been on Venlafaxine for ten years but they suddenly stopped working.  My GP tried Mirtazapine 15 mg which worked great for 2 months.  I was then upped to 30 mg then 45 mg but they didn't work.  Then she put me back on Venlafaxine 150 mg then 225 mg and this was awful.

Eventually I went to see a Psychiatrist at our  local hospital.  She put me on 15 mg Mirtazapine and 150 mg Venlafaxine.  I said that I had been on both drugs but they had stopped working.  She said that sometimes they don't work when taking singly but they were an excellent combination.

I came home but wasn't very hopeful.  On the 5th day  I woke up without that awful feeling I always had on waking and from then on I have not looked back.  I am now busy catching up on the gardening and housework etc I hadn't done while feeling depressed.

The doctor used to say you will get back to normal it's just getting the medication right.  So she was right though I never believed her.  So Jen don't lose heart you will get better when they sort your meds out.  Can you not go and see a psychiatrist?  I was fed up trying different meds over the last two years.  That was why I asked to see one as they are the experts in prescribing the medication.

I hope you feel better soon.  I have 3 friends who have been there and are now back to normal too.

Good luck.

Pat

If the energy levels and lack of motivation are caused by a problem that exists within your mind rather than something physical, supplements will not affect you in any way. What they do is work alongside already existent physical activity.

If anything, stimulants (be they something like caffeine or whatever) will keep you in the exact same physical position, but your mind will grow more and more restless, so anything like that can provide detrimental side effects.

Medication... I'm not deeply against for something as simple as what you describe as mild to moderate depression. What you need is talking therapy and no medication - medication can often lead to a lot of the symptoms you describe; lack of motivation; somnolence; lethargy; tiredness.

On the other hand, have you ever been tested for other conditions that relate to your physical activity - ME (chronic fatigue) for instance?

If you have, and you have been diagnoed with depression, I'd advise you to seek out ways of counteracting your behaviour with CBT, and in the meantime look introspectively at your life and see... well, what is it is that makes you open your eyes; hobbies, interests, things worth living for. If you have something you enjoy in your life, or something you wish to enjoy more, there is genuinely nothing stopping you from doing it.