Am I alone?

Hi Don!

I have depression, too! Depending on how severe it is, eating bananas and chocolates help boost my happy hormones. Sometimes, I have to literally drag myself to the gym to exercise. Most of the time it helps. I just recovered from a 2-month depression without taking prozac. I just stayed in my room most of the time, not talking to anyone. In our case, sleeping doesn't help. You can't contain yourself in your bedroom as you need to take care of your children.

Unfortunately, chronic depression doesn't go away. We live with it. But, we can definitely manage it. In my case, I make sure I sleep enough so I don't get stressed out too often (stress triggers my depression). When problem comes and there's nothing I can do about it, I always think that it's God's business and not mine. Worrying over something I don't have control with is unnecessary.

Hi kriz thank you for your reply,I don't eat fruit or chocolate although I couldn't see that working for me.

Your right,as much as I want to hide away I can't because of my children,as much hard work as it is having 5 on my own,they're my incentive to keep going but its so hard,feel tired and drained all the time!

A lot of my depression comes from stress as well,I have a lot of things I have to cope with at the moment but that's just it,I'm not coping!

Feel like I'm stuck in a rut and there's no way out.

Hi Don!

I am 20 and I have depression for 3 months. Now I stop doing my homework and almost doing nothing everyday. I still go to school but it's useless to me coz I cannot understand anything.

I wonder how can you keep working?

Living with depression is very difficult. It affects our relationship with others, it affects our performance at work. The worst thing is that most people around us don't understand our feelings and they definitely don't understand the difficulty of trying to live normally despite our depression. What helped me go on is that I worked so hard in embracing myself and accepting that I am different and that I have special needs. I surrounded myself with people who can understand me when I am depressed.

Feeling depressed while working is a tricky thing. The boss doesn't tolerate that most of the time. I lost a job because of my depression. In the later years, I've learned to take a break for a moment, exercise and eat chocolates to help me get in the mood and finish my tasks. I've also learned to disregard any negative emotions while working. Or sometimes, I play a game and then go back to work .