When my anxiety at my worst it always kills my appetite
aznaggiegirl07 said:
i hate the mental health is still so taboo to talk about.
I hate how men (dont take this wrong) are afraid of feeling "weak" when they want to talk about things that are mentally straining.
If something didnt work with your body, you would go to your doctor and get medication, because thats what you do.
The way I see with mental health and medication, is that there's a chemical imbalance at the very least that needs correcting, and its no different that taking a statin for high cholesterol.
my 2 cents
AgsMyDude said:
Glad to hear about your improvement over the last couple weeks, that's awesome!
How's your experience been with CBD? How many mg do you take, what type, what time of day, etc?
Just starting ramping up. 11mg sublingually before bed but going to keep increasing until it's effective, haven't noticed a ton so far.
Max Power said:
I'm usually not in great spirits during the holidays, but this year of course is extra crappy. I told my wife I legitimately don't care for any gifts this year as 2020 has been expensive. We bought a new house, moved...of which we did completely on our own, 2 of us, because COVID made it conveniently too dangerous for any of her family members to assist us at all. Thanks to COVID my employer decided to keep my work schedule at 8 hours per week for a period of about 6 months when I'm usually working more and compensated more. That six months dented my income roughly $12k this year, which is not an insignificant amount for us. We had a health scare with the dog. After the move we had to put our daughter in a private preschool which runs almost $1000/month. This is the first year of my entire life I won't step foot in Texas. The wife and I both got COVID just in time for us to have no smell or taste for Thanksgiving. We are supposed to go take family pictures for Christmas cards this weekend, of all years I just don't want to do it this year, but of course that's not in the cards. We collectively started going to family therapy hoping to get some improvement out of my daughters behavior, of which it has little effect. I'm in constant anxiety at home when the wife and kid are here because it seems like another blow up fight is always around the corner, not between my wife and I, but between either one of us and the 4 year old. On top of all that I've got to try and figure out Christmas and birthday gifts for the wife and daughter because their birthdays are both the same week as Christmas and I've got zero ideas for my wife because she never tells me anything she wants, if she wants something she just buys it. All I want for Christmas is to stop spending money and to hide in a hole somewhere. I'm just stressed out as hell right now.
hadynphil said:
COVID impacted my mental health a lot, I am often anxious and depressed, looking for help and any advice
hadynphil said:
COVID impacted my mental health a lot, I am often anxious and depressed, looking for help and any advice
Have any tips? I'm now down 25 lbs this year, 30 since October of last year, 45 down from my peak weight in 2018. All unwanted. Been trying to do protein shakes and what not but hard to keep the weight from shedding off.hedge said:
When my anxiety at my worst it always kills my appetite
AgsMyDude said:Have any tips? I'm now down 25 lbs this year, 30 since October of last year, 45 down from my peak weight in 2018. All unwanted. Been trying to do protein shakes and what not but hard to keep the weight from shedding off.hedge said:
When my anxiety at my worst it always kills my appetite
G. hirsutum Ag said:AgsMyDude said:Have any tips? I'm now down 25 lbs this year, 30 since October of last year, 45 down from my peak weight in 2018. All unwanted. Been trying to do protein shakes and what not but hard to keep the weight from shedding off.hedge said:
When my anxiety at my worst it always kills my appetite
I'm on the other side. I'm up 20 since starting meds last year. Equally frustrating
Stress and anxiety can lead to increased calorie burning. I remember reading an article on ESPN about the calories burned by chess players during tournaments and it was mind blowing. The stress on their brains resulted in players burning massive calories and weight loss during a few days. Glad you're exercising, since that should be helping you manage, regardless of the weight loss.AgsMyDude said:G. hirsutum Ag said:AgsMyDude said:Have any tips? I'm now down 25 lbs this year, 30 since October of last year, 45 down from my peak weight in 2018. All unwanted. Been trying to do protein shakes and what not but hard to keep the weight from shedding off.hedge said:
When my anxiety at my worst it always kills my appetite
I'm on the other side. I'm up 20 since starting meds last year. Equally frustrating
I feel you there. My problem is the weight loss is anxiety provoking because I haven't weighed this little in like 20 years. Eating 3 meals a day, protein smoothies most days, weight lifting 3x a week usually. Still consistently losing weight month by month.
Docs ran blood work again, all is good. Chalking it up to anxiety? I also have 2 kids under 4 who keep me very active and they don't sleep so neither do we.
Quote:
The 1984 World Chess Championship was called off after five months and 48 games because defending champion Anatoly Karpov had lost 22 pounds. "He looked like death," grandmaster and commentator Maurice Ashley recalls. In 2004, winner Rustam Kasimdzhanov walked away from the six-game world championship having lost 17 pounds. In October 2018, Polar, a U.S.-based company that tracks heart rates, monitored chess players during a tournament and found that 21-year-old Russian grandmaster Mikhail Antipov had burned 560 calories in two hours of sitting and playing chess -- or roughly what Roger Federer would burn in an hour of singles tennis.
Quote:
Stress also leads to altered -- and disturbed -- sleep patterns, which in turn cause more fatigue -- and can lead to more weight loss. A brain operating on less sleep, even by just one hour, Kasimdzhanov notes, requires more energy to stay awake during the chess game.
Quote:
He has even managed to optimize ... sitting. That's right. Carlsen claims that many chess players crane their necks too far forward, which can lead to a 30 percent loss of lung capacity, according to studies in the Journal of Physical Therapy Science. And, according to Keith Overland, former president of the American Chiropractic Association, leaning 30 degrees forward increases stress on the neck by nearly 60 pounds, which in turn requires the back and neck muscles to work harder, ultimately resulting in headaches, irregular breathing and reduced oxygen to the brain
Max Power said:
Things have been going fairly well. Medical marijuana has been a game changer for my anxiety. I never take enough to get high, just 5 mg before bed and it keeps me from having my heart feel like it's in a vice. It helps me to be at peace, even when I'm dealing with stress. I hope this becomes more available to others because I'm a proponent of its benefits, it's helped me at home and at work.
Lily09 said:
Sorry to piggyback on this thread. I've been reading the comments on here to see if anything can help me. I've been thinking of seeing a functional medicine doctor. My hesitation has been cost since insurance doesn't cover it. I've had basic lab work done at my PCP and everything is always "fine" but I truly feel something is off. I've always struggled with anxiety and depression but it got worse when I got pregnant. It then got even worse my second pregnancy. I've been miserable for the last two years. Counseling isn't helping and different medications gave me some of the most depressive thoughts I've ever had. I adjusted diet and exercise. I've been intermittent fasting for 2.5 months just to see if it would help. Nothing. Nothing is working. I feel like I'm missing out on my kids lives. I'm just a zombie all the time. Trying to get through the day without having a breakdown.
Don't apologize for looking for help on a thread like this, it's what we're here for. If you don't feel right then something is off, lab work doesn't always tell you the whole story. I tried counseling but all it did was confirm that factors I couldn't fix were contributing to how I was feeling, it actually made me feel worse to have it confirmed. Different medications work differently for different people, some of them can make things worse or cause you to just check out. I've been on Bupropion (200 mg) for years specifically because I couldn't be on something that made me shut down and it has the lowest sexual side effects to boot. I'm married and have a kid, I was worried that medication would both curb my depression but also ruin my marriage. I'm not cured by any means but I can manage.Lily09 said:
Sorry to piggyback on this thread. I've been reading the comments on here to see if anything can help me. I've been thinking of seeing a functional medicine doctor. My hesitation has been cost since insurance doesn't cover it. I've had basic lab work done at my PCP and everything is always "fine" but I truly feel something is off. I've always struggled with anxiety and depression but it got worse when I got pregnant. It then got even worse my second pregnancy. I've been miserable for the last two years. Counseling isn't helping and different medications gave me some of the most depressive thoughts I've ever had. I adjusted diet and exercise. I've been intermittent fasting for 2.5 months just to see if it would help. Nothing. Nothing is working. I feel like I'm missing out on my kids lives. I'm just a zombie all the time. Trying to get through the day without having a breakdown.
Lily09 said:
Sorry to piggyback on this thread. I've been reading the comments on here to see if anything can help me. I've been thinking of seeing a functional medicine doctor. My hesitation has been cost since insurance doesn't cover it. I've had basic lab work done at my PCP and everything is always "fine" but I truly feel something is off. I've always struggled with anxiety and depression but it got worse when I got pregnant. It then got even worse my second pregnancy. I've been miserable for the last two years. Counseling isn't helping and different medications gave me some of the most depressive thoughts I've ever had. I adjusted diet and exercise. I've been intermittent fasting for 2.5 months just to see if it would help. Nothing. Nothing is working. I feel like I'm missing out on my kids lives. I'm just a zombie all the time. Trying to get through the day without having a breakdown.
Quote:
PSILOCYBINMicrodosing Moms: Psilocybin & Postpartum Depression Relief
While most new mothers experience joy and excitement when bringing a new life to the world, some may feel sadness or fear in the first days after childbirth….
While most new mothers experience joy and excitement when bringing a new life to the world, some may feel sadness or fear in the first days after childbirth. The pressure of not being able to connect with the child and the fear of not meeting social expectations attached to motherhood can strain a new mom's ability to care for herself and her baby. While 80 percent of new moms experience "baby blues" after childbirth, a completely normal and short-lived reaction, about 15 percent of new moms experience more severe and longer term mood swings, anxiety, and depression. Truffle Report examines whether or not psychedelics, specifically psilocybin microdosing, could provide a solution for those suffering from postpartum depression.
What is PPD?
Postpartum depression is a mood disorder that usually begins within the first days to months after delivering a baby, or experiencing a miscarriage or stillbirth, and which can last for months. According to a 2019 study from Mathematica, untreated maternal mental health conditions cost the U.S. $14.2 billion a year.
We don't yet know the exact reason why some new mothers develop postpartum depression and others don't. It is believed to be a combination of emotional, physical, genetic, and social factors. Levels of estrogen and progesterone increase during pregnancy but drop significantly after delivery. Researchers believe that this sudden change in hormone levels may lead to depression.
Symptoms of PPD can include:
Anxiety
Feelings of guilt and shame
Anger and rage
Physical aches and pains
Feeling sad, hopeless and overwhelmed
Thoughts about harming oneself or the baby
Current Treatment
Postpartum depression is largely under-diagnosed and under-treated, with screening for it being inconsistent and stigmatized by medical and mental health professionals. According to Katherine Stone, an advocate for women with PPD, and the creator and editor of the award-winning site Postpartum Progress, "some studies show that only 15 percent of moms with PPD ever get professional help."
According to a 2018 study published in Women's Health Issues of women who gave birth in 2014 and were diagnosed with depression in the following year, 29 percent of those who held private insurance and 46 percent of those on Medicaid did not receive any treatment.
...
The (Big Pharma) drug infusion costs around $7,450 a vial, which results in $34,000 per patient without insurance. It is also required to stay in a certified healthcare facility for over 60 hours (2.5 days), which is not included in the drug's price tag.
Psilocybin, Microdosing, and PPD
However, for many mothers suffering postpartum, traditional treatments are not an option.
Melissa Lavasani, the Executive Director and co-founder of Plant Medicine Coalition (PMC), was suffering postpartum depression and turned to psilocybin as the last resort.
"I was so miserable and in a terrible place mentally that I have never quite experienced something like that before, and I was desperate for a solution. I was doing everything under the sun, and it wasn't working," she told Truffle Report.
After listening to a podcast about the potential benefits of psilocybin mushrooms, Lavasani started microdosing.
"Depression had made me feel very detached from my body and a bit disassociated from what was going on around me, like I was just going through the motions. Microdosing mushrooms made me feel very present in my body. There were no hallucinations or other symptoms you might associate with a psychedelic experience. I compare the feeling to getting eight hours of sleep, having a good workout and drinking the perfect amount of coffee. I just felt sharp and ready for my day," wrote Lavasani.
In a 2019 article published by VICE, Julie Ugleholdt, author of the "Project BabyMy First Year As a Less Than Perfect Mother", said that microdosing with psilocybin helped her mental health.
"My husband was the one who dosed them for me and mixed them in with my coffee, because at this point, I wasn't really capable of doing much myself. I definitely noticed a change when I started drinking them that I started to feel warm and happy inside. That very first day, I sang songs for my daughter. We played together and she smiled at me. I was overjoyed that I was even able to take the experience in," she said.
Therapist and writer Sarah Stuteville says in an opinion piece written in the South Seattle Emerald on her experience with postpartum that she felt better within weeks of starting microdosing with psilocybin.
"My sense of perspective, and humor, were returning. I felt I could see more clearly the things that sent me spiraling. And when the spiraling happened, I had faith that it would pass. It wasn't as though my feelings were changing I was still sad and scared sometimes it was more like my relationship to those feelings was changing. I could even have compassion for them, and by extension, myself," wrote Stuteville.
According to an Insider article, mothers who microdose psilocybin became "more patient and present parents" and better able to cope with pregnancy and postpartum mental health issues.
One of the mothers questioned, Natalie, said microdosing psilocybin saved her life after her postpartum depression.
"I had a lot of rage where I wanted to hurt my baby. Sometimes she wouldn't stop crying, and I just had so much anger inside of me that I was afraid for her, which caused me to want to kill myself because I was afraid that I was going to hurt my kid," she said.
In September 2021, Field Trip Health announced that the lead indications for FT-104, its novel psychedelic compound currently in development, will be Treatment Resistant Depression (TRD) and Postpartum Depression (PPD).
Joseph del Moral, Field Trip's CEO, said, "The decision to pursue TRD and PPD in parallel is the result of a comprehensive strategic assessment of FT-104's unique and desirable characteristics. TRD represents a tremendous market opportunity for which we believe FT-104 will rapidly become a preferred treatment option, especially relative to psilocybin. Notably, PPD is an acute condition with a lower regulatory burden and shorter overall timelines for approval making FT-104 a potential first-in-class for PPD. By pursuing TRD and PPD in parallel, we can achieve both speed and scale for FT-104."
Mental health, especially for new parents, isn't discussed enough. Given that psychedelics are showing efficacy in treating depression, anxiety and other mental health conditions, it is important to keep researching their potential benefits for parents experiencing postpartum depression.