Hello All,
By way of my newbie introduction, I have been through depression and am pleased to be able to say that I have emerged the other side. For all those going through it now, it is important to realize that it does not always have to be that way - there is a way through. It is only now that I realize how bad it was then; I think at the time I just thought that was the way life was for some of us and the only thing to do was grin and bear it. I had a great wife but that didn't stop me having a bad marriage, just like I had a good job but was absolutely miserable in it. I just dragged myself through life without the energy to do much and not thinking that doing anything would do any good anyway.
Fortunately I was never one to go to see the doctor, so I never got prescribed any pills. What I have learned since is that some drugs can have quite bad side effects and are not very good at preventing recurrence of symptoms. Where I was lucky was that I remembered how happy I used to be when I cycled when I was younger - I rode a lot and raced a bit - and thought that if I could buy a bike and drag myself out on it, it might help me be a bit less miserable. Looking back, I realize that was the start of my recovery, slow though it was.
Interestingly, I just recently saw details of some Duke University research in which depressed patients were divided into 3 groups - one group given drugs only, one on a combination of exercise and drugs and the third on exercise only with no drugs. Interestingly the third group had just as effective relief from symptoms and much lower recurrence of symptoms. Quite by chance I had found something that worked, though the Duke study does caution that it may not work for every type of depression - none of their subjects was suicidal, for example.
I would never pretend that exercise was the total cure, but it did make me feel better able to tackle the other things. But it is a one step at a time process and it does take time. Just believe that it is possible
