#creatine and depression

[supp-up]

Workout Nutrition DIY: Creatine - It’s Not Just for the Gym [Here’s Why].

Workout Nutrition DIY: Creatine - It’s Not Just for the Gym [Here’s Why]. #creatine #gym #supp_up #depression #anxiety #sleepdeprivation #research #tbi #antidepressants #omnivore #vegan #carnivore

In the last Workout Nutrition DIY post, I ran through how magnesium and creatine help with sleep deprivation. I think it’s safe enough to say as a general statement there’s a good percentage of people who workout that use creatine, and more concretely, there’s an abundance of peer-reviewed research on it, which brings me to my point – creatine isn’t just for the gym. Creatine is the Sonny to your…

[infernoflorys]

also two by bbno$ has been stuck in my head for like. ages

[etrosgate]

i see an opportunity, so since i experienced a solution for this specific symptom, i gotta share what i know;

i experienced anhedonia for most my life, and even though depression medication definitely helped me, my average mood remained below neutral, and my happiest moments muted. until my therapist told me about a study with promising results that had been done recently about the usage of creatine to treat depression (i think it might've been this one, but regardless the most recent studies+articles on the topic are pretty easy to find).

so we decided to try it out, with the same procedure as the study (5g of creatine daily, in addition to my regular depression meds), and after it built up in my system (iirc it took around a month) it made a life-changing difference. my average mood was not just okay, but actively good. i could experience happiness again! even my negative thoughts were easier to dismiss and move on from. anhedonia hasn't been an aspect of my life ever since creatine became a part of my daily routine (going on 8 years now!)

please do research for yourself, but creatine is a very common health supplement (typically used by athletes), easily found over the counter, and notably has a very low rate of side effects or bad interactions with medication. like you're probably taking a bigger risk drinking a caffeinated beverage for the first time than taking 5g of creatine.

the general rule of thumb is to talk to a doctor about any supplements you wan to take, but the main reasons to take caution w/creatine are if you have high blood pressure or kidney issues. and if you are bipolar it may induce mania/hypomania.

it won't help everyone, but it definitely might be worth a shot.

A commonly overlooked symptom of depression is anhedonia, the inability to feel joy or pleasure. The reason that it's easy to overlook is that it's easier to miss the absence of something that's not around all the time than it is to miss a symptom that causes active distress, such as feeling tired and miserable all the time.

Anhedonia is good at being a persistent undercurrent to your life. My aunt, who has major depressive disorder, related to me that she figured out that something was wrong when she looked at the daffodils she had planted blooming, and couldn't recognize the emotion that she felt when she looked at them. It had been long enough since she had felt happy that she lost the ability to recognize the emotion.

It's a particularly dangerous depressive symptom, because it robs you of the ability to feel those little spots of joy that keep a lot of people going, while not doing anything to impair your ability to function. If you don't know that this is a treatable symptom of depression, it's easy to assume that your ability to feel good is permanently broken, and decide to commit suicide because you don't want to live like that. It's not an irrational conclusion, but it is an uninformed one, and everyone deserves to have all the information when making a major decision.

This is what a lot of questionnaires are trying to look for when they ask about "loss of enjoyment". If you can't remember a loss of enjoyment because you can't remember enjoyment, then you probably have anhedonia. If you struggle to define how it is to feel "happy", "content", or "good", or how it feels when you feel those emotions, you probably have anhedonia. If you can't remember feeling any of those emotions for a week or more, you probably have anhedonia.

Symptoms commonly co-occurring with anhedonia are fatigue (often the cause), clear and thoughtful consideration of suicide, loss of desire to socialize or do activities that used to make you happy, and weight loss (due to lack of enjoyment of food).

This section is anecdotal. In what I have observed, anhedonia due to fatigue rarely responds well to depression treatment unless depression was causing the fatigue. If fatigue and anhedonia are co-occurring and are not both alleviated by depression treatment, consider other causes for the fatigue.

[brightlotusmoon]

In addition to athletic and exercise improvement, research has shown that creatine supplementation may enhance post-exercise recovery, injury prevention, thermoregulation, rehabilitation, and concussion and/or spinal cord neuroprotection. Additionally, a number of clinical applications of creatine supplementation have been studied involving neurodegenerative diseases (e.g., muscular dystrophy, Parkinson’s, Huntington’s disease), diabetes, osteoarthritis, fibromyalgia, aging, brain and heart ischemia, adolescent depression, and pregnancy.

[kilowogcore]

I'm kinda proud a' myself fer re-creatin' those weird Horizon text bubbles. I think I did all right!

So which Evangelion character are you? The depressed traumatized one, the depressed traumatized one, the depressed traumatized one, the depressed traumatized one, the depressed traumatized one, or the one traumatizing all those depressed people?

(Art sampled from "Blue Beetle" Vol. 10 #10 by Josh Trujillo, Adrián Gutiérrez, Wil Quintana, Lucas Gattoni, Andrew Marino, and Katie Kubert. Edits: Dialogue, Additional Bubbles)

[twilightmalachite]

Raison d’être - The Nameless Girl 13

Author: Akira

Characters: Shu, Mika

Translator: Mika Enstars

"Je t’aime. I love you."

Note: The opera’s narrative is written in a way where each character’s pronouns are in place of their name; “Boku” (僕) and “Ore” (おれ). Both mean “I”. They also are the pronouns that Shu and Mika personally use respectively. Since it's impossible to distinguish English “I”s from each other, I’ll be treating them as if they are names, “Boku” and “Ore”. Excuse any clunkiness!

[Read on my blog for the best viewing experience with Oi~ssu ♪]

Season: Spring

Location: Raison d'être Stage

Shu: “♪~♪~♪”

(The plot of this opera, Raison d’être, is simple.)

(“Boku”, the main character, studying abroad in Paris, meets a beautiful girl and falls in love with her.)

(After witnessing her through a window of a mansion covered in roses, “Boku” named her “MADEMOISELLE”. The love grew deeper, and deeper.)

(One day, unable to hold back his feelings any longer, “Boku” entered this mansion of roses.)

Mika: (—Then, a plot twist.)

(Within the mansion, “Boku” discovers a life-size doll of a beautiful girl.)

Shu: (In short, the person “Boku” fell in love with was not a person who existed. It was simply a beautiful doll sitting in front of the mansion window.)

(If it had ended there, it would have been a comedic story about a foolish young man who became interested in a doll, but…)

Mika: (Followin’ that, there’s another plot twist. In that mansion lived a young man, a dollmaker who made that doll.)

(And that beautiful “MADEMOISELLE” doll created by that young man, was made in the image of himself dressed in women's clothing.)

(And that young dollmaker, “Ore”, had been moved by “Boku”, who would frequently visit that mansion many times over to whisper his love and even pen love letters.)

(He had begun to have feelings.)

(For “Ore”, who had lived in solitude in a mansion and made dolls devotedly, this was the first he had ever experienced bein’ loved so passionately.)

(Overcome with the exhilaration of passion fer the first time in his life, the dollmaker, “Ore”, fell in love with “Boku”.)

Mika: (Then, disaster. ♪)

"♪~♪~♪"

(From there on, of course, it’s slapstick, everyone’s favorite.)

(Rather, a pleasant romantic comedy that started all with a misunderstandin’.)

Shu: (“Boku” had fallen depressed after discovering the person he fell in love with was a doll.)

(That’s when a beautiful woman, who looked just like that beautiful “MADEMOISELLE” doll, appeared before “Boku”.)

(And shows him a simple fondness.)

Mika: “Je t’aime.”

“I love you.”

Shu: (Of course, “Boku” was bewildered! Is this a dream? A hallucination? Perhaps a fairy’s trick?)

(Whatever it was, he didn’t care! “Boku”’s wish has come true, the woman he loves loves him back, a delightful rendezvous has ensued!)

(Oh, Champs-Élysées! May this beautiful flower of love bloom in profusion!)

Mika: (Fufu. Of course, the identity behind this mysterious woman’s feelings had grown stronger with each day. Unable to bear it anymore, the dollmaker “Ore” had come to see “Boku”.)

(“Ore” had done his best to dress as a woman, and had simply come to express simple gratitude for the affections.)

(It had made him truly happy. He was happy that the doll he created was loved, a doll that looked just like him.)

(But havin’ been a reclusive artist, “Ore” had no way to predict how this would play out.)

Shu: (Naturally, having been told by the person he loves that they love him, “Boku” is overcome with joy, and continues to visit the mansion frequently to see his beloved once more!)

Mika: (“Ore” was troubled! He thought after showing his gratitude that it would end there, and be left behind as a good memory!)

(He thought he’d spend the rest of his days as he always had spent them, spendin’ his days peacefully creatin’ dolls!)

Shu: (Every day, “Boku” would knock upon his mansion door! Knock knock!)

Mika: (And every time, “Ore” would hurriedly put on a woman’s clothes and make-up—A tumultuous, slapstick mayhem!)

Shu: (Ahh, what curious days! Yet what a fun, beautiful youth of ours!)

Shu: (—And thus, the first part ends.)

(At last, a background of the age is discussed meaningfully. Yes, a flashback—Back then, it was much more strict towards same-sex romance than they are now.)

(Thought to be a sickness of sorts, it was clear one would be subject to persecution.)

(The international student “Boku” had to return to his country, a place much more old-fashioned than Paris.)

(Thinking to himself that such a thing had nothing to do with him, or rather, believing that it was simply common sense…)

(He vowed to reunite with his beloved, “MADEMOISELLE”.)

[ ☆ ]

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[play-now-my-lord]

fucked look dude. You look like if Andrew WK lost the ability to party as a result of a childhood viral infection and lived his whole life haunted by the ghost of his cooler potential self. You look like Gerard Way started hitting the creatine to get over some shit he has no business getting over. You look like the drummer for a band that routinely opens for Dragonforce. You look like Danzig stopped giving a shit about himself. You look like if an Afghan Hound got its wish to be a human boy but then got depressed about life as a human being

[ask-jokeboi]

Hi! Just want to say I love your blog, your art and your style! I spent the last few days reading everything (and I'm not done yet...). Your AU is the exact thing I wanted to see in DC, it's been too long since we saw a Batman's movie just fun and awesome, not serious and moody. So thank you for creatin this! I might write some one-shot about the crew (I will keep you updated. And for the ask: I saw Joker in his depressing vent, when was (is) it? Do Batman know? Do Harley know?

thank you! I'm glad u like it! and as for your ask, he's had a few different ones

if you're talking about the early one where he changed his costume, it was likely in the news and likely before Harley came along but I don't think he talks about it much

if you're talking about the one where batman went missing, Harley knew, batman had to find out through Harley and other ppl, I don't think they talked it much either but that's okay, it was all understandable, they had some bonding time afterward to heal up the rest of those emotional wounds

[wrongway-goback]

when this you see, remember me

i was born during an eclipse

something, something, spread over brown bread

something gone and dark

oxytocin analogues

i can’t speak to my mother in her mother tongue

a native language wiped out for what? britpop?

she’s deaf in both ears

and whenever i see her happy it makes me sad

i was born forgiving you

through pure muscle, i fight back against the seething in my cells

and the promise in my blood

i worry, in secret, that my houseplants are embarrassed to live in my room

i mix creatine with pinot noir

i am sadder

a triple libra, never balanced

a manic-depressive, never balanced

who speaks two languages, both foreign

a bisexual, whatever that’s worth

i suppose it was only a partial eclipse

and it would seem i was born half a son under half a sun

and so i write—well, i try to write

and i wonder, maybe… the reason nothing i write makes any sense is… because half of it’s missing

half of it’s always been missing

[meg2md]

Back to Life Is Really Hard (Residency Edition)

Things I've learned: I do like obstetrics. Mainly, I like that routine obstetric clinic visits are fast and easy, I like that I know how to do basic labor and triage tasks quickly and efficiently, and I like that I get to do cesarean deliveries. That being said, I think I can live without it. There's lots of confounding hours (like who's on my team, the better hours, etc), but gyne is where I'm much, much happier. And that's where I am now!! At the same time I'm trying to buckle up for MIGS applications which happen next year, and basically the advice given to me was to make peace with the numbers because it's possibly one of the most competitive fellowships across all specialties with a 50/50 chance. I'm motivated: I'm about to submit an IRB for my research project, I'm working on manuscript revisions for my med school paper, I'm involved with ACOG on a state level, I have another research project that might come to fruition, and I'm hoping to design a surgical skills curriculum for medical students. I've also started looking in-depth at away rotations for MIGS, and I'm making a spreadsheet of every program I want to apply to (so, probably 50-60 programs). But I also need to be realistic and have a Plan B, because it's a coin flip whether I match.

But to level with ya'll, despite this sliver of ambition I've regained, I'm SO depressed. Like, VERY FREAKING DEPRESSED. I'd say my mood is largely fine, but man, it is incredibly difficult to get out of bed, to be on time, want to be around my co-residents. I'm finally on weekly Prozac again, but my dose most likely needs increased. I'm also starting therapy (again) tomorrow. But it's just... hard. My life got pretty bad at the start of the year. My cat getting really sick, going into a lot of debt from vet bills and conference costs, my car getting vandalized. My oncology rotation was probably the worst I have ever performed in all of residency. I got some really, really tough feedback. It really knocked me on my ass. Things are slowly getting better, but again, I'm working against this baseline depression. The best I can describe it is just... heavy, or blurred. I lost my zest for life. It's like my life is muted.

I drew a tarot card yesterday to describe where I'm at in my life right now. I drew the 10 of Swords.

Yep. That's residency.

My tarot draws are always like this. I gravitate towards swords and cards like The Tower. It's not all bad, though. I like the concept of death, decay, and endings. I like that it creates fertile soil with which life can rise anew. Consider the artwork from the Light Seer's tarot:

We face the loss, the betrayal, the stress... whatever it is that is causing us so much pain. It will always be a part of us, but what rises up from the ashes is much brighter and stronger, "vulnerable, whole, and totally and powerfully alive."

I drew the Tower card before I drew the 10 of Swords. I like the chronology of it, too. It makes sense with the sequence of events in my life, first undergoing its major upheaval (my break-up with my fiance, moving to a new city alone, being dumped by the rebound I fell in love with, living independently for the first time in over a decade, all with the background of my chronic depression)... and then when the fire finally goes out and the dust settles... it's this empty, desiccated landscape, full of hurt and pain and loneliness. But despite all this, the sun still shines, the rain falls, and slowly life springs forth from the rot. I really resonate with cards like these, like Death, The Tower, The Fool, any card that represents endings and beginnings.

(Lol I lost my actual journal and my thoughts had to go somewhere so here we are.)

Anyway back to medicine (ugh), I'm again trying to focus on the ME outside of residency. The YA romantasy books, training for a Tough Mudder, resuming my interest in obscure non-fiction, tennis.

I'm also researching creatine??? IDK my brain is in a million places right now. My boxing class got cancelled so I biked for 40 minutes while watching 1000-lb sisters. Before I was obsessively looking up MIGS fellowship programs and I needed to get my mind OFF residency and medicine.

And since I find my mind drifting back to something that already occupies WAY TOO MUCH SPACE in my life, I'm gonna peace and work on Kingdom of Ash until I fall asleep

[art-of-manliness]

Podcast #941: How to Avoid Death by Comfort

Nietzsche’s maxim, “What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger,” isn’t just a sound philosophical principle. It’s also a certifiable physiological phenomenon; toxins and stressors that could be deadly in large doses, actually improve health and resilience in smaller, intermittent ones. The ironic thing, my guest points out, is that it’s the fact that we’re not getting enough of this sublethal stress these days that’s really doing us in. Paul Taylor is a former British Royal Navy Aircrew Officer, an exercise physiologist, nutritionist, and neuroscientist, and the author of Death by Comfort: How Modern Life is Killing Us and What We Can Do About It. Today on the show, Paul discusses the science of hormesis, how small doses of intermittent stress can make us more resistant to chronic stress, and why you need to embrace what Paul calls “discomfort harvesting.” We talk about some now-familiar topics like fasting and cold and heat exposure with fresh inspiration as to how important they are to practice and how to do them effectively. We discuss how hot a sauna needs to be to get the benefits of heat exposure, Paul’s suggestion for how to make an ice bath on the cheap, what may be the single best type of food to eat to improve your gut’s microbiome, a form of fasting that’s got anti-cancer benefits but is so accessible it won’t even feel like fasting, what supplement to take to mitigate the effects of a bad night’s sleep, and much more. We end our conversation with how to use what Paul calls a “ritual board” to stick with your healthy habits and resist the “soft underbelly” of modern life. Resources Related to the Podcast * AoM Podcast #708: Overcome the Comfort Crisis * AoM article/video on the benefits of cold showers * AoM Podcast #801: The Cold Water Swim Cure * AoM Podcast #603: The Physical Keys to Human Resilience * AoM Article: How Saunas Can Help Save Your Body, Mind, and Spirit * AoM Article: How to Sauna — All the FAQs * AoM Podcast #585: Inflammation, Saunas, and the New Science of Depression * AoM Podcast #862: Heal the Body With Extended Fasting * AoM Podcast #328: The Pros and Cons of Intermittent Fasting * AoM Podcast #581: The Tiny Habits That Change Everything * AoM Podcast #425: Action Over Feelings * The NOVA Food Classification System * Stanford study on the effect of fiber and fermented food on the microbiome * Research on creatine as a neurotransmitter and creatine’s effect on brain health (including impact when sleep deprived) Connect With Paul Taylor * Paul‘s website * Paul on IG * Paul on LinkedIn * Paul‘s podcast * Paul‘s mental fitness course for coaches and health professionals Listen to the Podcast! (And don’t forget to leave us a review!) Listen to the episode on a separate page. Download this episode. Subscribe to the podcast in the media player of your choice. Transcript Coming Soon The post Podcast #941: How to Avoid Death by Comfort appeared first on The Art of Manliness. http://dlvr.it/SySc4x

[kontextmaschine]

I'm just glad you occasionally acknowledge what a lucky son of a bitch you are, otherwise you'd be completely intolerable.

Yeah even when I had anxiety combining with the depression side of manic depression I didn't think of myself as particularly unfortunate in any particular area, social stuff wasn't my thing but well within common norms

The first miracle, just the personality change stuff, well that's weird like brains are weird and everyone's gonna have something be the weirdest thing that happened in their life, and mine also takes weirdest thing to ever happen to anyone I know, so that's kinda neat.

The second miracle, the creatine weight loss thing, insane how that's perfectly on track to take all the fat I built in life and leave me attractively slim with like no effort, but I do feel some agency by way of figuring it out and it seems fitting that I get some kind of reward for putting everything together there (while still deliriously half-brained!) to fix it immediately

The third miracle, this muscle gain testosterone stuff, it's like you already gilded the lily, what are you doing now, gilding the gilding? Fuck, man.

[3acesnews]

Creatine Supplements Could Help Boost Depression Treatment

[healthpluser]

Creatine shows promise for treating depression

Creatine, a popular supplement among bodybuilders, is often taken as a pill FlowFocusPhoto/Shutterstock A daily dose of creatine alongside talking therapy seems to ease depression, with minimal side effects. Creatine is a compound that is naturally produced by our bodies and is found in protein-rich animal products. It helps to supply energy to cells, so it is best known as a bodybuilding…

[junoscarnations]

me when i research creatine and they’re like ! yo it may be good for depression ?

say less my fellow jacked brother, i will start noting the moods more intensely than i already do