#so overtime my appetite decreased

[junipercastor]

the way my fatigue has generally been a little better since i started making myself eat again 😭 and my mental health.. ugh

[ajokeformur-ray]

GOOD personal news!!!! (I am Proud™️ of myself)!!!!!

So, okay. I am slightly hesitant to share this in case it's only temporary, but @darklylucid very kindly told me to share it because it's good news and it's something to be proud of!!!❤️

TW; talks of negative anti-depressant side effects and me being irresponsible with prescribed medication, mentions of nausea and bad periods, mentions of health anxieties such as being sick as a result of medications and self-starvation (it's all because meds made me feel so sick I couldn't eat etc.), talks and discussions of stress, anxiety, depression and cognitive behavioural therapy, talks of doctors visits, one mention of covid boosters and bad side effects from that, one mention of passive suicidal ideation, this is a positive post but please read with caution if anything in this tw paragraph may upset or offend you!

I started therapy for my stress and severe anxiety five weeks ago. When I started, my anxiety and depression scores were both at 21/21. I was, essentially, a walking anxiety attack experiencing passive suicidal ideation.

Today, two weeks after uni officially started and five weeks after starting therapy, I scored 12/21 for both anixety and depression for the third week in a row, meaning both have improved to being moderate without medication!!!

(We all remember the absolute fear surrounding that fiasco and I still say medication wasn't the right treatment plan for me. I do have a prescription but I never picked it up and I won't pick it up because of how bad the physical side effects were. The nausea got so bad I was actively starving myself for seven weeks because I couldn't eat anything, while in the middle of end of year assignments and my job pulling me in for overtime constantly. My health anxiety, generalised anxiety and lifestyle couldn't sustain it. Everyone told me to "give it time", but after seven weeks of the worst periods I've ever had in my life and of constant nausea, I couldn't take it anymore so I quit my medication cold turkey without consulting my doctor. The medication was hurting me and not even working; I felt worse physically and mentally and my anxiety was still there, except I also felt like a zombie. I was offered a different medication but I never picked up the prescription for it out of fear that this would continue, since all SSRIs have the same side effects. I have told my therapist this and though she doesn't know any details beyond "I don't want to take it", she supports my decision. A week after I stopped my medication, my periods returned to normal and the nausea disappeared, my appetite came back and I felt better. I refuse to try again and have decided to focus on my therapy as the treatment plan. Medication isn't right for me and that's okay.)

I don't know if this improvement in my anxiety and depression is because of the therapy or because I now wake up at 3am to study before I go to work, which means that I study when I am fresh and well-rested, go to work, then come home and only have to relax, which means more free time. This decreases my stress, which lowers my anxiety and therefore improves my depression (my anxiety was so severe it caused the depression; they are not two separate conditions in my case), and means I can eat and sleep better and more.

The lifestyle switch and therapy both started at the same time, so I can't say for sure which has led to the improvement in my mental well-being, but I find myself not caring all that much. I am healing, I am doing well, I have had one anxiety attack in the last month, and that's... the news I wanted to share. My hair is gorgeous, I am eating and sleeping well, I am happier, healthier, I am not behind in uni, therapy is helping me... I'm not perfect, that would mean I don't exist, but I am healing and in a good place right now. I'm not sure if this is temporary, since uni has just started and I won't know until Christmas since that's when they throw us in at the deep end with the syllabus, but I still wanted to share this news.

I didn't think I could handle therapy, uni and my job at the same time, let alone looking for work experience in the mental health sector, but here I am, doing what I thought I couldn't, and dare I say it... I'm happy. I caught myself smiling while brushing my hair this morning, and apart from a few weeks ago when the covid booster gave me chest pains for a week, I can't remember the last time I had a tight chest due to stress and/or anxiety.

I can't thank you all enough for your friendships, encouragement, love, support, comments, asks... you've all helped me so so much, you do help me, and now I'm feeling better, I'm going to be looking at focusing on writing again. Especially since I'm not sure if this is temporary or not - but I feel hopeful for the future and for myself, for the first time in... a decade or so. I think I'm gonna be okay and right now, at least, I'm proud of myself.❤️

[danielxricciardo]

Can you do one with Max, with 46 and 55 from angst list?

Summary: You are suffering from depression and Max tries to be by your side

Warnings: angst, swearing, mentions of suicide, depression

Word count: 3.6k+

46. “I’ll leave, and the world will move on. I just wish I could see it. See how much better everything is when I’m gone.”

55. “You’re good at finding things. Find me a reason to stay.”

Depression feels like a lot of things.

It feels like sadness, which is what everyone will tell you. It's a pretty common thread.

"I'm worthless."

"Everyone thinks I'm a horrible burden."

So on and so forth.

Everyone in the world is happy but you, and in the end, you are a worthless piece of shit that doesn't belong in this otherwise glorious and happy place. The sun is shining, the birds are chirping, and you are lying there on your bed in the same unlaundered pair of pajamas, wondering why you are even allowed to keep living any longer. Some meteor strikes or lightning bolts should be reserved for people like you because you are taking up space and oxygen and food and other resources that real, happy, productive people need.

It feels like emptiness. You have all these possibilities and none of them seem interesting. You could do some art, or play some music, but that just doesn't feel right. There's no joy in it. You could have sex with your significant other, but you can't muster up the desire. You could play video games, or read a book. But what's the point? There's no real benefit to all of it but passing the time. You could get up and make lunch. But no, you're not that hungry, and if you close your eyes, time will pass a little faster. You can lie there. That works. It doesn't require active effort to do something fruitless. Everything is as empty and fruitless as lying and staring out your window at the clouds and the shifting shadows of tree branches, and so why do anything else?

It feels like fatigue. Standing up out of your bed requires the same amount of bodily effort as climbing several flights of stairs. Managing to get dressed and walk outside is like running a race. Heaven helps you if you try to go to the store or a friend's house -- that may as well be on the other side of the continent. Every step is heavy. Every muscle motion requires ten times the work it used to. Exercise becomes difficult, and control over your body expires quickly. You become clumsier, so heavy lifting is right out. You daze out randomly, daydreaming, even dozing, so biking or running is hard. You feel most at home when you are entirely relaxed, so you lie down...and don't get up again until something like your bladder compels you.

It feels like a loss of control. You have no idea why your brain and body are doing this. You don't want to feel sad. Nobody wants to feel shitty and tired and empty all the time. People will look at you and say, "It's like you don't want to get better." Those people are idiots. You truly, deeply, from the bottom of your soul, have no idea why this has happened or what to do. It's not logical. It makes no sense. You woke up like this, or it crept in overtime or something like that. It's like a fog, a force of nature that sweeps in, occludes everything, and there's not one thing you can do about it from where you stand. Trying feels like taking a paper fan outside and trying to blow away the morning mist. Someone has tied puppet strings to your brain and is playing this hideous dance with it, and you don't have the scissors to cut them away. The dance doesn't make sense; it's arbitrary and rhythmless. If you had any sort of reasoning behind it, you could take control. But you don't.

It feels like desperation. You can't find a way out. You lie there at night, keening into your pillow like a wounded animal, making all sorts of noises that no human being should be able to make. You claw and scratch at the sheets, or at yourself, as the pain wrings itself out through bodily expression. The tears won't stop. You don't know why. All you know is that it hurts, it really and truly hurts, and you think if it goes on any longer, you're going to die. Right there. Bleed out on the floor. So you grab up your phone, and you call someone at 4 AM, and you beg them to please just make it stop. You bury yourself in books and movies because at least then you can imagine something else than yourself. You read nonstop. You have to have your fix. It's like an addiction, no, more like a life support machine. Otherworlds, fantasies of happiness, and real experiences that aren't your horrible existence become the iron lung keeping air flowing in and out. You are alive because you can stop thinking for a while. Your friends come over to comfort you. Their stories keep you sane and well, like dialysis for all the toxins in you. Your mind has failed at being independent, and now it relies on a thousand little machines to keep itself running. You rely on one machine until another comes to save you. You read books until your friends come by. You stretch out your time with friends until you have to bury yourself in a movie again just to keep the thought of real-life away.

It feels like untamed anger. Your friends can't keep this up forever. You fall further and further, and you eventually start dropping commitments. You have become That Person, the flake that everyone knows will back out. People start getting annoyed at you, annoyed at how they have to spend so much time just keeping you afloat, annoyed at how often you're causing them trouble by constantly disappearing and backing out of appointments, and so on. Your workplace gets annoyed at your lack of productivity. And then you can't take it anymore, and you want to scream at them, grab them by the throat and shake them because IT'S NOT YOUR FAULT! You start having twisted fantasies, the ones where you walk up to that person who keeps telling you he can't do this anymore, you're just too unreliable, putting a gun to your head and pulling the trigger. Just to make him know, for once, that FUCK HIM, your problems are REAL, DAMMIT, REAL, and he better FUCKING RESPECT that. And when you're gone, he'll fall to his knees and cry, and he'll say, he wishes he had understood, that he didn't mean to be so unkind, and the scar on his heart from his own failure will remain fresh and knotted for eternity. And then you shake yourself out of the daydream, and you wonder why you have turned into such a horrible person, someone who even considers ending their own life just to spite another human being. Then it creeps back in, the knowledge that the world is getting fed up with you...and the cycle begins again. You start thriving off these daydreams, because at the very least if you can't be happy, you can throw caution to the wind and get the petty, oddly satisfying revenge buried under all those layers of morality that are becoming worn and flaking away. It's just a fantasy, right? And it helps pass the time...

It feels like forever. You have forgotten what it's like to truly be joyful. You can imagine it, but it's not really you in those thoughts. This is who you are. This is your life. This is you.

It feels like you have only one thing truly under your power: your existence. You cannot choose what life throws at you. Your brain and body have betrayed you. Your friends have worn away, and you've fled from your job and any commitments you have.

It feels empowering. You can jump whenever you want.

But he accepted you the way you are. He never reproached you for negatively influencing his mentality or life, even though you knew he felt it too. He always listened to you, he was with you even at 2 in the morning when you were crying on the bathroom floor with your knees to your chest, and you knew it wasn't right. It wasn't right for him to go through, basically, what you were going through. But no matter how much you told him you could do it without his help, Max was coming back more insistently than ever.

He came up with the idea to start therapy. "You have to find out why you feel this way. Go at least once, see how it is, if you don't like it or feel that it doesn't help you, you will give up, okay?" That was a year and a half ago.

The psychologist gave you a diagnosis from the first session: Major Depressive Disorder. Sure you knew what the three words meant, but you didn't know what it meant to have a label on your condition.

"A major depressive disorder is characterized by one or more of these depressive episodes. the diagnosis of major depressive disorder requires depressed mood or anhedonia which is the loss of interest in pleasure and five or more signs or symptoms for the SIGECAPS mnemonic for a 2-week period. (SIGECAPS) Sleep Disturbance, loss of Interest, feeling Guilty, feeling fatigued and low in Energy, having decreased Concentration, decreased or increased Appetite and been agitated and slow and having Suicidal ideation."

It sounds incredible to you. Suicidal thoughts? Not everyone has a thought, somewhere, behind their mind 'What if I disappeared?'

You were prescribed Prozac and Zoloft and it helped. You weren't always sad anymore, you could go to the races with Max and support him as a normal girlfriend does. You apologized to my friends who tried to help me and whose lives you made impossible and you managed to get back to work, from home anyway. Sure, you still had moments when you felt like you weren't 100% yourself but not like before. You did therapy twice a week and the psychologist was happy with your evolution.

But being the stupid ass that you are, you stopped taking the medication. You took the last pill on Friday. Because you were fine. You felt ok, everyone around you told you you were better, you were doing amazing, so you were cured, right? Or so you thought. Saturday was normal. Sunday was not. Your mood and energy were very low. You woke up at like 2 in the afternoon. That is not unusual for you. You’re used to it. You were sad. You were exhausted. You knew that feeling like this was “no excuse” so you tried to force yourself to do it anyway. Typical of your life. You feel like you had already taken so much off work because of the triple-header, you were for three weeks attached to the hips with Max.

The only thing you thought of was dying. And that terrified you. And Max senses something was wrong. But he didn't want to tell something and ending up being wrong and you being upset by his misinterpretation. But, yes, he sensed that you were becoming your old self.

"Hey, babe," he snapped you out of your daydreaming. A tragic one, where you were finally at peace and Max was crying for you. You were on the verge of crying yourself at the mere image of Max in your head. But you pushed it far from your mind, somewhere in a dark corner for you to find it at an appropriate time to fantasize about your dying. "How about we go to a picnic? It's sunny outside."

Yes, the wheater was amazing. It was finally summer and you could go outside and spend some time with Max. But your brain literally is tricking you into thinking you don't deserve to enjoy the sunny day. Why? You don't have an answer.

"I'm not really in the mood, Max. Sorry."

You are not in the mood. That was his affirmation. You are not ok.

"You feeling good?"

"Yeah. Just tired I guess."

"But you just woke up."

You shrugged. He was right. You just woke up, so why do you feel like you were carrying a ton of bricks on your shoulders? You couldn't walk. You almost felt like 18 months ago. And that is when it hit you. And Max, at the same time.

"Still taking your meds, I hope."

Silence. Your mind was like overcrowded and you couldn’t take it anymore. You grabbed your head and pulled your hair because you wanted it to stop. You were thinking that you didn’t know what to think. You didn’t know how to think. You didn’t know how you felt. You were like anxious-depressed-angry-miserable-irritable all in one. Your head was spinning with thoughts. Thoughts were talking over thoughts. So fast that you couldn’t even make out one complete sentence. It was just too much for you to handle. You just wanted someone to kill you.

Max came to you and he hugged you so hard you thought he could crush your bones right there and then. You calmed down eventually. But now you were embarrassed. Because Max saw you, again, at your lowest. Because you promised you'll get better, and for a while, you were better, but now you are fucked and back into square one. All those money on therapy and your pills, for what? For you to stop taking them because you thought you were feeling better? Well, you definitely were not ok, nor you'll be. So, yeah, being fucked sounded good.

Max brought you the medicine and a glass of water. Taking the pills again? For what? The pills only fuel the feeling that everything is fine and that you are a normal person. Nothing was good and you were not a normal person.

But you took the pills. And you looked Max in the eyes and you wanted to die. He seemed crushed. He was sad, devastated, maybe angry but definitely disappointed. In you. Because maybe you don't realize this, but while you were doing good, he was doing great. He knew you could be on your own so he stopped worrying that much, and that could also be seen in his driving. He was winning more races, he was at his best and now he was at his lowest. Because you were at your lowest; co-dependency and shit.

"I'm sorry, baby. I thought I was doing well enough to stop taking the meds," you say in a broken voice but the tears are yet to appear. He stroked your hair and kissed you on your forehead.

"You should have told me. You don't have to go thru this alone. I am here."

"Yeah, you are here. But you don't have to be!" you snapped. Irritability, one thing your depression came with. "I am just a burden for you. And no, this does not come from the fact I stopped taking my pills. You took care of me like I was a child, and, fuck it, you don't deserve this."

"Stop talking like this, alright? If I would suffer from depression you would have done the same thing. You would have taken care of me. Or am I wrong?"

"You are not wrong. To be honest, I don't think I would be here if it wasn't for you, but I don't want you to be. It's obvious that I would never get better. This is me. I am fucked in the head, half wishing I was dead and I am just bringing you down."

"Don't tell me this is a fucking break up, Y/N." he narrows his brows and looks at your features to make sure you were being serious.

“I’ll leave, and the world will move on. I just wish I could see it. See how much better everything is when I’m gone.”

"What the fuck are you talking about? Is this a break-up or a suicidal vocal note?"

You broke down. Crying can be cathartic and healthy, but if it goes on too long it can lock your body in a feeling of despair. Even if your mind works through the problem that caused the crying, because your body is still feeling the physical effects it will cause your mind to revert to the negative state. It's not sadness. It's dread and paralysis. You had a certain feeling of emptiness and purposelessness.

“You’re good at finding things. Find me a reason to stay,” you say between sobs.

"You want me to find you a reason to stay alive or to stay in this relationship? To be frank, I can name a thousand reasons, but it all depends on you."

Max hugs you from behind and you lay your head on his chest, listening to his heartbeat that was stronger than ever. You allowed yourself to inhale Max's scent, a soothing scent you could get drunk on.

"I want to believe you love me. I mean, I love you and I consider you the love of my life, you know? We are so young and I know it doesn't feel like it, but I promise you, I'm gonna marry you someday, even if right now you don't think you're gonna make it till tomorrow. So, yeah, this is reason number one," he said and pressed a kiss to your cheek. "This is not the worst you have been through in life. Remember where you were 18 months ago; you had no idea what was wrong with you. Now you know and you know you can be better. I know you get sick of those pills, but maybe, in the future, you won't need them. Isn't that exciting? This was reason number two," he said and pressed another kiss to your cheek. He was going to do that every time he would give you a reason. "Have you been to all the beautiful places around the world? Sure, you came to a few Grand Prix, but you never saw Great Ocean Road in Australia, you know Daniel promised he would take us there someday. You never saw Pamukkale in Turkey or Japan in Cherry Blossom season or the Blue Lagoon in Iceland. There are many places you need to visit, baby. So, yeah, this was reason number three. I don't know if you want me to continue but I can give you one more reason. Reason number four. Do it for you, baby. You deserve to live and be happy. I know you can be happy and I promise you I will do my best to help you. You just have to take it one step at a time. You just have to let me in. Let me help you, baby."

You turn around, facing him now. You loved him, with all of your heart. You love him for who he is. You love him because he literally came into your life as your lifeline. You love him because he helped you crawl up the deep bottomless abyss of depression. You love him because he had the patience and the audacity to bear with your depression, anxiety, and panic attacks, your phobias, your mood swings, your temperamental and short-tempered nature, your overthinking, your being overprotectiveness, and possessiveness. You love him because never once he thought of giving up on you in your hard times. You love him because he stands by you like a rock of unwavering support and he’s someone you can fall back on. You love him because he listens to you talking non-stop about your past, your pains, your fears, and your losses without complaining even once. You love him because he rediscovered you and helped you find yourself again when you were lost in darkness. You love him because he filled you with confidence and hope and strength and belief and determination. You love him because he believes you are the best when you set your mind on something and no one can stop you from achieving your goals. You love him because he is protective, caring, understanding, loving, and easy to be with while never being too suffocating or taking up your space. You love him because sooner or later he does everything you ask of him and does with his whole attention. You love him because whatever endeavor he engages in, he likes to give his 100% and hates doing half-hearted things. You love him because he can decode the nuances in your voice and judge your mood just perfectly. You love him because he read you like an open book and he can hear your silence. You love him because he never doubts your loyalty, your intentions, your hard work, and your million issues. You love him because no matter how busy he might get he never forgets that you are waiting for his message or his call. You love him because he keeps you in his priorities. You love him because he gave you a passion you never knew you had. You love him because he very strongly believes that you deserve the best of everything. You love him because he is empathic, kind, magnanimous, thoughtful, and down to Earth. You love him because he has eyes for no one but you. You love him because he wants to see you healthy, wealthy, prosperous, famous and he wants you to hold back at nothing, for no one, he wants you to be a Go-Getter. And most importantly you love him because no one ever loved you like he did.

"I will let you in," you say and you kiss him hard. "I'm sorry for the scene I caused."

"Don't be. It happens."

[bip0lar-b0nes]

I wasn’t born with a neurotypical brain, some days I resent that and others I feel blessed. Welcome to bipolar.  

It’s different for everyone, experienced in about 2% of the population. There’s Bipolar type 1, 2, and cyclothymic disorder. Bipolar 1 and 2 are characterized by mania, hypomania and depression. There can also be added features such as mixed episodes and rapid cycling. The difference between Bipolar Type 1 and 2 is mania. Bipolar 2 experiences hypomania while type 1 experiences mania; both can experience majour depression. Cyclothymia is mood swings between minor depression and hypomania.

The symptoms of mania as described in the DSM-5 are inflated self-esteem or grandiosity, decreased need for sleep, increased talkativeness, racing thoughts, distracted easily, increase in goal-directed activity or psychomotor agitation and engaging in activities that hold the potential for painful consequences lasting anywhere from a couple days to several months. The difference between mania and hypomania is essentially the intensity of symptoms, full blown mania can also include psychosis, delusions and hallucinations. The symptoms of depression are pretty much what you’d think they are, depressed mood, anhedonia, changes in weight, appetite and energy levels, feelings of guilt or worthlessness, suicidal thoughts, etc.

Bipolar is a really complex illness, being made even more complicated by the high rates of comorbidities. In a study done by Stanley Foundation Bipolar Treatment Outcome Network with 300 participants, 65% of them met the criteria for at least 1 other lifetime psychiatric disorder. In a National Comorbidity Survey 95% of the respondents met those same criteria. Due to these comorbidities Bipolar is incredibly difficult to diagnose and treat. I’ve been lucky in getting my diagnosis so early on, there’s people I know where it took them 10+ years to get a proper one and others who are still trying. The most common comorbidities are Anxiety, Substance use disorder, ADHD, personality disorders (a recent study found cluster B disorders in about ⅓ of their bipolar patients) and physical illnesses, often due to consequences of the disorder; type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular diseases due to higher rates of obesity and smoking.

To top it off, a study done in 2016 and published in the International Journal of Neuropsychopharmacology found that the blood of Bipolar patients can actually become toxic overtime due to the cyclical moods. They also found the BDNF protein (Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor), a protein that promotes neuron growth and survival and also helps establish neuron connections, was lower in Bipolar patients. As well as lower levels of the EGR3 (Early-Growth Response 3) protein, which is associated with helping the brain cope with environmental changes such as stressful stimuli.

Brain images from this study also showed changes such as reduction in volume and neuroprogression (a mechanism by which the brain re-writes its neuronal connections, a process that’s associated to learning, memory and even recovery from brain damage). In people diagnosed with bipolar this process is associated with a loss of neuron connections and clinical and neurocognitive deterioration. Fun right? That’s just the tip of the iceberg from this study’s findings (if you’re interested in reading it here’s the link https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/05/160531104421.htm)

Hopefully knowing more about the symptoms and neuropsychology of the disorder can help you to see a bit more about what it can be like to live with it. It’s tough, but I also see it as a sort of superpower. I’m able to experience life’s emotions to the absolute fullest, whether that’s for the better or not, well that depends on the mood (;

[xoxopradaa]

Food log this week so far:

Monday: Fasted 32 hours

Tuesday:

Breakfast:

Oatmeal with blueberries, 2 boiled eggs, Coffee with almond milk

Lunch: Overnight Oats

Snack: 1 cup of popcorn, 1 cup of grapes, Mango chips

Dinner: Soup with a little boiled chicken and 1 potato

Wednesday: Fasted 32 hours

I fast on Mondays, Wednesday, and Fridays. I want to reduce my calorie intake it little by little. Hopefully overtime my appetite will decrease. I’m hoping this weekend will be good and i can stick to a deficit and not binge.

[vulnera-sanentura]

Next in the Cat Series: Hyperthyroidism!

One of my favorite cat diseases, because unlike other chronic health issues, it’s not only easy to diagnose, but curable too! (phew, not all of them are just supportive care)

Who gets it? The typical hyperthyroid cat is older (mean age of 13 years), with females being predisposed and with no breed predilection beyond “mixed breed.” It can be diagnosed in cats from 4 to 22 years old, though it’s very uncommon to see it in cats younger than 8 years.

What’s it look like? These cats are usually thin or losing weight, despite a ravenous appetite (polyphagic). They can also be PU/PD (polyuric/polyphagic, ei, they drink and pee waaay more than is normal). They can become more active, literally putting the hyper in hyperthyroid, or more aggressive than they used to be. Other signs that aren’t very specific to hyperthyroidism are vomiting and diarrhea.

So what is it? Hyperthyroidism is a condition where a tumor in the thyroid gland, located in the neck on each side of the trachea, causes excess production of thyroid hormones, especially notable is T4. Thyroid hormone is responsible for a variety of metabolic functions, and this increase in metabolism is what causes many of the presenting signs: hyperactivity, weight loss despite appetite, aggression.

How do you diagnose it? The most definitive diagnosis of hyperthyroidism is through checking blood concentrations of T4. It’s increased? Congrats, you’ve diagnosed hyperthyroidism! Though a lot of feline specialty practices have it always on the normal blood chemistry, it may be an add-on at other general practices, and that’s when it may get a bit trickier to diagnose originally.

The history should help clue you in a lot, but on physical exam you’ll also potentially see:

Thin/decreased weight from last visit

Dehydration

A palpable “thyroid slip” - the thyroid gets large enough you can feel it when you run your fingers along the side of the trachea. Not all hyperthyroid cats have it, and it can be hard to get used to finding the slip

Poor hair coat

Cardiac abnormalities: tachycardia (>220 bpm), murmur, arrhythmias, a gallop rhythm

Hypertension, which can cause ocular or neurologic issues

Besides increased T4 on bloodwork, you may also see an increased ALT and/or ALP, sometimes insanely high while all the other liver enzyme values are normal. A fifth will also have azotemia (increased BUN), either due to dehydration or concurrent renal disease.

And since they’re older cats, there may be other chronic illnesses like CKD, diabetes, or GI disease.

You said this one’s not just treatable, but curable?? Yes! The treatment of choice is radioactive iodine therapy. Iodine is taken up by the thyroids to create thyroid hormone, so once the radioactive iodine is injected it’s selectively picked up by the thyroid. And since the tumor cells are working overtime, the radioactive iodine (I-131) is picked up by the tumor cells, killing them, and leaving the currently-dormant normal thyroid cells intact.

Pros:

It works rapidly (improvement within 2 weeks, back to full normal in 3 months)

Very effective, with an over 90% cure rate

No pills in angry old cats

Permanent, one time correction

Cons:

Expensive, usually costing over $1000 (~1400)

Requires special facilities, so it’s not available everywhere

Using radioactive materials, so requires containment of your cat at the hospital from anywhere from 2 days to 2 weeks, and usually the shorter time periods require special at home distancing from your cat

May need retreatment if it’s a thyroid carcinoma (2% of cases), so more $$$

What if I can’t afford that? Any other options? Yep, there’s methimazole, which come in a pill form or a transdermal cream. It works by blocking thyroid hormone synthesis, so while it doesn’t cure hyperthyroidism, it will lower T4 levels and mitigate clinical signs.

Pros:

Not as expensive up front, though can cost more over the course of the disease

No hospitalization

Available anywhere cats are seen

Cons:

Pilling angry cats sucks, some don’t like the cream either

Twice daily, nonpermanent medication

Manages, doesn’t treat the disease. The thyroid tumor can grow, requiring more medication, or transform into a carcinoma instead of a benign tumor

Side effects! - GI upset, neutropenia/thrombocytopenia, GI upset (pill), and the worst: facial excoriation, where the cats’ faces are so itchy they scratch off their skin. Reversible with discontinuation.

There’s also surgical removal of the thyroids, which has fallen out of favor, and Hill’s Y/D hyperthyroidism food, which is iodine restricted and not highly recommended by endocrinologists.

I’ve heard hyperthyroid treatment causes renal disease, is that true? No, but it often unmasks kidney disease. These two diseases, hyperthyroidism and CKD, have a very common demographic in older cats. Hyperthyroidism can increase the filtration rate of the kidneys, which makes the bloodwork levels, BUN and creatinine, that we use to diagnose CKD, decrease. Once the hyperthyroidism is cured, the filtration rate decreases, and those values jump up.

If the kidneys already look bad before treatment, the vet may want to do a “methimazole trial” before committing to radioiodine. This will allow the T4 to drop and uncover the true extent of renal disease, and since methimazole isn’t permanent it can be discontinued if the renal disease is too bad.

Most feline specialists still recommend treating the hyperthyroidism even if there is severe underlying kidney disease, but this can help us prepare for what to expect after radioiodine.

What’s the prognosis, almost-doc? Well, it depends. These cats are already fairly old, so part of the shorter lifespan can be due to other concurrent old age changes/diseases. If properly managed, the median survival time is 2-4 years, though if cured with iodine at 10 years old they could truly live into their 20s. I heard of a cat treated with radioiodine in their 20s and is now in their 30s!

[micoco]

CONSUMERS FOOD WASTE

This week, I want to narrow down this board topic. I am more interested in food waste on the consumer side. There are some questions about it:

- Generally, why do people waste so much food? At the same time, the problem of hunger is so serious? 

- As consumers, where are the most food wastes happening: Restaurants? (Dining outside) At home? Food Delivery?(Ubereats, Postmates) 

- Where does the food waste go? What do they think when they know where different food wastes are going? 

- What kind of elements will affect people’s behaviors on food wastes? Eating alone or with friends and family? 

- Last post, I have found some interesting designs about changing the way we look at food. Here I want to explore why our relationship with food changes because of our senses? 

- Whether the different cultures / rituals / methods of eating in different countries will relate with food wastes? Why and How!!!!!!! 

- When people are eating outside, what kind of elements will affect them to order, leading to more or less food wastes? Such as restaurant reviews, or environments, hungry levels, looks of food, traffic time, waiting time or more. Why do the expectations would influence us about food wastes? 

The relationship with food wastes & obesity & hunger 

1.Where are the most food wastes happening  https://foodprint.org/issues/the-problem-of-food-waste/

- Restaurants and Institutions: 22-33 billions pounds of food wastes Approximately 4 to 10 percent of food purchased by restaurants is wasted before reaching the consumer According to the Cornell University Food and Brand Lab, on average, diners leave 17 percent of their meals uneaten and 55 percent of edible leftovers are left at the restaurant.

- Food wastes in households: Households are responsible for the largest portion of all food waste. ReFED estimates that US households waste 76 billion pounds of food per year. In terms of total mass, fresh fruits and vegetables account for the largest losses at the consumer level. There are some reasons to cause this issue: Food spoilage, Over-preparing, Date Label Confusion, Overbuying and Poor planning. 

- And food delivery is the third party of the restaurants and institutions. My opinion is that the food wastes are similar to them. However, the main problem of online food ordering is increasing the food plastic packaging  and tablewares wastes. 

- So from the research, we can see that food wastes in households become the most serious part of all food wastes. Combined with some research I have found before: Packaging design or kitchen wares design can help people to reduce food wastes at home, especially the fresh vegetables or fruits, or some apps can help people value the food ( buy correctly and enough food) when they are shopping in stores. 

- And people started to rely on online shopping and ordering because of efficiency and convenience, of course, the pandemic time right now. I found one article: how online ordering could cut food wastes. It is interesting. Before, I have written some people’s behaviors about shopping for food in stores to cause huge amounts of food wastes. However, ordering online: we tend to have smaller but more frequent orders. It is a way to reduce waste and to reduce the total emission of food consumed at home by about 41%. To some extent, it can help households and retailers food wastes. I have used food online ordering, which is time-saving and convenient. But, it is obvious that the price of food is higher than store prices, and also cause other problems like food packaging during delivery.  https://www.greenbiz.com/article/how-online-ordering-could-cut-food-waste

2. Where does food go? How do they deal with leftover food?

- Restaurants: 85% will be thrown out > landfill;  Separating their food wastes > Composting facilities; Some unused food > feeding livestock in farms; a small percentage will be recycled or donated. Overall, the most food wastes are in landfill, which increases the methane gas > More CO2. 

With my experiences, after dining outside, I would take away the left food. I feel less guilty than wasting them. Then, on the next day, I may eat them or throw them away. Www. Same fate. 

- Households: Today the governments in some countries have regulations that people need to do garbage sorting before dumping them. I have known that China has become more serious about this. Most food wastes are going to  landfills or become fertilizers during garbage disposal. And some of them can be recycled. 

- And I feel most people have an idea of this question. Most of them do not care where the food wastes actually goes and the results of them because they did not see the facts. Also the prices of most food is invaluable, they do not care more about them because they are cheap. 

3. Different behaviors / experiences related to food wastes 

- Eating alone can be the biggest cause for unhappiness. “The Hartman Group’s Food & Beverage Occasions Compass 2014 data” shows 46% of all adult eating occasions are alone. Eating alone is detrimental to our health. I have some experiences of eating alone. I went to the restaurants and wanted to order some food. And the size of food is so big. Most of the time, I cannot eat all of them and need to take out leftover food. Especially the fast food industry, they hope you eat alone. Can you imagine that, sitting alone in front of the Elemis ion and shoveling food into the mouth, and you still feel hungry after eating all of them. I think it can be a normal scene right now. > Causing more food wastes and obesity. Both mentally and physically, we changed the relationship with food > Definitely cause the food wastes issues in today’s society. Like I talked before, the people who have eating disorders, they vomit the food and eat too much food. 

- However, eating with friends and families also causes food wastes. 1. I think this situation, people will order a lot…….Yes. From my experiences. 2. I think it happened more in western countries, rather than in China. Like Costco, Ralphs, Sam’s, there are more family size food products I have even seen before…and a lot of sales promotion on larger size vegetables or fruits. OMG I do not know whether people will eat all of them…..

Overall, I don’t know. I think both ways will cause food wastes. Maybe eating alone is focusing more on mental health. Another one is causing more food wastes. 

- Healthy lifestyles. I think most people want to have a healthy lifestyle. However, the research shows that “healthy eaters cause more food wastes?!?!?” Having healthy diets needs more vegetables and fruits, which are easy to spoil. It is easy to notice that high-income households have healthier diets and more food wastes, rather than low-income families. That is a contradictory issue…..

So it is just one of the elements that will affect people to buy the food > food wastes. Others: Economic level: incomes, times; Different personalities, attitudes, emotions, conditioning; Lifestyles, social class. They affect customers’ demand on food and food choices, tastes and preferences. All of them related with food wastes. 

3. Different cultures / rituals / educations: Most food wastes occur in the developed world. Food wastes cannot be separated from people’s eating habits and cultures. Shoe some examples below: 

- Sweden: According to Hans Naess, a Swedish food entrepreneur, Sweden's food culture has its origins in poverty and climate."For a long time, we were a very poor country, so in a very strong conservative way we have to eat everything up, and in the culture it's very ugly to throw away food." 

- In developing nations, there are gaping holes in the supply chains > larger food lost. And in the developed nations, most people have enough purchasing power to buy food / They do not like “ugly food” in stores > more food wastes / loss in households. 

- South Africa, like Brazil and Malawi, is a developing country with a lot of challenges such as food insecurity. They have wasted so much food, at the same time, there are so many people who are bearing the hunger. Ex:there is a phenomenon known as Izikhotane, which is a group of youngsters who show off their wealth by destroying expensive clothes and food.

MORE>>

4. Dining outside - Expectation of food / food experiences > food wastes 

- Q: Some Michelin restaurants serve less and delicate, but so expansive food. Do they cause less food wastes? And they would focus more on food wastes and recycling problems? Different thoughts on consumers: do they think it is a waste of money? Do they think the food is worthy? 

- The research “ Impact of plate size on food waste: Agent-based simulation of food consumption” explained some elements of affecting food wastes when people are dining outside. 

- Plate sizes. The result is: Switching from a large to a medium plate and a small plate decreases the number of not-eaten food items by 21.1% and 43.5% om average respectively. Switching from medium to small: decreases 28.4% on average between two scenarios. There are some elements that will affect people who choose different plate sizes:  food-surplus, plate-waste, unsatisfied-hunger, overtime, wait-time, high traffic, walk-out. 

- Biological determinants such as hunger, appetite, and taste / Economic determinants such as cost, income, availability / Social determinants such as culture, family, peers and meal patterns / Psychological determinants such as mood, stress and guilt / Attitudes, beliefs and knowledge about food

THANK YOU FOR YOUR TIME! :)

[journeyintomanhood]

5 Years on Testosterone: Timeline of Changes

Mood

Year 1: In the first 6 - 9 months I experienced the bulk of mood changes when I started to feel similar to the way I felt as a young teenager; frustrated and a little moody. It was hard to deal with but I grew out of it. 

Year 2 - 5: Generally, there haven’t been that many mood changes since I grew out of the “teenage angst” phase so I didn’t feel it was necessary to break it down by year. Overall, I’ve continued to become happier and a lot of that is thanks to the changes that I’ve experienced from testosterone. 

Scent & Sweat 

Year 1: A change in scent was one of the first changes that I experienced. Within the first two or three months, I started to smell what can only be described as medicinal. It was really odd, unexpected, and went away. It was replaced with stronger smell of body odor then I had before. It also is different, it’s hard to describe how exactly it is different, but it is and probably more musky than before in general. 

Year 2: Body odor continued to become more intense 

Year 3: This was probably peak, strong body odor. The summer of the third year I was on T, it was a really hot summer and I cooked in a kitchen, so I’m sure that did not help but I had to start using medical strength deodorant and had to carry a second stick in my bag and reapply part way during the day. 

Year 4: The body odor started to decrease and I went back to using normal strength deodorant and generally only having to apply once a day. I also had top surgery this year and I think that not having to wear a binder probably helped. 

Year 5: No real changes 

Hunger

I should start by saying that pre-testosterone, I did not have much of an appetite. It had increased a bit in the year or two before I started T compared to the years previous but it wasn’t huge. 

Year 1: An increase in hunger was one of, if not the first, change I experienced. In the first month, I noticed I was hungry more often and also needed to eat more in order to stay full. Sometimes I would be hit with this really intense need to devour food which had never really happened in my life before. I continued to get spikes in appetite every few months for the rest of the year. 

Year 2: The spikes in hunger became less frequent but there were a few more that happened during the second year. I also eventually learned how to be better about eating enough, eating enough protein and bulky foods like leafy greens, grains, etc. to actually stay full. 

Years 3-5: Again, there haven’t been that many changes are far as hunger goes over the past couple of years, so there is no real need to break it down. I haven’t experienced a hunger spike in a long time and I don’t get that intense need to devour everything. I do eat more now than I did pre-T but I do think my appetite decreased a bit overtime. 

Voice 

Year 1: In the first three or so months, it became easier to speak in a lower voice and my voice started to crackle a little bit. At 5 months, I had my first real voice drop. It wasn’t huge but it was noticeable. It continued to drop every few weeks or month for the rest of the year. 

Year 2: My voice did keep dropping but not as frequently 

Year 3: A few more drops but they weren’t as dramatic or as frequent before. My voice started to settle as well with less voice cracks. 

Years 4 -5: My voice is still settling without any new voice drops in a while and very few voice cracks - though it does still happen. 

Voice Comparison Video

Height 

Year 1: I grew about an inch taller. This was a surprise but I was young enough that my growth plates hadn’t fused yet. I hadn’t grown since I was about 15 before then so it as surprising but testosterone must have prompted that last little bit of height I had in me. 

Years 2-5: No change 

Face 

This is easier to show than to tell: Facial Changes on T

Facial Hair 

Year 1: I had some facial hair growth but it was pretty minimal, still pretty thin, and wispy. It was mostly concentrated around the side burn and jaw line.

Year 2: In the second year it continued to increase a bit but wasn’t very strong by any means. 

Year 3: This is when it started to become a little less wispy and more course. As well, it started to become noticeable to other people. It still wasn’t very strong and not a proper beard by any means. It was mostly concentrated on my neck and jawline. 

Year 4: Increase to where I had a neck beard and while it wasn’t a great look it was a look that I had. 

Year 5: I shave pretty regularly now (2-3 times per week) aside from my chin. The rest of the hair grows back faster all the time now it seems and is continuing to become more apparent on my cheeks and mustache area. The bald patch under my chin is finally starting to grow in as of this past month or so. 

Facial Hair Comparison Photos 

Acne 

Year 1: Within the first three or so months, I saw an increase in acne, and it only got worse from there. Pre-T, I didn’t have much acne and it was pretty much only ever on my hairline, head, and maybe the random one on my cheeks. I started to get acne all over my face, my head, my chest, my back, and even my arms. 

Year 2: The acne persisted and I noticed it was getting worse on my back and shoulders 

Year 3: Started to ease off on the face a bit but it was still there for sure and continued to ravage my back and chest 

Year 4: This is when I started to see improvement on my chest and back acne and I think a big reason is because this is the year I had top surgery and I was no longer binding every day. I also continued to see a decrease in the acne on my face. 

Year 5: It was finally starting to clear up. I was never completely acne free but it was way less than before and it stopped hurting. Then I went on different medication which caused the worst acne ever. I’m in the process of going off that medication so I’ll be interested to see what my skin is like after that. 

Adams Apple 

Year 1: Pre-T I did have a noticeable Adams Apple but when my face and neck got a bit chubbier in the first six-nine months on T, it became a little less noticeable. 

Year 2: As my face and neck started to slim down my Adams Apple became noticeable again and it was actually more noticeable than pre-T. 

Year 3: I think it continued to become more prominent but I can’t be completely sure 

Year 4-5: No change 

Arm Hair

Year 1: As far as hair growth, arm hair was among one of the first changes I saw. In the first 3 or so months I started to notice new hair in the inside of my forearms. During the first year, the hair on my forearms increased quite a bit and became thicker. 

Year 2: Continued increase of forearm hair in both thickness and hair in new places. Also started to notice more hair going up up my arms and onto my shoulders. 

Year 3: Steady hair increase all over the arms, not as dramatic as before though 

Year 4: Started to notice some hairs on my shoulders that are a lot thicker, quite long, and a bit wire-y show up 

Year 5: No changes 

Arm Muscles

Year 1: When I was six months on T, I got a physical job, and this is when I noticed a huge increase in the way that I built muscles and the way that muscles showed up on my body. Even when I was wrestling and working out all the time, it was hard to built muscle and there wasn’t a lot of definition. I was increasing in strength very quickly and it was showing; my arms got bigger, my shoulders broader, and definition showed a lot more. 

Years 2-5: Honestly, it’s the same. When I’m working out, I build muscle faster and it shows more obviously that before but I don’t (and never have) had huge arms or bowling ball shoulders, even when I was working out a lot. 

Hands 

Year 1: At some point in the first year, my hands grew, but I’m not sure exactly when. The fingers also became thicker, the skin rougher, and veins started to become more obvious. 

Year 2 - 5: Mostly just a slow increase in hair and occasionally I would notice a new vein or that they were a but rougher than before 

Chest Hair

Year 1: A bit of chest hair but it was still pretty soft and minimal. 

Year 2: Started to get a few chest hairs which were thicker but overall they were still pretty minimal 

Year 3: Chest hair continued to increase slowly but steadily 

Year 4: This is when I started to see a real increase in chest hair and it was a lot thicker than before and started to spread out 

Year 5: Hair continued to increase across the chest. I don’t have a lot of chest hair but it’s still increasing. 

Back 

Year 1: There was an increase in the width of my back and shoulders - overall I became a lot broader 

Year 2: Continued to get broader across the back and shoulders 

Years 3-5: I don’t think I’ve had a lot of changes in my back over the past few years except maybe some back hair but it’s pretty minimal 

Fat Re-Distribution 

Year 1: I noticed some fat shifting away from my hips to my stomach 

Years 2-5: I’m going to put this all in one area because I honestly haven’t experienced a lot of fat re-distribution and I can’t pinpoint when it happened. I still carry a lot of fat on my hips. 

Leg Hair 

Year 1: I had decently hairy legs pre-T but the hair was pretty soft, in the first year I saw the hair get a lot thicker and it also began to spread all to areas where there never had been hair. By the summer, when I was about 7 months on T, and wearing shorts I had people comment on the difference. 

Year 2 - 5: It’s hard to get to detailed but essentially I continued to see hair grow in in places where it didn’t grow before and I’m still seeing a bit of that to this day. 

Leg Muscles 

Year 1: Increase in definition of my calves and thighs 

Years 2-5: Continued to see fat disappear on my thighs and be replaced by muscle. When I’m working out regularly, I see this happen quickly. 

Feet 

Year 1: My feet grew from either a men’s size 6-7 depending on the shoe to a men’s size 7-8 

Years 2-5: I’m not sure when this changed exactly especially since all shoes fit differently but I can now wear shoes size 8 - 9.5. 

*Feel free to ask questions about my experiences with testosterone 

[theevenprime]

No. The underlying core of stifling masculinity is that you must never do anything which decreases your potential utility to others. You can't be fat or weak, and you can't be a hedonist unless that hedonism is a means of displaying conspicuous competence. So, you could be a pastry chef, who knows exactly how everything should taste (but only if you're an acclaimed one. If it's just for fun, that's self-indulgent). You can have a hearty appetite for steak (especially cheap steak), if it's ostensibly in service of keeping up your strength for all the physical work you do. But you can't have preferences for soft or indulgent things qua the sensation of enjoying those things (qua-la-qualia, if you will), because that's a crutch, and you must be ever-prepared to sacrifice your own comfort. It won't do to seem too attached to that comfort, therefore.

The "red flag" here is that he will want to devote resources to his own comfort, rather than lavishing them on her. I find her as detestable as anyone, but I do understand what it is she's saying. Hers is not an uncommon philosophy (it's not overwhelmingly prevalent, either, but it's not uncommon.) She's just more guileless about it, or more consistent, than her fellow travelers.

The scenario she wants to avoid is those r/Relationships posts that go "My [F34] husband [M36] worked 15 hours of overtime while I was on vacation with my friends, and now he wants to spend that money on a computer for himself. How do I tell him that money is rightfully mine?" That's what "ordering a dessert for himself" is a red flag of.

A red flag… for WHAT exactly?

[healthgd-blog]

What is depression? – Types, Causes, Symptoms, Treatment

What is depression

Depression is a very difficult disease to explain in a nutshell, but it is a state of brain energy deficiency that causes psychological disorders such as depressed mood and reduced motivation (appetite, sleep desire, libido, etc.). It is not uncommon for symptoms to persist, as well as with a variety of physical symptoms. In other words, it can be thought of as a state in which a lack of energy has caused a trouble in the entire system of the brain. We have a great feature of natural healing, which usually leads to a variety of failures. We sometimes feel depressed in our daily lives. An unpleasant event can also reduce your appetite. However, if the brain is not deficient in energy, it will usually recover over time due to its natural healing power. If the condition does not improve or worsens over time, the obstacle to life will increase, and it will be regarded as a “disease”. As a result, the original social functions, such as work, housework, and study, will not work well, and it will also affect overall daily life, such as socializing and hobbies.

Types and characteristics of depression

There are various ways to classify depression, such as

(1) classification based on the appearance of symptoms.

(2) classification based on severity.

(3) classification based on whether it is new or recurrent.

(4) classification based on characteristic disease types.

A brief description follows. Incidentally, new-type depression and modern-type depression do not exist in the diagnostic criteria used by specialists and are therefore not defined.

Classification according to the appearance of symptoms

Among depressions, those that cause only depression are called “unipolar depression”, and those that cause both depression and manic state are called “bipolar depression”.

Classification by severity

It is a classification according to the degree of trouble that appears in work and daily life due to symptoms.”Severe”, on the other hand, is a level where work, daily life, and communication with others are clearly difficult. “Moderate” lies between “mild” and “severe”.

Classification based on whether it is the first or recurrence

It is a classification of “unity” or “repeatability”. In the case of “repeatability”, it is especially important to take measures to prevent recurrence.

Classification by characteristic disease types

“Melancholic type” is a type often referred to as typical depression. It refers to a process that leads to brain energy depletion while over-adapting to various tasks, duties and roles. Characteristic is that, even if it is good, you feel unwell at all, obvious loss of appetite, weight loss, depressed mood is usually the worst in the morning, waking up early in the morning (more than 2 hours before normal) Guilt, and so on. On the other hand, it is “atypical”, but features include good mood for good things, appetite tendency to overeating, weight gain, hypersomnia, severe malaise, and sensitivity to criticism from others. The “seasonal type” is a type of “repetitiveness” in which depression develops in a specific season and recovers as the season changes. Although it can happen in any season, winter depression is famous and its relationship to sunshine hours is said. Postpartum depression is the onset of depression within four weeks of childbirth. It is thought that a combination of unhealthy factors such as hormonal changes, labor fatigue, anxiety about raising children, and lack of sleep due to breastfeeding.

Causes of depression

Studies have shown that depression is not the only cause. Very painful events often trigger the onset, but it is not uncommon for something to overlap before that. Therefore, it is easier to think of a factor as a concept than a cause. The various factors that occur in life are linked in a complex way.

The first is the “environmental factor” that is most likely to trigger, but the death or separation of important people (family and close people), loss of important things (including work, property, health, etc.), human relations troubles, Factors include trouble, changing roles at work or at home (promotion, demotion, marriage, pregnancy, etc.). In this way, you can see that various events can be a factor.

“Personality tendency” is also one of the onset factors. As explained in “(1) What is depression.Owners who emphasize the consideration of nature and try to maintain a relationship will emit more energy. Energy recovery can be seen while efforts are being made, but the risk of onset increases if there are situations in which results are not achieved or energy is depleted.

In addition, “genetic factors” and “chronic physical illness” are one of the onset factors. What happens to your brain when you are experiencing depression due to these factors? Recent studies have agreed on the idea that there is a problem with the transmission of neuronal information in the brain. In the brain, various information is transmitted from nerve cell to nerve cell. “Neurotransmitter” is responsible for the transmission. In particular, what is called “serotonin” or “noradrenaline” has been found to be a substance that transmits information about human emotions. It is thought that various factors mentioned above reduce the function of these substances, impair communication, and cause depression.

Signs of depression

First, let’s confirm the characteristics of “depression” which is the main symptom of depression.

I do not feel pleasure or joy

What you normally enjoyed is no more fun or joy. No matter what you do, you will feel depressed.

I can’t feel good even if something good happens

Even if the triggering event or factor resolves or something good for you happens, you will continue to feel sick.

I cannot enjoy my hobbies and favorite things

If you’re in a healthy state, you’ll feel better if you sweat a lot with your favorite hobby, tennis, when you feel bad. If you are depressed, you will not be able to enjoy it.

Depression is a condition in which these symptoms persist for more than two weeks. Being aware early will increase the likelihood that the disease will be prevented. However, mental health illnesses, such as depression, are very similar to lifestyle-related illnesses, and it is certainly difficult to be aware of it in daily life.

One idea is to focus on symptoms that are easy to be aware of. In the first place, there are two things that are very important for living things. One is eating. Energy replenishment. The other is sleep, which is energy charging. If you are tired but you can’t sleep, the charging will run out and your natural healing power will decrease and go unhealthy. Recently, there have been many research reports showing the link between insomnia and depression, such as the risk of developing depression within three years is four times higher in people with insomnia than in people without insomnia. You.

The advantage of focusing on sleep is that it is easier to be aware of. If you notice that it takes more than 30 minutes to fall asleep, wake up many times on the way, wake up too quickly in the morning, or lose your feeling of deep sleep, first review your lifestyle habits to prevent your energy from bottoming out. Specifically, reconsider how to work, avoid caffeine intake for 4 hours before going to bed, relax with bathing in lukewarm water or music, take in sunlight when you wake up, hobby etc. There are ways to secure time and how to spend holidays.

Treatment of depression

There are three main pillars of depression treatment: rest, drug therapy, and psychotherapy / engaging. Treatment of mental illness is often thought of as special, but in fact the three pillars of this treatment are basically the same as physical illness. For example, it may be easier to imagine a fracture as an example. If the bone is broken, wrap the cast and cast it so that it is not used often. This is “rest”. However, when symptoms such as swelling and pain are severe, rest cannot be obtained. You will take painkillers there. “Pharmaceutical therapy” aims to bring out the natural healing power by reducing painful symptoms and making it easier to take time off. By the way, we think about recurrence prevention so that bone is not broken again at the end. “Psychotherapy / melting” involves thinking about how to respond to lifestyle habits, such as trying to consume a lot of calcium even in daily life to make a strong bone.

Let’s briefly explain the three pillars of treatment.

Rest

Living organisms have the power to heal by not using much of the damaged part. Because depression is due to a lack of energy in the brain, resting a brain that has been overused is the basis of treatment. As mentioned above, taking a fracture as an example, even if a fracture is lightly cracked and completely broken, the way to rest is different, as well as from the level of reducing work and not working overtime. The level varies from rest to recuperation. Even if you are at home and feel uncomfortable with your family, you may want to stay in the hospital temporarily, even if it is mild.

Drug therapy

Rest is essential for treatment, but painful symptoms can prevent you from getting enough rest. In addition, as mentioned at the end of the section “(3) Causes of depression”, there is a problem with the information transmission of nerve cells in the brain. Therefore, pharmacotherapy is used to improve brain dysfunction and reduce symptoms.

Some people are reluctant to rely on drugs, but as with physical illness, the “ brain organ ” is impaired by a state of energy deficiency. How about thinking about it?

It is thought that medicine of the type “anti-depressant” is effective for depression. Some people feel anxiety and fear that antidepressants change their personality or that they may disappear, but neurotransmitters such as serotonin and noradrenaline that they originally have The role of antidepressants is to support the effective functioning of. Specifically, it works by increasing the amount of noradrenaline and serotonin, etc., which are originally in the nerve cells in your brain, between the nerve cells.

However, antidepressants are not quick-acting drugs, so it takes some time for the effects to appear. Please consider the effect to take about 2 weeks. Sometimes people stop taking medication because the effect does not appear immediately, but it is important to continue it for a certain period according to the instructions of your doctor.

Although recent antidepressants have been developed with few side effects, they may be aware of drowsiness and gastrointestinal symptoms. The characteristics of side effects are easy to feel in the first week of taking the drug, and are often reduced gradually. Therefore, during the first week, it is easy to feel only the side effects because the effect is not apparent, but consult a specialist when the side effects are difficult.

As mentioned in “(4) Signs of depression,” many depression patients have insomnia. Some people suffer from anxiety or fear. It is not uncommon for these symptoms to be combined with sleep-inducing drugs or anxiolytics (tranquilizers). These drugs have immediate effects, unlike antidepressants, so they take effect after they are taken.

Psychotherapy and teaching

(3) As mentioned in the section on “Causes of depression”, “there is no single cause of depression”, so it cannot be treated only by rest and pharmacotherapy. Antidepressants do not solve environmental factors, and so do personality trends. Psychotherapy / engaging mainly focuses on preventing recurrence. In a similar situation, you will need to review your thinking and behavior patterns so that depression does not recur or recur.

There are various treatments such as “cognitive behavioral therapy”, “Morita therapy”, and “introduction therapy” in psychotherapy and teaching. is. It is important to note that psychotherapy and training are not unilaterally performed by mental specialists, but that patients must have the independence to work with them. As mentioned above, taking a fracture as an example, when doctors provide dietary guidance, it is as important as the patient’s will and behavior to improve eating habits.

Prognosis of depression

Depression does not mean that treatment ends as soon as treatment begins. The healing process takes a certain amount of time, just like a physical condition that requires going to a hospital, such as a fracture. The process of healing is improved by slowly climbing the stairs one by one, with small waves that get better and worse. And it is said that about 80% of depression can reach a state of “remission” in which most of the previous spirit has recovered.

The period of treatment is considered to be roughly divided into three periods: “acute”, “recovery”, and “relapse prevention”. The most important things to consider in the acute phase are rest, drug therapy in the recovery phase, and psychotherapy / engaging in the relapse prevention phase. In other words, the emphasis of each period can be considered as the three pillars of treatment.

“There is more than one cause of depression,” so the duration of each of the three periods varies greatly depending on the situation. A rough guideline for typical depression is that the acute period is one to three months, the recovery period is four to six months, and the recurrence prevention period is one year. Of course, if treatment is started early for mild cases, it will be possible to move to the recurrence prevention phase sooner. As with lifestyle-related diseases, it is still important to respond early.

One last thing is important. That is, “I will not stop the medicine as soon as I get better.” Remission will be reached during the “recovery period”. At that time, it is not unusual to stop the medicine at your own discretion. As a result, they may come back to remission, but they may recur. It is important to consult with your doctor about the timing of reducing the amount of medicine. I’m worried about taking it for a long time, but this is similar to the fact that if you improve your blood data and your lifestyle isn’t improving, stopping taking it will cause a lifestyle-related disease to recur. It is important to be patient and to spend the “prevention period”.

Reference: - https://health.gd/what-is-depression-types-causes-symptoms-treatment/

[wallythayer]

How Your Hormones Affect Weight Loss

If you’ve always had trouble losing weight and keeping it off, you may have a “hormonal clog,” which keeps your setpoint elevated.

In a nutshell, setpoint refers to the level of stored fat the body works to maintain by regulating your appetite and metabolism through your hormones, genes, and brain, regardless of the quantity of calories you take in or exercise off.

You see, there’s an invisible force inside you that is conspiring to cling to extra pounds, and it has nothing to do with calories, points, mail-order meals, cardiovascular exercise, or any of the conventional diet nonsense you’ve been fed — and that has failed you over and over for most of your life.

What’s truly holding you back — and what can permanently set you free — is your setpoint. Here’s the good news: It’s something you can control. And, when you control it, you stay naturally thin.

How Your Hormones Affect Your Setpoint Weight

You can’t hear it or see it, but there’s a whole lot of chitchat going on inside you all the time. Your gut, organs, muscle tissue, and fat tissue are constantly communicating with your nervous system and brain via chemical messengers called hormones. They “talk” about, for example, how much fuel they think you need to keep your weight stable at your setpoint. If they feel you’re at risk of your weight falling below your setpoint, they relay chemical messages that drive your appetite and cravings up and your daily calorie burn down.

When you eat high-quality calories, this conversation goes well. Higher-quality calories trigger fat-burning hormones. The right amount of hormones are used and the desired message is communicated: “Burn body fat.”

However, when you eat low-quality, processed calories, it’s like the phone lines break down. Your body doesn’t have a good idea of how much fuel you need. Hormones become “dysregulated,” and your body demands more food and hoards calories, because it does not know what is going on and errs on the side of not starving.

This “hormonal clog” elevates your setpoint and therefore triggers a 24/7/365 increase in appetite and cravings and a decrease in energy and calorie burn. More calories in and fewer calories out is what just about every cell in your body is telling you to do to survive. Even if you do grit your teeth and stick to your starvation diet and daily jog, this hormonal clog will cause your body to store more of the calories you eat as fat, while burning fewer off during exercise. In other words, you do what the “boot camp” instructor tells you: You “try harder,” but basic human biology causes your body to fight back by storing more and burning less.

Which Hormones Affect My Setpoint?

As you can see, hormones play a huge role in regulating your setpoint. Fortunately, you aren’t at their mercy. There’s a lot you can do to control your hormones and how they influence calories in, calories out, and setpoint. You just have to understand what they are and how they work. There are several main hormones that affect your setpoint and how well your body burns fat.

Leptin

Your fat cells produce a hormone called leptin, which signals your brain when it’s had enough food. As fat stores rise, more leptin is secreted, traveling to the brain with the message, “Your levels of body fat are on the rise so I’m going to make you feel full and fidgety so you unconsciously ‘eat less and exercise more.’” If fat levels fall, so do leptin levels, and your brain gets a strong hormonal signal to eat more and burn less. Leptin — not willpower — drives your motivation to eat and move.

Before you are victimized by internet ads for leptin supplements, please understand: Overweight people already have lots of leptin (remember, it’s secreted in proportion to the amount of fat on your body). The problem is, your setpoint gets elevated when you suffer from “leptin resistance,” in which the hormone is unable to get its message across. Therefore, increasing leptin levels to treat an elevated setpoint is as productive as adding water to a fish tank with no bottom.

You can ensure that leptin gets the job done by healing the metabolic breakdowns causing “leptin resistance.” Guess what makes the metabolic breakdowns worse? Conventional low-calorie, high-carb starvation diets.

Ghrelin

This hormone is all about appetite. Remember that when you cut calories and undereat, your body revolts. It starts defending a higher setpoint. As part of this defense, your brain signals an increase in ghrelin to get you to eat more. With traditional starvation diets, ghrelin increases. This is another big reason why traditional diets have failed you. They only make you hungrier and tell you to eat foods that caused the hormonal clog in the first place! Again, “you” are not doing anything “wrong.” Rather, ghrelin is out of balance, and you’ll be taking the right measures to get it back in check.

Insulin

We can’t talk about fat-burning hormones without talking about insulin, which is produced in the pancreas. For glucose to get into cells to be burned for fuel, it needs to open “doors” to the cells. These doors are the insulin receptors on the cells’ surfaces. Insulin’s function is to usher glucose into cells through those receptors.

When your body digests the sugars and starches you eat, it breaks them down into glucose, which gets absorbed into the bloodstream. Your insulin automatically spikes to shuttle the glucose into cells.

If you eat too much sugary, starchy, highly processed food, glucose levels stay elevated longer than they need to. More insulin is cranked out, and it has to work overtime. When insulin is elevated 24/7, insulin receptors on cells get so used to it that they stop recognizing it — a condition known as insulin resistance. Think of this situation like stuck doors; they (the cell receptors) just won’t open.

Insulin must still do its job of removing glucose from the bloodstream, however, so when most of the cells in the body won’t “open up” to it, the insulin has no choice but to take the glucose somewhere else: to your fat cells. Fat cells will always accept more energy for storage. This initiates the vicious cycle of high insulin, high blood-glucose levels, and, of course, more fat storage. If this cycle continues long enough, all the nonfat cells in your body scream, “We are starving!” This causes the body to respond by increasing its setpoint. In the wake of this increase comes obesity, insulin resistance, prediabetes, type 2 diabetes, and diabesity. Therefore, keeping insulin levels in check is vital not just for preventing diabetes, but also for maintaining a healthy, low setpoint and weight.

Testosterone

This hormone is commonly thought of as a male hormone, but both men and women need adequate testosterone levels to keep their setpoint low. Most adult women have about the same testosterone levels as a 10-year-old boy. That’s part of the reason it is harder for women to burn fat and build muscle than it is for men. Low levels of testosterone promote fat storage and inflammation. Excess testosterone in women, especially around menopause, is associated with insulin resistance and belly fat. You can see why having this hormone in the right balance is so important.

Eating lots of refined carbohydrates and soy foods will downshift testosterone and elevate setpoint, in both men and women. On the other hand, nutrient-dense proteins and whole-food fats as well as “eccentric” exercise optimizes testosterone, lowering your setpoint.

Estrogen

Like testosterone, estrogen is present in both men and women, though is higher in women. A few years prior to menopause, however, a woman’s estrogen levels begin to dip — which makes her body hold on to fat. The good news is that the same nutrition and lifestyle factors that optimize testosterone levels to favor a lower setpoint also shift estrogen in better balance for both women and men.

Stress Hormones

Secreted by the adrenal glands, stress hormones are involved in weight and hunger signals. One of the most influential on setpoint and weight is cortisol.

Among cortisol’s many functions is to trigger the release of insulin to get glucose into cells for the energy to deal with short-term stress. This is a part of your body’s survival response to stress. If a tiger starts chasing you (the typical type of short-term stress humans faced for the majority of our history), you need fuel fast. Then the crisis ends, the glucose is burned off, and a relaxation response gradually returns the body’s systems to normal.

This is a normal and lifesaving response from your body. The trouble is that your body responds to all stresses in the same way. If you are experiencing marital problems, financial worries, job stress, starvation, or worry, guilt, and shame over your weight, it’s all “a tiger is chasing you right now” from your body’s perspective.

This is not good because these chronic sources of stress cause your body to keep churning out cortisol as if you were always right on the verge of becoming a tiger snack. Because cortisol prompts the release of insulin, that hormone stays elevated, too, and based on what you just learned about insulin, this is all sorts of bad.

But wait, there’s more. The insulin resistance caused by this cortisol chaos triggers feedback to the brain indicating that cells aren’t getting glucose, which then leads to cravings for more glucose. Guess where you find the most glucose? Sugar and starches. Know what makes weight loss nearly impossible? Intense sugar and starch cravings. Also, now you know why when you get stressed, the comfort food craved always revolves around sugar and starch. Why? Your brain “thinks” it needs glucose to prevent a tiger from tearing you in half, so you end up tearing a bag of potato chips in half for your own survival.

In short, chronically elevated cortisol leads to increased insulin, insulin resistance, sugar and starch cravings, even more insulin, even more intense cravings, an elevated setpoint, weight gain, prediabetes, and then type 2 diabetes.

Thyroid Hormones

Restrictive, starvation-type dieting slows the function of your thyroid and your metabolism, thus elevating your setpoint. The thyroid produces the thyroid hormones: an inactive form called thyroxine (T4) and an active form called triiodothyronine (T3). The T4 is transported through the blood, and once it reaches each cell, it is converted to the active T3 form.

Both hormones regulate your metabolism, which, in turn, affects your setpoint along with your heart, brain, digestion, and other bodily systems. So if your thyroid isn’t rocking and rolling, it can affect almost every aspect of your health.

The most common problem is an underactive thyroid, or hypothyroidism, where levels of thyroid hormone are less than optimal. Among the main symptoms are fatigue, feeling cold, dry skin, weight gain (about 5 to 20 pounds), insulin resistance, depression, hair loss, and memory problems. More women than men suffer from hypothyroidism, largely due to fluctuating hormones during various life changes: onset of puberty, during and after pregnancy, at or just before menopause, and during postmenopause.

Other Setpoint Hormones

Cholecystokinin (CCK) is a hormone that is involved in satiety. Research has found that overeating can make receptors on cells less sensitive to CCK. This triggers another vicious cycle: The more low-quality food you eat, the less your body recognizes the signal to slow down.

Adiponectin is another hormone that affects setpoint. Secreted by fat cells, this helps regulate blood sugar and promotes fat-burning. In combination with leptin, it reverses insulin resistance. Levels stabilize when you lower your setpoint and replace starches and sweets with nonstarchy veggies and nutrient-dense proteins, and improve your fitness.

It’s Not About Calorie-Counting — or Willpower

I know this is a lot to take in. But understand that we all have a setpoint — and that’s what determines how thin or overweight we are long term. Not calorie-counting or traditional forms of exercising. When you increase the quality of your eating, exercise, and habits, you lower your setpoint — and get your body to burn fat rather than store it.

That’s what The Setpoint Diet is all about. It removes the willpower, shame, and guilt from the weight and diabetes equation. It ends the frustration and the yo-yo dieting. It stops the painful and expensive health consequences of diabesity, and does it with a proven system that will set the naturally thin person inside you free once and for all.

Adapted from the book THE SETPOINT DIET: The 21-Day Program to Permanently Change What Your Body “Wants” to Weigh by Jonathan Bailor. Copyright (c) Jonathan Bailor by Hachette Books.  Reprinted with permission of Hachette Book Group, New York, NY.  All rights reserved.

Get the full story at https://experiencelife.com/article/how-your-hormones-affect-weight-loss/

[karenstavert-blog]

Date: 2017-10-16 18:00:14

Discover the negative side effects of intermittent fasting that nobody is talking about. Find out how to do intermittent fasting and see if it's healthy and good for you, or if it's bad for you. If you want to learn if intermittent fasting is safe or dangerous watch this video. See the biggest intermittent fasting mistakes people are making so you can avoid them. ★ S U B S C R I B E: ▼ DOWNLOAD my WEIGHT LOSS CHECKLIST" (FREE download) 🔥Fat Loss Calculator: We all know intermittent fasting is great and all but I'm sure I'm not the only one that's ever wondered if there are any........negative effects. So in today's video I want to talk about if there are any side effects associated with intermittent fasting. The good news is that a lot of these side effects will go away overtime. But it's definitely something that you should be aware of especially if you're just starting out, this way you know what to expect. By the way I'm a fan of intermittent fasting and I do it myself all the time but there are pros and cons to every single diet approach even fasting. Let's start with the most obvious of all the side effects the hunger the cravings and what you can do about it. If your transitioning to intermittent fasting, but you're used to eating three Square meals a day everyday or if you're used to eating 5 meals or 6 meals then you're going to feel a little hungry transitioning to either skipping breakfast or skipping dinner. Your body is used to its normal routine feeding schedule. It releases hormones during the times of the day that you normally eat to Signal hunger and your body even increases stomach acids during those times. So its going to take some time for your body to adapt. There are a couple things you can do to reduce your hunger one of the most talked about is to skip breakfast and drink coffee. And even though coffee does have an appetite suppressing effect its not my best tip for you to reduce hunger. But it can sure help and if you do decide to have coffee just make sure your coffee doesn't have any cream or sugar. The best way you can prevent hunger is by not trying to do everything all at once. A lot of people try to cut carbs, restrict calories, fast, and go into ketosis at the same time. That'll make you lose fat faster right? No.... that's gonna make you binge faster. If you're going to try intermittent fasting don't cut your carbs at the same time. If you want to combine carb cutting with intermittent fasting later on when you've already adjusted then you can do that you can even do a keto style intermittent fasting diet plan. But I wouldn't start off with it a lot of people make that mistake and that just makes you crazy hungry which just makes you binge and then fail your diet. The next potential side effect is a headache. This is another thing that won't last but when people first start fasting it's very common for them to get headaches that come and go because their body is still getting used to their new eating schedule. BY Staying hydrated you can help prevent some of these headaches. But these should go away. One side effect that applys to a longer term fast is that you may have decreases in your strength and overall performance. However this doesn't really apply to intermittent fasting because you're only fasting for 16 hours. You may have a slight decrease in strength when first starting but as soon as you adapt your strength should go right back up. Now if you are fasting for days at a time that changes things you will have a reduction in athletic performance. Another big side effect is obsession which is not what intermittent fasting was designed for. People obsess over the little things. for example some people will sit there and wait 10 minutes because they're afraid of breaking their fast 10 minutes early. That's crazy intermittent fasting is a form of flexible dieting. It's Originators definitely did not want for you to obsess over your feeding and fasting windows. They tried to move away from a restrictive dieting model. If you're at the restaurant with your family after fasting for 7 hours or even six hours and you have to break that fast that day a little early it's not the end of the world. First of all you can balance out your Macros anyway and you can go right back to fasting the next day. Don't obsess over the little things remember that intermittent fasting works because it helps keep your insulin levels low and helps you control the amount of calories you eat for the day. There are other ways that you can still do that during a day where your forced to break your fast. It's really not a big deal. Let's talk about another side effect believe it or not heartburn is it very real side effect that can happen due to fasting. Remember how I said earlier that your body is on a regular eating schedule. Acid works on that schd

[karenstavert-blog]

Date: 2017-10-16 18:00:14

Discover the negative side effects of intermittent fasting that nobody is talking about. Find out how to do intermittent fasting and see if it's healthy and good for you, or if it's bad for you. If you want to learn if intermittent fasting is safe or dangerous watch this video. See the biggest intermittent fasting mistakes people are making so you can avoid them. ★ S U B S C R I B E: ▼ DOWNLOAD my WEIGHT LOSS CHECKLIST" (FREE download) 🔥Fat Loss Calculator: We all know intermittent fasting is great and all but I'm sure I'm not the only one that's ever wondered if there are any........negative effects. So in today's video I want to talk about if there are any side effects associated with intermittent fasting. The good news is that a lot of these side effects will go away overtime. But it's definitely something that you should be aware of especially if you're just starting out, this way you know what to expect. By the way I'm a fan of intermittent fasting and I do it myself all the time but there are pros and cons to every single diet approach even fasting. Let's start with the most obvious of all the side effects the hunger the cravings and what you can do about it. If your transitioning to intermittent fasting, but you're used to eating three Square meals a day everyday or if you're used to eating 5 meals or 6 meals then you're going to feel a little hungry transitioning to either skipping breakfast or skipping dinner. Your body is used to its normal routine feeding schedule. It releases hormones during the times of the day that you normally eat to Signal hunger and your body even increases stomach acids during those times. So its going to take some time for your body to adapt. There are a couple things you can do to reduce your hunger one of the most talked about is to skip breakfast and drink coffee. And even though coffee does have an appetite suppressing effect its not my best tip for you to reduce hunger. But it can sure help and if you do decide to have coffee just make sure your coffee doesn't have any cream or sugar. The best way you can prevent hunger is by not trying to do everything all at once. A lot of people try to cut carbs, restrict calories, fast, and go into ketosis at the same time. That'll make you lose fat faster right? No.... that's gonna make you binge faster. If you're going to try intermittent fasting don't cut your carbs at the same time. If you want to combine carb cutting with intermittent fasting later on when you've already adjusted then you can do that you can even do a keto style intermittent fasting diet plan. But I wouldn't start off with it a lot of people make that mistake and that just makes you crazy hungry which just makes you binge and then fail your diet. The next potential side effect is a headache. This is another thing that won't last but when people first start fasting it's very common for them to get headaches that come and go because their body is still getting used to their new eating schedule. BY Staying hydrated you can help prevent some of these headaches. But these should go away. One side effect that applys to a longer term fast is that you may have decreases in your strength and overall performance. However this doesn't really apply to intermittent fasting because you're only fasting for 16 hours. You may have a slight decrease in strength when first starting but as soon as you adapt your strength should go right back up. Now if you are fasting for days at a time that changes things you will have a reduction in athletic performance. Another big side effect is obsession which is not what intermittent fasting was designed for. People obsess over the little things. for example some people will sit there and wait 10 minutes because they're afraid of breaking their fast 10 minutes early. That's crazy intermittent fasting is a form of flexible dieting. It's Originators definitely did not want for you to obsess over your feeding and fasting windows. They tried to move away from a restrictive dieting model. If you're at the restaurant with your family after fasting for 7 hours or even six hours and you have to break that fast that day a little early it's not the end of the world. First of all you can balance out your Macros anyway and you can go right back to fasting the next day. Don't obsess over the little things remember that intermittent fasting works because it helps keep your insulin levels low and helps you control the amount of calories you eat for the day. There are other ways that you can still do that during a day where your forced to break your fast. It's really not a big deal. Let's talk about another side effect believe it or not heartburn is it very real side effect that can happen due to fasting. Remember how I said earlier that your body is on a regular eating schedule. Acid works on that schd