Depression

I didnt realize other people felt exactly the same why I do. I just did a search for 'morning depression'. Everyone here hits the nail on the head when I compare their stories to mine. The mornings are awful for me. I have no motivation at all when I first wake up. It takes me roughly the same time to be ok...about 4pm. When I first wake, my body tells me, 'I'll make you feel better if you just go back to sleep'. I feel like I am on morphine or something and cannot get up. And that if I try to get up I am fighting this extremely heavy feeling that is weighing me down. I know that if I go back to sleep, I dont have to deal with waking up and the 'pain'. I do start to feel better after about 20 minutes after waking, but it never seems worth it to me to go through those first minutes. In regards to the last post, which included alcohol - if I drink the night before the next day is really bad. I love the feeling of a little buzz (it almost represents my ideal feeling of not being so uptight), but I suffer greatly the next day and feel worthless. That part wasnt as bad when I was on Depakote (mood stabilizer) and Celexa. But I stopped taking them because mornings were still horrible and they actually seemed to give me less energy (both can cause drowsiness). Keep responding people, hopefully we can find out some solution.

Pleased to find this discussion. Here's my two cents' worth. I get mild depression always kicking up starting in the fall - I can almost set my watch by it. I find first thing in the morning that I'm plagued by a dread of what the day ahead is going to be like - who's going to tick me off, how will I react, etc. I always picture myself in very hostile and aggressive exchanges with co-workers (doesn't help that I don't like most of them). Needless to say none of this transpires when I get to work and a another normal day ensues. Problem is, by this time I'm already in a pissy mood. I agree with the person who mentioned alcohol - I use it as an evening anaesthetic, not drunk every night but usually buzzed (a couple of drinks tops). I think this may be fogging up my head enough to make me cranky on wake-up. I think I should try going alcohol-free for a while, but that raises my fear that I'm already an alcoholic and couldn't actually pull it off...! Life's grand.

My husband was diagnosed with depression and he was doing fine for a while but the winter seems to be making it worse. The morning are the worst. He has to be at work at 630 so he gets up at about 5 because he has a bit of a drive to work. Anyhoo. He constantly hits the snooze button and complains about not wanting to get up because there was no use he gets to the point where he cries and holds on to me for awhile as if im going to tell him its ok for him to not go into work. When we went to his doctor yesterday, he upped his dosage and told him that he needs to force himself to go to work in the morning. Well this morning i ended up being the one who forced him to work which hi feel really bad about but im trying to be a good wife but don't know if there is anything i can do to make mornings easier. I did the whole making a great breakfast in the morning and everything but it hasn't worked... and I know it might be silly to ask this but does anyone think that having sex in the morning might help him get a move on?

Here is how I deal with depression.

• It is important to understand that you are going to live with depression for the rest of your life and it is not going to go away. Every bad news will make it worse. Consider it permanent disability. Sorry.
  
• Medication helps as long as you are taking them. But is not going to cure it. In some cases it doesn't help at all. Some studies says that taking medication for long time can have physical side effects. Make sure you are aware of them.
  
• You are the best doctor for your depression. Nobody knows how you feel better than you. Read and study all you can about depression.
  
• Caffeine: Reduce or eliminate completely caffeine. Anxiety and depression is one of side-effects of caffeine. And if you are on the edge it will tip you over. Drink tea in the morning instead of coffee for example.
  
• Drink lots of fluids specially in the morning. Something like one litter. Flush your body some call it.
  
• Alcohol: 1/3 cup of wine at lunch helps. But excessive alcohol has opposite effects. Usually the next couple of days your depression will get a lot worse.
  
• Sleep: You need sleep clinic doctor and your family doctor in the same room to tell you this important point. Depression causes insomnia and insomnia causes depression. You MUST sleep as long as your body needs. Do whatever you have to do but sleep enough.
  
• Exercise: Works better than all medication put together. Trust me on this one. You will look better and you will get lots of complements for people. That will make you feel a lot better. Do whatever you can to exercise. I think of if as medication. I don't like it but I don't have a choice.
  
• Sex does not make you feel better but lack of it will make you feel worse.
  
• Keep busy. Make sure you alway have something to do. Accomplishing anything make you feel good for days or weeks.
  
• Stop watching tv. Rent a movie instead. Commercials on tv make you feel worse. That is what they are designed for to make you feel bad so you buy their stuff. You are ugly buy this. you are fat buy this. You are this buy that.
  
• Overeating will make you feel out of control and hopeless. I know. This is very hard to over come.
  

I hope this helps others.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: ralph ch,

I feel aweful in the mornings, it is so difficult to get out of bed, and it is even more difficult to find the energy required to get ready to face another shitty day.

Jackpot! I can't believe how many folks struggle with the black dog in the morning. After a pretty good yesterday & a nice evening, this morning I wanted to die. Frquently I'll wake up & feel nauseous, but it's really only a gag reflex since nothing ever comes up. My wife asks what is wrong & I tell her I just don't feel good, but it will pass. It usually goes away after a few "gags".

On the drive to work I concentrate on relaxing, blocking out the anxieties of work, enjoying the weather (sun, rain, snow, whatever). At work I make myself a "poor man's mocha", mixing coffee & hot chocolate. This seems to help relax me & get me into a work groove, getting organized for projects & ad-hoc requests that come up.

If I'm not feeling good by the early afternoon I'll take 1/4 of a .5mg Clonazepam, which is a wonder drug, helps smooth out the anxiety nicely. (If I'm not feeling anxious, "Cloe" will make me drowsy.)

One thing I've discovered recently is my early morning depression / disturbing dreams & thoughts is very frequently accompanied by "central sleep apnea". I'll be drowsy & trying to sleep but will stop breathing, and after about 10 seconds or so I gasp for air & take a few short deep breaths until I recover & doze again. I'm going to see a sleep doctor in a couple of weeks, but I'm not sure what the treatement might be, as some of the treatments mentioned for Central Sleep Apnea are anti-depressants. Already there folks!

Still, if I wake up & take some deep breaths, it definitely calms me down & returns me to less distressing thoughts, but then I snooze again & the bad stuff comes right back. When I was a kid I had "night terrors" and would go into my parents' room.

I'll post again when I find out more about the sleep apnea. No question that depression & breathing are closely related.

hi, i was a drug addict for many years, pretty much since i was 13. i had to do something everyday, it gave me something to look foward too, and pretty much, brought me out of my shell. well last year, i lost my job, and got a drunk driving charge. i also at that time found this wonderful girl over the internet, and well, i made the choice to stop doing drugs. i couldn't afford them, and she didn't like me on them. well for the first few months aftrwards, i was fine, quite happy actually. i was cheerful, funny, and deeply in love with my girlfriend.
well i finally found a great job, it pays well enough so i dont have to worry about anything really anymore. but i have been getting really depressed lately. especially in the mornings. for example, yesterday i had a great day, all day too. was laughing with my girlfriend, was happy at work, even did extra things to help out others. i wished my girlfriend goodnight, and went to sleep.
well i woke up ready to choke someone. first thing out of my mind was, i think my girlfriend is cheating on me. and then i went into why she would even like me, or she is just lying to me, she didn't go to her mothers, and this is all just foolish. she never lies to me.
then i get to work and everything is pissing me off, the phone rings, i mutter under my breath, people come in to do business, and i dispise them for even talking to me. i know, as the day goes on, ill get over t, especially when i talk to my girlfriend again, ill realize i was being daft and get over it
is this depression? and if so, why is it happening all of a sudden? is it because the drugs are finally out of my system? lol, should i go back to doing drugs?
i dont have insurance, or a doctor as of yet, and i really dont think medication will help me, it never has in the past for a varity of things i have had to take them for.
my stomach is in knots everymorning and im getting sick of it, im not this person, and i wish it would just pass