Depression

Hi,

I have suffered from depression since I was about 4 years old. It was present during my school years, my days in combat during the Korean War, my higher education days, my dating years, my married days. There was very few times that it was not present. I tried to hide it from everyone.

I went to a number of doctors but nothing seemed to help. The VA tryed me on different antidepressants but they only had side effects on me and did not help. I had no problem at work where I was an engineering manager for a high tech company. I would work with my depression in the backround. I would hide it from my 3 children the best that I could.

I wrote a book with the title
DEPRESSION FROM THE CRADLE TO THE GRAVE
A MEMOIR OF A LIFETIME OF DEPRESSION.

I had it copyrighted.

I am retired now and keep myself busy by writing songs, inventing things and helping my fellow veterans with their problems. I do about 5 miles of race walking a day which has helped to keep my depression under control.

I believe that if my parent had taken me for help when I was very young then I might have had a chance to live a normal happy life.

I could see signs of depression in one of my grandchilden when she was as young as 7 years old but my daughter would not believe me and this grandchild is going to be 17 years old.

By the way I am going to be 80 years old in September and still feel like helping everyone with their problems but cannot help myself.

Thanks for reading.
Irwin

While we can sometimes be a bit domineering and try too hard when we think others need help one of the best medicines is to help others. I've found sometimes putting aside my comforts and needs and helping people in less fortunate circumstances makes the sense of depression irrelevant for a time and builds a sense of community in that environment.

Keep looking out for people
Most teens these days are bound to go through some kind of depression. And we seem to live in a society that would rather medicate things with a pill shaped band-aid than actually try to look at the issues at hand and do something about it.

I'm sorry to hear you had to battle this for so long. But like you say you've seen some simple things that help keep your depression under control. Love, community, a healthy diet, exercise, and MOST IMPORTANTLY sleep, are the keys to fighting depression. Many people still may need medical assistance but I wish we would push people towards good health and lifestyles.

quote:

By the way I am going to be 80 years old in September and still feel like helping everyone with their problems but cannot help myself.

- on the contrary you do indicate you have helped yourself. Perhaps not as much as you would've liked and not as soon in life as you would've liked... and that is reason enough to be sad and to mourn. But you seem to have found the keys (that's better than some ever do) of accepting yourself, perhaps loving yourself, treating yourself with respect (includes having the self respect to take care of yourself which tends to lead towards self discipline), and then expressing yourself. Expressing yourself can be a very difficult step of healing. A very vulnerable one that touches very sensitive areas of ourselves. It is not for the faint of heart but we all must cross this some day when we can.

Take care and best wishes.