Damn turns out I’m not depressed I just needed some magnesium
i know you’re joking but fuck, sometimes it do be like that.
Obviously nobody should infantalise people suffering from depression by telling them to “just be happy”, “go outside” etc. but if you’re malnourished, have vitamin deficiencies, don’t go out to hang out with the human tribe, and sit in your home the entire day without moving - you’re going to feel like shite. Fixing those problems won’t cure clinical depression, but the other way round is true too - getting meds for depression won’t cure you of feeling like shit if you don’t use the chance they give you to try to improve your life yourself.
I had an iodine deficiency! I wasn’t eating dairy or eggs, I was cooking my own food from scratch, and I was using sea salt instead of iodized salt. In addition, I like drinking alcohol which makes it harder to absorb iodine. Felt like shit. Couldn’t muster the energy to give the slightest shit about anything.
Got blood work done and found out. So I started taking a supplement every other day for it specifically because I’m just not getting it in my diet. I’m feeling pretty great now.
I don’t think supplements are generally the answer, but having a work up done and learning some shit about yourself can be pretty eye opening and point you at what you need to do to fix your diet. It’s a good first step, but not a magic bullet.
Vitamin deficiencies are easy to detect and to treat, and there’s no sense in spending months or years hoping to find the right anti-depressant before checking for them. Heck, I wish my issues were caused by vitamin deficiencies.
turns out The Vitamin is real sometimes
There’s something seductive about the idea that all our problems are caused by this one thing, and if we could figure out what it is and fix it, we’d be unstoppable at life. It’s the same idea behind “doctors hate this one weird trick”.
On occasion, it even turns out to be correct.
NGL, I’ve spent a decade wondering why I couldn’t sleep at night and couldn’t concentrate all day, only to finally realize I was constantly low on electrolytes because of my intense exercise routine.
And if anyone is wondering, sports drinks are worthless sugary drinks shrouded in “sporty” marketing. Vitamin D, Calcium and Magnesium is what helped me (and are far more cost efficient than sports drinks). Consult a doctor.
There are low sugar sports drinks. Most of the electrolytes they’re advertising is just salt. Your body needs salt to function. You lose salt when you sweat.
My doctor told me I come literally just put some table salt in water and it would do just as well as any sports drink, sugar or no.
I work in a physical environment and they hand out electrolyte packets and Gatorade like candy when it gets hot.
Potassium is also an important electrolyte for heart health, so have a banana with your salt water, if you can. source: https://www.cdc.gov/salt/sodium-potassium-health/index.html
Everyday I would wake up with severely sore arms, like they were clenched somehow.
Blood test said Vitamin D deficiency, but the supplements didn’t do anything noticeable. But I was on the border of anemia so they told me to try iron supplements too.
Gone overnight. I’m so used to problems being an exhausting road to recovery that this one took me by surprise.
Huh. My recurring biceps pains are the bane of my existence. And I was also refused for a blood donation due to insufficient hemoglobin. I need to try iron supplements.
Hate to be that guy but y’all need iron pans. Proper sears at temperatures that would disintegrate Teflon, better and self-healing anti-stick coating than anything else (if used properly), you can use a metal spatula, no more anaemia, what’s not to like?
No thanks. I don’t really need to sear anything I’m the flames of hell, care is a huge pain, you can’t ever fully clean it, it stains dish towels, and it weighs a ton and a half.
Stainless steel all day for me.
Two main problems I have with cast iron - the care that they take is too much effort, and their constant risk of rusting if they’re not coated in oil at all times is just too much bullshit to deal with for a kitchen tool. The other issue is that I try as best as I can to do oil-free cooking, and cast iron is antithetical to that.
A baking sheet with parchment paper, in a toaster oven, is significantly more convenient.
I prefer use of steel pans for eggs, meat, pancake, potato,… I recommend use of thin one (weight less) with flat bottom (easy to maintain coating). Evertime you finish your cooking pass it under a stream of cold water and later you could use a steel wool to remove residue and then your traditional sponge and soap. Let it dry without using kitchen towels. Don’t worry about rust you could remove it with a paper before use.
For vegetable use a cast-iron pans, choose one with enamel so you don’t need a special care.
For boiling water the best is steel with enamel but hard to find in good quality, I use stainless steel with tri-layer and a layer of steel in between.
I am love deficient. Not that I am demanding that people should love me for no reason. Just that I wish I feel loved a tiny bit. I know that the fault is most probably with me too.
Edit: I feel like I am stuck in a loop, I feel self-pity because I don’t feel loved. I am probably not loved because I feel self-pity. Breaking the cycle is hard.
Our communities are setup like that. We’re separated from eachother, and we can’t afford to spend enough time at local third places to feel community. Church also used to be central to community and most people aren’t religious, but nothing has replaced the churches role in community building.
It’s rough. If you can get out to places nearby where people congregate that will be nice. Getting a dog is nice too if you like dogs, they give you love and accept your love and they’re a good ice breaker. They also force you out regularly. You can take the dog to dog parks and chat with locals.
It’s not your fault. Humans are a social animal and we built cities and an economy that didn’t consider that.
