Since I started an online group and foundation for people with treatment-resistant depression (depression and anxiety that don’t get better with psychotropic drugs), I’ve gotten a lot of mail from people who are desperate and have tried 30 to 40 different types of antidepressants but still don’t feel better.

People in my family keep telling me about people who have tried everything and are still not getting better. It hurts me that I can feel how frustrated and hopeless they are in their words. I, too, felt lost after trying a huge number of different drug combinations and going to therapy for years, but my thoughts about death wouldn’t go away.

I wish I could talk to each person separately and beg them not to give up for an hour on the phone, because they won’t always feel this way. I’m sorry, but I can’t (step six).

So the next best thing is to write down these nine simple steps for people who don’t respond to treatment. These steps, more than any medicine I’ve taken in the last seven years, have helped me get over my sadness.

I’m not against medicines at all. Drugs are useful in some ways. Most people don’t respond or only respond partly, including myself, so I felt compelled to write down the other parts of my recovery that have been very important to my health and that most doctors don’t talk about.

I wasn’t fixed for good after these steps: I still have a lot to do, and I have a lot of bad days. There were times when I thought about dying all the time, but that was five years ago. And I think that’s really amazing.

I think that everyone can get better, even people who have dealt with depression and anxiety their whole lives.

1. Identify Any Underlying Conditions

I’d say that most people who have depression that doesn’t respond to treatment also have other problems that haven’t been identified. I had a long list of things to check for: adrenal fatigue, Raynaud’s phenomenon, connective tissue problems, a pituitary tumor, aortic valve regurgitation, hypothyroidism, SIBO, hypochlorhydria, low stomach acid, some nutrient deficiencies (iron, vitamin D, and vitamin B-12), and Crohn’s disease.

It’s best to work with a functional or holistic doctor. There are a lot of them on the Institute of Functional Medicine website, but be careful because some of them are very expensive and will do tests that aren’t necessary if you aren’t careful.

A complete blood count (CBC), a comprehensive metabolic profile (CMP), a thyroid full panel with TSH, free T4, free T3, and thyroid antibodies (read Dana Trentini’s important blog on this), and the 25-OH vitamin D test and B-12 levels are the four blood tests you should get at the very least.

Also, you might want to find out if you have an MTHFR gene mutation, which is found in 15 to 40 percent of the general population. This is because we need the MTHFR enzyme to change folate into methylfolate, which is the active form of folate, and antidepressants don’t work well when folate levels are low. A lot of research has shown that low folate levels can lead to sadness.

I’ve learned more about my different conditions from reading books and papers and talking to people on depression forums than from going to the doctor. The people on Project Beyond Blue and Group Beyond Blue work with chefs, integrative doctors, GI specialists, and other experts. They are always trying new things and are happy to share what they’ve learned with you for free.

They told me about some supplements, recipes, and other tools that have really helped ease some of my symptoms.

2. Eliminate Triggers of Inflammation

There are foods and substances that make our bodies and brains swell, which can lead to sadness.

Sugar, gluten, dairy, caffeine, and booze are often blamed. Some people, like my daughter, may react more strongly to dairy, while others, like my son, may respond more strongly to gluten. Me? If I don’t want to think about dying again, I can’t go near sugar.

You won’t know for sure until you go on an elimination diet and don’t eat any of those things for a few weeks. Then, if you can handle them, slowly add them back in.

That being said, I will warn you: you cannot cheat during those few weeks because you need a clean system to find the issue. When someone is depressed, their blood levels of cytokines rise. Cytokines are proteins that are pumped into the bloodstream when our immune system is fighting off a foreign agent. It looks like what a person does when they have any kind of sickness.

Unfortunately, a lot of fun, processed foods that taste great, like Doritos and Twinkies, can make inflammation worse. But it’s clear that some people are more sensitive to these foods than others. Follow this simple rule: If a food is nicely packaged (even if it says “gluten free,” “dairy free,” and ESPECIALLY “sugar free”) and has a bunch of words in the ingredients that you can’t say, it won’t make you healthier.

That being said, it’s also a good idea to think about what other kinds of toxins you are exposed to every day. Those could also be making the redness worse. It wasn’t until three months ago that I realized swimming in chlorine a few times a week was probably making my gut and thyroid problems worse. Having healthy moods is important for both of these issues. Step 5: I turned to hot yoga, and I felt better right away.

3. Go Green

If you want to fuel every part of your body, dark leafy greens like spinach, Swiss chard, and kale are the best choice.

They are very healthy because they are full of minerals like iron and calcium, carotenoids, fiber, antioxidants, omega-3s, phytochemicals, and vitamins A, C, E, and K.

Also, they have a lot of chlorophyll, which, as Dr. Kotb writes in Losing Weight On A Vegan Diet, “heals and cleanses all our organs and even destroys many of our internal enemies, like pathogenic bacteria, fungi, cancer cells, and many others.”

I felt a little better after switching from a sandwich to a salad for lunch and making an effort to eat foods that make me feel better during the day. While I was still sick, drinking green drinks helped me get better.

The only way for my body to quickly absorb and use all the nutrients in the greens was when they were blended into very small pieces. I know I sound like an infomercial now. My stomach acid was very low because I had been on medications for decades. Eating a lot of raw veggies and greens gave me gas and bloating.

My husband bought a used Vitamix for $500, which made me mad, but it’s been one of the best purchases we’ve ever made. I now try to drink two shakes every day, and I think it has made a big difference in my health.

4. Heal Your Gut

The enteric nervous system, which is made up of about 100 million neurons and is embedded in the walls of our stomachs, is often called our second brain. In fact, 80 to 90% of the serotonin in our bodies is made by nerve cells in our gut.

There is also a complex group of bacteria in our guts that affects our mood, according to a lot of study. For people like me who have always had stomach problems but never put two and two together, this is very interesting.

Ten Ways to Grow Good Gut Bacteria and Lower Your Risk of Depression is a piece that talks about some of the things I’ve done to clean up my gut. I think it’s important to eat both prebiotic and probiotic foods. Prebiotic foods include garlic, onions, artichokes, leeks, and dandelion greens. Probiotic foods include active-culture yogurt, kefir, pickles, and fermented foods. Also, try to stay away from medicines as much as possible.

5. Reduce Stress

In the end, depression is a stress disorder, which means that our bodies aren’t handling stress well. For many of us who deal with depression and anxiety, it’s like our nervous systems have a new intern who keeps putting stress reactions in the wrong category and sending them to the wrong part of our bodies. She also sits right next to the fire bell and rings it every time she thinks someone might be in danger.

But new study from the Benson-Henry Institute for Mind Body Medicine at Massachusetts General Hospital shows that when we trigger the relaxation response, we can immediately change the expression of genes that control metabolism, inflammation, and insulin production. These changes have an effect on our mood.

The parasympathetic nerve system is activated by yoga, meditation, deep breathing, massage, and prayer, among other things. When you start to feel scared, taking even a few long, deep breaths can tell the intern not to sound the fire alarm.

But I’ve also found that taking a “stress inventory” is very helpful for getting better. This is where you write down everything that stresses you out on one side of a piece of paper and everything that makes you feel better on the other.

After writing down all the things that stress you out on the left side of the paper, you have to be very honest with yourself about why you are doing them (ego? people-pleasing issues?). confused about priorities? ), and then a time to come up with clever ways to cross out as many as you can.

My health is not worth trying to become a blogging superstar and bestselling author like Gretchen Rubin, which is what I’ve always wanted to do, or running a strong charity like BringChange2Mind. I finally admitted this to myself a few months ago.

I had a big realization when I understood that I don’t need to be anyone else to be okay. I can do more of the things on the right side of the paper that make me feel good because I work at my own slow pace.

6. Take certain types of Nutritional Vitamins that are Known to improve The Mood: For Example …….