Depression and your immune system
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| Sun, 06-17-2007 - 6:53am |
After nearly 15 years of being diagnosed bipolar I am in new territory. I am currently in the longest depressive episode of my life and from what I can tell, it seems to be compromising my immune system. I haven't had big problems with physical health in the past, despite a tendency towards ear infections and pneumonia. But since my episode started, my gall bladder acted up, then I developed a lung infection, then a skin infection, and who knows what else. I'm just miserable all the time. Despite being sleepy, I am restless, and have bad dreams when I do sleep.
Ranting aside, do any of you notice depression bringing your resistance down?
One very good thing I have to mention though: I had a big commitment yesterday: a wedding gig. I tried really hard, managed somehow to get my s**t together, and play it. Everyone said I did great, and they even paid me extra because they were so happy with my services! Normally I don't care when people say they like my playing, but yesterday when people complemented me, I never felt so grateful. I think I made my biggest musical accomplishment ever. Imagine, people thinking you're great when you think you're going to shrivel up and die!
Express!
Beth "Petrouchka"

I put myself in the hospital with pneumonia once when I didn't listen to my body....I was drained all the way around, physically, emotionally, spiritually, and I kept getting every little bug that came along and finally the flu got me, I took that new (at the time) flu pill and went right back to work. When I finally had My Lady drag my butt to the ER I was at 60% blood O2 levels and both lungs fully involved....6 days later they finally released me and I spent another 2 wks recovering. So YES I have seen depression drag the immune system down....especially when the depression is dragging everything else down too.
{{{{{{{HUGS}}}}}}}} and CONGRATS on the music gig, that should provide a pretty good pick me up.
tk
I've seen it personally and with friends.
Beth,
I am so so proud of you for doing the wedding gig. That is awesome all the praise you got. Keep that in mind and know that you are good. I hope now that the wedding gig is over you can relax some and take better care of yourself. Stress and depression will make you physically ill for sure. My RA doc just told me to keep stress at bay as much as possible. She said the more stress I am in the more pain I will feel. I wish it was easy to say , hey no stress, but we all have it. Just try and take care of yourself and be nice to yourself with positive thoughts about yourself.
Hugs,
Tina
~ Tina ~
Depression can be a symptom of so many things...I am not bipolar although have been treated for many years for anxiety/panic attacks with no recurrance for many years...I was also diagnosed as hypothyroid this past year and as with a lot of things, depression is a symptom of hypothyroidism. There has been a lot of news coverage lately on hypothryoidism and I would recommend that anyone who suffers depression be checked for underlying physical illness as well. Physical illness can cause depression. Sorry to kind of hijack the post, I just thought it was worth mentioning.
Congrats on your musical accomplishment. Something to be truly proud of. :)