A lot of effort to eat.
Hi everybody,
I have been depressed for more than a year, but with the help of the medication and the help of my girlfrield I managed it very well until February, when she broke up with me and I stopped medication.
Since then I tried not to fall again, but it has been impossible and now I feel worse than before. The thing that I struggle more with is eating. It is a great effort to me and I'm tired of this, I want to be able to eat food like before, effortless and enjoying it. I started medication more than a week ago but I still haven't noticed any improvement in my appetite and I think I won't until I free my mind of this annoying feeling.
Has anybody experienced this? How did you managed it?
I would really apreciate hearing your advices :)
Thank you very much,
Alberto.
@sunflowderpowder I have been where you are. At the time I lived alone and my fridge looked rather bare. Not by lack of money, but lack of interest. The thoughts of just preparing anything for myself seemed more like torture than anything else, especially since I had enjoyed cooking for my 'ex-' bf. I had lost considerable weight and was not looking healthy at all. Then I began to see a counselor that asked me to bring in a picture of myself 'before and after' my breakup. Seeing the differences in my appearence was somewhat startling. Not only was it effecting me physically but not eating was also effecting me mentally as well. I lost the ability to focus along with many other side effects of a poor diet. It didn't happen overnight for me, but with the gradual addition of 'easy to prepare' foods back into my apartment got me back to where I needed to be. Be patient with yourself as you get back on a road to eating well again. Remember, reward yourself for even small steps right now, cause the can put you back on the right path to health and recovery. -Best Wishes
When medication is terminated too early or too quickly, you can end up feeling worse than you did before. I'm glad to see that you are back on your medication, but I wonder why you stopped taking it. Also, with anti-depressants it can take 3 weeks before you can begin to feel a difference. So hang in there.
@sunflowderpowder I am sorry that you are going through this. I went through a similar experience quite recently and I got my appetite back by just taking it one day at a time. Just everyday, eat something you love - it doesn't have to be much but just something everyday and increase the intake progressively. Good luck :)
@sunflowderpowder I have something similar. I got a lot of low-prep or no-prep foods that had some reasonable nutritional value. (When down, I can get very perfectionist and judgy, and I had to be all "Okay, this doesn't have to be the perfect optimal food, putting good-enough food in me is a lot better than missing meals" at myself.) I keep meal bars and a bag of nuts in my desk at work, and a lot of yogurt at home, because sometimes I still hit the point where multi-step prep (even on a fairly easy level) doesn't get done, but "Open one container, maybe get a spoon, put food in your mouth" is doable, and regularly getting things like protein and vitamins in me is better than nothing.