How do you fight depression? - Let's help each other

[⋖ cørdion ⋗]

There's some truth to it though. Every day you must choose to be a "positive polly". Is it hard? Sure at first. Will you fail somedays? Inevitably. But you don't give up, try to influence the your world for the better, a little at a time.

I currently work a very simple job. I meet in, yawn, don't think about yesterday or tomorrow, and just talk about whatever happens right now. No "remember when?" cause that's the lowest form of conversation, thank you tony gabagool, and that alone is enough to derail people. "Wtf are you even interested in the world around you?", yep. The one surrounding me; not Trump or Putin.

 

[LemonParty]

I currently work a very simple job. I meet in, yawn, don't think about yesterday or tomorrow, and just talk about whatever happens right now. No "remember when?" cause that's the lowest form of conversation, thank you tony gabagool, and that alone is enough to derail people. "Wtf are you even interested in the world around you?", yep. The one surrounding me; not Trump or Putin.

WTF did I just read? Care to elaborate?

 

[Terf Miku]

Following my doompost last night I thought I should try to say something a bit more helpful, lol. I think listening to music has always been the number one way I've coped with depressive emotions. Putting on music helps to both set a different mood if you feel trapped in a low one, or feel catharsis from wallowing in it for a bit if necessary.

Right now I've been finding the most relief in listening to the Higurashi and Yume Nikki OSTs. Higurashi's especially has felt very soothing. They're both quite ambient and melancholic but a lot of Higurashi's tracks also feel quite uplifting and healing at the same time.

 

[Beyerdynamic DT 700 Pro X]

Smoking. I started to smoke a couple of months ago, and I usually smoke 2-3 cigs a week. I get dizzy after a cig because I'm not used to it, but cigs calm me down and make it hard for me to have retarded thoughts.

 

[sadbird]

Tomorrow is a new day, it's a chance to start over. I also keep a high cocoa chocolate bar in the fridge and have a piece once in a while to keep my spirits up. Unfortunately this only works if you don't have an addictive personality and are therefore fat as all hell.

 

[KillaSmoke]

Smoking. I started to smoke a couple of months ago, and I usually smoke 2-3 cigs a week. I get dizzy after a cig because I'm not used to it, but cigs calm me down and make it hard for me to have retarded thoughts.

In addition to nicotine, tobacco contains a few naturally occurring MAOIs, which have an antidepressant effect. People with depression are 2-3x as likely to be tobacco users, schizophrenics have a tobacco use rate as high as 90℅, depending on what study you look at.

There are a few different theories as to why, but the one I think is likely to be the biggest factor is self medication. Even if people don't consciously make the connection that its treating mental health symptoms, they still get more positive effects from it, compared to a person with good mental health.

Low acetylcholine signalling can also cause depressive symptoms, which nicotine would help with. Just keep in mind that somewhat paradoxically, too much acetylcholine signalling can also cause very similar depressive symptoms. Exactly where that line is varies from person to person, but at some point, nicotine will go from making you focused and motivated to foggy and dull.

Cigarettes are a shit delivery mechanism. I've smoked more than my fair share, and still indulge on occasion, but they're the most niggerish form of tobacco possible.

Cigars are really nice, and contrary to what people might think, you can get some pretty decent ones for just a few bucks. US surgeon general says you can smoke 2-3/day without a statistically significant rose in cancer risk. The best (and worst) thing about cigars is that they force you to focus on them. A cigarette is something you have, a cigar is something you DO. Its an activity. You'll typically take an hour or two to go through a cigar. But its a very relaxing, almost meditative experience. Cigars are also great in social situations. There's no pressure for anyone to talk, because you can always just sit there, and enjoy a few puffs. It tends to make conversation much more natural and relaxed.

For more practical day to day use, I'm a big fan of Swedish snus. Its an oral tobacco, but has a different manufacturing process than American chewing tobacco, leading to far lower levels of TSNAs, the main chemicals in tobacco that cause cancer. No epidemiological link to cancer, and unless you already had hypertension or tachycardia, other health impacts are pretty much nonexistent. You can buy them online for a few bucks a tin, significantly cheaper than cigarettes in most states. You do have to pay like a $30 shipping fee, but if you order in bulk, it still averages out a lot cheaper than smoking. You might also be able to find it at local tobacco shops or gas stations, but selection is limited, and you'll be paying about 3-4x as much

It should be kept in mind that nicotine and its metabolites also inhibit conversion of testosterone into estradiol. This could be good or bad, depending on how heavily you aromatize. High e2 causes moodiness, and ED. But low e2 destroys libido, fucks up your cholesterol, raises risk of neurodegenerative disease, causes a very bitter mood, joint issues, insomnia, etc... I always recommend that people get bloodwork done. In my experience, mental health issues are usually a combination of many different factors, and "fixing" one of those usually isn't going to solve the problem... But if one of those factors is hormonal, or nutritional, or environmental, addressing that is going to help, and make it easier to start working on the other factors

 

[BABANGUIDE64]

If you can't feel happy for people's success, you are the problem, not the people nor the environment.

 

[Ughubughughughughughghlug]

Cleaning. I posted about it in How are you doing, but I used to/normally hate cleaning. But I've learned to mentally reframe cleaning as something that I like. Well, one thing I find is that if I sit and play vidya, I feel like shit. Not always, but if the mood is already, vidya worsens it. I've had to walk away before because a minor funk deepens into a much worse thing where I'm groaning to myself. My musical instruments: that's a challenging and frustrating task to play something like a violin when you're not already fluent at it, and unless you're in a good mood that's not something you're going to be able to tackle productively. Work on my career/schooling? Necessary, probably going to lose my career soon, but cannot bring myself to do anymore.

Cleaning is the one thing that falls in the overlap of easy, physical (like doing exercise) and productive.

Cigars are really nice, and contrary to what people might think, you can get some pretty decent ones for just a few bucks. US surgeon general says you can smoke 2-3/day without a statistically significant rose in cancer risk. The best (and worst) thing about cigars is that they force you to focus on them. A cigarette is something you have, a cigar is something you DO. Its an activity. You'll typically take an hour or two to go through a cigar. But its a very relaxing, almost meditative experience. Cigars are also great in social situations. There's no pressure for anyone to talk, because you can always just sit there, and enjoy a few puffs. It tends to make conversation much more natural and relaxed.

I started smoking cigars a while back on that theory. I could write a dissertation about why cigars and pipe tobacco should be fine. You don't inhale the smoke (yes, some gets in by accident, but not much) but roll it in the mouth, the cigar smoker's activity is a much more purposeful and inconvenient than the cigarette smoker (who is basically training themselves Pavlov's dog style), the cigar may be huge but the tobacco hit isn't as intense since again, it's not going in the lung, the tobacco is actual tobacco and not SHREDDED PAPER created by the White Man, the Indians probably knew what they were doing over generations, etc.

For me it was good for a while. When I had my spiritual awakening (I know that sounds pretentious, but that's the best thing to call it) a year ago a big chunk of it came when smoking one or two Churchills on my porch late at night, listening to music, and finding that in contrast to alcohol the brain would run faster even as it ran smoother instead of slower. I'd have epiphanies much more often, fall asleep easier, be immensely relaxed.

But I find that like any drug, what exactly I get out of it depends very much on what I bring coming in (fucking around on electronics negates any benefit), and it isn't 100% reliable.

My concern with it now is that this stuff is SUPPOSED to be reasonably safe at two or less a day, but I feel like it fucks my throat up badly, I have to clear my throat more often. I started cutting down because of it. It could be I'm too much of a stupid shit to actually smoke it the right way, and either I suck it so fast that I overheat my throat or I am inhaling it without realizing it (is that possible?), which in the latter case would make it as deadly as a pack a day of cigarettes.

I tried pipes but they piss me off, I cannot get the damn thing to work properly.

But unlike alcohol and cigarettes (which I never have and never will smoke), I think it really does work that it's easy to not get addicted to cigars.

I actually had five days off of any due to some birds making a nest right above my door. I didn't want to subject the hatchlings to clouds of cigar smoke. So I finally went to a spot that I've used before with a telescope (it does not combine well, as an activity, with cigars) to smoke by the lake.

I buy all of my cigars off Cigars International in bulk. It's a Po Boys Sampler II combo and it's like $2 a cigar.

 

[Vonel]

Sleep unironically. I find that I don't slip back into depression when I'm getting 8-9 solid hours of sleep with no electronics/food before bed.

Smoking. I started to smoke a couple of months ago, and I usually smoke 2-3 cigs a week. I get dizzy after a cig because I'm not used to it, but cigs calm me down and make it hard for me to have retarded thoughts.

I just quit them after using them for years to lift up my mood just as you did. Not telling you to quit because I know how annoying it is when some faggot tells you how bad it is. I'm mostly saying it because I started for the same thing and before I knew it the nicotine caught up to me and I had to huff down smokes just to not want to kill myself.


Tobacco and self treating depression is too common. There's a kiwi quitting smoking thread if anyone needs it.

 

[Benzo Samurai]

1. I consume 80 micrograms high quality Vitamin D. Without this life doesn't work at all.
2. I try to have good and plentiful social relations (but it can be a struggle)
3. I also do a large dose of high quality Omega 3 every day.
4. I consume broccoli, blueberries, spinach, carrots, almost every day (I've had mad issues with these veggies cus I was a very picky and stubborn child)
5. I am working on nailing my first pullup on a pullup bar i bought. Almost there. This has fixed issues in my back I didn't know was there.
6. I try to run at least 4-5 days per week, 7-8km at minimum. Some weeks its less and that is fine, I can still run half-marathons which is good.
7. I try to throw in a hike every now and then instead of a run. Variation is king with exercise.

Depression is still not fully fought, my impression is rather that we must build and find the strength to persist towards a more desirable future, that is the only path that makes sense.

 

[Ughubughughughughughghlug]

Cigarettes are a shit delivery mechanism. I've smoked more than my fair share, and still indulge on occasion, but they're the most niggerish form of tobacco possible.

What is it like to chew?

Like most people, my opinion of tobacco methods is largely driven by how cool it looks. I like traditional log cabin hillbilly type stuff and 50s dads and professors in tweed three-pieces, so I like pipes, but I don't like modern meth hillbillies, so I dislike cigarettes. I like generals and robber barons, so I like cigars. Snuff is something I only recently was reminded was a thing, and that's for fruits in the frilly European nobleman clothing. Chaw I mostly associate with crackers, even lower gutter crackers than cigarettes (soldiers, after all, do smoke cigarettes, the kind that run around fighting Germans), but it was apparently once very common.

I always had it drilled into me that chewing would rot your jaw off, and there'd be evidence supplied, but I kind of doubt it now, or suspect it comes from people that stay glued to it 24/7 (like Grant and Westmoreland dying in agony when they smoked cigars literally 24/7).

 

[KillaSmoke]

What is it like to chew?

Like most people, my opinion of tobacco methods is largely driven by how cool it looks. I like traditional log cabin hillbilly type stuff and 50s dads and professors in tweed three-pieces, so I like pipes, but I don't like modern meth hillbillies, so I dislike cigarettes. I like generals and robber barons, so I like cigars. Snuff is something I only recently was reminded was a thing, and that's for fruits in the frilly European nobleman clothing. Chaw I mostly associate with crackers, even lower gutter crackers than cigarettes (soldiers, after all, do smoke cigarettes, the kind that run around fighting Germans), but it was apparently once very common.

I always had it drilled into me that chewing would rot your jaw off, and there'd be evidence supplied, but I kind of doubt it now, or suspect it comes from people that stay glued to it 24/7 (like Grant and Westmoreland dying in agony when they smoked cigars literally 24/7).

American chewing tobacco and Swedish snus are both oral tobacco, but they're entirely different products, with very distinct manufacturing processes.

American chewing tobacco is fermented, and absolutely will rot your jaw off.

Swedish Snus is produced via steam pasteurization, and has much lower levels of Tobacco Specific Nitrosamines, the primary carcinogens present in tobacco. There's no epidemiological link between use of Swedish snus and cancer. There was a single study showing a positive correlation with pancreatic cancer, but the study itself pointed out that pancreatic cancer is rare enough that they're sample size was too small to have any amount of confidence that this wasn't just random chance, where like one extra guy got it, and threw off the results. Nobody has replicated this finding, so realistically, seems not to be a concern.

Another cool thing about Swedish Snus is that due to the differences in manufacturing, you can just swallow your spit like you normally do,instead of having to carry around a jug of dark brown drool like you do when you use american chewing tobacco.

Swedish Snus also generally comes in pouches, which you just slip underneath your upper lip. If you're super cool, you can get either the traditional loose, moist powder, or long cut tobacco. They release both flavor an nicotine more quickly, but especially if you're not used to using them, and dont know how to keep them in place, they tend to be pretty messy. I believe american chewing tobacco is typically loose, long cut tobacco.

There's a pretty wide variety of flavors, ranging from earthy tobacco, to whiskey, to fruit. The most common ones use a good amount of bergamot, which can be kind of an acquired taste. So if you try one, and end up gagging, don't be afraid to check out something else to see if it suits your palette better