ascfgdxz Posted February 27, 2019 Posted February 27, 2019 Hi, Why is it possible to feel so low? I understand for example anxiety is something that sucks but would help you in a fight or flight scenario, to protect you from danger etc. When problems in life happen, why does our body believe it makes sense to feel so much pain that you can't think at all, you feel like being in your body is not an option, you can't be productive or relax to fix the situation. Why do some people not feel this way ever? What is wrong with others and I to feel such levels of low? Is there a way this capability would have been helpful when we were hunter-gatherers? Thanks December 2018 (4 days of use): Sertraline 50mg (Stopped, adverse reaction/hypnagogia) February 2019 (2 weeks of use): Wellbutrin XL 150mg (Stopped, tinnitus) May 6th 2019: Started Wellbutrin XL 150mg, after two days switched to Wellbutrin SR 100mg (Difficult breathing issues) May 9th 2019 Switched to Effexor 37.5mg (Because doctor decided Wellbutrin wasn't a good fit, he had me take 2x 0.5mg lorazepam per day during first week of Effexor) for one day and then 75mg every day after that (Muscle weakness, feeling emotionless, feeling of not being able to move, apathy, tense muscles, tingling, itchiness, lower mental capacity, slurred speech, uncoordinated walking, shaky hands, headaches, immense nausea when yawning, frequent yawning, confusion, lost sens of time, at night seeing all the objects and lights in the room move a lot and stretch and shrink and breath Supplements: Vitamin B, Vitamin D 2000IU, Omega3 1000mg, Magnesium Citrate 500mg, 2 multivitamins Lorazepam: Given 20mg in December. Took a lot (8-12mg or so) between December and February. Took 1.5mg Week of April 22nd
bheb Posted February 27, 2019 Posted February 27, 2019 The first step in addressing this question is acknowledging that not every feature of every organism alive today was evolutionarily adaptive. There are many things about humans that are not adaptive (or neutral); however, so long as those features did not directly inhibit our ability to survive to reproductive age, they were able to be passed down. The second step is recognizing that mental states are not directly inheritable. The way you feel now is not necessarily genetically predetermined -- especially if there was interference with drugs (don't know exactly if you're referring to a pre- or post-withdrawal state). Of course there are genetic factors that can predispose one to feeling certain things but that's not the be all end all. So to crystallize your question -- is there anything at all about depression that is evolutionarily beneficial? I don't really know, to be honest. Possibly. If you google "evolutionary psychology depression" you might get some leads. There might be some hypotheses that depression keeps people out of dangerous situations when they are vulnerable, I don't know. Lots of evolutionary psychology is speculative though, so I'm not sure if you'll get the wisdom you're after. Aug-Dec 2015 Prozac 20mg / Dec 2015-Feb 2016 Prozac 15mg / Feb 2016-May2016 Prozac 20mg May 2016-June 2016 15mg June 2016-August 2016 10mg October 2016-January 2017 15mg, alternating agitation/akathisia sets in --> cold turkey January 2017 Clonazepam .5mg February 2017 Clonazepam 1mg (for a week) then .5mg morning and .25mg evening for about a month. Came down to .25mg morning and evening. May 1, 2017 Clonazepam .25mg morning and .125mg evening. // May 20, 2017 Clonazepam .25mg morning and .0625 evening (.3125 total). early June .28125 // early mid june .25mg // mid june .21875 // late june .1875 // early july .15625 // early mid july .125 mid july .09375mg // late july .0625 //early August 2017 down to .03125mg once a day, hopped off in mid August reinstated at .0625mg late August // Oct 16 - updose to .07mg and switch to oral Rosemont solution Nov 17 2017 reinstate Prozac .5mg // Nov 21 2017 prozac 1.6mg // Dec 18 2017 3mg prozac / fast taper off the reinstatement -- probably completely off early Oct 2018 June 2019 begin tapering off .07mg Clonazepam, Finish taper December 2019
ascfgdxz Posted February 28, 2019 Author Posted February 28, 2019 21 hours ago, bheb said: The first step in addressing this question is acknowledging that not every feature of every organism alive today was evolutionarily adaptive. There are many things about humans that are not adaptive (or neutral); however, so long as those features did not directly inhibit our ability to survive to reproductive age, they were able to be passed down. The second step is recognizing that mental states are not directly inheritable. The way you feel now is not necessarily genetically predetermined -- especially if there was interference with drugs (don't know exactly if you're referring to a pre- or post-withdrawal state). Of course there are genetic factors that can predispose one to feeling certain things but that's not the be all end all. So to crystallize your question -- is there anything at all about depression that is evolutionarily beneficial? I don't really know, to be honest. Possibly. If you google "evolutionary psychology depression" you might get some leads. There might be some hypotheses that depression keeps people out of dangerous situations when they are vulnerable, I don't know. Lots of evolutionary psychology is speculative though, so I'm not sure if you'll get the wisdom you're after. Great reply thank you. That makes sense that just because it may be something we have, it may just be an "extra" and not necessarily evolutionary advantageous. The only think I can think of now is, maybe if someone is needing significant change or something from others and can't do it on their own, they would get very depressed so that their tribe would come and help them? December 2018 (4 days of use): Sertraline 50mg (Stopped, adverse reaction/hypnagogia) February 2019 (2 weeks of use): Wellbutrin XL 150mg (Stopped, tinnitus) May 6th 2019: Started Wellbutrin XL 150mg, after two days switched to Wellbutrin SR 100mg (Difficult breathing issues) May 9th 2019 Switched to Effexor 37.5mg (Because doctor decided Wellbutrin wasn't a good fit, he had me take 2x 0.5mg lorazepam per day during first week of Effexor) for one day and then 75mg every day after that (Muscle weakness, feeling emotionless, feeling of not being able to move, apathy, tense muscles, tingling, itchiness, lower mental capacity, slurred speech, uncoordinated walking, shaky hands, headaches, immense nausea when yawning, frequent yawning, confusion, lost sens of time, at night seeing all the objects and lights in the room move a lot and stretch and shrink and breath Supplements: Vitamin B, Vitamin D 2000IU, Omega3 1000mg, Magnesium Citrate 500mg, 2 multivitamins Lorazepam: Given 20mg in December. Took a lot (8-12mg or so) between December and February. Took 1.5mg Week of April 22nd
Noloft Posted March 1, 2019 Posted March 1, 2019 My most recent psychiatrist was explaining to me about how certain subs types of people like this were important parts of the hunter gatherer group. He was telling me that people with depression often suffer from insomnia and sleep difficulties (which I do). These people were the first to awaken and startled very easily or were not deep sleepers. Though this is crummy, it served a role in Paleolithic or whatever period in which giant sabretooths or wolves would prowl camps at night. Without those depressed light sleepers, no one would wake up at the sound of a wolf near the camp and there would be no way to warn the others. 2001-2017-worked my way up from 25mg of zoloft and 2mg of Concerta to 200mg of zoloft and 36mg of Concerta February 2017-Stopped Concerta cold turkey September 2017-Added 2mg of Abilify November 2017-came off Abilify December 2017-began taper of zoloft 50mg a week while tapering on to Viibryd January 2018-back on zoloft 200mg February 2018--tapered off zoloft over a month onto 40mg of prozac April 2018-CT prozac due to suspected "serotonin syndrome"
Administrator Altostrata Posted March 1, 2019 Administrator Posted March 1, 2019 I feel sorry for psychiatrists, they keep on making up myths to explain what they're seeing. Your psychiatrist's first mistake is that he believes an emotional state is an intrinsic brain condition. This is nonsense. Most so-called "depression" is situational, arising from bad families, bad marriages, bad jobs, grief. Situations come and go, they're not a brain condition. As defined by testing of modern populations, there is a genetic component to disposition. One twin might be optimistic and outgoing while the other is withdrawn, for example. (Still, there are situational reasons for even these differences in personality.) However, back in the hunter-gatherer era, people lived very differently, in groups based on extended, inter-related families sharing a lot of genes. Being outgoing or withdrawn may not have that much meaning when you are living and working communally 24/7 with your parents, siblings, grandparents, uncles, aunts, cousins, second cousins, etc. You rarely see a stranger. Everybody knows you, you don't have to explain yourself, there is no difference between public and private personality -- therefore, no social anxiety -- and no family secrets. Not that they're happy all the time, but what would hunter-gatherers be "depressed" about? They're getting up with the sun and sleeping at nightfall, aligned with natural biorhythms, and getting lots of exercise as they constantly look for food or prepare it during the daytime. A hunter-gatherer with insomnia or paranoia would be an odd duck indeed. Studies of aboriginal societies indicate they integrated a lot of behavioral variation that modern societies are still having difficulties with, such as gender variance. Their idea of "abnormal" may be very different from your psychiatrist's. Still as humans are neurologically variable, at the very far end of the curve are people who are definitely "wired wrong." They do have neurological conditions which may determine their emotional and physiological states. But like any congenital condition, this is the exception, not a segment of the population. One might imagine, if one was making up myths, that without the assistance of the community, these individuals with extreme congenital conditions might not survive. This is not medical advice. Discuss any decisions about your medical care with a knowledgeable medical practitioner. "It has become appallingly obvious that our technology has surpassed our humanity." -- Albert Einstein All postings © copyrighted.
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