vaportrail

Great thread! I had to register to add my 1/2 cent to this thread.

I've just started road cycling this year and I too suffer from mild to not so mild depression. I recently got divorced and the bike has helped a lot! I've never been diagnosed but pretty sure I have a mix of ocd and s.a.d and probably something else.

This thread has made me realize I'm not alone! I too have a lot to be thankful for, but it doesn't seem to help. In fact, its like the opposite. I agree with what someone said that biking is like a form of meditation, just helps make the thoughts slow down. I also used to practice actual meditation, and have just started back a couple nights ago. Seems to also help considerably! I would take meds as a last resort, as the side effects are likely worse than the condition. Read The Untethered Soul, really good book that I'm sure will help anyone who reads it. I also agree with the comments about diet. It plays a big role in mood.

Best of luck to you all.

BillyD

Welcome aboard.

AzTallRider

Add me to the list. I struggled for years. Med's helped, but, at least for me, didn't provide a long term solution, and didn't raise me very far above what I would describe as "a black fog". Getting away from the external factors that contributed to it (emotionally abusive partner) helped, but I never felt clear of it until I started really cycling. I believe consistent strenuous exercise balances my brain chemistry far better than the med's ever did. I never believed a healthy body was necessary for a healthy mind, but now, the requirement is obvious and I can't believe how ignorant I had been. At 58, I take no med's of any kind, am at my ideal weight, and healthier and happier than I've ever been.

bonz50

you know you're still to fat for cycling, right??

j/k great job!!

HBxRider

I started having mild/moderate depression about a year ago. My doctor started me on Wellbutrin. Technically, it's working. But I feel stuck in a neutral zone. I'm not depressed, but I don't feel much enthusiasm, or positive emotions. I'm just okay. I feel better off than before, but still it kind of sucks. I feel kind of automatic in a strange way.

Dudelsack 

Personal opinion. I'm not totally sure that phenominon is just the medication. Depression sucks so bad that I believed any emotion was a bad one. When the meds stopped the pain, I was glad to feel nothing for quite some time.

Joy can come back into your life, but you might have to relearn the emotion. Maybe somebody more articulate here can explain it. I'm having to redefine and relearn what joy is.

CraigB

The large number of contributors to this thread doesn't surprise me. At my old job, I spent several years on the insurance panel of the employee benefits trust committee, where we did all the legwork for the company health insurance renewals each year. Part of that process was reviewing the usage stats from the past year (all anonymous - just numbers). We had about 80 employees plus many family members on the policy, with employees ranging in age from about 25 to 65 or thereabouts. So while it wasn't a giant company, it was a reasonable statistical pool. Each year, the only family of drugs prescribed more than psychotropics was cholesterol medication.

I agree that no one who's offered their own story here should be, or needs to be congratulated on coming forward. But society still stigmatizes this to some extent, so it's hard not to admire the courage.

ThinLine

Back in the 50's and 60's if we told our Dr's what we are discussing here, we would have been committed to an asylum (mental institution), strapped down and given hideous electrical shock treatments, a derivitive of lithium and physcologically tortured.

Glad we changed a bit.

I'm glad I started this thread and wish everyone to have hope where their may not be any.

surgeonstone

One funny anecdote. Occasionally I decide to get myself off meds thinking I don't need them and truth be told, I feel pretty good. However, within 2 weeks my wife will ask me if I stopped the meds. "How did to know" I would ask. "How would I not know. Get back on them". What seems subtle or okay even to me may not be so ok with those around me.

Ridelots24

of course nurse Rachet....... CYCLING!!

Terry66

When I need to think about things and sort things out, I ride my road bike. When I want to take my mind off things and forget about crap for a while, I mountain bike. My friends and I call it Cyclo-therapy.

Usually my bike is fast enough to leave my problems behind.

Cookiemonsta

Even without the 4 cars and 10 bikes like OP, (though I do tell myself I am handsome, not sure if people would agree) I am lucky that I have never suffered from depression.

However, like everyone else, I do get down/sad at times. For me, it is usually actual circumstances that kind of bring me down. I found that cycling, and actually really sports and exercise in general really help whenever I am down. It helps because it makes me feel good about myself and in control, but also because the people you typically train with usually dont have anything to do with any other part of your life, which allows you to kind of get away from whatever is bothering you. Finally, sports require your attention and occupy your brain that would otherwise be filled with negative thoughts.

vaportrail

Thanks bud

Red Rider

I didn't know I was depressed until I spent most of a New Jersey winter in bed, getting up only to eat & go to work.

Lack of sunlight is a factor, so I take 1000 mg of vitamin D/day; this on the advice of my doctor, who also suggested that same book.

And bike riding...running if I can't ride...Jazzercise or kickboxing or other fun cardio class. My experience over these many years is that it may never go away, and I can manage it through movement and mindfulness.

Great thread here, by the way. Thanks to all for sharing.

BillyD

Jeepnut22 

Great thread. While I don't have any diagnosed depression, bike riding has always been the best stress clearing, mind clearing thing I have ever done. Goes back to even when I was a kid on my first bike.

Kudos to all of you that fight depression and move forward with your lives!!

Ridelots24

Earlier this year, I began to take viagra just to keep my hopes up.......

RT

While I do not suffer from depression, I do find even if I don't want to ride, that getting out on a ride makes me feel better (emotionally) every time. Whether or not this translates in both worlds is uncertain, but it seems logical.

ThinLine

Good one.

Dominae

Have suffered with clinical depression of the inherited variety for over 20 years. I have tried almost every antidepressant medication and nothing seems to work well long term. I am taking Prozac even tough it's effect on my mood is questionable. The doctors have suggested that I not quit taking medication, so I just continue to take medication as a matter of habit more than anything (and to keep the doctors off my back). The one thing that significantly lifts my moods is consistent aerobic exercise. I ran for 20 years, but when my knees gave out I picked up cycling and have been riding for 8 years. Sometimes when I'm riding I can actually feel my brain go "snap, crackle and pop" and my mood lifts immediately. Cycling has become my life line. My wife used to question my devotion to cycling, but when she found out how miserable I become without it, she insists that I go for a ride!

Bo-Ridley

I'm going to add a small update to a comment I made on this thread about 10 days ago. I mentioned that I had picked up a book called The Mood Cure. At the time I did the posting I was only about 2 days into the process and had absolutely no reason to feel as if anything had changed. Dominae, above, said something that got my attention, "Even though it's effect on my mood is questionable". I think a lot of these drugs and supplements can be that way but I've got to say that with this program I've taken some undeniably positive steps (which I'll not go into at this time). Placebo effect? Could be. I can say this though. After about 5 days of the supplements I was thinking, "Yeah, yeah, it's just gonna change everything, right?". Several more days into it and I'm not about to stop with it. Time will tell but that is where I am right now.

Terex

I was really depressed after I had to stop riding as much. But, then again, it could have been the two concussions...

After several months, I became reconciled to the "new normal", and everything was good again. Other than me being a lot slower.

Kazzy

Great thread! For me it's an organ outside my brain that caused me trouble, my thyroid. After I went on medication for hypothyroidism my moods improved significantly. The long term, low level depression and anxiety I had experienced disappeared. I can tell when my meds need adjusting by my moods and my energy level. With Synthroid on board to bring my thyroid hormone level to where it should be I have enough energy to get some real exercise. Riding my bike the last 5 1/2 years has helped tremendously with regulating my moods as well. I try to ride most days. Getting out in the sunshine and fresh air seems to help too. For those of you suffering from depression, make sure your doctors are ruling out medical issues other than the brain chemistry ones too. It can be a complex problem.

marqueemoon

Cycling is a great way to be "in the moment" for me.

dleccord

anyone notice how depression comes with a belly gut? also depression is seasonal and normally hit the winter months?