Posted by Survector on June 1, 2004, at 12:05:19
In reply to Re: Exercise Making Me More Depressed/Irritable - HELP, posted by sjb on June 1, 2004, at 10:52:11
> I'm glad to hear that I'm am not alone, althoughI am sorry for your difficulties. I get really PO'd when I hear people tell me that excercise is good for depression. It's not that I don't believe it. I think excercise is vital and certainly there are too many people in this world that are not being helped by a sendentary lifestyle, depressives and non-depressives, alike. Ok, that's out of the way.
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> I'm a long distance runner, hitting about 80 miles a week now. Have run marathons and ultra marathons up to 100 miles. So, don't anybody tell me about excercise. I also hit the gym for 4 days a week for an hour of intensive weight work. I ALSO have a history of major depression. Sometimes, I really crash after a long, intensive event or training 'cause in part, I think my endocrine system gets really whacked and there's a let down, etc. I don't know the answer and am searching myself but just wanted to let you know that you are not alone.
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> Most of my PDocs and therapists don't have a clue to what my lifestyle entails. They don't know how ADs can affect endurance, strength etc and most think I do too much, but that's another topic I can discurss on obsessive-compulsiveness.
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> More later. This topic interests me greatly.No PD's or psychiatrists/therapists know much, if anything about this topic and it saddens me greatly. There needs to be more research and attention put into this matter and someone needs to help get an NIH study started, ASAP. This is a public health issue, because I know there are a lot of people out there who may lead sedentary lifestyles who would otherwise be at the gym and keeping a healthy weight and body fitness level if it weren't for the inevitable (and many times unbearable) depression that resulted.
Yes, antidepressants reduce your endurance output greatly. They make you significantly weaker and you tire out faster (and sweat like a 'pig' in the process from my experience of running). I found this to be true with all of the SSRIs - though not as much with the SNRI Effexor. People would always ask me, "Did you just stand under a shower or something?" after I did a long, hard run (because I would always sweat through my clothes). If you're currently on an antidepressant, a viable option would be to ask your psychiatrist to put you on the noradrenergic agonist Provigil to help combat antidepressant-induced fatigue (it works quite well and would allow you to run those 'extra miles' that you normally would have to forgo). Many psychiatrists will prescribe this off-label as adjunctive therapy for their patients that complain about lack of motivation while on antidepressants, so it might be worth asking about.
poster:Survector
thread:350992
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20040527/msgs/352718.html