Depression Migraine link
"In the general population, depression and anxiety are two- to-threefold more common in individuals with migraine." -- Major Jay C. Erickson, M.D., Ph.D., of the Madigan Army Medical Center.
Well no wonder! My entire life is now explained. I wonder what the direction of causality is, and whether it's less a neurochemical connection and more a connection of lost time due to migraine causing one to get "less" done in their life, making them depressed for not accomplishing as much as their peers.
If I account for all the migraines in my life as lost time, then the amount of productive time I've had = 26.26 years - 1 day lost per month on average, factoring in the first 5 years in which no migraines occurred, followed by a period of one every 2 weeks, currently down to once a month (thanks to Excedrin and modified diet) = 26.26-.86 = I am actually only 25.4 years old, accomplishment-wise, compared to someone who only loses a day due to infectious disease.
Hmmph, that's not really a whole lot different. Guess I can't blame migraines for my life failures. Ah well.
I'm sorry, that's a terrible thing to say! I've been thinking about life changing permanent illnesses a lot lately, especially since I've been reading the neurology patient files all day long, and I can't imagine what it's like. I can only guess that the reason I don't have something like multiple sclerosis is because if I did, I'd probably kill myself. Sometimes I'm disgusted by how fragile my mental state is. It's so easy for those around me to change it drastically. I blow up into frantic excitement, and then go down down down. Not quite as bad as actual manic depressive disorder, but it wouldn't take much to push me over there. MS, a family member dying, divorce.
Well, that was fun! Have a good day, and a great Cinco de Mayo! (I'm actually feeling surprisingly stable at the moment, so it's easier to think about these issues right now.)
posted by Vanessa @ 15:27
2 Comments:
What are you talking about when you say failure to achieve life accomplishements? Who are you comparing yourself to? I mean, no one told me this was a race to get somewhere first. I don't even know where the somewhere is even. And, I sure hope depression doesn't mean you won't accomplish anything. I don't see the link. Ah well.
If you must know, 'when i was your age'--literally 26 years old, what 80 million years ago, I was dropping out of grad school, had no idea what to do after wasting 4 years of my life on a degree I could never achieve no matter how many years I wasted on it for a career that would never materialize or make me happy if it did. And, I thought I'd have to move back to NYC and *shudder* live with my parents till I figured my shit out. Rather than do that, I took a job I hated so much that I gained 60 pounds in 3 months. Insult to injury, I realized all my friends were in grad school and we no longer had anything to talk about. Fuck, I was lonely.
You my dear are in a nifty foreign country, with friends, and boyfriend you like plenty, doing temp work till you figure your shit out. Me, I didn't even have migraines to justify my loserness.
Never fear, the shit will work itself out.
That's so funny! Sometimes I wish I had a terminal illness too, because those people always seem to have a newfound love for life (except for the ones that turn suicidal). I can't even imagine what it would be like to deal with something like that.
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