An Unconventional Way to No Longer Experience Depression

DISCLAIMER: I am not a doctor and have no opinions on how you should heal and best take care of yourself - I am just sharing my experience.

1 in 3 people experience treatment-resistant depression...

I talk a lot about mental health and wellness because that is exactly what I experienced. No matter what I tried, my condition would temporarily improve and then mental health issues would invariably return.

Name a treatment and I have likely tried it:

• Various forms of therapy
• Antidepressants
• 12 Step programs
• Yoga & meditation
• CBD, Vitamins and Supplements
• Psychedelics (large and microdoses)
• Plant medicines

You get the picture.

It wasn’t until December 2019, I was deep in a depression. I had received a scary health diagnosis a couple of months earlier and I felt completely hopeless. I was stuck in an infinite loop of:

Normal life situation triggering old trauma > nervous system dysregulation > toxic coping mechanisms > immune system dysregulation > physical health issues > cycle repeating?

I couldn’t escape it.?

In my desperation, I came across studies on ketamine. Yeah, the horse tranquilizer and party drug...except it was now a legitimate FDA-approved treatment for depression. I sent an all but pleading message to Dr. Hill at Ketamine Health and Wellness Center and it changed everything.

How Does Ketamine Work?

Short version:

It resets your brain and allows you to escape your mental loops and more easily form healthier ways of thinking and being.

Long version:

SSRIs have been the standard of care, but the problem is that they only target neurotransmitters like serotonin which only account for 20% of the neurotransmitters in our brain. The other 80% are GABA and glutamate.

“Together, the two neurotransmitters form a complex push-and-pull response, sparking and stopping electrical activity in the brain. Researchers believe they may be responsible for regulating the majority of brain activity, including mood.”

Ketamine is crushing it in studies. It is the anti-medication of medication because unlike typical antidepressants that only work when they are in your system, ketamine triggers reactions in your cortex that enable neural connections to regrow.

Studies from Yale showed that ketamine triggers glutamate production which then goes through a complex series of events to then prompt the brain to form new neural connections, making the brain more readily able to create new pathways giving you the ability to adopt healthier ways of thinking and being.

While ketamine will make changes in your brain, it is only a piece of the puzzle. True wellness is the combination of multiple factors. What I love about my doctor is that he’s always checking in on these other key factors:

• Healthy diet; no sugar, no highly processed foods
• Keeping stress levels low
• Movement and exercise
• Getting enough restful sleep
• Vitamins and supplements
• Purpose and community

Moving From Dysregulation to Regulation

In conjunction with ketamine therapy (which after the initial treatment has only been an annual booster session), I also recommend some kind of integration work. This could be working with a therapist, journaling or talking things through with a close friend.

No treatment is one and done, it’s an ebb and flow process.

For the past 20 months, I have been free of all of my previous symptoms. I get to actually feel the whole spectrum of emotions without having to be ‘depressed’ or ‘manic’. I no longer try to figure out 'what is wrong with me' and instead simply notice whether or not my nervous system is regulated.

For me, dysregulation looks and feels like consistent:

• weighty sadness
• anxiety
• stomach issues
• restlessness
• irritability & being withdrawn?

When these things crop up, I don’t think, “ Oh, this is just {insert mental health diagnosis}”. Instead, I look at what might be causing the dysregulation. Because of how ketamine has enabled me to rewire my brain, I am able to look at things beyond my old trauma-filled lens.

Almost always when I am experiencing dysregulation, it’s because I need something that I am not giving to myself. Usually, I am not communicating something that needs to be communicated or I am not setting clear boundaries around my time and energy.

If it continues and I can’t pinpoint a direct correlation, then I head to a professional.

So, if this is something that you've been struggling with...this treatment is an option to bring up to your doctor.

What has worked for you in navigating your own mental health journey?

THIS WEEK:

??This week I’m…?

?? Reading:

• Radical Awakening by Dr. Shefali Tsabury
• The Autobiography of a Yogi by Yogananda

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• The Experiment
• Anything by The Black Pumas

???? Practicing:

• Releasing perfectionist tendencies
• Creating a new community

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