Like Eephus said, everyone is different, but they gave my wife Welbutrin the late 90's to help her quit smoking and it was like she was on a mixture of ecstasy and acid at the same time. Like wanting to climb mountains one minute and crying in the bed because someone called their mom on a long distance commercial the next. It was a wild fucking ride.

She quit the drug pretty quick and kept smoking for at least 6 more years lol.

Frankie99 wrote: Wed Mar 29, 2023 12:52 pm Have used both Calm and the other onetm so far. Have taken lessons learned from that and a couple of books to try to ground/re-center. Not exactly a repeatable process like it should be.

Waking Up has an intro course that has 28 daily meditations that are all under 15 minutes. They're all interspersed with short talks that sort of center the next meditation. I found it really useful.

I've also found it really useful to, as Huberman says in lots of places, do the foundational stuff every day so that the bad days aren't unbearable. Granted, that won't work for everyone, or every day, but they're a place to focus your energy free of cost:

- View sunlight within one hour of waking up to set your biological clock
- Exercise every day
- Pay mind to proper nutrition, with some focus on your gut health, since it affects so much of our mood and general well-being
- No alcohol
- No caffeine after 2 PM
- No bright lights after 10 PM
- Serious focus on sleep. That may mean supplements, yoga nidra, self-hypnosis (Reveri appears to be a good app for this), or some other kind of method, but sleep is the #1 determinant of well-being

It's simple, but it's FAR from easy.

For supplements that help, I've found that fish oil with high EPA content (I take the equivalent of 2G of EPA per day), maca root, creatine, and ashwagandha are all very helpful.

bigc wrote: Wed Mar 29, 2023 1:38 pm For supplements that help, I've found that fish oil with high EPA content (I take the equivalent of 2G of EPA per day), maca root, creatine, and ashwagandha are all very helpful.

I was gonna say.. I do a lot of this stuff already but hadn't heard the link between inflammation and depression before, and a weak area for me is Omega 3s.

penningtron wrote: Wed Mar 29, 2023 2:21 pm I was gonna say.. I do a lot of this stuff already but hadn't heard the link between inflammation and depression before, and a weak area for me is Omega 3s.

Inflammation and gut health were both kinda surprises for me, too. I think it's difficult to think about the biological aspects of depression because the effects feel anything BUT biological. That's not to say that we're programmable robots who are determining our own existence in every way - but we can certainly have a much bigger impact than most of us realize.

I've found a lot of utility in many of the Huberman Lab podcasts. It intersects a little too closely with the Joe Rogan genre, and will fuck up your Youtube algorithm a little - but a lot of it is super helpful.

There is no amount of supplementation or daily protocols that will soften the blow of having your wife tell you she's found a place to live by herself.

penningtron wrote: Wed Mar 29, 2023 2:21 pm

bigc wrote: Wed Mar 29, 2023 1:38 pm For supplements that help, I've found that fish oil with high EPA content (I take the equivalent of 2G of EPA per day), maca root, creatine, and ashwagandha are all very helpful.

I was gonna say.. I do a lot of this stuff already but hadn't heard the link between inflammation and depression before, and a weak area for me is Omega 3s.

I think they're probably right that all these things are connected and a relationship between them exists, I just don't know that we understand it yet.

Frankie99 wrote: Wed Mar 29, 2023 2:52 pm I think they're probably right that all these things are connected and a relationship between them exists, I just don't know that we understand it yet.

It's amazing how little we know about the gut microbiome, and how much influence it could have on us.

bigc wrote: There is no amount of supplementation or daily protocols that will soften the blow of having your wife tell you she's found a place to live by herself.

Hey

Just wanted to say I've silently followed your story here and this stings. I hope you're doing alright. I wish you the best. Feel free to share and vent if that helps, we are here and listening.

bigc wrote:

Frankie99 wrote: Wed Mar 29, 2023 2:52 pm I think they're probably right that all these things are connected and a relationship between them exists, I just don't know that we understand it yet.

It's amazing how little we know about the gut microbiome, and how much influence it could have on us.

TRUTH

bigc wrote: There is no amount of supplementation or daily protocols that will soften the blow of having your wife tell you she's found a place to live by herself.

Yeah.. I can't imagine. I feel bad about posting in here since my struggles are mostly internal, though I don't rule out chasing people away if I don't get a handle on things.