I had a great day, and this evening, I was sitting watching television with my husband and had this realization that I felt happy. Big deal, right, people are happy all the time. Yes, I'm sure they are. But for me, living with depression and taking anti-depressants, I don't *feel* a lot of anything. The medication helps to level out your emotions so that you don't live in the darkest pits of despair. The downside is that they also numb the feelings of elation and happiness as well. I don't know if I can explain it very well, because I hardly understand it myself. It's just that I'm not used to feeling this way, but I really like it.
I wonder if this is the effect of eating healthier and following a vegan diet? It is hard to know. I guess I'll just keep eating this way and see how it goes. I could definitely stand feeling happy a lot more often. I know that following a vegan diet helps to reduce the need for medications for some illnesses. Trust me that the thought of being able to reduce the anti-depressants I take was an additional spur toward vegan eating. I am interested to find out if taking animal products out of my diet will help to balance the chemicals in my brain. I am tired of feeling numbed by this drug and by the shadow it casts on my life as this drug in particular was one which doctors were told was not habit forming only to find out later that it is and it is very hard for people to get off it. The last time I tried to reduce my medication, the side effects of reducing the drug were very hard on me.
I'll have to do some more research on veganism and depression and I'll share my findings here. In the meantime, I'm going to smile and enjoy this strange feeling of happiness while it lasts :)
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