{"id":2286,"date":"2011-02-10T18:00:28","date_gmt":"2011-02-10T18:00:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.bipolarhappens.com\/bhblog\/?p=2286"},"modified":"2018-05-15T09:59:28","modified_gmt":"2018-05-15T16:59:28","slug":"is-it-normal-to-be-restless-when-you-are-depressed","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.bipolarhappens.com\/bhblog\/is-it-normal-to-be-restless-when-you-are-depressed\/","title":{"rendered":"Is it normal to be restless when you are depressed?"},"content":{"rendered":"

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A relaxing picture for when we are restless!<\/p>\n

Here is a reader question:<\/p>\n

Hi Julie-<\/p>\n

When you feel a down swing coming on what does it feel like for you?\u00a0 Yesterday when I started feeling “the great sadness” start to creep up on me, at first I could just feel my mood start to sink a little but then I found myself getting extremely fidgety.\u00a0 I started going a little crazy in my head saying things like “what is going on? I need to figure out what has triggered this.\u00a0 Is it this?\u00a0 Was it this?\u00a0 Did this have anything to do with it?”\u00a0 and the more I tried to ‘figure it out’ the more fidgety I was getting.\u00a0 I told myself to go read a chapter of\u00a0Get it Done\u00a0or listen to some music that brings my mood up or sit down and do a little work but I could not force myself to do any of that.\u00a0 I literally paced back and forth for at least an hour and then finally went to an appointment that I had set up for myself with a couple friends.\u00a0 The chatting wtih friends was wonderful and I forgot about those voices in my head and I’m doing much better again today but I was wondering what it feels like for you when you start feeling a down swing coming on.<\/p>\n

Anxiously awaiting your reply,<\/p>\n

Keli….Goddess of Maui<\/p>\n

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Hello Keli,<\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 I break depression into two categories: restless and weepy. The restless depression often gets confused with ADD, but it\u2019s actually just a normal part of the mood swing. \u00a0\u00a0It\u2019s all about how our brains work and has little to do with our work ability. When your thoughts say- What\u2019s wrong! Why am I always like this! What is my problem! these are your reactions to the fact that your brain is not functioning correctly.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s so easy for us to blame ourselves when we get depressed. It\u2019s part of the illness.<\/p>\n

You ask about my tough day- I have ALL of the same thoughts and the same restlessness you have. I drive around and cry and get upset with myself. I miss work and feel worthless and hopeless. It\u2019s part of the illness and it\u2019s the same every time.\u00a0 Isn\u2019t it amazing that those of us with depression can go through the same symptoms for years and yet we still think it\u2019s our own fault!!! That is why depression is such a nasty down swing. It lies to us.<\/p>\n

You went to see friends- that is one of the things I do as well. I make sure I have appointments that I must attend so that I don\u2019t mess around all day getting nothing done. I write all about this \u00a0in Get it Done, but I agree that sometimes doing what works is hard! I\u2019m having one of those days today- I would rather be doing anything than writing. I keep getting interrupted by calls- I\u2019m spending more time worrying about my current project than doing it. On and on. But then I make it stop. I simply say to myself- Get things done. No more driving around. Put yourself in a place you can work. Make an appointment later so that you know you have to be somewhere. Turn off your phone.\u00a0 Set a time limit on your project and just get going. I actually pump my fist and say get going Julie! My brain may not want to work, but I can. As you have read in the book- we all need to use our inner drill sergeant. \u00a0<\/p>\n

I can\u2019t stand restless depression. It can really creep up on you- but there are ways around it. Action makes all of the difference! Thanks for writing and I\u2019m glad you found a way to get better on a tough day!<\/p>\n

Julie<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

A relaxing picture for when we are restless!<\/p>\n

Here is a reader question:<\/p>\n

Hi Julie-<\/p>\n

When you feel a down swing coming on what does it feel like for you? Yesterday when I started feeling “the great sadness” start to creep up on me, at first I could just feel my mood start to sink a little but then I found myself getting extremely fidgety. I started going a little crazy in my head saying things like “what is going on? I need to figure out what has triggered this. Is it this? Was it this? Did this have anything to do with it?” and the more I tried to ‘figure it out’ the more fidgety I was getting. I told myself to go read a chapter of Get it Done or listen to some music that brings my mood [ Read More ]<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bipolarhappens.com\/bhblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2286"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bipolarhappens.com\/bhblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bipolarhappens.com\/bhblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bipolarhappens.com\/bhblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bipolarhappens.com\/bhblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2286"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.bipolarhappens.com\/bhblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2286\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11741,"href":"https:\/\/www.bipolarhappens.com\/bhblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2286\/revisions\/11741"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bipolarhappens.com\/bhblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2286"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bipolarhappens.com\/bhblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2286"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bipolarhappens.com\/bhblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2286"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}