03-12-2024, 10:49 PM
Hey good people of DI!
So a funny thing happened in my world that has had an impact I could not have predicted...
A couple of weeks ago the weekly shopping was done. We have a large household and live about an hour from town - so two people make the trip once a week, taking lists of the things that the rest of us want or need. This streamlines and saves on trips.
When the items I requested were segregated and given to me I found a large candy bar in the bag. along with the items from the list I had provided.
Given that it is not uncommon for those who shop to buy a sale item or a small surprise to include in my bag, I thought nothing of it.
That night I broke off a couple of small squares of the chocolate bar and enjoyed a small, sweet, guilty treat.
The following night I did the same.
And the night after that.
Why this anecdote is relevant is that, as some of you are aware, I have issues with depression. Bipolar 2 specifically. It's been a decades long struggle for me. Over the years I have been placed on somewhere in the range of fifteen or twenty different antidepressants and most did not work at all. The few that did have some measurable effect always wound up causing side effects that were as bad, or worse, than the depression itself.
Given that we, in the US, are coming out of winter. Well, it's been several months of existing in a fairly constant depressed state for me. Energy has been hard to come by and my overall world was suffering for it. Laundry was stacking up. Floors were going unswept. Table tops and counters were slowly stacking up with items that needed to be put away and so on.
Thing is after three nights of essentially micro-dosing chocolate - I woke up on day four motivated and substantially energized. No sooner had I gotten out of bed and walked my dog than I began looking around at the state of things and feeling a desire to get it all back to right.
So I began cleaning and kept it up, off and on, for the duration of the day.
That night I ate my little bit of chocolate as usual. Again, just for a treat.
The next day - more cleaning.
Rinse and repeat for a few days and I found myself wondering what had caused my rebound in mood - as it was marked and, honestly, sort of profound. I felt like I had more optimism and mental clarity on top of renewed energy.
On a lark I Googled "Can chocolate help depression?" - as the addition of chocolate was the only factor in my life that had really changed - and was surprised to find that there is peer reviewed evidence that it might.
There are conflicting studies and opinions. That said, it's medicine and sometimes pharmaceutical companies will go to great lengths to bury simple fixes for issues that might impede their ability to make all the money from their patented medications... And the myriad variation of Prozac are one of the biggest cash cows they have going.
I guess my point in tabling this discussion is twofold:
First simply to put it out there that a square or two of a chocolate bar, each evening, seems to be doing more for me than any prescription previously has.
Also to ask if anyone else has discovered this same life hack?
I understand that we're all unique and that body / brain chemistry can deviate quite a bit from person to person and that what works for one will not work for everyone. Still...
Maybe it'll help someone else out.
So DI... Am I onto something? A placebo effect?
Thanks for reading!
So a funny thing happened in my world that has had an impact I could not have predicted...
A couple of weeks ago the weekly shopping was done. We have a large household and live about an hour from town - so two people make the trip once a week, taking lists of the things that the rest of us want or need. This streamlines and saves on trips.
When the items I requested were segregated and given to me I found a large candy bar in the bag. along with the items from the list I had provided.
Given that it is not uncommon for those who shop to buy a sale item or a small surprise to include in my bag, I thought nothing of it.
That night I broke off a couple of small squares of the chocolate bar and enjoyed a small, sweet, guilty treat.
The following night I did the same.
And the night after that.
Why this anecdote is relevant is that, as some of you are aware, I have issues with depression. Bipolar 2 specifically. It's been a decades long struggle for me. Over the years I have been placed on somewhere in the range of fifteen or twenty different antidepressants and most did not work at all. The few that did have some measurable effect always wound up causing side effects that were as bad, or worse, than the depression itself.
Given that we, in the US, are coming out of winter. Well, it's been several months of existing in a fairly constant depressed state for me. Energy has been hard to come by and my overall world was suffering for it. Laundry was stacking up. Floors were going unswept. Table tops and counters were slowly stacking up with items that needed to be put away and so on.
Thing is after three nights of essentially micro-dosing chocolate - I woke up on day four motivated and substantially energized. No sooner had I gotten out of bed and walked my dog than I began looking around at the state of things and feeling a desire to get it all back to right.
So I began cleaning and kept it up, off and on, for the duration of the day.
That night I ate my little bit of chocolate as usual. Again, just for a treat.
The next day - more cleaning.
Rinse and repeat for a few days and I found myself wondering what had caused my rebound in mood - as it was marked and, honestly, sort of profound. I felt like I had more optimism and mental clarity on top of renewed energy.
On a lark I Googled "Can chocolate help depression?" - as the addition of chocolate was the only factor in my life that had really changed - and was surprised to find that there is peer reviewed evidence that it might.
There are conflicting studies and opinions. That said, it's medicine and sometimes pharmaceutical companies will go to great lengths to bury simple fixes for issues that might impede their ability to make all the money from their patented medications... And the myriad variation of Prozac are one of the biggest cash cows they have going.
I guess my point in tabling this discussion is twofold:
First simply to put it out there that a square or two of a chocolate bar, each evening, seems to be doing more for me than any prescription previously has.
Also to ask if anyone else has discovered this same life hack?
I understand that we're all unique and that body / brain chemistry can deviate quite a bit from person to person and that what works for one will not work for everyone. Still...
Maybe it'll help someone else out.
So DI... Am I onto something? A placebo effect?
Thanks for reading!
