PART 1: Chronic Illness and Mental Health: Am I Truly Depressed?

Am I truly depressed?

 The truth is yes and no

 I want to talk about the difference between being chronically ill and being clinically depressed. 

I personally have NEVER considered myself to have suffered from clinical or chronic depression. It wasn’t until becoming chronically ill, that I started to experience depression more frequently and for longer periods of time. We have all experienced depression before and times when were down, however, I have never considered myself clinically depressed. I have always been good at giving myself time to grieve and snapping back out of it pretty quickly. To be quite honest, before I become chronically ill, I couldn’t relate to someone who suffered from chronic depression. It wasn’t on my radar or a true issue for me in life. 

Today is a little different. 

Living with chronic illness means you’re going to have good days and bad days which means depression is inevitable.

There lies the difference that people seem to not understand.

There is a difference between being clinically depressed versus experiencing depression secondary to illness or disability.

It’s not the same. 

It truly is an everyday struggle for me to prove that the symptoms of my conditions ARE NOT signs of clinical depression. 

It is so frustrating to try and explain what OVERLAPPING SYMPTOMS are and how for many chronic illness sufferers, these symptoms are primarily related to their medical disorder rather than their mental state.  

They don’t understand…..

 IF MY BODY WAS HEALTHY MY MIND WOULD FOLLOW.