I am struggling with compartmentalizing the reorganization tasks in manageable chunks and trying to develop some overarching web of systems that will make things work in this house. What does all this clutter crap have to do with Kicking Depression's Ass anyhow? Somehow it is more than just banishing a symptom of the Depression. Having a house that is somewhat neat and not disgusting contributes to my ongoing mental wellness. I think I have some sort of infection again. And aparently there is some complicated connection between Depression and the immune system. There are studies showing Depression being caused by major infection, Depression making people more susceptible to infection, Depression causing the immune system to overreact, and Depression causing the immune response to be sluggish. A mess. I am not saying that recurring sinus infections and the horrible lengthy acute bronchitis of March caused last-spring's deepening of my Depression. I am just curious what the relationship might be between the brain and Depression and the immune system. One of the interesting things I came across was the idea that Depression is so common that it must have some adaptive purpose in the species (besides decreasing the surplus population, one assumes). Since it sometimes causes a very robust immune response and is associated with increased inflamation whether or not the body is fighting anything, perhaps it was sort of a precursor to modern antibiotics. If so, does treating Depression make you more susceptible to infection? Tendonitis? Bursitis? Sinus infections? If so, I don't care. I would rather be physically ill than mentally ill. (That will come back to haunt me, no doubt.) Doesn't it make a nice story to think that infection causes Depression which then helps the body fight off the infection? I have a hard time believing that it is that simple. And I have not looked into any of the studies to see if they were in any way valid. This was just an afternoon's curiosity. Grateful Crap: ability to type a bit more (and hoping for the wherewithal not to overdo it) Daily Convexions: took meds (but not until afternoon. Which I just realized. Back in a sec...) i don't know. stayed up too late last night. Comments are closed.
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K. BuchananQuaker, teacher, parent, |