There is no oneuntouchedbycrisesofmental health.
My dentist recently told me that my gums were healthy.
Lifestyle factors were most likely to blame, I was told.
Illustration by Blake Cale
No, I didnt brush my teeth often enough.
I became severely vitamin D deficient too.
To have survived amajor depressionis to be forever haunted thereafter.
How do you ever fully make peace with it again?
Like a marriage after infidelity, the trust may never be restored.
Would I survive another round?
The first time I became depressed, I was 19 and had no idea what was happening to me.
Imagine forgetting a language or how to play an instrument, then imagine the instrument is pleasure.
Then, five years later, it came back.
On my twenty-seventh birthday, I prayed for death.
Just a little terminal illness, like?
I dont mean to sound flippant or callous about such terrible things.
But we ought to be honest.
Two different forms of sickness, the sufferers often unintelligible to one another.
It made other peoples attempts to help me futile.
During the second episode, just like the first, I was prescribed and tookSSRI antidepressantdrugs.
I chose to try and live, no matter what.
The first thing I had to do differently was the medication.
I had to give it the best chance to work.
Uncontrollable drinking and depression are distinct illnesses, and I had both.
I needed to try andarrest the firstto treat the second.
I swore off alcohol during Christmas 2016 and went dry.
The depression lifted, piece by piece.
Recovery from acute depression can feel like a cloud suddenly lifting.
Odds are they have tried it.
Flossing my gums every single day was the healthy practice I got back last.
If you or someone you love is suffering, pleaseseek help.
