Can Turmeric Help Your Depression?

Depression is commonly comorbid (co-occurring) with chronic illness and chronic pain. It makes sense. Our lifestyles drastically (and often suddenly) change. We may lose relationships (of different sorts), our purpose in life may change, and not to mention the pain centre of the brain is right next to the mood centre. Even the most resilient of us struggle with depression and a bit of an identity crisis upon having a chronic pain/illness diagnosis (or even no diagnosis but jut the onset of symptoms). I have also struggled with depression. Some of it stemming from childhood trauma, but I really noticed it after the onset of my pain/illness. Actually I was in complete denial about it at first and went to counselling only for anxiety (though my very perceptive counsellor was certainly treating me for depression as well).

Could turmeric have helped my 2016 post-diagnosis struggle (I started seeing a naturopath later that year, who did recommend turmeric, specifically for pain)

So, personally, I’m not a fan of a lot of medication. I take what I need to, and try to find alternative solutions for other things. I would never say that I’ve been more than mildly depressed. I use exercise for pain and it also happens to help with depressive symptoms. When I notice my mood is low I practice behavioural activation. Example – a few weeks ago I noticed I had low mood which was definitely correlated with an increase in pain and decreased energy. I had plans with friends and my partner for a board game night, and while a part of me really wanted to cancel on them, I made myself go because I knew it would improve my mood. Guess what? I really enjoyed the night, had a great time, and slept in the next day so it was all good (actually it was great!).

Exercise and behavioural activation are great and there is tons of research to show their effectiveness for pain and depression. There is a growing amount of research showing that turmeric (or more accurately the active ingredient in turmeric – curcumin) is as effective as anti-depressants in treating depression, including with Major Depressive Disorder (MDD). It also happens to decrease inflammation in the body, leading to less physical pain. According to the research I’ve linked below, it doesn’t seem to make a huge difference in the amount of curcumin/turmeric used and there were only mild side effects in some patients who were taking doses of 12g/day. Definitely some interesting and potentially helpful research for anyone who, like me, prefers to stay natural as often as possible. Now, I’m by no means dissing anti-depressants. Many people benefit from them and need them. If that’s you, please stick with it. This is more of an option for anyone who doesn’t want to use them, and is looking for alternatives.

Turmeric can come in different forms. Powder that you use on food (popular in many Asian cultures), and supplements you can buy from a health store are the most common and popular. I also have a lovely turmeric tea that I buy and try to drink more often when my pain increases or my mood is low. Definitely a few great options if you’re interested in giving it a try. As with everything, I take a scientific approach and view any of these ideas as an experiment. Clearly the research shows that it works for a lot of people. Will it work for me or you? The only way to find out is to be curious and give it a try. Maybe it’s another way we can keep making the most of it!

Reference:

Ramaholimihaso, T., Bouazzaoui, F., & Kaladjian, A. (2020). Curcumin in Depression: Potential Mechanisms of Action and Current Evidence – A Narrative Review. Front Psychiatry, 11, 572533. doi: 10.3389/fpsyt.2020.572533

Video: Mindful Goal Setting Meditation

In this mindfulness practice, we reflect on goals and how to goal set mindfully so that they are realistic and achievable for us, regardless of our physical and mental health status. When we practice values-based behaviours, we tend to feel better. Doing all of this mindfully can improve our overall well-being.

I hope you can make the most of it with your mindful goals!

How to Have Fun Indoors

Whether you’re stuck inside because of terrible winter weather (I’m looking at you rainy Vancouver), or because of your illness/pain, having some indoor activities that bring enjoyment are essential. There are literally hundreds of activities that you or I could name. Lists can come up on the internet. Rather than just randomly pull from a thousand sources I thought I’d share some of my favourite indoor activities – some for when I’m feeling great but am literally stuck inside because of the weather, and others that I do when my physical (or mental) health isn’t as great.

Cooking with my family over the holidays was tons of fun!

Solo Activities

Watching TV – standard I know but I actually enjoy watching some streaming – be it television or movies – alone. This can also be a good partner/group activity (I even have one friend I do it with over Skype every week). I thought I’d put it on the list and get it out of the way. Finding something I love to watch (new or old) can always put a smile on my face.

Playing an instrument (or listening to music) – I play the piano. I have since I was a kid and I absolutely love just sitting down to play for no one but me. It brings me great joy, and if I want, a challenge. It’s an indoor activity all about the me and the music. If you don’t play and instrument then listening to music (maybe even dancing along or singing along) is a great alternative.

Color or do some art – I’m not a good artist in that I can’t draw or paint or sculpt (but if you do then those are amazing indoor activities). I do enjoy colouring though. I tend to buy horror-themed colouring books because that’s my jam, and colouring in general has been shown to help with relaxation.

Read (and take a bath) – I personally prefer to read in the bathtub. I can read anywhere and I will read anywhere but my absolute favourite spot is when I’m in the bath. The bath itself helps with my physical body and is relaxing. Reading is fun and/or stimulating (depending on what I’m reading) and just another indoor activity that I look forward to doing.

Group Activities

Board Games (or card games) – this is the one that has been introduced to me the most in the past few months (mostly because my partner loves board games). I grew up playing Crib and it’s my go-to game (in general) but playing any game in a group or with a partner is a great way to spend some time indoors.

Cooking (or baking) – this is just so much more fun with another person (hopefully someone you get along well with). I’d much rather do it as a group activity than a solo activity any day and seeing how our creations turn out is just another fun part of the experience. We also tend to throw on some music and have a kitchen dance party in the middle of it all.

So these are just a few of my favourite indoor activities. I would love to hear what yours are as well. Keep making the most of it!

Video: Values-Based Activities – Gardening

Another values-based activity that can be done with low energy is gardening. I’ll admit I have never really been into gardening but after keeping my flower alive (and I mean, also bringing it back to life during the heat waves this summer), I’m inspired to have more of a garden going forward.

Let’s keep making the most of it!

Video: How to Find Your Values Based Activities Part 4

If you’re anything like me you’ll run into some barriers when actually trying to complete these activities, even though they make your life good and you probably realize it. Barriers are normal and natural. Let’s talk about 4 common ones and how to overcome them.

I hope this helps you on your way to more values based activities so that you can keep making the most of it!

Information in this video is for psychoeducational purposes only and does not constitute mental health or physical health advice. Please consult with a mental health or healthcare professional in your area.

Video: How to Find Your Values Based Activities Part 3

Brainstorming time! I think this is the most fun part personally. What are all the things I would like to do regardless of whether I can or not. It actually can help find the things we can do. Honestly, I would never have considered “colouring” a values based activity if I hadn’t approached it this way.

Hope this help you to keep making the most of it!

The information in this video is for psychoeducational purposes only and does not constitute mental health or physical health advice. Please consult a licensed mental health or healthcare professional in your area.

Video: How to Find Your Values Based Activities Part 2

In our search for our unique, individual values based activities, it can be helpful to determine how well we are currently living by our values in each of our life domains, and which values we’d like to live. I find that taking the time to do this has been really beneficial, especially when I’m feeling out-of-balance, which can happen a lot as a chronic pain/illness warrior.

Keep making the most of it everyone!

Information in this video is for psychoeducational purposes only and does not constitute mental health or physical health advice. Please consult a licensed mental health or healthcare professional in your area.

How to Figure Out Your Values When You Have a Chronic Illness

Which would you rather do – something (a behaviour) to give yourself short-term symptom relief or something (a behaviour) that aligns with your core values, even if the goal isn’t to bring you symptom relief? The first option, by the way, isn’t necessarily connected to your values. There was a time for me that I probably would’ve done the later. Hell, I did do the latter! I definitely acted in ways that weren’t indicative to what was important to me at all but did help me out in the moment. Things like lying in bed, avoiding exercise, asking my partner to rub my back or just stay near me for hours, missing work, and on and on and on. And I’m not even saying that any of these are bad things. They were just bandaids that made that moment better, but didn’t help my pain long term and ultimately had a lot of costs (like the end of that relationship, feeling physically weak, and making work more difficult). Over time, reconnecting with my values became a much more viable response – and in some ways, even helped to decrease my pain.

Image from: https://www.nettl.com/ie/incorporating-brand-values/

What are values? They are our principles or standards of behaviour that we want to engage in. They represent what is important to us. Some examples are:

• acceptance
• adventure
• assertiveness
• authenticity
• caring/self-caring
• compassion-self-compassion
• cooperation
• courage
• and on and on and on

Different values can also show up in different areas of our life, like work and education, relationships, personal growth and health, and leisure. Values often motivate how we behave in different situations. Sometimes we just live by our values without thinking about them. However, sometimes, when we find ourselves dealing with chronic pain and chronic illness, we can get removed from our values, like I did. There are two things we can do to figure out if we have been removed from our values while dealing with the terribleness of chronic pain and illness.

1. Figure out what our values are – using a checklist and/or a bull’s eye.
2. Figure out (nonjudgmentally) what “unworkable action” we are engaging in that is acting as a “bandaid” but isn’t really lining up with our values and how we want to be long-term.

Unworkable action occurs when: (a) the solution is short-term, and (b) the behaviour takes you away from your values.

Okay, but why should we do all that? You might be wondering why not just stick wth the bandaid solution. And you can. But typically we have better overall quality of life if we live by our values. We engage in behaviours that are more fitting to the person we want to be and the life we want to live. And, what research finds (plus just looking at my own life and the lives of my clients), is that pain and other symptoms bother us less. It doesn’t mean they go away, they just don’t really interfere with our lives anymore. The research finds that our self-care for our illnesses and pain improves when we are motivated by our values (everything from self-direction, pleasure, and health to responsibility and socialization). We become more willing to “make room” for our difficult sensations (and thoughts and feelings) when we live by our values.

There are many ways we can live by our values. For example, when I travel I balance the adventure/activity part with rest.

I’ve shared in a number of posts different ways that I live by my values. Here are a few consistent ways I do in my life.

• Presence (aka mindfulness) – I meditate daily, do yoga several times a week, and just try to fully engage in as many activities during the day that I can.
• Fitness/health – I eat healthy (gluten-free, dairy-free, meat-free – though I do allow myself some cheat days) and I exercise daily (walking and/or strength training, and/or physio exercises)
• Creativity – I’m writing a book, I play the piano, I write screenplays with a friend
• Adventure – I travel (looking forward to getting back to that), hike, kayak, try new restaurants, meet new people

Actively living by my values doesn’t take the pain away, it takes the hold the pain has on me away.

And those are just some ways I live by my values even with an autoimmune disease and chronic pain. It took a lot of work to get here though, so be kind and patient with yourself (hey, that’s the value of self-compassion). I hope this helps you to make the most of it!

Effective Ways to Challenge Chronicity Thoughts

How much time do you spend thinking about your pain or illness? Does it consume most of your day? Just a little bit? I remember the time when I was spending a lot of time thinking about being in pain, and wondering “why me” or what my life would be like going forward etc. These are often referred to as chronicity thoughts. Happily, this was the past for me and is not my experience anymore. I know that many of you may be having this as your current experience though, so I wanted to take sometime to talk about it.

As human beings, we spend a lot of time thinking.

First of all, I want to say that this is a totally normal experience for anyone with chronic pain or a chronic illness. Our minds are literally trying to help us (or they think they are trying to help us, which is what they evolved to do). The problem is, this kind of constant thinking about pain makes our lives worse, not better. There are three types of common chronicity thoughts: (1) ruminating about being in pain/sick – I keep thinking about it, it’s all I can think about because it hurts; (2) magnifying our pain/illness – it will get worse, something terrible is going to happen; and (3) thoughts of helplessness – nothing I do makes it better, nothing I can do will ever make it better.

Are your thoughts making your life better, worse, or the same?

If you went to a doctor (Western or functional) or a therapist, they’d likely assess this with a tool called The Pain Catastrophizing Scale (PCS). My commentary is that I don’t like the name because “catastrophizing” sometimes has the connotation that it’s all in your head, but that’s not what it means in this case – it’s really referring to chronicity thoughts. The questions on the scale include:

• I worry all the time about whether the pain will end
• I feel I can’t go on
• It’s terrible and I never think it’s going to get any better.
• I wonder whether something serious will happen.
• and so (there are 13 questions total, and you self-report on a scale of 0-4 for each question, with 0 meaning not at all and 4 meaning all the time.)

Image from: https://www.endonews.com/pain-catastrophizing-perceived-injustice-and-pain-intensity-impair-life-satisfaction

So what can we do about all these chronicity thoughts? First, I will always suggest that working with a therapist is the way to go. Remember this blog is educational and not mental health/medical advice. We all have unique situations and unique thoughts, so having someone you can work with one-on-one (or in a small group) is always the way to go. I will let you know about a few different approaches. First, let’s talk about classic Cognitive Behavioural Therapy approach, where we challenge thoughts.

• Notice and name the thought: I’m having the thought that “It’s terrible and I never think it’s going to get any better.”
• Review evidence for and against the thought: For might include things like, it occurs frequently, has high intensity, a doctor’s prognosis, etc. Against might be things like, there are times of day when I don’t notice it or it’s less intense or my doctor said with this medication or these lifestyle changes it will improve
• Replace the thought with a more accurate one: This doesn’t mean being optimistic or denying anything that’s true. Instead it’s incorporating the evidence against the thought (not just for the thought which is what we tend to do). So a different thought might be: “It’s really unpleasant right now, but it might not always be this bad/constant.” (You choose a thought that works for you, this is just what might work for me.)

Image from: https://medium.com/spark-live/advantages-of-cognitive-behavioral-therapy-cbt-88bff0ab98d3

As a therapist, I am well-trained in CBT but I prefer to use Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) on myself and with clients, especially those with chronic pain/illness. There is no step-by-step way to challenge thoughts in ACT because we don’t challenge them, but here’s now I might work with them.

• Contact the present moment: ground myself my noticing and acknowledging my thoughts and feelings, while noticing what I can touch, taste, smell, hear, and see. (Here’s a guided version of this).
• Use my noticing self: the part of me that notices everything and even notices my noticing. And the similar part of me that can put myself in my shoes on the days when my pain is less. (Here’s a guided version of how to learn to do this).
• Creating distance between myself and my thoughts: This might be noticing and naming the thought. It might be reminding myself that my brain is just trying to help me and saying “thank you mind.” This might be just watching my thoughts come and stay and go in their own time (guided version of this one is here).
• Accepting my experiences: particularly physical and emotional pain that I might be going through. This could be actual sensations or emotions such as sadness or anxiety. For this I often just observe what the sensation/emotion looks like, where it is in my body, and so on. Then I send my breathe into the part of my body I feel it most intensely. Then I make some room for it, noticing that my body is bigger than it. Finally, I just allow it to be there without consuming me. (Guided version here).
• I connect with my values: what qualities of being are important to me? I know that compassion (for myself and others) is a big one that is often helpful in moments of pain, sadness, anxiety, etc. (Here’s an exercise on connecting with your values.)
• Taking an action to live by my values: So if we’re going with my above example/value than it might be doing some self-compassion work. (Here’s a guided practice). It could also be setting goals to make some of those lifestyle changes that might help. It doesn’t matter what the action is as long as it is rooted in your values. (podcast episode on how to do this available here).

Image from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tz4w0xrQfWI

So that’s it. A bunch of different ways to work with your chronicity thoughts so that hopefully you can improve your life and keep making the most of it!

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How I Use Pacing to Make the Most of My Day

When I moved across the province at the end of October, I did NOT do a good job pacing myself. Granted I had help for the physical moving but not the packing or unpacking or the putting together of furniture – that was all on me. I started out with the best intentions. I actually started packing by pacing. It was more the last minute stuff, the physically carrying items in the truck, and then everything after that was a disaster. And of course, that caused a flare (luckily it only lasted a week or so). However, that’s not what I normally do. Normally I pace myself, which is part of the reason why I can consistently be as active as I am.

Definitely explored my new neighbourhood as soon as I could.

What is pacing? Pacing is doing the same amount of activity everyday – whether it’s a “good” day or “bad” day. Now, this doesn’t mean you’re not listening to your body. There are of course days that Chronic Illness Warriors are going to need more rest. What it does mean is not over-exerting yourself on the good days and therefore creating more bad days. For example, I go for a walk everyday. It’s about an hour long. Even on days where I feel a bit more tired, I get my walk in. I also try to do some yin yoga everyday. It’s definitely movement that is easy to get in on days I don’t feel as good, because it is slower movements and stretching. But let’s say that I didn’t go for a walk today. Maybe I cleaned the house and did laundry instead. It’s about the same amount of activity – and maybe it’s more necessary or I have the thought that it’s more reasonable, depending on how I feel. Get what I mean?

Back in the summer, my pacing allowed me to be able to have a great visit with my friend.

There is A LOT of evidence that pacing works. Not just for me, but from other chronic pain and illness warriors. I’ve interviewed a ton of people on my podcast and have noticed that many of them use pacing. I attended the World Pain Summit earlier in the fall and 2 of the presenters, who were both people with lived experience (not healthcare professionals) talked about pacing and how it’s helped them. Heck even look at these search results on Google Scholar and you can see all the academic journal articles written on the subject. Pacing works – even with fatigue.

We did this by alternating activity with rest.

But how do you figure out what your pace is? Here are some key suggestions when it comes to pacing:

• Plan your day. We all have an idea of how we’re feeling when we get up in the morning, so having a plan of what sounds manageable for the day is a good place to start.
• Break up your activities and alternate at rest. For example, if you decide to clean the house, just do 1 room at a time and take a short break (30 minutes) in between.
• Prioritizing your activities. I align this with Values-Based Living. What is most important for me to do today? Why is it important? For me, my health is important (yes, even having a chronic illness) so doing some kind of movement that will keep me active and ultimately decrease pain (I’ve done many posts on movement for pain management) is essential.

Values-based living is engaging in activities that align with your values.

Even if you’re having thoughts that pacing seems impossible, just note that those are just thoughts. There are many people who can help you get started with pacing (occupational therapists, psychotherapists/counsellors, physical therapists, etc.) and the whole point is to improve your well-being so you can keep making the most of it!

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