https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z-IR48Mb3W0 Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z-IR48Mb3W0 This animation, by TED Ed, explains what clinical depression really is and how debilitating it can be. Like van Gogh wrote to his brother: “One feels as if one were lying bound hand and foot at the bottom of a deep dark well, utterly helpless.”
About 7 or 8 years ago, I was diagnosed with IBS. If you don’t know what it is, it stands for Irritable Bowel Syndrome and it’s a functional gastrointestinal disorder that’s estimated to affect 10% to 15% of the world population. In most cases, as far as I know, a simple change in diet allows one to keep the symptoms mostly at bay and have a normal life. For some unlucky few, it will fuck up their life in ways they can’t imagine. And I don’t mean quitting coffee like I had to do (I had an gigantic headache during the first two weeks after quitting) or develop a lactose intolerance (like I also did) that forced me to exclude even more food from my diet. I mean things like wanting to go out with your girlfriend and/or friends but choosing to stay at home because your bowl feels a little strange and that’s always a sign that acute pain or some other symptom is just around the corner. Or feeling outright tired for no reason other than being in pain. ...