How Untreated Depression Can Harm Your Physical Health

It’s understandable that depression might sneak up on you. Perhaps you’re feeling in a bit of a low mood after changes at work or the loss of a relationship. But before long, that mood can turn into full-blown depression.

Leaving your depression untreated is a big problem, though. It has lasting impacts on both your mental and physical health. You may feel reluctant to seek treatment for your depression, fearing that you might have to take medications for the rest of your life. Fortunately, we can help treat your depression — often without drugs. The providers at Nutura Clinic explain more about how depression can impact your physical health and alternative ways we can treat it.

The symptoms of depression

If you have depression, the first thing to realize is that you’re far from alone. The National Institute of Mental Health estimates that 7.1% of the U.S. population over the age of 18 deals with depression.

Some of the symptoms that you may have depression can include:

• Feeling sadness and emptiness
• Losing interest in formerly-enjoyed activities
• Having low energy
• Fatigue
• Lower sex drive
• Sleep disturbances, including insomnia or sleeping too much
• Cognitive difficulties, like poor memory or thinking more slowly

It’s important to get screened for depression if you have any of these symptoms because they can often indicate a bigger problem.

The physical effects of depression

Depression doesn’t just affect your mood and energy level; it can also take a toll on your health. Some of the physical risks of depression include:

• Arthritis
• Heart disease/heart attack
• Stroke
• Diabetes
• Chronic pain
• Cancer

In truth, depression is often a major warning sign that something is wrong within the body. Sometimes, depression is a symptom of another health problem, and it’s difficult to determine which one came first. In cases like cancer, we know that the disease often causes depression. And who wouldn’t feel depressed if they were told they had a life-threatening disease?

In many cases, depression is actually a major wake-up call that you need to address your lifestyle. 

Screening for and treating depression

Many people feel reluctant to bring up their depression with a doctor. They expect to be told that they need to take medication for the rest of their lives. In many cases, they (or someone they know) have already tried medication for depression and found that it only provided temporary or limited relief or that the side effects of the medication were too much to bear.

But bringing up your feelings is an important step to take in preventing depression from doing too much damage to your health. At Nutura Clinic, we take a different approach to treating depression.

First, we do a comprehensive assessment of your symptoms, trying to get a well-rounded picture of all the factors at play in your individual case. If we determine that you have depression, you may feel surprised that we might opt to try other interventions before moving to medication.

Dietary factors and lifestyle modifications are some of the simple — yet often quite effective — recommendations that we make. Often, making these types of changes is enough to give you relief from your depression, as well as to reduce your risk of other health problems and diseases.

If you suspect that you might suffer from depression, you owe it to your health to get screened today. Leaving depression untreated can have serious consequences, but treating it is often easier than you think. Call the providers at Nutura Clinic today, or request an appointment online.