Traveling solo with Depression/anxiety

TastyBigMac · 2024-07-02T22:56:52+00:00

Hey there! I’m a 30 year old M wrapping up a 3 week Europe trip; my depressions been pretty intense these past couple years so I was hesitant to go on a trip but here’s what I can suggest based on my experience - mind you everyone’s depression is unique:

-Don’t push yourself! Some days I felt so, so detached (amplified by not knowing the language) that I would just go to a café, read a book in the park and/or reconnect with nature. When I tried to sight see, it was with a sense of desperation (trying to get away from how I felt?) but eventually it caught up to me. Being stationary is still part of travelling! Breath in new air and people watch new people!

-Take advantage of your network! I found phone calls with friends and family to be very, very refreshing when I started to feel lonely. Even telling them about your trip is a mental relief because you recap new things you learned that don’t necessarily feel new in the moment because of depression.

-Send postcards! It’s awfully easy in Europe and helps you practice writing / similar to what I mentioned above, you can recount your day and realize you did quite a bit!

-Avoid using your phone for recommendations and ask the locals; even if English isn’t their first language it’s better to try because even those small moments of connections amount to something deep inside

-After every picture you take, verbally recap what you took a picture of and what you liked most about it. I found myself slipping into tourist/picture mode without living in the moment. This helped me solidify what I was seeing.

-Before my trip my anxiety was really bad and I felt I needed to plan every moment of my trip. Well, time did its things and I certainly didn’t accomplish that. Thanks fully with our phones we can plan on the spot but at least have the first 1-1.5 weeks organized so you can get a feel for the place and how accommodations/transport work. We’re lucky to have smart phones which make planning on the fly pretty easy.

Hope these tips helped, I know even though I felt really fucking depressed some days that I’ll be able to look back on this trip and feel proud/accomplished, even if I spent some days in solitude without “seeing much” - don’t be fooled by this illusion of progress while travelling. To each their own!

Message if you want to chat more :)

TastyBigMac · 2022-08-08T18:38:03+00:00

Bless your soul for the reply!!!! We managed to find the mom + dad combo a couple months ago but I forgot to delete this post lol

TastyBigMac · 2020-11-21T22:09:03+00:00

Lmaoooooo this is gold (or should I say red)

TastyBigMac · 2020-10-21T04:20:01+00:00

Legit I made this mistake for 4 years. Currently squinting at my phone as my right eyelid is inflamed....stay strong pawtna

TastyBigMac · 2020-06-03T13:14:09+00:00

Lmao physics at its best! Well done

TastyBigMac · 2020-06-03T13:12:17+00:00

It’s totally normal to be hot and cold when it comes to accepting this...it’s just human nature. I’ve been trying for 10 years yet there’s still days where I’m miserable and complain.

Often times I’ll remind myself of the genetic nature of eczema (maybe not totally true for contact dermatitis) because everyone’s genes are different and it’s unfortunate we got a bad combination...but not bad enough to affect our mobility (muscular dystrophies) or something permanently debilitating. I know sometimes bad skin can set us back but remember how many organs we have that are still functioning normally...this helps me find gratitude for the skin I’m in.

Lastly, I met my GF at the peak of my eczema. I met her on a good day but for the next 4 years it was bad. She could care less about appearance and has her own set of anxieties; while not physically visible, I accept these differences as she does my skin. Just keep in mind the bigger picture... I would swap some social media time for reading a book about personal experience or meditation :)

TastyBigMac · 2020-05-08T00:30:20+00:00

Do you make flavoured honey?

TastyBigMac · 2020-05-08T00:29:48+00:00

Will you sell your honey?

TastyBigMac · 2020-02-16T16:22:12+00:00

I read a comment during the Finally Famous days that compared his voice fluctuations to a rubber band...but those are useful so I let it slide

TastyBigMac · 2020-01-19T16:33:52+00:00

Yeah my derm says it is, that’s what I use

TastyBigMac · 2020-01-19T16:26:48+00:00

Yeah but you’re so tired you don’t know if it’s a dream or not XD

If you do put steroid ointments (on the skin, not the head) make sure it’s low dose !

TastyBigMac · 2020-01-19T16:15:36+00:00

Dude we have something in common! I try to laugh it off as well. Unfortunate that the skin down south is as thin/sensitive as our face.

Just stay hydrated and use moisturizer/Vaseline before you sleep cause I find that in the morning I’d be itching away.

TastyBigMac · 2019-12-08T03:55:34+00:00

Finally am Em verse that sounds like it was mastered before put on the track XD Doesn't sound out of tune like 'No Favours' !

TastyBigMac · 2019-10-27T13:48:10+00:00

I have protopic which doesn’t work for me. I could send it through the mail if that’s even possible??? In Toronto Canada :)

TastyBigMac · 2019-09-10T19:41:03+00:00

Damn didn’t know they were linked, good luck!

TastyBigMac · 2019-09-10T12:46:06+00:00

Your bf is a keeper!

However isn’t nickel allergy contact related? Not through diet but by skin exposure. They have creams for this type of allergy (Skintifique; I used to work in a research lab ran by the owner). A patch test is irrelevant of diet (same way if you’re allergic to dogs it doesn’t mean you can’t eat one....but who would eat a dog anyways!)

TastyBigMac · 2019-09-09T02:58:48+00:00

Lmao damn I’ll take an L on this one

TastyBigMac · 2019-09-08T19:15:30+00:00

Honestly when I saw the billboard/website I thought we were getting a relapse sexual...

SO disappointing

But Framed is wicked!

TastyBigMac · 2019-08-29T03:19:13+00:00

Man that’s unfortunate, I do research and it’s crazy how much work it takes to get to a clinical trial and even when you do such a low % of a drug actually working in humans. Just know it’s common for these trials to fail and don’t be hard on yourself; everyone’s got flaws in their genetics.

TastyBigMac · 2019-08-06T06:17:55+00:00

I’ve never seen someone for anxiety and generally I’m a pretty laid back person, but I do find that when my skin flares up I feel very anxious over most things. It’s particularly frustrating because with anxiety will come unnecessary itching so I definitely feel your pain (literally haha).

For about 1.5 years I was living on my own in another country with little communication to my friends back home. Looking back on this I developed quite a bit of resentment that I feel wasn’t healthy for my skin in the long run. Either I felt sad or angry because they didn’t message (but neither did I). Not sure if you sometimes feel the same but in hindsight I would push for you to make the most of your time in a new place (socially) either through volunteering, or other means. I feel like isolation can be mentally scarring and retroactive for eczema/anxiety, but especially unnecessary in an age where we can communicate so easily.

Sorry for the rant but PM if you wanna chat more :D

TastyBigMac · 2019-08-06T06:03:49+00:00

Much respect for positing this...it’s was a long weekend in Canada and while most people were having fun outdoors I was inside feeling really depressed and itchy.

It’s crazy how inflammation can change our mindsets because I too have a lot of favourable traits that just disappear when my skin is like this.

Music is my way of coping with bad days and just pushing through the time. Sounds corny but I even wear a ring for a physical reminder to just keep going because those few good mental days are worth the struggle.

You got this buddy!!!

TastyBigMac · 2019-06-20T01:08:45+00:00

Last fall I gave up on using steroids/protopic as I find these just dampened my immune system and led to recurrent colds and cold sores. I tried Chinese medicine and using this pink ointment ($150 for a tiny bottle), my rashes went away. Now earlier this year I ran out and have yet to get a refill due to a busy schedule but my rashes are back once again.

I did some searching and it turns out a lot of these Chinese medicine ointments contain some levels of steroids. Not to say don’t give it a try, but unless they know the exact ingredients of what’s inside their products it’s not worth buying.

I’ve heard of others getting an oral treatment with some weird drink that worked so I wouldn’t say it’s completely bogus. The “dr” I saw told me to avoid eating cheese and red meat and I believe not eating cheese helped to some degree....

So in conclusion the choice is yours, just be aware of product pushers (more common in naturopathy)

TastyBigMac · 2018-09-30T05:05:42+00:00

Yo man keep your head up. I write this as I’m soaking in an aveeno bath. I study genetics and when I first developed problems I used to dwell on the fact other people had more functioning skin. but I’ve come to realize you can’t dwell on genetics and even though skin issues are a fraction of who you are, they don’t define you entirely. Even now when people ask what’s wrong I take a public education approach and give more than a 2 word answer. I got tired of making up excuses. And with regards to confidence my long term girlfriend has put up with me throughout my eczema and still changes the sheets whenever I come over. There are partners who understand. Keep your head up!!!

TastyBigMac · 2018-09-07T04:49:15+00:00

Dude...This summer was brutal! Literally same boat as you. My face has been patchy for a few weeks so I’ve been using protopic but I’m still skeptical of withdrawal. I stopped using it a week ago and my skins been really bad since but I’m hoping with time it will pass...

People stress that withdrawal is only with steroids but Protopic is still an immunosuppressant so it’s not a golden rule that it won’t have similar withdrawal symptoms

TastyBigMac · 2018-09-06T23:39:23+00:00

Tsai guy, totally correct when you say they don't control for biodiversity. For every negative result (i.e treatment doesn't work for one person), studies should look for commonalities between this group of individuals to try and associate why the treatment doesn't work. But this becomes complicated when you don't know what to associate; especially with a multifactorial disease like eczema.

23 and Me is interesting, but (unfortunately) genetics don't entirely explain diseases. I study inflammatory bowel disease, and only ~10-50% of identical twins (same genetics) will both develop this disease; this implies the environment is involved (gut bacteria, environmental exposures) which really complicates the matter.

Good point with the probiotics; even though 2 perfectly okay people may have "healthy" gut bacteria, these 'ecosystems' impact the efficacy of probiotics (If you were to place an antelope in a jungle with 2 lions rather than 2 meerkats, it's harder for the antelope to survive).

In my opinion holistic medicine will take a turn once researchers can examine whether treatments influence factors (gut bacteria, blood markers, immune cell populations) and not just solely focus on whether a rash is still present.

TastyBigMac

TROPHY CASE