I think my hormones are going crazy. What can I do?

Hi, I hope you will find this helpful.

Depression, clinical depression, is a medical condition that requires treatment in one way or another.  Clinical depression is often triggered by stress, grief, trauma, or adversity of some kind but can occur without the presence of those things.  Although it may often be triggered by prolonged stress, grief, trauma, etc...it is not generally believed to be directly caused by those things and can occur seemingly without a cause.  The brain/body physiology that contributes to this state/medical condition is not completely understood.

The term "depression" is sometimes used loosely.  In the vernacular, informal meaning, it refers to feelings of sadness or "the blues" one feels that are directly associated with, and/or about some specific event or situation, such as money problems or the death of a loved one, for example.  Those feelings are normal.  However, if they linger beyond a certain time frame (not a specific time frame), cause dysfunction in other areas of life (no specific definition for that), and/or become so that one feels that they cannot cope, then it becomes a medical/psychiatric problem.  It can be difficult to tell the difference between depression and normal moodiness and depression in children and teens may look different than depression in adults.  Clinical depression, bipolar disorder, post-partum depression, and the like, are serious mood disorders that require treatment and can occur in anyone including children and teens.  For depression to be diagnosed as "clinical depression" or some other form of psychological/medical depression, like dysthymia for example, certain criteria have to be met and symptoms can range from mild to severe & include some of the complaints you are describing.  The evaluation & assessment of depression symptoms should be done by a medical professional; signs & symptoms can be difficult to assess of & by oneself, an objective professional is better able to do this & can prescribe other treatments besides the self-help strategies and techniques one can do on his/her own.  This is especially important if depression is severe enough to prevent a person from being able to help his or herself.

Symptoms of depression include, but are not limited to, the following: difficulty concentrating, making decisions, fatigue and decreased energy; feelings of guilt, worthlessness, and/or helplessness, hopelessness and/or pessimism; insomnia, early-morning wakefulness, or excessive sleeping; irritability, restlessness, & persistent sad, anxious, or "empty" feelings.

It is thought that clinical depression & other mood disorders are caused by an imbalance or dysfunction in neurotransmitters (brain hormones) &/or other hormones (such as sex hormones or other gland regulating hormones). Check out the following links:

WebMD Depression Center:

http://www.webmd.com/depression/default.htm

WebMD depression symptoms, warning signs, types, & complications:

http://www.webmd.com/depression/guide/depression-s...

With all that said, depression is not always a diagnosis and condition in and of itself.  Sometimes it is a symptom of something else, such as another medical problem/issue or it has a physical cause.

Physical sources of depression include (not limited to):

Nutritional deficiencies (i.e. low sodium, B-12 deficiency & other vitamin/mineral deficiencies), lack of sunshine, hypothyroidism, hyperthyroidism, fibromyalgia, poor adrenal function, excessive pituitary hormone production, low levels of pituitary hormones, high levels of parathyroid hormone, hypoglycemia, food allergies, sleep disturbances, influenza, mononucleosis, diabetes, chronic pain, chronic inflammation.

Other links to check out:

http://www.alternativementalhealth.com/articles/de...

http://health.howstuffworks.com/mental-health/depr...

http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/depression/DS0017...

Bottom line, you may need to see a doctor if it doesn't improve on its own, gets worse, or self-help strategies don't help-you don't want to go on like this and it may have a simple solution. Good luck to you and I hope you're feeling better soon.

100% normal - don't worry about it. When your hormones start kicking in you will feel all kinds of new things going on in your body. If you can chat to a friend or an older relative that you trust you'll find that most teens go through exactly the same thing.

I'm not trolling, you should have sex or get a girlfriend