Went running in the sun.  I started feeling a panic attack coming on right before we left to go jogging, and I’m still feeling the edges of one.  However it feels like I can control it today.  For a while (since the beginning of the year) I’ve been attempting to control my general stress levels by running more often, taking vitamin D3 and drinking more tea and water.  

I’ve been taking from 2000 to 4000 I.U.’s of vitamin D3 daily.  Normally I only take 2000, but lately I’ve been taking 4000 on days when I feel like I could lose control.  I’ve also been drinking around 2 cups of this tea that is high in phytoestrogen called Mother’s Milk from Traditional Medicinals.  It’s normally used for increased lactation, but many of the herbal ingredients are also phytoestrogens.  Phytoestrogens basically increase the level of estrogen for some areas of your body, but in all honesty not much is known.  It may be purely mental, but the vitamins, running and tea seems to be helping.  

For the two weeks prior to today, Robey and I hadn’t been running at all.  I wasn’t as consistent in taking vitamin D and at one point we had run out of the tea I had been drinking.  Attempting to get back on to the regimen has been slow going as it’s been accompanied with recovering from this more intense bout of depression.  

Before I started doing these things Robey and I had been arguing a fair amount about the stupidest stuff.  Life was much more stressful from October through December.  That was also when I started doing translation work, so I’m certain that’s part of why things calmed down for a bit between January and early February.  This is not to say that this is the effective solution to my current stress and depression issues.  It seems to be working, but only more time will tell.

Up Next Time: Completing my ics file function