Little Known Depression Symptoms

Many of us are aware of the common symptoms of depression, but several of the little known depression symptoms can go unassociated with depression and cause a person to be misdiagnosed by their primary care physician. That is why a mental health evaluation is very important if symptoms do not point to a medical condition. To make things worse, the symptoms can be so mild as not to interfere with the activities of daily living that they do not get reported until a suicide attempt is made or succeeded.

The most common symptoms of depression are usually obvious and include:

• inability to sleep/excessive sleep
• anxiety
• feelings of worthlessness
• thoughts of suicide or self-harm
• inability to function on a daily basis
• loss of appetite

Some of the lesser known symptoms include:

• excessive eating
• heavy drinking
• back pain
• headache
• nausea and vomiting
• irregular menstruation

The little known depression symptoms can lead to many other severe health problems on their own. The excessive eating can lead to obesity, high blood pressure, and heart disease. The heavy drinking is apt to lead to alcoholism, liver disease, heart disease, kidney failure, and a host of other health complications. The nausea and vomiting will lead to ulcers, throat and esophageal lesions and possible cancers. The other uncommon depression symptoms can become debilitating on their own. If the back pain and headache become severe enough a person may not be able to work or get out of bed.

With some types of depressive disorders these symptoms may come and go. As the depression lifts in  conditions like bipolar disorder and seasonal affective disorder the symptoms will lift as well. Since the symptoms come and go, they can either be ignored or accepted as a way of life. This can lead to a failure to seek professional help.

Without help the symptoms will reappear and perhaps worsen with suicide becoming a more and more viable option when a person is depressed.

Many times a person will go their doctor to complain about one or more of the little known depression symptoms and be given a prescription for that issue. If this goes on for long enough the person can end up with a half a dozen different pills that can actually worsen their depression symptoms through the myriad of side effects that they cause. Most primary care physicians are not trained in the field of mental health enough to put the string of symptoms together and diagnose a mental health condition.

Depression can strike for many reasons. It can be the result of an immediate cause (acute) such as divorce, death of a loved one, rape, physical abuse, etc. Other types of depression can be brought about as a combination of factors including a genetic predisposition for mental disease. Often it takes a combination of factors to cause the initial onset of depression. Afterward a person may suffer any or all of the little known depression symptoms or the major symptoms without any provocation.

Depression can take on many aspects and faces. It can be as mild as a ”case of the blues” that lasts just a few days or become so crippling that a person can be catatonic. Every manifestation of depression is scary because of the very real chance of suicide. Many people are ashamed to be labeled with a mental health disorder and will not seek treatment. There are dozens of medications that can be taken for depression. Usually they will take care of most of your symptoms, including the little known depression symptoms. As the symptoms lift, you will be able to function and interact with your family again.