[quote]Plowman wrote:
“Even then I was kind of candy coating how bad I had felt.”
This is not uncommon with men. And if a marine tells you he “may” be depressed, he’s probably absolutely miserable. In fact, he’s likely been miserable for even longer than he realizes. His description sounds like a high-functioning depression. Life becomes an act of willpower.
And willpower is a wonderful thing. But to the degree that it equips and sustains a denial of persistent, deeper symptoms, willpower is foe, not friend.
Relative to T levels, the ADAM test is helpful. On forums like this, our first instinct is to shout, “It’s low T! That’s it!” But as a diagnostic, “low energy” by itself is next to meaningless.
If a T level check is unhelpful on your record, well… that would be a sad truth for all men in uniform. I’m guessing what you don’t want is evidence that you sought help for depression. I understand.
Have you tried natural sleep aids of any kind, such as melatonin? [/quote]
I have a gigantic jar of melatonin in my bathroom. Works really good for a couple of days, but I feel I build up a quick tolerance to it. I only take it a couple times a month now.
I’m pretty tight with the doc. I think I’ll approach this from the angle that I’m gaining bodyfat suddenly and that my energy level is low.
It’s funny what you said about Marines at the top. I was at the dentist a couple of years ago and the dentist wanted to check a tooth to see if it was dead. He hooked up this electric shock thing and told me to tell him if I felt anything. It buzzed a little and got REALLY sore, but I didn’t say anything because I was expecting a finger-in-the-socket type of shock.
The doc took the thing off the tooth and said it was dead since I didn’t feel anything. I said “well, it hurt but I didn’t feel a shock”. He said “you damn Marines. You took this to level 10 and didn’t say anything. It wasn’t supposed to shock you”. The tooth was fine.
Marines have a habit of not complaining.