Irritability and anger

[GoatsInATree]

I am so snappy lately and feel angry very easily.
I don't know if this can be a sign of depression?

I had major depression about 20 years ago, recovered somewhat after approximately 10 months. I certainly didn't feel this way then, in fact I didn't feel anything at all back then.

Any suggestions how I can deal with this (its not hormonal)?

Following. Post partum rage is common but I'm assuming that's not it as you say not hormonal?

Any chance you are menopausal?

OP you don't say how old you are but if you're around 40 and above you could well be entering peri menopause

It took me a while to realise that my ott rage was actually cyclical.

Peri and menopause can cause a while host of weird and unconnected symptoms

Sadly I seem to be getting mist of them and the worst ones are definitely irritability and anger.

HRT and lifestyle changes like wholefoods and exercise especially weight bearing can help.

*whole
*most

I am entering peri menopause then too...my mood gets worse and worse every year, very snappy too!

Just an update in case it helps anyone else.

I had a phone appointment with my GP last week and she has diagnosed dysthymia. I'd never even heard of it.
She's keen to precribe ADs but I'm very reluctant after my experience with side effects last time when I had a major depression. I tried several different ones, finally settling on Citalopram. It pretty much saved my life at that time but I was relieved to eventually get off it. GP says that the only new one that I haven't tried is ecitalopam but simila to cipramil.

It seems I've likely had it for decades, since my late teens.

Follow up appointment is in 4 weeks. In the meantime I'm going to try some lifestyle changes to see if it helps, GP not convinced.

If anyone has experience of dysthymia would like to hear your experience and especially any advice outwith the meds route!

I've never heard of it either but just googled it and a lot of those symptoms are very familiar to me too! Well done for taking steps and its great to have made such progress.

If you don't mind my asking, what side effects did you find you got from the meds?

Long lasting Side effects that I experienced were terrible nausea, sleeplessness and anxiety. The anxiety led to tooth grinding which is still an issue now and has cost a fortune in dentistry over the years.

Dr changed me over to sertraline which helped with the anxiety but made me totally demotivated and unable to get out of bed. So I went back to citalopram and stuck with it for about a year before tapering off.

For most people the worst of the side effects do go away, or at least diminish after the first couple of months.

Oh no! Anxiety is my worst issue so probably wouldn't work for me. Thanks so much for sharing.