Before I dive right into the answer, I want to give a back story. Okay, fine, it’s fish oil. But the story would’ve given it away so really I had no choice. Back to the story!
My best friend has sworn by fish oil for as long as I can remember. He started taking it a few years ago because he had heard of some of the great benefits to taking fish oil and thought he’d give it a try. I remember shortly after he started taking it, he talked me into trying it as well, explaining a summarized version of the health benefits. (I won’t do it justice if I try and list all the benefits, so you’re better off googling.) I thought, what the hell. I have taken it for the past few years now on and off. Once I moved to Austin and started rooming with him, I started up again, as he convinced me even though I may not “see” the benefits, they’re there.
A couple months ago my friend mentions that he had been feeling blah for the past week and had remembered that he had ran out of fish oil and had forgotten to get some. I thought it was curious that because he had been feeling blah, he attributed it to not having taken any fish oil so I inquired. He said he noticed that if he didn’t take the fish oil, his mood was a little off. Generally speaking, he’s a pretty positive guy, not usually moody. And as I thought about it, I had remembered thinking a couple days prior that he did seem to be in an off mood. Sure enough, he started taking the fish oil, and he was back to his usual self.
Cut to present day: I usually take fish oil every day. I definitely tend to forget to take it every day, but for the most part. Last week, I felt particularly bitchy. As we’ve discussed, I can be a monster, but I felt this was a little different. Some days I do feel my mood can be a bit all over the place. I’m sure most people have their off days and maybe some more than others, which makes them feel crazy. I certainly have mood roller coasters often which leads me to think I’m crazy, but I can usually trace the mood-coaster back to what triggered it. Usually. But last week, I just felt terrible. I was all over the place with my emotions, going from one extreme to the next. I love you, I hate you, I can’t live without you, I hate myself. Seriously, I really felt bipolar. While bipolar does run in my family, I’ve never literally felt bipolar before, so this was new. I kept trying to pinpoint it, each time. Each morning I’d wake up and try to be in a good mood, and sometimes I was, but then something would happen, or not happen and I just all of sudden felt like shit and felt moody and like I hated the world. It was like I was a 13 year old girl all over again. And then I’d feel nostalgic and reminisce about friends and family I missed. Then wish I were on a deserted island. Unfortunately, this went on for about a week.
At some point towards the end of the week, I had realized I hadn’t been taking my fish oil. Simply because I’m in a rush in the mornings and forget to take it. I remembered the incident with my friend from a couple months and thought, what the hell (again lol), and started taking it again. After a couple days, I felt normal again. I didn’t quite realize it at first, but I remember I had that slow light bulb of ‘wait a minute, I feel pretty good about life right now… hmm, and I had a good day yesterday’. I made sure to keep taking the fish oil and took it all this past week. Aside from normal day to day events, my mood seemed to be relatively stable and I felt good about life in general. So, I decided to start keeping a checklist/diary about it. I just started today so I don’t have much to report other than what I already have. I did some research today and found a couple articles that pointed to fish oil being a good supplement to take with depression, bipolar disorder and anxiety disorders. I want to keep track of days I have taken it and how I felt and days I haven’t taken it and how I felt and see if I notice a difference.
Quite honestly, I don’t believe that fish oil is the answer. I don’t believe there is one answer for life. How could there be?! There are so many variables and experiences. But so far, I noticed that I feel better with fish oil for my mental stability so I want to see if it is a placebo affect or the real thing. And if there is a natural supplement that is good for me AND keeps me sane, I am all for trying it!
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