The Physical Symptoms of Depression – Do You Know What They Are?

With each new year the number of people who suffer from depression grows. It affects nearly 10 million Americans every year. Most people think of depression as a mental problem affecting the brain only but that is not true. Depression sufferers can also experience physical symptoms of depression that manifest themselves as pain and discomfort.

Misdiagnosis of the underlying depression can be an issue for many people who exhibit the physical symptoms of depression. Doctors, when presented with these physical symptoms, will test for and diagnose a physical illness and prescribe treatments to treat these symptoms not knowing or understanding that the symptoms are hiding a more insidious disease.

As you can see from the list of the physical symptoms of depression it can be relatively easy to misdiagnose these symptoms as being caused by something other then depression.

1. Headaches - Depression sufferers are more likely to suffer from headaches then the general population. These headaches can reach migraine strength in a depressed person.

2. Chest Pains - A tight chest, which can be a sign of heart problems, can also be a common occurrence with depression. It is important to get such pain checked by a doctor to rule out a life threatening heart condition.

3. Sleep Disorders - People who suffer from depression can have either problems going to sleep (insomnia) or they sleep for excessively long periods of time. People with depression will also have a hard time even getting out of bed.

4. Digestive System Issues - Depression can cause all sorts of digestive tract issues including constipation, diarrhea and nausea.

5. Extreme Fatigue - The majority of people who suffer from depression also suffer from perpetual exhaustion. This fatigue relates back to the sleep disorders and many depressed people never feel rested no matter how much sleep they get.

6. Back Pain and Muscle Aches - Muscle aches and pains can be greatly intensified for people who suffer from depression.

7. Appetite and Weight Issues - People with depression can experience either a lack of appetite or intense cravings for certain foods. This can be accompanied by either weight gain or weight loss.

Another issue for people who suffer from more severe forms of depression is their depression may be even harder to diagnose because they can also suffer from delusions and hallucinations. These hallucinations and delusions make it increasingly more difficult to diagnose if they indeed are suffering from physical symptoms of depression or making them up.

Another thing to remember is that many people will have a hard time believing that they suffer from depression and will attribute their physical symptoms of depression to some other form of physical illness. There are also many people and cultures that place a social stigma on anyone with a mental illness. It is therefore easier to for depression sufferers to accept and treat a more benign physical ailment then it is to deal with issues of the mind.

Unless the depression itself is dealt with the physical symptoms of depression will remain. With successful therapy, medication or a combination of both to resolve the depression the physical symptoms of depression will be resolved. Unfortunately it does not work the other way. Treating the physical symptoms will do nothing to resolve the depression causing the symptoms in the first place. If a depressed individual is to see any relief from their physical symptoms of depression they must first treat their depression.

Andrew Bicknell is a writer and the owner of Depression and You. Visit his website for more information about recognizing the physical symptoms of depression and other depression disorders.