Sam; First of all the depression issue. I lost my wife to Cancer a few years ago: Have Crohns Disease and a lot of my large and small bowel removed, loss of lung function due to asbestos damage and type 2 diabetes, so the body is not always in a good pain-free state and full of energy, in fact just the opposite most days. I did suffer from depression for a while. That said I myself are doing really well emotionally now.
You have to learn to disassociate your emotional state from what is happing to the body. You are not your body. I need to stress that fact "YOU ARE NOT YOUR BODY"; you are far more than that. It is the body that has the problems not you at the core of your being.
I would suggest you try getting in touch with your inner being/unstoppable unbounded spirit/ or whatever name you want to give it through mindfulness meditation. Just sit and concentrate on slow deep breathing, because unfounded fears of the future and memories of difficult past events vanish when you do this. You can not breathe in the future nor breathe in the past, so as you focus on your breath the only thing you can focus on is moment by moment is the now, the present moment.
With each fresh moment, we are at the cusp of new possibilities and new beginnings as we are experiencing an unbound void within us that is not defined by edges and is limitless When we can learn to spend some time each day not thinking about the difficulties we can all face on a daily bases this gives the emotional swings some respite.
Not only that but meditation has been proven to have a lot of health benefits both on a physical and mental level as it puts you in a calm relaxed state. Any natural healing response your body has will kick in much better when the body is not under stress.
That or get involved in charity work, it is difficult to become too despondent about your own situation when you are helping others that are in some ways a lot worse off then you are, and if active you do not have the time to think about yourself.
The other thing to consider is that any change in our health that is a change to us or effects how well we can do things can affect us all the same way. When we can no longer do the same things we could it feels like a loss of part of us, just like a death we have to go through a grieving period, as we are losing something a part of what we perceive ourselves to be.
In time we all come out the other side just because we are walking in shadow it just means the sun is shining behind us. In fact, there is light all around we just do not see it at times, just because the sky fills with clouds it does not mean that the sun is no longer there, as eventually in time the clouds aways disperse and allow joy back into our lives.
As for trying to resolve the problems through medical intervention the only thing that has helped me is a good quality ginseng supplement taken every four hours on a daily bases plus getting a lot more active. Emotions follow what is happening in the body a silent message from our nervous system affecting the emotional centres in the brain, so a good work out makes the body feel good which makes the mind and the emotions feel good.
Hang on in there Sam there is always light at the end of the tunnel.
