I've done extensive internet research and even spoken with health professionals on this matter, but no one ever has a solid answer or advice on my situation.
I am a female, 28, ideal weight/height ratio, exercise 5 days per week, eat extremely healthy (mostly vegetarian, 3-4 meat/animal protein servings per week). I drink water, 1-2 cups of coffee some mornings, but no soda. I limit my intake of sugar and avoid processed foods. No medications, no history of mental illness, no record of mental illness in my genetic background.
I drink alcohol about once a week, when I go out on Saturday. If I have even a single glass of wine or beer, at some point the next day I will probably experience a short 'burst' or 'wave' of a very intense, debilitating depression. During that depression, I can't move or speak. If I'm doing something in public, like walking in a store, I'll probably slow down and stare at the same box of cereal on a shelf for a minute. But in about 30 seconds to a minute, it's over, and it's like it never happened- I feel back to normal, I resume walking, whatever.
But the problem is that I can't connect this solely to alcohol consumption, as I've definitely been experiencing this since I was a kid. It occurred less frequently, maybe 1-2 times every 2-3 months. But currently, I can experience this at least 1-2 times per month, and almost always 1-2 days after I've consumed alcohol. Simply not consuming alcohol, therefore, is not the solution. In an effort to prevent these waves, I went off of alcohol for two months, did a cleanse/detox diet and drank only water. While I felt great every other second of that time, I still experienced one very intense, horrible wave that lasted at least a full minute. If anything, I was so clear-headed from the cleanse diet that the depression actually felt worse. I'm not kidding.
All the research I've done has yielded information on a short-term depression that lasts 1-3 days. Nobody else seems to be experiencing this, so I'm hoping that posting this will help me find others that possibly know more about what's going on with me.
Clearly this isn't currently a long-term or lasting depression, but it's frightening for me during the 'burst/wave' because it comes out of nowhere, has happened to me for a long time, and no one can tell me anything about it. I'm concerned that it might be indicative of something more severe, or something that could eventually turn into a severe long-term depression.