Anxiety and depression thread (Please read OP)

StripedBoxers

Hope everyone is doing good.

I got two lots of bad news yesterday so a sleepless night for me resulting in serious grouchiness.

Why is it everything had to kick off as soon as my OT is leaving. Just bloody typical.

I can just see my illnesses (esp anxiety) getting bad again.

dublinman101

After more than 10 years on Lexapro (Escitalopram) I was struggling. After trying to increase the dose with no major improvement, my psychiatrist changed me to Prozax/Fluoxetine. I am 2.5 weeks into that.
I am finding it tough. I was feeling better in last few days but today was a tough day. I was panicky, expecting and waiting for something terrible to happen.
It can take up to 6 weeks for a SSRI to work so I want to just be patient and hope things resolve and if they don't I will work it out with my psychiatrist who I see in 6 days thankfully.
But in the interim I am stuggling.
It feels like that crutch of Lexapro, which was part of my system for so long, is gone. At the moment I feel crutchless. But I wasn't in great shape before I came off the Lexapro which is why we changed SSRI.
I do far more than just take medication. I keep fit. I do counselling. I practice CBT on my thoughts regularly. But medication seems to be part of the jigsaw for me.
Can people identify or sympathise with this. I am not looking for advice on which medication is better than another, I leave that the experts. I just need to know I am not alone.

mansize

Yes I'm a believer in my meds. It helps balance my brain, I had no major issues that caused my depression/anxiety so I'm all about the physiological

KaTEA

I have never gotten meds for my depression, whenever I go to the doctor for check ups and other things, I always get too nervous to ask about meds or help in general. And if I did, then my mam would have to buy them, etc. It would be too messy. But I think for when I start college, I probably will need them. Should I?? How much would they cost?

Tell me how

KaTEA wrote:

I have never gotten meds for my depression, whenever I go to the doctor for check ups and other things, I always get too nervous to ask about meds or help in general. And if I did, then my mam would have to buy them, etc. It would be too messy. But I think for when I start college, I probably will need them. Should I?? How much would they cost?

Depending on the brand and volume they can be quite expensive, No point suggesting otherwise.
However the important thing is to determine if you need them first and if so, which are best suited for your treatment. That's where you do need a medically trained professional to perform an assessment and to prescribe. If you do need meds, there are sometimes cheaper generic brands available.

Would it helps to write down what you'd like to say to your doctor and to hand it to him when you get there? It may be that some counselling may be sufficient or small doses of meds, you'll only find out once you start the journey.
I know it's difficult, good luck with it.

windy shepard henderson

dublinman101 wrote: »

After more than 10 years on Lexapro (Escitalopram) I was struggling. After trying to increase the dose with no major improvement, my psychiatrist changed me to Prozax/Fluoxetine. I am 2.5 weeks into that.
I am finding it tough. I was feeling better in last few days but today was a tough day. I was panicky, expecting and waiting for something terrible to happen.
It can take up to 6 weeks for a SSRI to work so I want to just be patient and hope things resolve and if they don't I will work it out with my psychiatrist who I see in 6 days thankfully.
But in the interim I am stuggling.
It feels like that crutch of Lexapro, which was part of my system for so long, is gone. At the moment I feel crutchless. But I wasn't in great shape before I came off the Lexapro which is why we changed SSRI.
I do far more than just take medication. I keep fit. I do counselling. I practice CBT on my thoughts regularly. But medication seems to be part of the jigsaw for me.
Can people identify or sympathise with this. I am not looking for advice on which medication is better than another, I leave that the experts. I just need to know I am not alone.

lexapro's can take ages , a number of weeks to kick in ,but seem to leave the system fairly quickly if not followed up , it seems the new program will take a similar length of time to kick in which leads to an awful wait at times

i cant identify with the new program that you are on but i can sympathizes with you if they are anything similar to the lexapros , the waiting game is annoying you might have to endure 4 good days 3 bad over the course of a couple weeks or what ever length of time it might take to settle in , the wait can be very frustrating

bridgettedon

Minor issue in comparison to some here but I have eaten so much today I actually feel ill. My aim this weekend is to not let food take over.

pew

I have to go back into counselling. I stopped in November, but right now I am not coping at all.

My job is making me depressed, stressed and anxious. I have been in and out of hospital and doctors because I have been so sick.

I'm miserable, I can barely hold up a conversation with someone. I can barely pretend to be happy.

I need to do something before I get worse.

La.de.da

Motivation and energy are seriously lacking the last while.
I've completely let the house go to wreck and ruin so much. It's disgraceful.
I'm not too far behind. Showering is an ordeal.

Any one any motivating tips on house works when your feeling like this.

Wilberto

La.de.da wrote: »

Any one any motivating tips on house works when your feeling like this.

I don't know how helpful this suggestion will be (probably not at all helpful so I apologise in advance for wasting your time) but I always used to find that having the radio on to listen to instead of the TV kind of encourages me to get up and do stuff while listening to it as, if you have the TV on, it takes all of your attention.

That said, I'd alway naturally prefer the radio over the TV any day so that could be just me really.


Like I said above though, I don't know if this will be any bit helpful but hopefully it will. It's just something simple, but maybe a bit too simplistic.

Tell me how

La.de.da wrote:

Any one any motivating tips on house works when your feeling like this.

I agree with what Wilberto said re radio.

Also some things that worked for me.
Telling myself I'm only doing one thing. Just one! That way it didn't seem so bad. When I had it done, on a good day I'd do just one more thing, and so on. On a bad day, I'd at least I'd have tried. That was enough of a success.

On a more practical note, rip your bedclothes off the bed; duvet cover and pillow cases and sheets. That'll take 30 seconds. If you're going to have it ready for that night, you've no other choice but to dress it again an so might as well use clean clothes.

Shint0

La.de.da wrote: »

Motivation and energy are seriously lacking the last while.
I've completely let the house go to wreck and ruin so much. It's disgraceful.
I'm not too far behind. Showering is an ordeal.

Any one any motivating tips on house works when your feeling like this.

Are you familiar with the Pomodoro Technique? It involves breaking tasks down into chunks of 25 minutes and taking a 5 minute break. If 25 minutes is too much to start with you could just set the stopwatch on your mobile for 10 minutes and see what you can get done in bursts of 10 minutes.

La.de.da

Shint0 wrote: »

Are you familiar with the Pomodoro Technique? It involves breaking tasks down into chunks of 25 minutes and taking a 5 minute break. If 25 minutes is too much to start with you could just set the stopwatch on your mobile for 10 minutes and see what you can get done in bursts of 10 minutes.

Funny you bring that up. I was looking on the net last night and saw this.

Do far today I've cleared and cleaned the kitchen worktops.
Bathroom surfaces.
And washed clothes. All in ten minute intervals.

Most I've done in weeks.

mansize

La.de.da wrote: »

Funny you bring that up. I was looking on the net last night and saw this.

Do far today I've cleared and cleaned the kitchen worktops.
Bathroom surfaces.
And washed clothes. All in ten minute intervals.

Most I've done in weeks.

Well done!

mickstupp

It's brilliant. Has gotten me through some deadlines and work stuff despite being in a terrible state. 20 minutes on, 10 minutes off, is the sweet spot for me. Get lots done that way.

Juxtapose

Aware are running an online CBT programme for anyone who might find it useful.

Limited to 200 extra places and fills up quick.

Gonna give it a go myself.

Aware wrote:

Aware ‏@Aware 15m15 minutes ago
Life Skills Online is for people who experience mild to moderate #depression, stress or #anxiety. http://www.aware.ie/help/life-skills-online-programme-information/

Lady is a tramp

Juxtapose wrote: »

Aware are running an online CBT programme for anyone who might find it useful.

Limited to 200 extra places and fills up quick.

Gonna give it a go myself.

Wow that looks great!

Gremlinertia

It's been a very tough few days.. Ordinary day to day things are big to manage but what has been in front of me the last while has felt insurmountable -between work problems, burglary at my place and the following negative thoughts i feel like i've been hit with a hammer a lot. Apologies for the rant..

Pablodreamsofnew

had a very bad panic attack last night. feel sh't and feel a bit worthless tbh. My body has reacted so badly to losing my baby in December. I've tried to push it out of my mind but keep having these random panic attacks. Waking up screaming in my sleep or waking up not being able to breath.

Gremlinertia

MrsYelnekoff wrote: »

had a very bad panic attack last night. feel sh't and feel a bit worthless tbh. My body has reacted so badly to losing my baby in December. I've tried to push it out of my mind but keep having these random panic attacks. Waking up screaming in my sleep or waking up not being able to breath.

Hi Mrs, i can only say i'm sorry. Have you anyone to talk to, be it friends or family?. Even if you have it might also be worth contacting a professional group if you are open to that, or a bereavement counsellor - my thoughts are with you.

Pablodreamsofnew

Gremlinertia wrote: »

Hi Mrs, i can only say i'm sorry. Have you anyone to talk to, be it friends or family?. Even if you have it might also be worth contacting a professional group if you are open to that, or a bereavement counsellor - my thoughts are with you.

Thanks, believe it our not I don't really talk about my feelings. My sister just had a baby too so don't want to make her experience negative. I have attended therapy about it.

Gremlinertia

MrsYelnekoff wrote: »

Thanks, believe it our not I don't really talk about my feelings. My sister just had a baby too so don't want to make her experience negative. I have attended therapy about it.

Ah i see, that's hard, would you consider talking to a counsellor or a group like Console? There's a list of supports at the top of the forum here, maybe something will suit, i have completely different issues but i utterly understand how hard it is to talk..

Pablodreamsofnew

Gremlinertia wrote: »

Ah i see, that's hard, would you consider talking to a counsellor or a group like Console? There's a list of supports at the top of the forum here, maybe something will suit, i have completely different issues but i utterly understand how hard it is to talk..[/QUOT

Yeah maybe. thanks x

Gremlinertia

You're always welcome here too Mrs, only suggestions, vent away here - glad to meet you, as it were..

okatied

Morning all,
I follow this thread a bit but have never posted before. I'm at the end of my tether this morning with my facial sweating. Ever since I started on Lithium my face sweats. The humidity this week has made it unbearable for me. Anyone else suffer from this? My psychiatrist says I can get botox but it's expensive and only temporary. Even if you don't have any tips, let me know that I'm not alone

Gremlinertia

okatied wrote: »

Morning all,
I follow this thread a bit but have never posted before. I'm at the end of my tether this morning with my facial sweating. Ever since I started on Lithium my face sweats. The humidity this week has made it unbearable for me. Anyone else suffer from this? My psychiatrist says I can get botox but it's expensive and only temporary. Even if you don't have any tips, let me know that I'm not alone

Far from alone. I sweat from my head and face very heavily, even in winter i will get 'flushes' it's so annoying, been referred to a dermatologist but it'll be quite a wait i believe

bridgettedon

I get very sweaty hands and feet. I have started using this http://m.boots.ie/h5/cat_hub?path=%2Fen%2FPerspirex-Original-Antiperspirant-Roll-On-25ml_22021%2F&unCountry=roi. It has reduced the sweating a lot and I've only been using it a few weeks. I haven't used it on my face but you only put it on at nighttime.

alanzo27

Feeling down and isolated today.

Not enjoying anything, just overslept. The only circle of people I thought were my friends I have come to realise are just using me when it suits them. Never do I get invited to just hang out or even have a chat, I'll get the rare text when they are 'stuck' for something or need something and I am a convenience to them as I am so close by and know about my vulnerabilities. They are neighbours that live close by, known them most of my life and I used to be around there very often, now it is very rare.

It's hard enough for me to pick up motivation to do anything, but when I do need a chat and call, they are always 'too busy'. Recently they went on holidays together and never even asked if I wanted to come, after being very supportive to them whenever it suited them. Even when I used to be around, they would always try to get rid of me after a while if they were going to one of their other friends.

I still talk to one of them, who does come to me occasionally.

Feel very upset about it as I really struggle to make friends and now I am trying to block them out but it's difficult. I also find it hard to say no to them as I know they are the only people I really interact with other than my family.

I've been going on long walks this week trying to cope with everything, college etc but it's very difficult. Anyway long post so I'll leave it there.

I'll try to be optimistic

Tell me how

alanzo27 wrote:

Feeling down and isolated today.

Hi Alonzo27. It's tough when such feelings start to fester.
A lot of the time it can be more our negative perception than fact but I appreciate that that's small consolation when you "believe" the negativity yo be real.

Could you confide in any of them how you feel about the way they treat you?

I've been where you are. Still feels like it at times. Right now I'm standing in an airport on a 2 weeks holiday trip on my own. Of course I'd love to have someone with me but it works for me now to do what I want as I want.

Try not to change to suit people who don't support you.

alanzo27

Tell me how wrote: »

Hi Alonzo27. It's tough when such feelings start to fester.
A lot of the time it can be more our negative perception than fact but I appreciate that that's small consolation when you "believe" the negativity yo be real.

Could you confide in any of them how you feel about the way they treat you?

I've been where you are. Still feels like it at times. Right now I'm standing in an airport on a 2 weeks holiday trip on my own. Of course I'd love to have someone with me but it works for me now to do what I want as I want.

Try not to change to suit people who don't support you.

First off, thanks for replying, Tell me how.

Several times I've tried to confide but I always back down due to fear of rejection.

I should probably try to get rid of these negative feelings but as I am always self doubting and thinking that way it proves a challenge.