I have a suggestion for the mood tracker. Could you make it into an electronically fillable form? It would make it easier for those of us who are trying to go paperless.
I don't think that you necessarily need to believe in god. God as a philosophical construct can be useful to people who do believe. Someone to dump all your troubles on someone to confess to, all seeing, all knowing all powerful all loving. Great idea and more power to those who can believe.
But such a belief, for those of us who are rational(ha, ha, listen to me a nut case talking to other nutters about rationality), is just not possible. And feeling guilty about it is not productive. When my brother committed suicide (over 40 years ago), I wished that I could believe in an afterlife. But it really didn't seem to help my sister ( a good Christian) much.
What I think you need to believe in is yourself. Your sight, your knowledge, your power and your love and lovability.
I am on it, 75 mg. I spent most of my life battling depression without meds or therapy. was severely depressed as a teenager and after my brother committed suicide but mostly have managed to survive with positive self talk and a very supportive husband. Two years ago, I was under a lot of stress both personally and at work and my dr suggested effexor. It was amazing. After about 3 weeks, I was feeling better, not drugged or high like I feared, but NORMAL!!! funny thing I noticed was that colours actually seemed brighter and I have always worn browns and beiges. I found myself shopping for clothes attracted to brighter colours that I normally not wear.
i went off it this spring and thought I was OK but but the end of August I fell off the cliff, suidicidal, the whole bit... It has taken from Sept 1 to now to get back to some level of sanity. so I don't know. I went off without consulting dr and still have never had therapy. went back on without consulting dr ( seeing her tomorrow to discuss therapy.
I hate taking meds, even aspirin. see my cross post under the effexor heading. Don't go off the meds until not only are things stable but you have sorted yourself out completely. I had a really scary episode doing so and I thought i was doing OK until a minor remark ( son's in laws told the nanny they though I was too fat to be trusted in the pool alone with my grandkids) sent me into a totally suicidal tailspin. It also took a lot longer for the meds to start to work again after going back on them and I am still not OK.
Lady, Thanks for the positive feedback in both this and the other posting. I needed it.
Went to see my dr today and she was off sick. Got more meds from her fill in Told him I was just coming back from feeling suicidal. He talked to me a bit and gave me the name of a psychologist. But I felt depressed when I got back and had a 2 hr nap.
I also have recommendations from my daughter's former prof. I just have to decide if I will take the leap and call someone. I am not very good at talking to people.
If you are deciding to try to find a therapist, how do you determine if a psychiatrist or psychologist would work best for you?
Other than the lack of an MD, what is the difference their approaches?
Do psychologists just do a version of the 16 week self help program except that they talk you through it?
How do I find out what I need when i don't feel like I have time to "shop around"?
I also have thyroid problems (Hashimoto's disease). am on 1.25 mg of thyroxine. If you ever see a weight jump for no reason and you aren't hungry at the same time, get your thyroid levels checked. If they are at the low end of normal, up them anyway. You want to stay mid range.
Sometimes it is hard to sort out which symptoms come from which. If you feel normal again when your TSH is at the high end of normal, then it was probably the thyroid doing you in. I sometimes feel like a chemical soup. I have also had severe iron deficiency anaemia which again gives the same symptoms of fatigue. Fortunately my GP did a PhD in Blood chemistry before becoming a doctor. I am 59 (60 in a couple of weeks)
You can't just get over stuff. Kids are a big responsibility and hard to cope with at the best of times. If you are prone to depression it can be worse. And not being able to cope makes you guilty and so on down the negative spiral.
But having them can also keep you from giving in to the overwhelming desire to just go to bed, pull the covers over your head and stay there forever.
My kids once kept me(unknowingly) from suicide. They were 1 and 2 1/2 at the time. I was going to put them to bed, use a pillow to muffle the sound and use my husband's rifle which had a short stock because it was his as a child. I was going to do it in a room that had a door that jammed that they couldn't open, so that they would not be the ones to find me.I was ready to carry it out when I realized that I had left the older one in the bathtub alone. The danger I had left him in shocked me out of my plan.
What I am trying to say is work the program and make it work for the kids. Don't discard them or push them away. They need you. The rejection will hurt them and they will feel responsible.
hope they don't have to admit you gabs. But if they do you know it will because they feel they need to. And Lady, if you have a time (Easter time (Greenwich mean minus 5 hours) you usually post let me know and I will try to be there. It may be the blind leading the blind but we all can help.
We are all of us afraid.
It’s been a while since you were active on this site. Please extend your session below
You have been logged out due to inactivity.
Please sign back in.
We use cookies to help us learn about how our platform is used and how we can improve your experience. To
learn more please see our Privacy Policy and Terms of Use.
