Anxiety and depression thread (Please read OP)

Wilberto

Tell me how wrote: »

There's 45 yr olds reading this and wishing they were 40 and 50 yr olds wishing they were 45 and so on.

Age is genuinely just a number.

I remember reading a tweet from Richard Branson there a while back :

"How old would you be if you didn't know what age you were?"


I like it and it has always stuck with me.

Hugo Stiglitz

I feel like I'm still in my early 20s. It was about that age that things went wonky. I wonder if that's why.

Vela

Hey peeps

I'm not looking for medical advice (have loads of it!), just some personal experience if possible re: Lamictal.

I started on Lamictal to manage PTSD/mood stablisation/anxiety&neuropathic pain a month ago, after having no joy with various meds on and off over the years (aside from Benzos as needed). I'm reluctant to give up on it straight off the bat because it sounded like it might finally be the holy grail for me, but I've had some not so great side effects already. Insomnia is a big one and I was on sleeping tabs to manage that initially which I think I'll have to go back on. Then there's the fact that it's making my neuropathic pain worse instead of better, and this feeling of overheating/being clammy all the freaking time. I'm not visibly sweating/red but I just feel like I'm burning up. Now, I was quite ill for about 2 weeks into this with an infection - so the doc put it down to that, but now I'm pretty much better and this **** is still happening.

I'm very torn on whether to ask about discontinuing it because I know they don't seem like massive side effects, but they are to me because they're anxiety inducing which kind of negates the whole idea of this med helping me.

I suppose since I've had no benefit from the meds yet (I'm working up slowly to avoid the dreaded deadly rash thing and on 50mg at the mo), I'm just struggling to find a reason to stick this sh1t out. I know I can manage this well enough med-free with therapy; I've been doing it for years, but the highs and lows were getting a bit too much to deal with the past while. So when I found out this med also helped with neuro pain, I thought I was finally on to a winner.

I'm not going to quit them cold turkey or anything (hell no) but I'm going abroad for a good while soon and I seriously do not want to be dealing with this when I'm away, especially when A. it's an important trip, and B. getting that rash or something would land me in an ER with a massive fcuking bill.

I would really like to hear about anyone else's experiences with Lamictal and if you had these side effects and if they lessened at all over time?
Google is a freakin anti-christ when it comes to looking this stuff up and I really just want to go back to the dr. knowing what I want to do rather than asking him, because I know him and he'll just ask me to stick with it longer regardless!

Thanks

Shpudnik

So much I have to say but I have no one to say it too

jsms88

Shpudnik wrote: »

So much I have to say but I have no one to say it too

I hear ya! People here will listen but no pressure.

Shpudnik

jsms88 wrote: »

I hear ya! People here will listen but no pressure.

It's kind of sensitive stuff that I can't post here or I'll be banned.
I can't say it too my friends cause they will leave me
And I can't say it too my family because they will only wrap me in bubble wrap and put me away.

Gremlinertia

It's not easy Shpud, do you have access to Jigsaw where you are?

Shpudnik

Gremlinertia wrote: »

It's not easy Shpud, do you have access to Jigsaw where you are?

Unfortunately not.

Gremlinertia

Perhaps e-mailing the samaritans might help, you can say anything on your mind, it can be a relief to meander through a rant and know someone has seen it, they are trained for this stuff.

Shpudnik

Gremlinertia wrote: »

Perhaps e-mailing the samaritans might help, you can say anything on your mind, it can be a relief to meander through a rant and know someone has seen it, they are trained for this stuff.

I've tried Samaritans before. Actually felt worse after talking to them. Not saying that they are bad just that they are not for me.

Gremlinertia

Keep on trying them and others listed in the sticky at the top of this forum. It's a slow thing, don't give up on any of them too quickly

Shpudnik

Gremlinertia wrote: »

Keep on trying them and others listed in the sticky at the top of this forum. It's a slow thing, don't give up on any of them too quickly

I took my time believe me. I just think I'm out of options.

Gremlinertia

No one ever is Shpud. It's trying and trying again, if you are stubborn, put it to good use. Refuse to give up on the fact that helping strategies and supports are out there for you.

Shpudnik

I don't want to be a burden on them. I am probably better off struggling on my own

Gremlinertia

These services exist for a reason, because of people like us.. If i got a broken arm i sure as hell would use the hospital to help.. The burden feeling is fairly usual for people feeling like this, it's not true and it delays seeking help..

Shpudnik

My experiences with seeking help have been mostly negative. Life was so much easier before I told anyone how I felt.

Gremlinertia

It's not feckin easy, that's true.. Then again neither is physio or certain other treatments for long and short term illnesses, it is of course your call but if i could say one thing at all to my younger self it would be to not be afraid, seek help, and, in my case certainly, stick with it.. I had a few tries before i stuck with it..

Shpudnik

It's not a problem of me sticking with help when I get it, it's them sticking with me.

Gremlinertia

How's that?.

Shpudnik

Gremlinertia wrote: »

How's that?.

I do my best. I go to all my appointments. I do what I'm told. And then all of a sudden the appointments stop and have nothing again.

jaxxx

10 years depressed now I think. Rightly or wrongly, I've embraced it and have an attitude of "I don't give a *sausage* anymore". Psychologists, psychiatrists, medication... been there done that. Boooring.

Speaking of which I could eat a sausage right about now... oh geez I could actually murder a sausage sandwich right now!

^ That's how I keep myself... calm? Calm's the wrong word but it's the only thing I can think of. By spewing random poop it helps me smile and laugh... at myself but I'm not so sure that that's a negative.

I know it's not 'technically' a disease, but in a way it is. A truly infectious one at that. Maybe even harder than something your body can fight off, cos it's a disease of the mind. Your mind has to want to fight. And that's where I'm at now and have been for a long time... just don't have the will to fight.

Actually helps though writing all this stuff out, whether or not anyone actually reads it. And before anyone suggests it, no, I am not gonna start a diary

Worst thing about depression is that in spite of all the medicines, doctors and family & friends (the latter of which I've completely cast off), is that at the end of the day the only one who can actually truly help is yourself.

And now a few smileys to lighten the mood :pac::pac::pac:

Gremlinertia

Shpudnik wrote: »

I do my best. I go to all my appointments. I do what I'm told. And then all of a sudden the appointments stop and have nothing again.

Chase them up, i have apps every two months at this stage because i can mostly manage at that.. I have the community nurse's number too. Every time i have an appointment i pretty much say "so see you in two months" at the end every time..

Gremlinertia

Hi Jaxxx, i am at the point where i tend to make light of my illness too. It helps quite a lot for me, i am still taking meds, they work for me so i won't be changing that but a sense of humour is a must

Shpudnik

Gremlinertia wrote: »

Chase them up, i have apps every two months at this stage because i can mostly manage at that.. I have the community nurse's number too. Every time i have an appointment i pretty much say "so see you in two months" at the end every time..

I've tried chasing it up but it's all down to my consultant who believes behavioural therapy is more important than physiotherapy so i have rare appointments to see a therapist but I can't walk in the door to them.

Gremlinertia

Vela wrote: »

Hey peeps

I'm not looking for medical advice (have loads of it!), just some personal experience if possible re: Lamictal.

I started on Lamictal to manage PTSD/mood stablisation/anxiety&neuropathic pain a month ago, after having no joy with various meds on and off over the years (aside from Benzos as needed). I'm reluctant to give up on it straight off the bat because it sounded like it might finally be the holy grail for me, but I've had some not so great side effects already. Insomnia is a big one and I was on sleeping tabs to manage that initially which I think I'll have to go back on. Then there's the fact that it's making my neuropathic pain worse instead of better, and this feeling of overheating/being clammy all the freaking time. I'm not visibly sweating/red but I just feel like I'm burning up. Now, I was quite ill for about 2 weeks into this with an infection - so the doc put it down to that, but now I'm pretty much better and this **** is still happening.

I'm very torn on whether to ask about discontinuing it because I know they don't seem like massive side effects, but they are to me because they're anxiety inducing which kind of negates the whole idea of this med helping me.

I suppose since I've had no benefit from the meds yet (I'm working up slowly to avoid the dreaded deadly rash thing and on 50mg at the mo), I'm just struggling to find a reason to stick this sh1t out. I know I can manage this well enough med-free with therapy; I've been doing it for years, but the highs and lows were getting a bit too much to deal with the past while. So when I found out this med also helped with neuro pain, I thought I was finally on to a winner.

I'm not going to quit them cold turkey or anything (hell no) but I'm going abroad for a good while soon and I seriously do not want to be dealing with this when I'm away, especially when A. it's an important trip, and B. getting that rash or something would land me in an ER with a massive fcuking bill.

I would really like to hear about anyone else's experiences with Lamictal and if you had these side effects and if they lessened at all over time?
Google is a freakin anti-christ when it comes to looking this stuff up and I really just want to go back to the dr. knowing what I want to do rather than asking him, because I know him and he'll just ask me to stick with it longer regardless!

Thanks

Are you on it long?. A trip back to your doc is probably the right way to go, I can't help as i've never been on it but like a lot of these type of medicines they can take a while to settle in the system, most people say anything from two to four weeks.

Gremlinertia

Shpudnik wrote: »

I've tried chasing it up but it's all down to my consultant who believes behavioural therapy is more important than physiotherapy so i have rare appointments to see a therapist but I can't walk in the door to them.

You need to contact someone else in the hospital to seek a second opinion, never give up on that, couldn't tell you the amount of people i've seen over the years and all over the country

Shpudnik

Gremlinertia wrote: »

You need to contact someone else in the hospital to seek a second opinion, never give up on that, couldn't tell you the amount of people i've seen over the years and all over the country

Working on that.

Gremlinertia

Shpudnik wrote: »

Working on that.

Good on you! Genuinely glad you are giving it a go, there's no reason for any of us to back down, it's the slowness of it all that gets wearing at times.

jaxxx

Gremlinertia wrote: »

Hi Jaxxx, i am at the point where i tend to make light of my illness too. It helps quite a lot for me, i am still taking meds, they work for me so i won't be changing that but a sense of humour is a must

Gave up on meds ages ago, for the sole reason that all they did was suppress things and not solve anything. Oddly enough I feel better without them than with them. Damn I'm a weird creature.

Aye a sense of humour is handy keeping the balance of things. I fell off said balance years ago so doesn't apply to me anymore so it's more of a pick me up now than anything.

Shpudnik

Gremlinertia wrote: »

Good on you! Genuinely glad you are giving it a go, there's no reason for any of us to back down, it's the slowness of it all that gets wearing at times.

It's mostly my parents pushing it. I'm not bothered. I've been around enough doctors to see that they don't want me as a problem.