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Source: (consider it)
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Thread: chasing the Black Dog - a depression support thread
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Heavenly Anarchist
Shipmate
# 13313
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Posted
So far, so good. I had a yoga class this morning so am feeling slightly more refreshed, it was a good bit of exercise too (I need to make more effort to exercise, it's very helpful to my mental health). I've looked in on my students online and everything seems okay. I might go for a walk after lunch though as my hypomania is fairly active at present and is mingling with anxiety in an unhelpful way, it makes my thoughts muddled.
How is everyone else after this Christmas period? I always breath a sigh of relief when everything goes back to normal, despite the anxieties of work.
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'I love deadlines. I like the whooshing sound they make as they fly by.' Douglas Adams
Dog Activity Monitor
My shop
Posts: 2831 | From: Trumpington | Registered: Jan 2008
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Erroneous Monk
Shipmate
# 10858
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Posted
Big hugs for all black-dog-owners xx
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And I shot a man in Tesco, just to watch him die.
Posts: 2950 | From: I cannot tell you, for you are not a friar | Registered: Jan 2006
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Piglet
Islander
# 11803
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Posted
How did your first day back at w*rk go, EM?
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I may not be on an island any more, but I'm still an islander.
alto n a soprano who can read music
Posts: 20272 | From: Fredericton, NB, on a rather larger piece of rock | Registered: Sep 2006
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Erroneous Monk
Shipmate
# 10858
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Posted
It was both better and worse than I expected. My sense of detachment from the actual work was worse, but people were lovely and so I can see how my enthusiasm for work might start to come back.
How are you doing?
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And I shot a man in Tesco, just to watch him die.
Posts: 2950 | From: I cannot tell you, for you are not a friar | Registered: Jan 2006
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Piglet
Islander
# 11803
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Posted
I'm lucky enough not to be a black-dog-owner* (nice way of putting it!), but as a host I read the thread and keep you all in my prayers.
![[Votive]](graemlins/votive.gif)
* Not that I have anything against black dogs: they can be very cute indeed. ![[Smile]](smile.gif)
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I may not be on an island any more, but I'm still an islander.
alto n a soprano who can read music
Posts: 20272 | From: Fredericton, NB, on a rather larger piece of rock | Registered: Sep 2006
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Golden Key
Shipmate
# 1468
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Posted
{{{{{{{All of us}}}}}}}
My depression is kicking up, a bit. Normally, would be manageable; but i have to accomplish a couple of things this week. So I can't just hole up and give myself a lot of TLC.
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Blessed Gator, pray for us!
--"Oh bat bladders, do you have to bring common sense into this?" (Dragon, "Jane & the Dragon")
--"Oh, Peace Train, save this country!" (Yusuf/Cat Stevens, "Peace Train")
Posts: 18601 | From: Chilling out in an undisclosed, sincere pumpkin patch. | Registered: Oct 2001
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Erroneous Monk
Shipmate
# 10858
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Posted
Thinking about you, Golden Key. Maybe you can add something to your list of what has to be accomplished that is for you? And definitely do-able?
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And I shot a man in Tesco, just to watch him die.
Posts: 2950 | From: I cannot tell you, for you are not a friar | Registered: Jan 2006
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Heavenly Anarchist
Shipmate
# 13313
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Posted
Depression makes whole mountains appear in our way. I find it helpful to give myself small goals, perhaps stages to a bigger one, and work towards them slowly. I like the idea of an achievable personal goal too, to reassure yourself of your own self worth.
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'I love deadlines. I like the whooshing sound they make as they fly by.' Douglas Adams
Dog Activity Monitor
My shop
Posts: 2831 | From: Trumpington | Registered: Jan 2008
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Caissa
Shipmate
# 16710
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Posted
I have been feeling my annual SAD rearing its ugly head. Strange, vivid dreams and a general sense of disquiet. I try to compensate with outward joviality. It helps me that it is a very sunny day yet -26 degrees.
Posts: 972 | From: Saint John, N.B. | Registered: Oct 2011
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Piglet
Islander
# 11803
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Posted
Keep telling yourself that the days are getting longer. I don't know what it's like in NB, but here in Newfoundland we caught the tail-end of a beautiful sunset about a week after the shortest day, and remarked that at the same time the previous week it would have still been completely dark.
Would a daylight-box be of any help, until the days start getting properly long again?
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I may not be on an island any more, but I'm still an islander.
alto n a soprano who can read music
Posts: 20272 | From: Fredericton, NB, on a rather larger piece of rock | Registered: Sep 2006
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Caissa
Shipmate
# 16710
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Posted
Thanks, Pigle. Self-awareness is my biggest ally. I also head to Dallas for a 5 day conference, three weeks from now.
Posts: 972 | From: Saint John, N.B. | Registered: Oct 2011
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Gill H
Shipmate
# 68
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Posted
Just bumping this as the Black Dog seems to be pestering a few of my friends lately.
Hugs and prayers to you all. You are heroes. Every day.
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*sigh* We can’t all be Alan Cresswell.
- Lyda Rose
Posts: 9313 | From: London | Registered: May 2001
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Fredegund
Shipmate
# 17952
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Posted
Would make a good tortoise, I'm so slow. How long before they notice?
And Lothar 1 rang last night and admitted to feeling suicidal. Seeing the doctor today - hope and pray they can find something that a) works and b) doesn't send him to sleep in lectures.
And it's hailing here. Feel like crawling into a ditch and dying of hypothermia, only it would take too long.
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Pax et bonum
Posts: 117 | From: Shakespeare's County | Registered: Jan 2014
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North East Quine
Curious beastie
# 13049
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Posted
I posted last August about my episodic depression and was encouraged to see my doctor, which I did. She diagnosed depression (no surprise there) and referred me for counselling which did help. The counselling has ended, but I can phone directly for an appointment in the future, I don't have to go back through my GP.
An interesting option has presented itself - Spiritual Direction through my church. I'm wondering if this might finally be the answer, rather than counselling which has always helped me through difficult patches, but never stopped the depression from recurring.
BUT the first step would be 'fessing up to someone who knows me in RL (up to now, all counsellors have been people I have no connection with outwith counselling.) And that feels scary and irrevocable.
The Ship has been my spiritual refuge, where I can say "fuck" without worrying. At church I present as a nice person, I've never felt I had to present as anyone other than myself here.
Do I do the scary thing and seek Spiritual Direction? Will it help? (I think it will, but I might be clutching at straws.)
Posts: 6414 | From: North East Scotland | Registered: Oct 2007
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Caissa
Shipmate
# 16710
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Posted
I would choose counselling over spiritual direction, personally. Why are you considering the latter?
Posts: 972 | From: Saint John, N.B. | Registered: Oct 2011
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Heavenly Anarchist
Shipmate
# 13313
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Posted
But having depression does not remove your being a nice person, it just makes you a nice person who happens to have depression.
Part of my bipolar self-management is being open about having it, rather than letting it take control of my life. I say to people that I do not keep my bipolar disorder a secret as I like it to be out in the open, where I can keep an eye on it. And where others can keep an eye on it too. If you think having a spiritual director will help you then reach out for it, don't listen to the black dog because he lies. Do whatever you feel might help.
[ 29. January 2015, 12:16: Message edited by: Heavenly Anarchist ]
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'I love deadlines. I like the whooshing sound they make as they fly by.' Douglas Adams
Dog Activity Monitor
My shop
Posts: 2831 | From: Trumpington | Registered: Jan 2008
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Piglet
Islander
# 11803
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by North East Quine:
... the first step would be 'fessing up to someone who knows me in RL ...
But if you were seeing him/her in their capacity as a Spiritual Director*, wouldn't there be the same presumption of confidentiality as you'd expect from your doctor (or your vicar/minister for that matter, if you went to seek his/her advice)?
Having said that I can see your difficulty to an extent; when I was growing up, our GP was also our next-door neighbour, and as I grew into my teens and early 20s there were certain appointments for which I'd make a point of asking for one of the other doctors in the group.
* I'm asking out of genuine curiosity, as I have no experience of Spiritual Directors, and if I'm honest, I don't actually know what they do.
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I may not be on an island any more, but I'm still an islander.
alto n a soprano who can read music
Posts: 20272 | From: Fredericton, NB, on a rather larger piece of rock | Registered: Sep 2006
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Garasu
Shipmate
# 17152
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Posted
I don't know about spiritual direction in NEQ's neck of the woods, but round here there's a geographically widespread ecumenical network of spiritual directors so that it would be quite possible for your spiritual director to be from another church or even denomination if that would help.
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"Could I believe in the doctrine without believing in the deity?". - Modesitt, L. E., Jr., 1943- Imager.
Posts: 889 | From: Surrey Heath (England) | Registered: Jun 2012
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Zoey
Broken idealist
# 11152
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Posted
NEQ - I think you're a nice person on the Ship.
(But then I think nice people can experience depression and can say fuck and can do lots of other things which might go against some people's notions of propriety.)
quote:
Originally posted by North East Quine:
An interesting option has presented itself - Spiritual Direction through my church. I'm wondering if this might finally be the answer, rather than counselling which has always helped me through difficult patches, but never stopped the depression from recurring.
This paragraph makes me uneasy, because sometimes there isn't an "answer" to recurrent episodes of depression. I understand that some people do experience one, or maybe two, episodes of depression, get treatment, recover and never experience another episode of depression again. Over time, I think my depressive episodes are becoming less severe and less frequent, but having had ten years of recurrent episodes, I suspect I'm always going to consider myself more vulnerable to depression than the average bod on the street. I may be saying all this as self-indulgent navel-gazing, but I think there is a niggle in my mind that if spiritual direction doesn't turn out to be the "answer" for you, then finding out that this is the case and experiencing another depressive episode after having had spiritual direction might be pretty devastating.
(I think my uneasiness also comes partly from your quoted statement having echoes of 'Depression is a spiritual problem which isn't experienced by people who are good enough Christians'. I'm 99% certain you didn't mean it this way and were thinking of e.g. spiritual direction helping you personally make sense of difficult experiences within a religious context which counselling can't offer, but the history of people claiming that good Christians don't experience depression is so strong that even your unintentional echo of this sentiment makes me uneasy.)
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Pay no mind, I'm doing fine, I'm breathing on my own.
Posts: 3095 | From: the penultimate stop? | Registered: Mar 2006
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Fredegund
Shipmate
# 17952
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Posted
May I second Zoey here? Some people have one or two episodes, others more. For the record, my diagnosis is Dysthymia - ie chronic depression. There are episodes of double depression, when I sink without trace, only to return to my normal level of gloom. I pray you don't have it - but at least be aware that this is a possibility.
As for Spiritual Direction, I don't know how it's organised in your neck of the woods, but in Shakespeare's county there's a group who can help you find someone. It doesn't have to be from your church, your denomination, or even your diocese.You could also ask around - many people will pass on recommendations. Bear in mind you need to find someone you are happy to work with, so this may take some time.
From experience, it's not the same as counselling. The latter used to drive me mad(der) with silences and imbalance of power. A SD is more someone walking alongside. They won't have answers, but will help you live with the questions (with thanks to St Andrew's Rugby website). I've personally found it helpful, having dealt with a nun and ex-nun turned priest, but it doesn't and can't cure the depression. But just sometimes it makes it bearable.
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Pax et bonum
Posts: 117 | From: Shakespeare's County | Registered: Jan 2014
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Adeodatus
Shipmate
# 4992
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Posted
I don't often contribute on this thread - my black dogs seem to be a restless and unpredictable lot, running in and out of my mental house at will, treating the place as if it was their own, and occasionally pooping on the carpet. But I'm moved to say something about the recent conversation.
Whatever the benefits of spiritual direction, always bear in mind that its primary goal is not your mental health. Its primary goal, depending on which model is being followed, is one or other kind of spiritual "development" or "growth". Better mental health might come as a side effect of this, but it will only be a side effect.
If anyone is undergoing counselling that they feel isn't really doing much for them, my advice would be to seek a different counsellor, perhaps one who uses a different counselling model. I've had experience of person-centred counselling and psychodynamic counselling, and found the latter far more beneficial. Until I'd had that experience, I wouldn't have believed you if you'd told me that different counselling models could have such different effects.
I think the most important thing, though, is to take whatever help is being offered. Hold on to what's helping, let go of what's not.
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"What is broken, repair with gold."
Posts: 9779 | From: Manchester | Registered: Sep 2003
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North East Quine
Curious beastie
# 13049
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Posted
Thank you for all the replies!
Heavenly Anarchist: quote:
Part of my bipolar self-management is being open about having it, rather than letting it take control of my life.
At the outset I had good reasons for trying to keep my depression over my miscarriage / stillbirth / miscarriage/ inability to have another baby secret - I had two children, which should have been enough, especially as I knew people struggling to have a first; other friends were having babies and I didn't want to rain on their parade; I was aware that some people were treading on eggshells round me and I didn't want that; I wanted my children to feel they had a strong, happy mother. My husband co-operated in keeping the episodes of depression secret, so keeping it secret was do-able.
I agree that long-term, this hasn't been a healthy strategy!
Adeodatus: quote:
Whatever the benefits of spiritual direction, always bear in mind that its primary goal is not your mental health.
Yes, I know that.
Zoey: quote:
(I think my uneasiness also comes partly from your quoted statement having echoes of 'Depression is a spiritual problem which isn't experienced by people who are good enough Christians'. I'm 99% certain you didn't mean it this way and were thinking of e.g. spiritual direction helping you personally make sense of difficult experiences within a religious context which counselling can't offer, but the history of people claiming that good Christians don't experience depression is so strong that even your unintentional echo of this sentiment makes me uneasy.)
Thanks for that thoughtful comment, Zoey. I've thought about it and think that my problem might be the inverse of this. I might not explain this very well. When my son was still born, a bat-shit crazy relative told me that I should examine my life for sin, to find out why God was punishing me. ![[Disappointed]](graemlins/disappointed.gif) I knew this was crazy, but all the same it did plant a seed. How many other people thought that of me? Then a high-profile Christian within my community (but in a different church to mine) thought she could "solve" my problems by pointing out Matt 17:20. If I had faith, I'd have a baby. Simples! When I had the next miscarriage, she actually stopped talking to me, I think because she felt I'd marked myself out as a faithless Christian.
My actual church was lovely, I had a lot of support from friends, and bat-shit crazy relative and High-Profile Christian were only ever peripheral to my life, but comments like these are invidious when you are depressed. The fact that I can remember them so clearly over a decade later testifies to that.
So it's not that I think quote:
Depression is a spiritual problem which isn't experienced by people who are good enough Christians
but that I've been on the receiving end of other people telling me I wasn't a good enough Christian, and that the miscarriage / stillbirth / miscarriage were tangible proof that God Doesn't Love Me.
I've never raised this in counselling, because if I had to say it out loud to a non-religious person, it would seem so stupid. Well, it is stupid! But I wonder if Spiritual Direction might be a place I could say this.
Posts: 6414 | From: North East Scotland | Registered: Oct 2007
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Nenya
Shipmate
# 16427
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Posted
NEQ, I think that here you come over as a very real, honest, loving person - as well as very nice.
Could the counsellor/spiritual director question be a case of both-and rather than either/or? I am not plagued by the Black Dog in the way that some of you here are - and for you in your struggles - but there are times when I have seen a counsellor in a professional capacity. I've found the sessions very helpful - if painful at times - and empowering in terms of looking at the way I handle things and challenging my way of thinking. Alongside that I have a very dear friend who is a spiritual director and while she is not my spiritual director I have appreciated her empathy and lovingly-offered suggestions when life and/or the counselling have been particularly grim. Whether that's the friend bit of her or the director bit, I'm not quite sure!
When it comes to confidentiality, you should be able to feel safe, whether you know the person in another context such as church or not.
So sorry to hear of your experience with Bat-Shit-Crazy Relative and High-Profile Christian. What they said is not the truth but I know how insidious such words are.
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They told me I was delusional. I nearly fell off my unicorn.
Posts: 1289 | Registered: May 2011
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Lamb Chopped
Ship's kebab
# 5528
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by North East Quine:
When my son was still born, a bat-shit crazy relative told me that I should examine my life for sin, to find out why God was punishing me. I knew this was crazy, but all the same it did plant a seed. How many other people thought that of me? Then a high-profile Christian within my community (but in a different church to mine) thought she could "solve" my problems by pointing out Matt 17:20. If I had faith, I'd have a baby. Simples! When I had the next miscarriage, she actually stopped talking to me, I think because she felt I'd marked myself out as a faithless Christian.
To say something you probably already know (apologies ![[Hot and Hormonal]](icon_redface.gif) )--the idiots who go around spewing this stuff aren't singling you out in particular to tell you their heartfelt opinion of you personally, they say this shit to everybody. It's their default response to anybody who's having a hard time for whatever reason.
Though even knowing that, it's hard to avoid taking it as an individual, personally aimed and well thought out criticism. Even when you know it isn't.
Which is why your idea of spiritual direction might be a really good one, though in our denomination we'd just call it pastoral counseling. Just make sure you pick a compassionate person who has more than a single Clue™.
Oh dear, I'm just saying stuff you know already. I'm sorry. It just rings so many familiar bells for me, as I lost children and am infertile also, and have had to listen to a lot of shit about my depression. Praying...
Hey, you want me to come kick their teeth in? In Christian love, of course.
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Er, this is what I've been up to (book).
Oh, that you would rend the heavens and come down!
Posts: 20059 | From: off in left field somewhere | Registered: Feb 2004
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Heavenly Anarchist
Shipmate
# 13313
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Posted
People who say things like that seem to lack even basic empathy skills, they seem to think they have to say something 'Christian' to make it better (which it doesn't as it is wrong) when the biblical response would be to offer love and support.
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'I love deadlines. I like the whooshing sound they make as they fly by.' Douglas Adams
Dog Activity Monitor
My shop
Posts: 2831 | From: Trumpington | Registered: Jan 2008
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squidgetsmum
Apprentice
# 17708
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Posted
reading through this and chuckling in a wry way...so good to know other people dealing with it all too. I've struggled with depression for 10 years. Much as I adore my son, I went so low I was almost in Australia when pregnant with him. Now pregnant again after a particularly dramatic miscarriage. Gotta admit - I'm running pretty scared.
Posts: 13 | Registered: May 2013
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Nenya
Shipmate
# 16427
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Posted
NEQ - it also occurs to me that High Profile Christian may have stopped talking to you out of embarrassment or shame. She might be facing the possibility that she could have been wrong. ![[Eek!]](eek.gif)
Squidgetsmum - for you and the unborn squidgelet.
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They told me I was delusional. I nearly fell off my unicorn.
Posts: 1289 | Registered: May 2011
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Curiosity killed ...
Ship's Mug
# 11770
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Posted
Nenya, you've triggered a memory.
One of the daughters of a church family, who sang in the choir, a bouncy lively girl, very well known in the church community, died from leukaemia aged 12/13. A group of church members had been praying hard for her to recover and were devastated by her death. They found it hard to deal with the family too.
I am not sure what caused the embarrassment and discomfort in dealing with the family, thereafter. But a few ideas:
- their prayers weren't answered and that's a big part of their belief, God answers prayers, did this raise questions about their faith?
- because God hadn't answered prayers was there a reason they didn't know about?
- seeing the family was a reminder that prayer doesn't always work?
I remember meeting the mother in the street and asking how they were and her being so pleased someone talked to her and listened. (My daughter was a similar age and sick at the same time - I was rushing in and out to get back and care).
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Mugs - Keep the Ship afloat
Posts: 13794 | From: outiside the outer ring road | Registered: Aug 2006
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Teufelchen
Shipmate
# 10158
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Posted
*prayers for all the Shippies wrestling their black dogs*
I hoped, at the beginning of this year, that I was finally kicking my depression's arse. It's not that easy, of course, and the past week has been tough enough that the gloom has seeped back in.
Part of the problem right now is that I'm not depressed enough to spend my days just staring at the wall or otherwise wasting time, but I'm down enough that I'm seeing the negatives of my everyday experiences very clearly, and it's more of a struggle to see the positives.
I fear I'm not being as merry as shipmate as I was in former times; I find myself latching onto threads about annoying topics, and getting exasperated too readily. Hence my unusual foray into AS: people are generally lovely here, and that's a good thing to seek out at such a time.
Thanks, everyone.
t
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Little devil
Posts: 3894 | From: London area | Registered: Aug 2005
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Erroneous Monk
Shipmate
# 10858
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Posted
Hugs and prayers for all you dog-owners.
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And I shot a man in Tesco, just to watch him die.
Posts: 2950 | From: I cannot tell you, for you are not a friar | Registered: Jan 2006
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Heavenly Anarchist
Shipmate
# 13313
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Posted
My Christmas depression has lifted but I'm still at the listless stage. I'm hoping some regular exercise will kickstart me into getting some energy and focus back into my work and study.
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'I love deadlines. I like the whooshing sound they make as they fly by.' Douglas Adams
Dog Activity Monitor
My shop
Posts: 2831 | From: Trumpington | Registered: Jan 2008
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Fredegund
Shipmate
# 17952
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Posted
I know depression is suppressed anger, but what do you do when it erupts? I've run out of medication (long story) but surely 3 days without it wouldn't turn me into an axe murderer? Friday night was hell. Rang what I thought was the Crisis line, which I'd been told was still available, and got a patronising little **** who asked me what she was supposed to do? Like - advice please? Help? Anything?
Can't believe how much crying I've done, and I don't do that normally. How can the NHS leave it to get to this state, and then want to ignore it until I try to kill myself.
And now trying to work on zero sleep. God help the first person to ask a stupid question today...
Sorry. That's probably un-All Saintsly.
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Pax et bonum
Posts: 117 | From: Shakespeare's County | Registered: Jan 2014
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Welease Woderwick
Sister Incubus Nightmare
# 10424
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Posted
Fredegund, suicidal ideation, or any talk of suicide, is surely not encouraged here for all sorts of reasons. But I can understand your pain and frustration - coming off medications should always be monitored. All I can suggest is that you get yourself to A&E or to your GP and insist on being seen - or call your local Community Mental Health Team, or even Samaritans as they will have plenty of info & advice on how best to proceed.
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I give thanks for unknown blessings already on their way.
Fancy a break in South India?
Accessible Homestay Guesthouse in Central Kerala, contact me for details
What part of Matt. 7:1 don't you understand?
Posts: 48139 | From: 1st on the right, straight on 'til morning | Registered: Sep 2005
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Fredegund
Shipmate
# 17952
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Posted
Sorry.
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Pax et bonum
Posts: 117 | From: Shakespeare's County | Registered: Jan 2014
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Heavenly Anarchist
Shipmate
# 13313
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Posted
I hope you can get the help you need soon.
I, as always, have let my work pile up unmanageably and now have an urgent stack of it ahead of me for the next couple of weeks (I'm also recovering from an illness which doesn't help). I'm really having difficulty focussing and have too many distracting thoughts and not prioritising. I just can't get my brain in to gear and feel like giving my job up, despite it being an ideal job for me. I know that is the depression talking but it all feels uphill at the moment.
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'I love deadlines. I like the whooshing sound they make as they fly by.' Douglas Adams
Dog Activity Monitor
My shop
Posts: 2831 | From: Trumpington | Registered: Jan 2008
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Welease Woderwick
Sister Incubus Nightmare
# 10424
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Fredegund:
Sorry.
No problem - I just hope and pray you get the support you need and in as timely a manner as possible.
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I give thanks for unknown blessings already on their way.
Fancy a break in South India?
Accessible Homestay Guesthouse in Central Kerala, contact me for details
What part of Matt. 7:1 don't you understand?
Posts: 48139 | From: 1st on the right, straight on 'til morning | Registered: Sep 2005
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Piglet
Islander
# 11803
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Posted
for Fredegund, HA and all here whose black dogs are not being Man's Best Friend™.
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I may not be on an island any more, but I'm still an islander.
alto n a soprano who can read music
Posts: 20272 | From: Fredericton, NB, on a rather larger piece of rock | Registered: Sep 2006
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Zoey
Broken idealist
# 11152
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Posted
Fredegund -
I'm hoping you've got to a GP by now to sort out the meds situation. However, it may be useful in future, or for others, to know the following. In the UK, pharmacists can give out an emergency loan supply of your medication in some circumstances. The only time I've had to try it was when my GP unexpectedly (to me) closed for a day's training on a weekday when I had been planning to pick up my prescription from my GP and then get the meds at the pharmacy immediately because I'd run out the previous day. I was also working long hours and had taken flexi-time just to get my prescription. I would have had trouble getting back to the pharmacy in the next couple of days. The chemist next to my GP surgery looked up their records of me and said that because they could see I'd had the medication issued by them on prescription in the last six months they would give me a few days emergency supply (which they then take off the prescribed amount when you produce the prescription - e.g. if you usually get 28 days supply at a time, pharmacy gives you 4 days emergency supply, you go back to in 3 or 4 days time with the prescription and they give you the other 24 days due on that prescription). I guess the strongest back-up plan would be to always get one's repeat prescription dispensed at the same convenient pharmacy (with late night / weekend opening hours as needed), then if one does run out of meds the pharmacy can see that it's dispensed the same prescription to you for the past X months and you are likely to be having a genuine running-out-of-medication-emergency, rather than trying to swindle them of drugs.
[ 09. February 2015, 19:06: Message edited by: Zoey ]
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Pay no mind, I'm doing fine, I'm breathing on my own.
Posts: 3095 | From: the penultimate stop? | Registered: Mar 2006
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Bishops Finger
Shipmate
# 5430
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Posted
What Zoey said.
Praise the Lord, my own Black Dog seems to have dived back under the bed pro tem....though I suspect the Jameson's might have helped.....
for those for whom the Black Dog is still up and running.....
Ian J.
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Our words are giants when they do us an injury, and dwarfs when they do us a service. (Wilkie Collins)
Posts: 10151 | From: Behind The Wheel Again! | Registered: Jan 2004
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JoannaP
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# 4493
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Posted
My problem is that I am inclined to embrace the black dog at the moment. If I had done what I really wanted to and not got up, all that unpleasant stuff would not have happened today. OK, there might have been consequences (especially to not signing on) but that would be a problem for another day...
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"Freedom for the pike is death for the minnow." R. H. Tawney (quoted by Isaiah Berlin)
"Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety." Benjamin Franklin
Posts: 1877 | From: England | Registered: May 2003
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Jack o' the Green
Shipmate
# 11091
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Fredegund:
but surely 3 days without it wouldn't turn me into an axe murderer?
Some people can experience one hell of a rebound when they stop taking psychiatric meds, so yes it might. I know nothing about what you are going through, but hope you have someone with the necessary compassion and experience to sit, listen and discuss ways forward - medication or other supplementary approaches.
Posts: 3121 | From: Lancashire, England | Registered: Feb 2006
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Fredegund
Shipmate
# 17952
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Posted
Haven't dared come back after being so stupid.
Sorted out medication.
Unhappily - Lothar 1 has been told he has to redo his final year at Uni. So now he's home with his own Black Dog, and whatever the physical mess is - I fear something like ME. (the illness, not me, if you see what I mean)
So I've put my black dog in the cat basket that the cats don't use, and am trying to help him tame his. Can't have two on the run at once. They don't get on.
As my mother used to say - "blue pencil blankety-blank". Will save the Anglo-Saxon for Hell when I get there.
Any spare prayers for the entire family would be gratefully received.
Posts: 117 | From: Shakespeare's County | Registered: Jan 2014
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Jengie jon
Semper Reformanda
# 273
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Posted
First find out what the illness is. I am normally ambiguouos about diagnosis, but in this case you need one and you need a fairly good idea of what the prognosis is.
Then you need to go back to the University admin and talk. The University actually has one desire and that is for your son to gain his degree (other wise they would have failed him, these days they try very hard to weed out the fails in their first year). If they know there are medical reasons behind his failing the year and what is likely they can make appropriate suggestions to how best he should go about getting it. For instance if it is going to take a couple of years before he is up for studying he may well be able to obtain leave of absence which will leave him with a place when he is better rather than expecting him to resit next year.
Jengie
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"To violate a persons ability to distinguish fact from fantasy is the epistemological equivalent of rape." Noretta Koertge
Back to my blog
Posts: 20894 | From: city of steel, butterflies and rainbows | Registered: May 2001
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JoannaP
Shipmate
# 4493
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Fredegund:
So I've put my black dog in the cat basket that the cats don't use, and am trying to help him tame his. Can't have two on the run at once. They don't get on.
This so resonates with me...
Look after yourself.
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"Freedom for the pike is death for the minnow." R. H. Tawney (quoted by Isaiah Berlin)
"Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety." Benjamin Franklin
Posts: 1877 | From: England | Registered: May 2003
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Erroneous Monk
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# 10858
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Posted
So tired. SO tired of everything.
Not sure what is grief and what is depression.
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And I shot a man in Tesco, just to watch him die.
Posts: 2950 | From: I cannot tell you, for you are not a friar | Registered: Jan 2006
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Lia
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# 7396
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Posted
EM - I could have posted that.
Many gentle hugs coming your way, because I have nothing else to offer.
In my case, I am grieving for all the could-have-beens on my life, for the guy who I thought could love me but who walked away and for the future I can't see.
I "came out" to my parents re: my depression recently (well, I could not stop crying for such a long time that they could not ignore it!). I hoped it would help to be honest. Instead I got the well-meaning advice to "try harder" and "not wallow in self-pity"....
I do nothing but try and am fed up of walking thorough treacle like this. I have not been happy or content for years and honestly can't remember what it feels like any more.
Sorry for the rant!
Posts: 127 | From: Cherry Tree Lane | Registered: Jun 2004
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Jane R
Shipmate
# 331
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Posted
Parents are not always helpful, are they? When I told my mum about my depression, her advice was 'Stop taking the tablets'.
I ignored her, of course.
[ 26. March 2015, 09:16: Message edited by: Jane R ]
Posts: 3958 | From: Jorvik | Registered: May 2001
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JoannaP
Shipmate
# 4493
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Posted
The way things are here, I would be quite happy if it was decided that it would be far too dangerous to put me in charge of a desk again and I was paid a salary to sit safely on the sofa.
Job-hunting when I don't really know what I want to do or whether I am capable of holding down a job sucks. My advisor at the Jobcentre is a nice guy but not much help.
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"Freedom for the pike is death for the minnow." R. H. Tawney (quoted by Isaiah Berlin)
"Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety." Benjamin Franklin
Posts: 1877 | From: England | Registered: May 2003
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Erroneous Monk
Shipmate
# 10858
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Posted
Hugs for Lia, JaneR and JoannaP
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And I shot a man in Tesco, just to watch him die.
Posts: 2950 | From: I cannot tell you, for you are not a friar | Registered: Jan 2006
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