Black dog gang

For those who have anxiety I want to tell you, when trying to go out, before I gave up and stayed indoors, my terror was so strong I vomited on the road, I really do understand what anxiety can do .

And when my beloved daughter died I had paracetamol ready , but I reached out to GN.

Long time ago when my husband died my daughters and I had to move from the police house, the council gave us a house on an new estate, the paths hadn’t been laid, Street lighting not finished, we were the only ones in the 59 houses, no telephone , no neighbours, girls only 5 and 7, I had such anxiety every evening, how would I manage etc. If only there had been computers then,

I share this to explain , I do know anxiety, depression, fear,
I overcame them and you all can too.

I think this thread is important because everyone who posts will know they will find understanding x

Sorry to be so pedandic but how come Mawbroon is now Mawbroonsback?

Because she went away and is back!
(You can’t use a previous username after deregistering, but I hoped this would be obvious to all! )

yogadatti I had to stop my antipsychotic medication due to it affecting my already low sodium levels. I was very scared. My psychiatrist found me a new medication. It's actually a lot better than the old one. They also changed my antidepressant.
I found I only started to improve under the care of my psychiatrist after decades of GP's and therapists.
My advice to anyone struggling is a referral to an actual psychiatrist. Sometimes the GP doesn't have the in depth knowledge to treat someone with a really chronic, longterm problem and in the end you give up.
I never thought I'd see any improvement. That went on for YEARS. Yet here I am. Still have awful days, but so much less often. And I was practically housebound. (Although luckily for me not full blown agrophobia like Anniebach)
Love and encouragement to all

Hi all just another bad day errr!!! nothing is working for me.. hope every one is doing better than me big hugs to all .

Joce so sorry you are having another bad day. Does the anxiety just decend or things trigger it ?

"You" survived the winter .. And have now begun to bloom ..
As I see it, the bridge from fear to "just doing" is gratitude -- go buy those chairs ..

Only just come to this thread, hope I can stay but I found the last one too difficult to cope with. It became too long and too hard for me.

Annie I am so pleased to read your progress. I hadn't known you had even started to open the front door so this is really good news.

Everyone else, I wish I could offer some helpful suggestions but all I can think of is go to your GP as many times as you have to in order to convince them how bad you feel. I do have some sympathy for them because it must be hard, in a short appointment, to diagnose how seriously ill someone is with their depression. So go back and back until they get it.

Yes, I did read the first page and it made me cross that someone who clearly has no idea could think that some sort of positive thinking could work.

On good days, which means on days after I have taken a sleeping pill, I can do things, I even made my own hot cross buns this year. However on days like today when I didn't get much sleep I feel physically sick and totally unmotivated. When I was in hospital my Consultant told me to stop thinking 'I should' all the time because I really didn't have to do things if I didn't feel like it. I find that hard after so many years of being mum, not only to my family but to young colleagues who were new to the UK and needed help. I feel guilty on days when I don't achieve anything. Today I caught up with my filing and have done nothing else!

Sorry, you all have your own issues and don't want to read all my troubles.

Keep on keeping on.

rosecamel please do not mention bridges to me , they are no longer part of my life , I accept you are new to posting on this thread , perhaps better to listen for while .

Nonnie. Hello x

Your troubles are as no less than anyone else’s, we all share x

No Annie it just come hen ever.. Nonnie don’t feel guilty at all, you can’t help how you are no more than I can.. it’s good to come and talk, there’s some lovely people on hear and we are all hear for one another. It’s good to talk .

Thanks Annie but I feel so negative and helpless despite trying so hard to be positive. Those posts at the beginning make me feel that people think I should be able to do something about it. I have tried so very, very hard but it simply exhausts me. Bad day today, what's the point?

Nonnie I am so sorry you feel as you do and that you read the posts on the first page and took them to heart. You will also have seen that I asked the poster to leave us alone as she has nothing constructive to say and only adds to the misery. We are trying to ignore her but it is typical that even here she has managed to upset Annie.
Please feel free to post - we are here to listen not criticise or offer solutions. You cannot help how you feel nor is it a weakness.

Annie you went into the back garden, that's good to hear. I'm so pleased. I wish I lived nearer to you to sit with you, we'd set the world to rights.

Nonnie my DH first suffered from depression about 16 years ago.
He retired early as a result. Eventually he saw a psychiatrist privately who helped him. He still takes medication and has good and bad days.
Your Consultant gave you sound advice, you don't have to do things if you don't feel like it. Yet to catch up with your filing is such a positive thing, so what does it matter if you do nothing else.
You matter to all of us here, so share your troubles with us please.

Annie, well done i for one am very proud of you. Nonnie..share away its good to off load x joce i hope you are ok rose carmel..you are a pilchard go away

Nonnie when you are feeling low is is so very important to value any achievement - give yourself a big pat on the back for doing your filing, if you can accomplish one thing in a day you have done all that you need. Take care of yourself now.

That reference to a bridge was extremely insensitive , even below the belt Rosecarmel
I cannot believe a person could be so deliberately hurtful.

Nonnie and Joce there are good days and bad days. Just as one swallow does not make a summer or one frost a winter, a bad day or a series of bad days are not to say that there is never going to be a lightat the end of the tunnel (to mix my metaphors)
Other people’s suggestions of trivial quick fixes are just that, trivial, and say more about them than about you. So ignore the amateur psychbabblers, but if sharing on here helps you or supports you in any way please continue to o so, at all it is not our place to judge you in any way.

Well said Maw

Yes well said indeed Maw.. thank you

Hello all, thank you, I am ok x

I compare my trips into the garden with Ben Fogle climbing
Everest ?

You have all said it , what wonderful support for all from all, this is what ‘The Black Dog’ is for, sharing and caring

Hugs to all x

rose, I can see your point. Maybe there is nothing to be gained by jumping into the misery pond.

Then don’t ?

I'm sure people have their reasons for being offended by what they read despite the writers best intentions and spirit in which comments were offered -

One of the first responses to my initial comments to this group was that I couldn't have possibly suffered from depression, I was just sad -

Support comes in many forms -- as does enabling -

rosecarmel depression is an illness. A genuine, universally recognized illness. It kills people in their droves.
It killed my son.
Please do not come on this thread and talk about "enabling". Would it be "enabling" to care for someone with leukaemia or measles or diabetes? No. Nobody would say that, because it would be utterly ridiculous.
I sincerely hope nobody in your circle is ever stricken by mental illness. God help them if they turn to you.
To all the other posters on this thread: I hear you. I support you. I know what it's like and I acknowledge your pain and applaud your courage
I offer hope because although I accept that I have a lifelong condition, my life has been made bearable by finding the best treatment for me at last. I was housebound and it took years but I am here. Stronger and healthier than I have been in seven years of struggle. Thirteen changes of medication but I made it. There's hope.

There is trouble brewing for this thread and it saddens me.

This is our second thread for The Black Dog, the first having reached the 1,000 posts.

It was started so those with anxiety, depression, OCD, could talk , could find understanding, support, encouragement "

There has never been any disagreement or upset until recently,

This thread is not a misery pond “Lucy” there is nothing for you to gain here I agree . You could be kind and not post here anymore,

Rosecarmel your talk of ‘enabling’ has caused distress.

No one poster controls this thread, but I can no longer remain silent and watch the distress caused.

I ask you both Lucy and Rosecarmel please do not post here , you can start your own thread ,