[Slacky]

I suffer with depresion, health anxiety and panic attacks. I go through stages of these being very bad that can last for 6 months to a year at a time then I will be ok for a year or 2 then it comes back. Im about 8 months into the latest episode of this right now. Bad one this time round. No idea what causes it, just have to take each day at a time.  I never said this before on here but it has been a major reason I wanted to grow my business and remove myself from generating the money or running the office.  i didnt want my propblems to damage the business or my income. January was so bad I hardly left the house for a month.

Thats interesting Lee. Thankyou.

Have you had counselling at any time for this? I've had health anxiety issues, quite debilitating in themselves when they were at their worse.

Have these got anything to do with unresolved grief revolving round your fathers premature death?

I have had counselling slacky, it doesn't help much!

Its the same as someone telling you not to worry about x, it doesn't stop you from worrying.

It just made me realise that you can only help yourself in these situations. I make these problems in my mind, therefore the solutions to them come from the same place.

Like the great Bruce lee once said " the medicine for my ailments was inside me the whole time"

Another one I like is from the song "little lion man"   " you wasted your whole life , trying to solve the problems you made in your head"      Puts things in perspective a little.

Paul, Ive been going for three years. It’s helped me enormously. The person I see doesn’t tell me to stop worrying at all. She’s very good. But is also an alike in recovery with about 18 years sober time under her belt.

Don’t get me wrong, my problems nowadays aren’t drink related, they’re definitely mental health related. But any counsellor that simply tells you to stop worrying shouldn’t be practising.

[Walter Mitty]

I've also had therapeutic help as in counselling for a year or so.  It's surprising how seemingly unrelated things can link; most of my adulthood issues were around childhood trauma that remained either hidden, or only on the periphery of memory.
It's one of the reasons I write (apart from actually enjoying it most of the time).  I can work past trauma and even current-day incidents into a story.  A couple of people who live nearby really pee me off.  They become characters in a story   (they found the local traffic warden dismembered in some bushes)

[paul alan]

My health anxiety is defiantly linked to my past "behaviours".

I went out every weekend and took every class A there is, drank for days at a time and smoked like a train. I also smoked cannabis for 20 years. I first went to prison aged 16 then 3 more times after that all for drunk/drugged violenece.I didn't have a care in the world, looking back it was bliss.

Then I stopped everything and had kids, the whole outlook changed dramatically. I want to be around for my children but I'm terrified my past will have to be paid for.

I sympathise with you for living in fear of ""dropping dead" I had that for 12 months, around a year ago it got a little bit better.

Thanks for this thread.

[Slacky]

 

Trouble is we believe the lies our heads tell us.

[paul alan]

The best counselling I had was group therapy, me and around 10 other blokes all in a room telling it like it is.

Was hard at first but when every one else helped you to see things differently or told how they overcame such and such an issue.

A bit like CIU tonight.

[paul alan]

I've also had therapeutic help as in counselling for a year or so.  It's surprising how seemingly unrelated things can link; most of my adulthood issues were around childhood trauma that remained either hidden, or only on the periphery of memory.
It's one of the reasons I write (apart from actually enjoying it most of the time).  I can work past trauma and even current-day incidents into a story.  A couple of people who live nearby really pee me off.  They become characters in a story   (they found the local traffic warden dismembered in some bushes)

That's  a great way to deal with things, you can put an ending on the situation.

I have always found putting pen to paper a great help, not to write as such. Just to put your thoughts down on paper and then you can see them more clearly.

[Stoots]

Isnt it quite shocking how common mental health issues are.

Ive always felt like i was the only one.

Like most ive tried cbt, anti depresants and councilling etc.

Can be bad for months then ok for a while then it comes back again.

Does anyone havs OCD ? apparently its quite common with people prone to anxiety/depression

I used to have it quite bad but even to this day i do things out of habit and repetition. I check van is locked and doors loccked and electric if off before bed, but over and over again. I count letters in words over and over to check i havent got it wrong. I turn the tins round in the cupboards so the labels all face the right way. if i touch somrthing cold with one hand i have to equal it out on the other lol .

My daughter is in the process of being diagnosed with possible autism and ADHD and my dad used to have panic attacks, im sure all these things are linked. I reckon i will go all my life with an undiagnosed mental disorder but you just get used to it and it becomes part of your existence.

[Slacky]

My grandfather on my mothers side was a violent alcoholic. His wife, my mothers mother, committed suicide.

My mother was an alcoholic, depressed and possibly had borderline personality disorder. One of my sisters is an alcoholic in recovery with severe OCD, depression, health anxiety and generalised anxiety disorder.

My other sister has depression.

I’m an alike in recovery and have had to tolerate GAD, depression and health anxiety issues.

I have 3 nieces, 2 of them have an underlying depressive condition each.

We all fecked in my family 😍

[paul alan]

Isnt it quite shocking how common mental health issues are.

Ive always felt like i was the only one.

Like most ive tried cbt, anti depresants and councilling etc.

Can be bad for months then ok for a while then it comes back again.

Does anyone havs OCD ? apparently its quite common with people prone to anxiety/depression

I used to have it quite bad but even to this day i do things out of habit and repetition. I check van is locked and doors loccked and electric if off before bed, but over and over again. I count letters in words over and over to check i havent got it wrong. I turn the tins round in the cupboards so the labels all face the right way. if i touch somrthing cold with one hand i have to equal it out on the other lol .

My daughter is in the process of being diagnosed with possible autism and ADHD and my dad used to have panic attacks, im sure all these things are linked. I reckon i will go all my life with an undiagnosed mental disorder but you just get used to it and it becomes part of your existence.

Weird you mention about it being in the family.

my health anxiety centres around my heart, 6 months ago my dad was being tested at the hospital as he "was sure" there was something wrong with his heart. My mother told he worries about it.

Then we found out that his dad topped himself because he was paranoid about heart disease and cancer etc.

Last week my 5 year old boy ran to the top of the stairs and said  he could feel his heart pumping and exclaimed "my heart is broken" bought a tear to my eye.

[paul alan]

This thread is starting to trip me out!

[Slacky]

It’s all good stuff!!

[paul alan]

Feel better already, CIU should open a counselling section.

[Walter Mitty]

My health anxiety is defiantly linked to my past "behaviours".

I went out every weekend and took every class A there is, drank for days at a time and smoked like a train. I also smoked cannabis for 20 years. I first went to prison aged 16 then 3 more times after that all for drunk/drugged violenece.I didn't have a care in the world, looking back it was bliss.

Then I stopped everything and had kids, the whole outlook changed dramatically. I want to be around for my children but I'm terrified my past will have to be paid for.

I sympathise with you for living in fear of ""dropping dead" I had that for 12 months, around a year ago it got a little bit better.

Thanks for this thread.

Well done on finding recovery and sticking with it.  My darkest days are more than 30 years ago, but the worst part of it was when it was actually legal (scripted).  I even remember a doctor who wrote scripts in exchange for bottles of whisky (I kid you not).

[paul alan]

Thanks

I guess I just learned how to "learn" from my mistakes.

How do you mean ? " worst part was legal(scripted)?

[P @ F]

Holy poop .... after reading this my heart condition sort of seems trivial .....im totally blown away 

[Walter Mitty]

Thanks

I guess I just learned how to "learn" from my mistakes.

How do you mean ? " worst part was legal(scripted)?

It was possible to pay a private doctor to write prescriptions for injectables such as methadone ampoules and in some cases, diamorphine (heroin) ampoules.  The doctor and pharmacy fees were far cheaper, and less risky, than scoring on the streets.  Plus you couldn't get nicked for possession because it was a legal script.

[Stoots]

The thing is that as humans we do not yet fully understand how the brain works and probably won't for hundreds of years.

It seems like it's only recently that anxiety/depression/ocd etc are being talked about and recognised as a real illness

A few years ago if you were anxious you were just a soft get and if you were depressed you were just a miserable bugger.

I think finally people are accepting that these issues are real and are debilitating for many.

[֍Winp®oClean֍]

Bit of an eye opener!! I suffer none of these things but it is quite sad to read and clearly genuine.

[Slacky]

An ex of mine used to work in the local chemist. Apparently the chemist used to say about people who were prescribed anti-depressants that they should just pull themselves together.

That’s from an educated, medical professional.

[colin bird]

I’ve got Coeliac disease which means I can’t eat; wheat, barley, rye or oats. Not that serious in the scheme of things, unless a custie slips me a digestive to have with my tea! 

  and that digestive will give you the poopx hope you carry a toilet roll and a bucket in you van