The mental health support thread

[babyblob]

We have a GLBT thread for support and discussion so I thought I would start one for people who have mental health struggles or just need a helping hand after a bad day. If the mods dont think this is appropriate am take it down I am sorry for having started it.

Here is a little about me. I have schizoaffetive disorder. I have mood swings that go from Manic and extreme happiness to extreme depression. I also have hallucinations and hear voices. For the longest time I thought my voices were real people and didnt understand why other people were ignoring them. Now I know they are not real and that has been a struggle to accept. I often times for sorry for people without voices because I think of how lonely they must be. I also have a hard time leaving the house.
I get very nervous and at time have panic attacks in public. I have a mental health caseworker who takes me places like to the grocery store and doctors. He stays with me while I am out and without him I doubt I would have the courage to get anything done.

This makes things very hard for me at times. It doesnt help that I am a caretaker for my disabled father and cant really afford to have a bad day. When I do I have to struggle through it for his sake. I am controlled somewhat with meds and in the last month my good days have outnumbered my bad. I am talking with my doctor about scaling back my medicine regiment. Right now I am on 12 pills a day and that is hard. Sometimes I forget to talk them and that leads to bad times. I dont work and get social security disability though I am hoping as I get better I can return to the workforce.

I try very hard to distract myself. I read comics a lot. More then I should probably. It is my main hobby as it picks me up when I am having a bad day and calms me down when I am manic. I may go overboard sometime like the days I read 15 or 30 issues in on day on Marvel Unlimited. I remember the day I couldnt sleep and woke up at one am and ended up reading 60 that day. I read normal books on my kindle. I also write though I have not done a lot of that as of late. I also come to this site This site has helped me a great deal. It has given me a place to talk about comics and I have been getting more active on other threads to become a better member of this community.

I wanted to be open about what I am going through because maybe then others will be open as well. I know I am not a role model or anything and am not trying to be but all it takes is one person sometimes.

So if you want to talk about struggles you are going through or if you are just having a bad day I encourage you to open up here. I have found a good many people on this site supportive and willing to help.

I understand mental health is a personal and hard thing to talk about at times so if this thread dies on the vine I will understand.