The mental health support thread

[babyblob]

That's good news about your cat! That's one load off your mind that it isn't anything too serious and can be treated.

Yes. They gave me meds and he will be fine in a couple of weeks. I just hate that he is in pain. He was a bused so bad by his former owners and abandoned. He had such a hard life I just want him to be happy and pain free.

[babyblob]

I have severe anxiety which manifests typically in obsessive compulsive behavior and irritability. The best I can explain to my wife is that I'm unable to compartmentalize the things that make me anxious so if you imagine a moving box, where you are moving glasses, instead of placing them side by side which would make sense and be easier, it would be like if you stacked them all sky high. It's difficult to carry and if you drop one of them it cascades and you end up showered in glass.

I take medication for it which helps control the anxiety but it severely diminishes my drive to work out and be proactive, which is about the only good thing my anxiety does for me. Essentially, it makes me more pleasant for everyone else to be around, but I feel lazy which I abhor.

I understand about the meds. My meds make me sluggish some days and it is hard to shake out of. It is kind of a double edged sword. On one hand they pills help and make you a better person, but on the other the side effects are kind of harsh. Is your wife understanding? Does she offer good support?

[KOSLOX]

I understand about the meds. My meds make me sluggish some days and it is hard to shake out of. It is kind of a double edged sword. On one hand they pills help and make you a better person, but on the other the side effects are kind of harsh. Is your wife understanding? Does she offer good support?

Yes, for the most part. I think she was just glad I finally realized I need to figure out why I didn't feel right. Now that I've got a better handle on it, it's much easier to see how my issues were impacting my life. I suppose it's like when you finally get glasses on and realize "Oh! Yeah this is what it's like for other people."

Plus I've figured out some ways to circumvent the issues I have with my meds. For example I typically workout either right before breakfast on weekends, or prior to coming home after work. The rush I get from it helps push me heading into evening family and household duties.

[KOSLOX]

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.

Have you heard of the videogame Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice?

It's a game where the protagonist has a schizoaffective disorder. The creators tried very hard to make sure they properly represented it without making light of it or glorifying/vilifying people who have it.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hellbl...%27s_Sacrifice

[babyblob]

Have you heard of the videogame Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice?

It's a game where the protagonist has a schizoaffective disorder. The creators tried very hard to make sure they properly represented it without making light of it or glorifying/vilifying people who have it.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hellbl...%27s_Sacrifice

I have not heard of it. Thank you I will read up on it.

That is the problem with media, for so long they had people with mental illness portrayed as dangerous people who there was no help for. Tv Movies and yes even comic books have not done the best job of handling people with mental health disorders for the longest time. And that helped make people scared to come forward. I am glad to see that this is getting better.

[Javasaurus]

Thank you both for your kind words. I am back from the vet. I am glad I went. My cat has an infection on hos paw pad. They gave me meds and said he will be fine in about a week and a half. I also had them do blood work and found out that he has a lowered immune system. That is why the infection was so bad. They gave me a meds for that as well. I am going to do as you suggest Willie and listen to my Bat Out Of Hell 2. Thank you for remembering my favorite album. I have a few errands Friday. But this weekend I am going to have a good relaxing weekend.

It's good to hear that the visit to the vet went well. I hope the recovery goes well too.

[babyblob]

Hey all. First off, I'm glad to see that there's a thread devoted to mental health. It's something that a lot of people still unfortunately misunderstand. Straight jackets and mental asylums for the criminally insane. Psycho killers and lone gunmen. Special buses and family embarrassments. I'm willing to bet that many of us associate those ideas with mental health. I know I did. And I know that's what prevented me from getting help for a long time.

As for me, well, I can only share so much. All I can say is that I have severe stress and anxiety and have had depression. There have been times I wake up an hour to two hours before my alarm clock goes off and I'm just panicking about the day ahead of me. I'm afraid of failure and making mistakes. But for the past six months, I've been dealing with it through online psychological counseling. Personally, I've really appreciated this. Online therapy has been convenient, on my schedule, and in the privacy of my own home. No need to travel at all. Yes, I'm speaking with my therapist on a smartphone. Yeah, it's a little bit more expensive than in person services. But I'll tell you, I've had a lot of good emotional, cathartic, and enlightening experiences. Still a work in progress, but hey, I'm making progress.

To all of those who are embarrassed or afraid of admitting that there's an issue, or maybe you're afraid that your family or your job is going to find out, don't be. There are ways around it. There are ways to get help.

Thank you for sharing. It is hard to overcome our fear and embarrassment. I am glad that you did.

[babyblob]

I know I have been posting on here a lot this week. But it has not been a good week. Monday and Tuesday I was very depressed. Wednesday I had to take my sick cat to the vet. And Friday night my dad who has been very sick the last few days had to go to the hospital. They ran all kinds of test and we were there for 6 hours. At last they found the cause and gave us meds and sent us home. I didnt get to bed until 130 am.

I woke up at 630 this morning feeling a little better about the world. I had a huge burst of energy and cleaned my house like crazy. But another strike. As I went to do wash i discovered that my washer is broken. ARRGGG!!!! The good thing is that we have a service plan on it. They are coming to get it and send it to service Tuesday. Luckily I did a lot of wash during the day Friday so I am not hurting for cloths. And the most positive thing I can take away from this is that I am not freaking out. I did at first, then I made calls and got service date set up. took a couple deep breaths and talked to my dad.

I am not letting the past couple of days defeat me. I am trying very hard to make things in my mind go smooth. Tonight I am going to center myself. Watch a little tv and get my head back on straight. Go to bed early and get a good nights sleep for the first time is a week. And Sunday I am going to get back to reading my comics and relaxing. This has been a bad week but I promise myself that next week will be better.

Thank you to everyone who have posted kind words and advice to me this week.

[Rob Allen]

Time for me to post an intro in this thread. I have ADD and my wife has PTSD and traumatic brain injury. This can be a volatile combination but we usually make it work.

[babyblob]

Time for me to post an intro in this thread. I have ADD and my wife has PTSD and traumatic brain injury. This can be a volatile combination but we usually make it work.

Thank you for posting on here. I am happy that there are a few people who are willing to be open and share what they are going through. PTSD is a very hard thing to go through. I hope that the two of you are there for each other and support each other.

[Tien Long]

Thank you for sharing. It is hard to overcome our fear and embarrassment. I am glad that you did.

Thanks for the acknowledgement bro. And whatever we're going through, we're always making progress .

[maninthemacintosh1606]

Was sick for like 2 weeks and started feeling pretty bad. Then I was asleep for a full day due to meds and had a migrained all day that seemed to make things worse. I managed to get back on top of reading my comics tonight and it has made a world of difference, even if it is a struggle at times it always makes me feel better

Sometimes I feel defeated and honestly lately I have been feeling very defeated, contemplated some negative things because it is hard to imagine things ever getting better for me

[maninthemacintosh1606]

Been gone for a while, everything sucks at the moment. Seems like the world hates me. Hope everyone is staying healthy and safe and protecting themselves from coronavirus. Am suicidal at the moment but at least I have an excuse to self-isolate ...

[Joker]

National Suicide Prevention Lifeline
1-800-273-8255

Seriously. Reach out. Sometimes **** sucks, but you'll get through it.

[Kirby101]

Been gone for a while, everything sucks at the moment. Seems like the world hates me. Hope everyone is staying healthy and safe and protecting themselves from coronavirus. Am suicidal at the moment but at least I have an excuse to self-isolate ...

Sorry to hear. Don't know if you want us to give you words of support. But reach out, here or where you can. Depression is one of the worst things our bodies do to us.