Why do you even bother?

[Janus]

I have PTSD. I can't even go outside anymore during the day, and if I go out at night, it has to be dark, nowhere where there are too many people or where it's too bright, or too noisy. I have become so restricted in what I can do, it limits the hell out of my options of seeking help. Pretty much online is all I can do. I haven't used a phone for a few years (leave mine off the hook cause the ringing causes me too much anxiety). So in a last ditch effort before I am homeless, I come here, and figure I can at least post and there might be someone who understands, so all my suffering is not in vain.

There is literally no one (no one at ALL) IRL who I can talk to. I can't call your service, I can't even stand to look at my telephone, let alone use it!

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[Beltane]

Hiya.
Well done for contacting the forums. I can see you are experiencing significant distress and are understandably feeling very overwhelmed and quite hopeless. I understand you are having difficulty speaking on the phone right now.

Beyondblue may have already contacted you via email. Please be aware also there is a "Webchat" function available 3pm- midnight- you can chat online via typing. Look up the top right of the page, you will see the link there.

The person on the other end is a trained counsellor who can give you advice on where you can go for help, especially considering your trouble with leaving your home and accessing services. I am sure there are services who can come to your home. For a start there are doctors who can come to your home, and I am absolutely sure there is a service that can send mental health professionals to your home. Try to contact beyondblue via the webchat function if you can, as they are very helpful (i should know, i've contacted them a few times).

I understand you are having trouble accessing help services. If you could perhaps book a taxi through an online website to take you to emergency if you are feeling like you need urgent crisis help? You could do this at night if you are more comfortable. Or is there a friend who can drive you- even if you don't tell them why you're going?
The advantage of hospital is that there are emergency psychiatric teams who can provide urgent assessment and help for you, and link you up with ongoing assistance. Please try to remember that those people are trained to help you, and have seen it all before.

There are very effective treatments for PTSD. I'm not sure what treatments you have already tried. If you can get yourself somehow to hospital, or to your local doctor, they can prescribe temporary anti-anxiety medications to calm you down while long-term treatment is put in place. Long-term treatments usually involve a medication of some kind- usually an anti-depressant or anti-anxiety drug of some kind. It will also involve therapy- again i'm absolutely sure a service could be arranged to come to you, to spare you the anxiety of leaving your home.

To give you some hope, i once had such severe anxiety and depression that at my worst point, i couldnt even go shopping- family brought food for me. My only social life was through online video games, and i couldnt hold down work. I was constantly crying, and in a state of extreme anxiety 24/7. But i got help, and i'm 100% better now.

[Neil_1]

Hi there Janus

Thank you so much for posting and welcome to Beyond Blue.

I see where you’re coming from with all that you’ve written and I understand your concerns as well.

At home, I cannot answer the telephone anymore and now I really only have one person who calls (my bro), and we get on really well and all that, but it stresses me to still use the phone and to talk.   As it does with face to face interaction in real life.

Janus, your suffering is NOT in vain – it’s a very real issue and is experienced by many.   Beyond Blue as well as having their hotline number, they do have a web-chat facility available;   it’s listed at the top of each page;   and is available from 3pm to midnight most days of the week?   (Check that)    That may be an option in trying to commence the ball rolling for you to seek out professional help/assistance;    as I’m sensing that you visiting a GP would be very difficult for you to do – if however, you can somehow manage to do that, that would be a sensational thing.   Otherwise, I think it’d be a matter of finding a GP that does ‘home visits’.

You also haven’t mentioned how old you are;    whether you work;   and whether you have any family or friends that you feel you could talk too – being able to unload in a face-to-face arrangement can also be a great way of unloading.

I’ll send this now and do hope to hear back from you.

Kind regards

Neil

[Maximum]

Hello Janus,

Can I please ask you about your issue with the phone.  My son will not answer the phone either.  He is only diagnosed with Anxiety so far, nothing else.  He rarely leaves the house, does not leave his room either, and spends most of the time online on his computer, and will not answer the house phone or his mobile phone, no matter what.  I don't really understand.  I don't know how to help hime.  Professionals have not helped change his situation so far.  This has been happening for 5 years since he turned 18.

[Maximum]

Hello Beltane,

Can you please tell me exactly how you got help?????

[Beltane]

Hi Maximum

I had difficult to treat issues- severe anxiety and severe depression and violent mood swings. Unfortunately it took a bit for me to find the right treatment. In the end, I found a really good GP and booked a very long appointment, and brought all my previous case notes for her to review. She helped me get a long appointment with a psychiatrist (it was funded through medicare somehow). I spent about 2 hours with them, carefully answering questions.

In my situation it was a case of misdiagnosis, which unfortunately can happen. Many mental illnesses can be confused with each other, as they can present with similar symptoms, or the person can present with symptoms of more than one illness and the doctor has to try to figure out what is going on.

In my case i presented with the symptoms i mentioned above. But what doctors hadn't realised before (and i hadn't realised) is that some of my anxiety symptoms weren't actually anxiety symptoms- they were symptoms of "hypomania" which is a sign of bipolar type 2.

So in short, the treatments i had received were not suitable for bipolar, so they hadnt worked.. Within a week of being on a bipolar medication i was seeing significant improvement in all my symptoms, and now i am recovered fully.

So my advice is, beyond blue has a list of doctors who are good in mental health under "Get Support". "Find a Professional" in the menu above. From there, you can get a one-off medication review with a psychiatrist if the case is complex. psychiatrists are the specialists when it comes to these mental problems.

Also a good therapist is absolutely essential, and positive lifestyle changes- a hobby perhaps, exercise, a normal sleep cycle (not staying up all night)