Having depression/anxiety for most of my life, managing without having episodes greatly affect my "public persona". I had been seeing a shrink for a couple of years, with treatment options confined to standard anti-depressants. Then came along 2010. Will a full time job requiring high levels of travel, studying for a MBA, volunteering in Cambodia, loosing my first dog, getting married, and having my grand-mother die the following day. The cracks began to appear and during a Sydney stay I managed to manage my third suicide attempt. I discovered "self harm" as way of coping with a world that was collapsing around me. Another suicide attempt ended with me off to hospital, and a painfully daily follow up with the CAT team. 2013 saw me fired from 2 very good jobs, and a continued decline in health. Come 2nd Jan 2014, I had my first 2 .5 week admin to hospital for ECT, closely followed by an additional 2 weeks of treatment. NOTE: ECT not only affects short term, but also made swiss cheese of my long term memory. I was without employment for 7 months and beginning to think that it wasn't going to happen. I have been required to have a few transfusions due to sever anaemia, the last of which was 2 weeks ago. So here I am today, 7 weeks into my new job with a great company. I continue to take 4 anti-depessants. I no longer have to see my shrink every second day, and Im very confident that I am on the road to recovery. The collateral damage of the last few years is the loss of friendship of some colleagues, and a weight gain, which at its peak was 40kg above normal. Only 30 kg to go. Wish me luck.
