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Rosebud78 Help- therapy advice leads to family melt down what do I do now
  • replies: 9

So I have started to see a new therapist, who is just filling in until I can see someone else in her practice who is better suited to my needs apparently, 路‍ and what she had me do today regarding boundaries has basically got my whole family in melt ... View more

So I have started to see a new therapist, who is just filling in until I can see someone else in her practice who is better suited to my needs apparently, 🤷‍ and what she had me do today regarding boundaries has basically got my whole family in melt down. After just 1visit (this was only the second visit) she said that I had very bad boundaries(and yes that is right) and that I needed to tell my 20somethings foster/adopted sons and daughter-in-law who all have trauma backgrounds of their own what I need from them in our home. They may not have been big things but her way of doing it-via a letter that I put in the fridge for them to read- went very very very badly. The kids now think that I don’t love them or want them at home. I don’t know what to do. I don’t know how to sort out this mess at home nor do I want to go back and see this woman again! I feel as if I have destroyed everything that my husband and I have worked hard to build. Like I have lost my whole family. I just don’t know how to move forward

Jeff_M Anxiety diagnosis and medication - struggling to get any improvement
  • replies: 3

Hi there, keen to hear any suggestions/shared experiences for Anxiety/maybe OCD. My 15 year old daughter was diagnosed as having OCD about a year ago but we're not sure that's what is really happening. We've tried three medications to bring down the ... View more

Hi there, keen to hear any suggestions/shared experiences for Anxiety/maybe OCD. My 15 year old daughter was diagnosed as having OCD about a year ago but we're not sure that's what is really happening. We've tried three medications to bring down the anxiety so she can function - get to and stay at school for a day. If she has OCD it seems to be ruminations/obsessions/compulsions, not contamination OCD, with most obvious manifestation being obsessive perfectionist approach to schoolwork, but diagnosis is also that she has all of the anxieties at a high level. She tried two SSRIs last year but neither had any effect and one made her quite agitated. She's now been on a tricyclic for three months but only a therapeutic dose (as I understand it) for six weeks, and she's not feeling any improvement. Therapy isn't really working as her anxiety is still so high. Today we went to look at hospital treatment but she didn't like the idea and I could see how the procedures would trigger her anxieties. We've looked at lifestyle things like calming, meditation and exercise but she hasn't been in the frame to do any. Keen for any thoughts/suggestions on next or other steps.

Mark h Can anybody recommend non prescription treatments for Anxiety / Depression?
  • replies: 10

Good afternoon everyone. I am hoping you can help with any advice or experiences for myself. I have been diagnosed with a long term anxiety disorder (so GAD) which of course borders into depression also being that they tend to run side by side with e... View more

Good afternoon everyone. I am hoping you can help with any advice or experiences for myself. I have been diagnosed with a long term anxiety disorder (so GAD) which of course borders into depression also being that they tend to run side by side with each other. I have been taking medication for many years now and at night to help with sleep. Recently my wife and I have separated which has caused a flare up with anxiety / depression. It's been extremely stressful and it looks like this will continue for a while yet. Ii am told it may take up to 2 years to get myself back on my feet and so far it's only been 4 months. I would love to hear from anyone who can recommend any herbal treatments or supplements that have helped in relieving anxiety / depression symptoms. I have of course looked online and read through different sites and it looks like the main ones include Rhodiola, Vitamin D, Omega 3, GABA and Kava. I have also heard that whilst it can be costly, CBD oil is also a good option to look into? Whatever help and advice you can provide would be great. I don't particularly want to increase my meds as such because of the side effects so if herbal supplements or other remedies can help I would rather pursue these options. Thanks again for all of your continued support and help. Mark

Klaura Type of therapy for treatment resistant depression
  • replies: 1

Hi everyone, I’ve been dealing with treatment resistant depression for seven years and have tried CBT and normal “talk therapy,” which haven’t helped. My main issue is fatigue and being so tired that I can’t be bothered doing anything. I’ve been gett... View more

Hi everyone, I’ve been dealing with treatment resistant depression for seven years and have tried CBT and normal “talk therapy,” which haven’t helped. My main issue is fatigue and being so tired that I can’t be bothered doing anything. I’ve been getting worse lately and have been skipping more and more days off work because I’m so exhausted. does anyone know of any type of therapy that may work for me? Thanks

Klaura Is it worth going into psychiatric care?
  • replies: 7

Hi all, I’ve been dealing with treatment resistant depression for 7 years and haven’t gotten much better. I have periods where I can’t function at least once a weak and I spend the day sleeping because I’m too tired to do anything. Im getting really ... View more

Hi all, I’ve been dealing with treatment resistant depression for 7 years and haven’t gotten much better. I have periods where I can’t function at least once a weak and I spend the day sleeping because I’m too tired to do anything. Im getting really low because I’m so exhausted and I can’t tell if it’s my medications or the depression and insomnia. I don’t feel like I’m getting anywhere with my psychiatrist anymore and I feel he’s getting desperate and besides the six antidepressants I’m on, he’s also put me on a large number of supplements to counter a potential metabolic disorder but it’s not helping. I’ve tried therapy and apparently I’m not eligible for ECT or TMS. Im wondering whether it would be worth going into a hospital to have more one on one treatment. Would anyone recommend? Thanks x

Clues_Of_Blue Possible ADHD
  • replies: 10

Recent conversations with my counsellor, family, friends and partner have shed a different light on a whole bunch of things that have been normal for me for as long as I can remember. Like most people, when I heard about ADHD, it was usually about li... View more

Recent conversations with my counsellor, family, friends and partner have shed a different light on a whole bunch of things that have been normal for me for as long as I can remember. Like most people, when I heard about ADHD, it was usually about little boys bouncing all over the place. If you're not specifically looking, it's not at all clear it's something experienced by girls and adults of both sexes as well, and the symptoms are surprising. My sister has recently discovered she has it. It runs in families, but that's only one box checked. Mind running constantly, like two or more radio stations blaring all the time. Check! Constantly getting distracted and bouncing from task to task to task, forgetting each as a new one (or one I started earlier) presents itself. Check! Insanely lengthy (and plentiful) to-do lists everywhere, reminders and alarms - and still forgetting important things (like meds) regularly. Check! There's a lot more, but that's the gist. I have a referral to a psychiatrist in hopes of diagnosis (or ruling it out, but somehow I don't think so) - and I'll be stewing on it at least 3 months, as the dude's booked up until June. I'd like to hear from anyone who has been diagnosed, about the journey there. I'm somewhat concerned about being taken seriously and listened to, as everything I'm reading suggests even professionals are often poorly educated about ADHD and an adult has an uphill battle getting a diagnosis for this - a female adult all the more so. I'm writing down every example I can think of, of symptomatic behaviour (so many notes!), and could do with an idea of what sort of questions they will ask - a lot of what I'm reading suggests adults and women present very differently to little boys, but the little boy symptoms are often what they base diagnostic criteria on. Sounds like a problem area right there. I'd also like to hear about symptom-related experiences, coping strategies and therapies that have helped people here. I've already read a few good tips, like having someone around to keep you "on task" when possible to get things done around the house, regularly tweaking routines to keep boredom from undermining attention to important things, aiming to achieve something small early in the day to break the sense of getting nowhere for the day ahead (boy that's a big one for me, I struggle when I don't do that). I could waffle on for ages (following that daisy-chain of runaway thoughts), but I'll stop there for now. Blue.

JaneC76 Why won’t anyone help me? Am I too much?
  • replies: 3

I have PTSD, I have an NDIS plan as I’m unable to work because of it. Ive been unwell for around 8 years, with multiple in patient stays. I’ve been doing well up to around March then it’s been very up down due to numerous triggers & general stressors... View more

I have PTSD, I have an NDIS plan as I’m unable to work because of it. Ive been unwell for around 8 years, with multiple in patient stays. I’ve been doing well up to around March then it’s been very up down due to numerous triggers & general stressors. As a result I’ve also had problems with insomnia to varying degrees. The last week there were some nights I had no sleep at all. I had my long standing appointment with my psychiatrist on Monday & told her the situation. She sounded frustrated & asked had it not occurred to me to ring her for an earlier appointment rather than wait so long. It hadn’t. I don’t want to be a burden & will try my absolute best to manage on my own. She prescribed a medication to assist sleep. It didn’t work & she didn’t follow up with me like she said. At this point my husband is concerned. I can’t function. I’m not sleeping or eating so he rings on Tuesday but hears nothing back. So I decide to skip some daytime meds in the hope of finally getting sleep. And voila it works, I sleep some. Not much but at least it’s something. Wednesday morning I have appointment with my psychotherapist who works in the same place as my psychiatrist. although this is Victoria where we are currently in lockdown I sob over this FaceTime appointment. Therapist says she is emailing my psychiatrist to ask whether I should have a hospital admission & whether I should be skipping medication. My therapist says don’t worry either me or your psychiatrist will call you back or if we can’t get a hold of you we will call your husband. But we will call you today. Its nearly 11pm & no ones called. Is it me? Am I doing something wrong? I’m constantly told I should reach out more but when I do I get nothing. The whole situation feels so hopeless for me.

softdrinksandwich Antidepressant effects changing in first few weeks
  • replies: 2

I started taking medication 3 weeks ago to deal with severe OCD, anxiety and depression. My first week was strange as I adjusted to the medication - I was feeling better but really I was feeling different. Thinking differently, acting differently, it... View more

I started taking medication 3 weeks ago to deal with severe OCD, anxiety and depression. My first week was strange as I adjusted to the medication - I was feeling better but really I was feeling different. Thinking differently, acting differently, it was all an adjustment. I also had some minor side effects - nausea, dry throat, insomnia. The second week I felt amazing - my head was clear, I was thinking positively, and while I felt so different, I felt so good. I'm at the end of my third week, and things have changed again. My intrusive thoughts have returned significantly, and I'm once again much more anxious and stuck in my own head. I'm sharing this to understand if anyone else has had similar experiences. Is it a negative thing that the meds worked really well at first and have now tapered off this week? I want to be clear and say I do plan to keep taking the meds, as I know they can ultimately 6 weeks to really work long term. But this initial rollercoaster has had me concerned and perhaps I want to be reassured that it's all part of the process.

Zoomah Genetics
  • replies: 9

Have some good news on my treatment. I was starting to lose hope as no medication was working and I was only going down down down. In December I decided to try the public system with mixed results... mostly negative. However, this has all changed now... View more

Have some good news on my treatment. I was starting to lose hope as no medication was working and I was only going down down down. In December I decided to try the public system with mixed results... mostly negative. However, this has all changed now that I had an ACTUAL appointment with my psychiatrist. Before it was just with case workers and such. Turns out the psychiatrist I got was amazingly good at his job. My previous psych had tried the different types of drugs with no effect so this one went "Hmm, not effect. There must be a reason for that." So he got a genetic test... which was expensive for me. Turns out that normal medications will never help me because I have a mutation on my gene that prevents me from producing some chemicals properly. For me this is great news because now I have an actual treatment plan instead of guess work. I'm weaning off the drugs (not looking forward to the next 4 weeks... probably end up in hospital) and getting custom made supplements to give me the chemical my body can't produce. He's 80-90% sure this will let me get on with my life and respond to therapy. Even better, people in my family with depression can now get the genetic test and hopefully it will help them. Isn't modern medicine great? Still a possibility for it not to work but at least there's some hope. The actual mutation is so unusual that he's taking my case to a guy in the US. Lots of people have the mutation on their gene but mine is in an unusual way.

MrRoss Just help so fed up
  • replies: 1

Hi there am I the only one that can't see a psychiatrist without paying I have emailed 20 now no luck. It's very hard because I have been unwell for the last year and a half been diagnosed what's the autoimmune disease that is affected my Spine so fi... View more

Hi there am I the only one that can't see a psychiatrist without paying I have emailed 20 now no luck. It's very hard because I have been unwell for the last year and a half been diagnosed what's the autoimmune disease that is affected my Spine so find it difacult to walk some days lost my job because the RTA took my driver's licence of me because of my sickness. I understand its the right thing to do but it still hurts trying to get Disabled pension that's a nightmare waited over a year to see spine specialist to get a report for my claim dr told me I needed to pay for it private. And to top it all off my little brother died yesterday in the UK and I can't afford the $7000 it cost to fly at the moment because of coved19. Just having a really hard time NDIS have asked me to give a list of things I need help with but how do I know what they give help with to ask being dyslexic doesn't help plus the drugs I'm on make me a bit dizzy that my rant over thanks for reading

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