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A_Fish Day 1 on bipolar medication
  • replies: 6

I have suffered from anxiety for about 10 years and diagnosed with GAD. Since I was diagnosed and medicated, I have been suffering insomnia and racing thoughts in my head. I just assumed this was normal as I worked in a fairly fast-paced work environ... View more

I have suffered from anxiety for about 10 years and diagnosed with GAD. Since I was diagnosed and medicated, I have been suffering insomnia and racing thoughts in my head. I just assumed this was normal as I worked in a fairly fast-paced work environment. Now that life has settled down for me, my symptoms became more prevalent and last weekend I had to go to hospital twice to obtain some medication to help calm me down. I saw my GP yesterday (a new GP) for a mental health check-up. He has diagnosed me as being bipolar. After reading about the symptoms of bipolar, it kind of makes sense to me now that perhaps I was incorrectly diagnosed 10 years ago. The medication I was on I had to take every day. If I accidently missed a dose, the following day I would feel terribly depressed. I explained this to my GP who told me to stop taking that medication immediately and start on my new bipolar medication. It’s day 1, so far so good. Everything appears normal and my head is not buzzing like it did when I was on the old meds. I was wondering if anyone has had a similar experience and could tell me a little bit about the first 2 weeks of their journey after switching from a SNRI to a bipolar med. Thank you

tallypez Medicare and the Safety Gap
  • replies: 1

Does anyone know if the full $$ payments you make to psychologists after your 10 Mental Health Care Plan sessions have expired count towards the annual Medicare safely net amount? I stopped submitting my claims to Medicare after the 10th session and ... View more

Does anyone know if the full $$ payments you make to psychologists after your 10 Mental Health Care Plan sessions have expired count towards the annual Medicare safely net amount? I stopped submitting my claims to Medicare after the 10th session and I am not sure what I am supposed to do now. Do I still submit them to Medicare so they go towards my safety net amounts? Thanks

Guest_10473 Christianity and Psychological/Alternative/Complementary Therapies
  • replies: 2

I guess the issue that I am having at the moment is determining if I can be a Christian and still participate in alternative therapies. I was raised a Christian and attended church until a trauma that resulted in depression/anxiety/OCD. I had been on... View more

I guess the issue that I am having at the moment is determining if I can be a Christian and still participate in alternative therapies. I was raised a Christian and attended church until a trauma that resulted in depression/anxiety/OCD. I had been on a high dose of meds and was doing CBT with my psych until 4 years ago when I started developing gastrointestinal issues and testing revealed chronic erosive gastritis – most likely due to the long term high dosage of meds. The gastro recommended coming off meds altogether and looking into more natural and alternative therapies. My psych talked with the gastro and began decreasing my meds and I am now down to less than half of my original dose. We tried other meds but couldn’t find anything that worked and didn’t have side effects. It is a balancing act between the minimum meds I can take to manage my symptoms and that will cause the least amount of problems to my body. I am still doing CBT regularly and have seen psychologists to learn alternative techniques for dealing with my anxiety and depression. I have found EFT Tapping to be helpful and was also introduced to meditation and positive affirmations. My psych suggested breathing exercises and yoga. I got really into positive affirmations and started reading some of Louise Hay’s books and have found that positive self-talk has been beneficial to me. I often look at Louise Hay’s facebook page for daily affirmations and recently someone had commented that affirmations were evil and New Age. I began looking into what Christians think about alternative medicine and found many of them saying things like TCM, Acupressure, Ayurveda, Aromatherapy, and Massage were bad. I have improved so much since taking a more holistic approach to my health and incorporating yoga and mindful meditations to my daily routine. When I do meditation I refer to it is my meditation/prayer time as I find that the two seem to go together. Then I found some articles on how EFT Tapping is bad and Christians should not do it. I am so confused right now. Why would my doctors be teaching me these tools if they didn’t work? Why is acceptable for a Christian to fill my body with high doses of medication that have harmed my body yet these more natural therapies are frowned upon? Up until a few days ago I was in a good place and felt like I had a found a good balance of medication/medical treatments/psychological therapies and complementary/alternative therapies.

MoMoPotato People talk about being "me" again. I am not sure who I am without depression. Anyone else?
  • replies: 3

A lot of the posts/articles etc regarding being treated for depression and anxiety say that the person felt they were themselves again after medication or therapy; that they had recovered. I think I have been depressed and anxious since at least 13 y... View more

A lot of the posts/articles etc regarding being treated for depression and anxiety say that the person felt they were themselves again after medication or therapy; that they had recovered. I think I have been depressed and anxious since at least 13 years old, possible 10 years. It is difficult to say as I don't have a great number of memories from the earlier years, but i have felt depressed for as long as i can remember. Has anyone else experienced this, and what happened when you were treated? Is there another "me" inside?

Guest_1211 Feel like I have made a huge mistake.
  • replies: 1

Sorry this is super long!! So, I have been seeing a wonderful psychologist for the last 6 months. I had a termination (for many reasons, not really my choice) not long before I started seeing her. My GP thought I had reactive depression, but we now t... View more

Sorry this is super long!! So, I have been seeing a wonderful psychologist for the last 6 months. I had a termination (for many reasons, not really my choice) not long before I started seeing her. My GP thought I had reactive depression, but we now think it was just the thing that pushed me over the edge, and I couldn’t keep the mask up any more. It was not the main cause of my situation, I have felt awful for a very long time. After working with her almost weekly, I abruptly texted her yesterday and said I wanted to cancel my next appointment. Now I feel like I just cut my last lifeline. I felt like I was getting nowhere and felt worse. When I think back now, I still think in some ways I do feel worse, but maybe I’m just more aware now of how bad I’m actually feeling. Thinking over what we have worked through together I realise maybe that I have made some progress in that I have a lot more insight about why I feel like I do, or how I handle situations. I have had trouble agreeing with a lot of observations she makes because I have worked so hard to keep my emotions under control my whole life, or failed to acknowledge that some situations I’ve been in are pretty awful. This means I’ve found it really hard to open up and share much of myself. I have struggled when she uses the word ‘trauma’ or talks about some of the people that haven’t treated me well in a negative light. I have felt uncomfortable when she says nice things about me. I feel like a failure when I freeze up and can’t share anything, or get overwhelmed with emotions, which she identifies as dissociating. I feel ashamed when she talks about the termination. I feel like I fail to help myself every time I see her, like I’m not helping myself and I’m wasting everyone’s time. She also suggested medication to help with my incessant thoughts/worry and help me be able to access my emotions without being overwhelmed by them, and I am scared by that and feel it’s another failure. Other factors why I was so irrational yesterday: I had emailed her during the week and hadn’t had a response (which is perfectly reasonable, I know that), I had a terrible migraine (I have a lot of these), I stayed home from work and let people down by doing so, and it would have been my due date. So I know it wasn’t a rational time to make such a decision. I feel so stupid now, and I don’t know what to do to help myself.

Bluebirdbrown Asperger’s syndrome. Do I have it ? So picnicking
  • replies: 2

Hi, Hmmmm... it’s nothing special to talk about myself. I actually don’t really know what I want here. I just wandering around to browse the a syndrome called Asperger’s syndrome as I worry I have it. I googled and I seemed to tick most boxes. I am p... View more

Hi, Hmmmm... it’s nothing special to talk about myself. I actually don’t really know what I want here. I just wandering around to browse the a syndrome called Asperger’s syndrome as I worry I have it. I googled and I seemed to tick most boxes. I am panicking now. I have anxiety disorder for my entire life. Does anyone have an idea how to diagnose it and if any treatments available ? I normally have troubles of understanding people, I can’t read people’s minds, I don’t feel welcomed by any kind of conversations, I feel so lonely and horrible, I don’t like myself etc ... I feel so puzzled so I like to find out. Thanks.

Ash_Leigh Psychiatrist confidentiality from family to patient
  • replies: 4

Hello all, I have a query in regards to confidentiality from a psychiatrist but in the opposite way to what is usually asked about. My mother is very unwell (suicidal and addiction), she has been seeing this psychiatrist for many years and long story... View more

Hello all, I have a query in regards to confidentiality from a psychiatrist but in the opposite way to what is usually asked about. My mother is very unwell (suicidal and addiction), she has been seeing this psychiatrist for many years and long story short we are concerned about how everything is being handled. We have just written an email to the psychiatrist outlining our concerns and some very serious incidents that have occurring recently involving suicide attempts from my mother. My question is, is she able to tell my mother that we have contacted her and what the email contains? Because we are not patients of hers specifically does that mean she does not have the same confidentiality requirements? We attempted to make an in person appointment with her to discuss things (we are very aware she cannot discuss our mother with us, we just wanted to advise her of what has been going on), but she declined and so email was our only option. I hope this makes sense and my question comes across somewhat clearly. Thank you in advance for any help or responses

CeCe_02 Feeling blah
  • replies: 4

I have been on antidepressants for 3 or more years now and on the same one for most of this time. Up until recently they were really helping but I’m starting to feel really blah and almost numb about everything again and I feel very emotionless about... View more

I have been on antidepressants for 3 or more years now and on the same one for most of this time. Up until recently they were really helping but I’m starting to feel really blah and almost numb about everything again and I feel very emotionless about things that use to make me happy or upset. I’ve lost my mojo again. I am also finding it difficult to sleep at the moment (but I’m thinking that is because I’m starting a new job next week) im not really sure if I should think about trying a new antidepressant? I’m scared that it will take a while to find another one that works for me. Any advice? Thanks

el17 Antidepressants for anxiety
  • replies: 5

I’ve been struggling with anxiety for a few years now and have wanted to try every avenue I could to try and get better without the use of antidepressants. I feel as if I haven’t gotten any better. I’ve tried exercise, eating healthy and self help bo... View more

I’ve been struggling with anxiety for a few years now and have wanted to try every avenue I could to try and get better without the use of antidepressants. I feel as if I haven’t gotten any better. I’ve tried exercise, eating healthy and self help books. I was okay for a bit but I have gone back to square one. Who has taken antidepressants for anxiety and what do they feel whilst on them? I’m tossing up the options currently and want to make sure the decision is right. I know everyone reacts different to them. What are everyone’s thoughts?

Mattie_B Scared of medication
  • replies: 10

Hi, Newbie here. I have recently had a mental break, that was triggered by severe insomnia for about 4 weeks. My mind wouldn't stop racing and I was unable to function during the days, not able to work, crying all the time and a downright mess. I hav... View more

Hi, Newbie here. I have recently had a mental break, that was triggered by severe insomnia for about 4 weeks. My mind wouldn't stop racing and I was unable to function during the days, not able to work, crying all the time and a downright mess. I have had a history with GAD since 2004 and was able to overcome it with natural therapies specifically acupuncture. Fueled due to my severe fear of antidepressants and my research of them. My recent breakdown I couldn't use any natural remedies, acupuncture was not working nor meditation. Being so crippled I decided to see my GP for sleeping aids, just to try get past the first few weeks of insomnia. But taking the medication and not sleeping well triggered my GAD to resurface, also with the added effects of depression I ended up being curled up in a ball just crying and not able to use logical thinking to calm myself. I went back to my GP and told them how much of a Mess I was. I have young kids 5,3, and 7 month old and a beautiful wife. Our family home is great, I have a good job although stressful of late, I had at the time been unable to pin point the triggered for me to regress so badly. My GP prescribed me medication. Under ANY other circumstance for example if my doctor prescribed me medicine to heal a festering wound which could lead to infection I wouldn't hesitate or even think twice about taking the medication. BUT for this... my fear of the drugs is high. I have pushed through that barrier using logic, but I am still unable to accept the medication and be calm about taking them. My side effects have been nothing really. But my anxiety is still crippling me at the moment and I fear the drugs are not treating it properly. I have now been on them for 4 weeks. I have been told to stick it out for 2 more weeks. I am also using medication to combat nights of sleeplessness. Which I also have fears of using. Not matter what logic I try to apply I am always fearful of these medications, and struggling in accepting them. I have just started to see a Pshyc, have had experience before, am trying to implement CBT of what i remember. I have created a Mantra for myself that I use daily to try re-program my through behavior. I am not a patient person, and I recognize I need time to right the right medication that will help me the most. But I struggle with accepting the use of medication. The fear is constantly there. Anyone else have this experience?

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