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Meet your community champions!

replies: 10

Hi everyone, We wanted to share with you the way that our wonderful Community Champions are here to support you. You may have noticed that a few of our Forums members are labelled ‘Community Champion’. Community Champions are volunteers within the Beyond Blue Forums who: have the time, skills and empathy to support other members regularly; help to welcome new members; are actively engaged members that help set the tone of our community. Our Community Champions are regular contributors to many conversations across the forums. They are a consistent and friendly voice that have committed to sharing their experience and expertise with this community. They are not health care professionals or clinicians. Like you, they have an experience with a mental health challenge or diagnosis – either for themselves or someone they care for. This forum is for people who understand what it feels like and have a lived and living experience of mental health challenges. Our Community Champions help everyone feel comfortable and confident by demonstrating what excellent peer support is all about. Click here to find out more about how you can become a Community Champion! This incredible team are excited to introduce themselves below, and we are sure you’ll see them around the forums in conversations important to you.

HELP..Am I posting in the right section?

replies: 10

Welcome to those who are considering posting for the very first time, welcome. Thought I would repost part of the words that Chris B posted awhile ago, (2014) as I can hear that people are unsure if they are posting in the right section or worried that they are posting "the wrong thing". 1.A good title makes the difference Just like a headline in a newspaper, when scanning the dozens of threads to click into, it’s only natural that people will choose the ones that resonate with them most. A title that entices the reader, or asks a question, is likely to get a better result than something non-descriptive like “Depression” or “I don't know what to do”. If you think you’re not good at choosing titles, leave it till last. Spend time writing your post, then perhaps choose a sentence from what you’ve written as the title. 2.Join in threads that have already been posted We all have our own unique stories, but part of the reason for joining a forum like this one is because you know that you will have a lot in common with others who are posting. Before starting a new thread, have a look through the current topics being discussed and see if there’s a conversation you can join in with. It can be quite common to have a handful of very similar threads happening at any one time, with members seemingly unaware that there are others right there who are going through the same thing. Talking to other members on their threads is a great way of getting yourself known so that when you post a thread of your own, people may respond quicker because they recognize your name. 3.Choose the most appropriate section for your post Many people browse the forums looking for stories specifically to do with pregnancy and parenting, employment, grief, loss, separation etc. Going straight for the “Depression” section may seem like the easiest option, but this section is often the busiest, so your post is more likely to get lost among the threads. Making good use of the different forum sections not only helps keep the forum relevant, but you’re more likely to find others who are going through the same experiences as you. Also, if you're wanting to discuss issues of trauma, abuse, suicidal thoughts or self-harm, it's really important you post in the designated section to avoid triggering others who may not wish to read about these topics. Mostly..just come and chat, we are here for you. Our amazing wizards in the background will see your message ends up in the right spot. Sarah

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New here first post

replies: 7

Hi all, I am 24 and have had anxiety since early high school and have begun to feel increasingly depressed in recent years. I would say my symptoms are moderate although I still feel pretty lousy when I am in that all too familiar rut. When feeling good I am a very carefree and social person but when I am down I am so far from being the person I usually am and that is the part that frustrates and upsets me the most. When I fall into a rut I lose motivation, I feel stressed, have no energy, isolate myself, am irritable and lose optimism about the future. This can last for weeks at a time but then I start to claw myself out and start exercising again and going out and start to feel good again but then before you know it I am right back into that same rut again and my routines go out the window. Sometimes I know the triggers and sometimes I don't it just hits me out of nowhere which is the most confusing aspect. It feels like I am climbing a mountain and every time I am just about to reach the top something triggers me to fall right back down to the bottom and the whole process starts all over again. Anyways just thought I would post this because it is awesome to have a safe space like this to get things off your mind and everyones advice is so helpful so am open to any tips that have helped you all on your journeys Thank you for reading!

I'm new to recovery — what is this rage I'm experiencing?

replies: 11

Hello community! I recently spent 3 weeks in treatment for depression, anxiety and disordered eating and am now back home and am 'in recovery'. I have had a few relapses since being home (mostly around eating/food) and am generally finding recovery pretty hard. Every day is a struggle and while there are moments of joy, most days I feel sad and lonely. Some days I also feel hopeless. But the thing that has surprised me most is that I feel so much RAGE. Has anyone else experienced this? I have always been "in touch with my anger" but this rage is a whole new thing. I feel so angry so much of the time. I don't know where it is coming from or what I need to do with it. Who else experiences this? What do you do about it? Peace out x

Nothing left to lose

replies: 3

Where to start. I came back to Australia for a 3 week holiday over a year ago and have been trapped here ever since. My father was hospitalized and died several weeks later . We were not allowed to see him in hospital due to Government. Then only 5 people could go to funeral. We were not allowed to grieve together. I have been on unpaid leave for over a year. The gov. will let me leave to go back overseas but not my wife and kids. I am expected to abandon them here. They will cancel her residency if she leaves Australia with me. I have lost over $300,000 in lost wages.Have no income. I can not access money i have overseas. I am not eligable for any gov. assistance. No medicare , no job seeker nothing. Unless i can prove i have income in Australia. I haven't lived here for over 15years. Centerlink has no interest in helping me. I am in the to hard basket for them. I suffer from severe neuralgia and can not get medication or see a doctor. I am about to lose my house can not pay bills and have almost no money left. In January i managed to get a flight back to China without the family so i could at least go back to work. The Gov. Locked down brisbane and sydney at last minute so unable to get the 2 covid tests within time for the flight so not allowed on plane. Lose ov $10,000 in airfares. Back to being stuck here person non grada. The gov. has destroyed me. i can not feed my family or pay bills. I have applied for so many jobs is crazy but never get a reply. I have been told i am to overqualified and need to retrain. Can't even get job packing shelves. i normally run multi billion dollar jobs. I have been stripped of my right to work ,travel and any purpose in life by the gov.. I have never felt so angry in my life and am having constant thoughts of suicide. I can not eat or sleep because of my neuralgia and stress. All i do all day is aimlessly walk. I need someone to look after my family. We are not all in this together.

New here, maybe this will help me

replies: 4

Hi, I have ?anxiety?depression?post partum depression? Or just exacerbated anxiety and depression from having kids? I reach out for help and get referred here and there but no one really listens. I think I am abit paranoid? I am too afraid to express myself to my family/friends because I think I have complained enough with no action. what action am I looking for though ? I don’t want to express my feelings to my friends because I don’t want to scare them off. I have been told that I am “too much” or “what’s wrong now” that I don’t want to speak anymore. my best support is my husband I even think that my psychologist is tired of me I can never really express what I want or feel properly. Also I’ve never really gotten deep into my issues : childhood trauma grief assault, not a great relationship with mother. I am super self conscious, I am not in my best shape after having kids, I think that everyone looks at me and thinks they are better than me. I haven’t worked to my full potential for awhile so we have cut back on material things. In a world where material things show your worth (especially in my circle) then I am worthless. I am extremely uncomfortable in my own skin and don’t like my own company lately because my mind isn’t being kind.

Can’t work, can’t breathe, can’t think clearly

replies: 2

Honestly it’s hard to put into words how I’m feeling. I’ve been calling in sick to work lots because I just feel this feeling of dread at the thought of it. When I do go the whole time I just want to cry or I come home struggling to breathe and on the verge of tears. There have been a lot of changes at work and idk whether this is all brought on by that. I got promoted before the pandemic to an awesome position that I loved but when the pandemic hit I got asked to only work 1 day a week for this new position and work back at my old position for the rest of the days. It was defeats ring because I don’t enjoy the type of work anymore- I hate it and I love the position so much. A year forward there are many changes happening in my new post ions team with a restructure. One of my fave colleagues just got made redundant and the rest of us have no idea what’s happening with our jobs as we are casual and weren’t included or considered in this restructure. This is month 5 of not knowing and I’m really hoping that I’ll be able to do more days with them but it’s not looking likely. I just feel so useless and like everyone hates me. I just feel like everyone has these massively high expectations of me and I am failing to live up to them. Everything feels like an effort. My poor husband is doing a lot of the house work and he’s working full time. He’s really trying hard to support me but I don’t think he fully understands what to do or say or even how badly I’m struggling right now. The only thing that even remotely makes me feel better is watching tv or listening to music. I cut down to 2 days of work because I couldn’t be there any more. But today just the thought of it I couldn’t even make it to my 1 day at my old position. I use to have really good relations with my bosses too and that’s all deteriorated. They just think I’m slack even when I work really hard when I’m there. They don’t care about me anymore. I’m lucky if they even say hello to me. I don’t feel alone because I have a really good corner and I’m lucky to be so surrounded by people who love me but I also don’t know how to talk about what I’m feeling or even what I’m feeling is normal. I just can’t do this anymore. It’s all too hard.

Hello I'm new an scared

replies: 4

I'm really struggling with my abi and cots I'm isolating and so lonely. I'm currently surviving My worst episode ever. I can't stop The negative thoughts that fill my soul. I hate being negative but my brain is Malfunction ATM and I have no support network ATM I feel like a burden to my family and I can't stop Feeling so worthless. I need some kindness and reassurance. I'm a fighter and I feel like I m shattering Into nothing. Sorry if I'm overwhelming you With my grief. I'm just so lost and afraid.

I don’t know how to put my right foot in front of the left foot..

replies: 5

I’m lost and feeling alone, I just don’t know how or what to feel or if I even what to feel. I know it’s me, it’s what is inside my head. It makes me cry for no reason, I’m sad for no reason. I just want it all to go away, not to stop but to just go ... View more

Adult Son Mental Issues

replies: 1

We have a adult son (32) who we suspect is suffering from BPD. He has been like this for the last 10 years and seems to be getting worse. If you push a point with him he will tell you he is about to explode and seems to go into a psychosis state for a short time but is able to stop if needed. He has not been diagnosed as he says there is nothing wrong other than depression because he cant see his daughter, it is everyone else. We tread on eggshells around him and when talking on the phone and have tried to tell him to see a medical person. The only thing the Dr gave him when he did go was an antidepressant which did not do anything. He suffers terrible anxiety when we visit, so we don't see him very often. His mood swings change from minute to minute and he will cling on to something you say and turn it around. He is unable to keep a job and has a 5 year old daughter that his ex wont let him see unless I am there. She also has a VRO against him. We have moved away so we can have some sanity however he says he is so lonely and feels abandoned. How do we convince him to get help in the right direction. I have had advice that you have to wait until he reaches rock bottom but he never does. He is actually seeing a corrections Psychologist today but they are not interested in diagnosing just seeing if he is sane enough to attend a violence course. Please any advice would be appreciated particularly with parents in the same boat. There is so much more I could say but I think you get the gist.

Anxiety can it really be causing this

replies: 1

About a month ago i started having huge panic attacks...they went on for a while then stopped. Then out of the blue i started getting really violent twitching under my right eye, then it started above my eye also, then i got another twitch in my face then another. I went to the dr she said fatigue, anxiety, stress. Ok. Fair enough. But its been two weeks now and some days they arent there others its all day. I’m so afraid of them. I suffer from anxiety, depression and i have severe health anxiety. So this is fueling that anxiety. Ive convinced myself that I’m going to die of some rare and awful disease. How can i stop this? I’m living on medication which isn’t good but i dont know what else to do...Shanny

Anxiety and Depression, constant fear for my health.

replies: 3

Hi, my name is Aaron, I’m a 25 year old male, I am happily engaged, and in my biased opinion have the 2 best boys in the whole world. I have suffered from anxiety and depression since I was a teenager, I’ve been on and off antidepressants for about 10 years now, I always have those little periods in my life where I think I don’t need the meds anymore and I do quite well for even years at a time, then it always seems to come back to bite me. In December my youngest son was born, and I wasn’t doing too bad for a while, then ever since we moved house in Feb, my anxiety and depression have just been at an all time high, which is odd, because I couldn’t be happier with how things are right now (aside from the obvious mentality issues). The last few weeks I’ve been thinking I’ve had every kind of cancer possible, Leukaemia, Mouth Cancer and Colon Cancer, which is something I’ve never considered my whole life until now. It all started with these tiny red dots on my arms, that Probably have been there before but I’ve never noticed.. but like a normal person that I am, I of course asked google about it, and google was happy to diagnose me with leukaemia. long story short , I am really afraid of having some kind of underlying sickness like cancer especially, and I am so scared of dying and not seeing my kids grow up. all these long lonely nights sobbing in the shower and the constant feel of fear and panic is just getting too much for me , and I don’t know how long I can keep feeling like this.. I really need some help. kind regards

Meet your community champions! replies: 10

HELP..Am I posting in the right section? replies: 10

New here first post replies: 7

I'm new to recovery — what is this rage I'm experiencing? replies: 11

Nothing left to lose replies: 3

New here, maybe this will help me replies: 4

Can’t work, can’t breathe, can’t think clearly replies: 2

Hello I'm new an scared replies: 4

I don’t know how to put my right foot in front of the left foot.. replies: 5

Adult Son Mental Issues replies: 1

Anxiety can it really be causing this replies: 1

Anxiety and Depression, constant fear for my health. replies: 3