Depression and anxiety

[Tibby23]

I have had depression and anxiety pretty much all my life.  Recently diagnosed ADD also. I have had a recent stay in a private mental health ward for almost a month   I have had lots of medication changes but I am now on antidepressant that I’ve been on before that worked.  I’ve only been on it for 10 days.  I am getting really frustrated because I have a ‘good’ day followed by a bad day. I’m over it.  I continue to take one day at a time- actually one hour at a time.  I’m waiting for consecutive days in a row of feeling myself again.  A bad day is either a day full of anxiety or a day of depression.  I’m making sure I drink lots water, eat fruit and veggies and get exercise.  I haven’t had any alcohol for 8 weeks. I have a gambling problem but also haven’t gambled for 8 weeks .  
just needing words of encouragement please to get through this tough time 

[TBR]

Hi Tibby23 

You need to add the words "the strong one" to your log in name. To go this long without some of the vices that you used to rely on to get you though shows how strong you are. To ask for words of encouragement is easy to give to you as you have to be admired for fighting the demons. 

Glad to hear your back on your antidepressants that work for you as each day will become one day closer to your full recovery. Bad days are expected trust me as i have the same as you with bad followed by better and then a good day or two. Your right to take one day one hour one minute at a time as those minutes, hours and days will amount to a week in time of feeling great.

Your diet will help keep and make you stronger and talking will help keep you on task of getting well. You can do it Tibby as you've made it this far towards that goal of recovery..Stay strong and keep up the brilliant work you've put in already. 

TBR

[Tibby23]

Thank you 😊. I need to find a purpose. I’ve been gambling for the last 16 years on the pokies.   Finding something to do now to fill in that time is hard.  But I know it can be done.  I love exercise and watching movies.   I need to do more of that    Thank you again for your words of encouragement 

[TBR]

Hey Tibby

You have a great purpose Tibby, your purpose is to get well and keep on conquering those demons that you know you can beat. You've done so well so far the next step is to keep going upwards. Your so right you can do it Tibby, you've come so far so do some exercises, have a nice snack of your veggies and fruit, maybe put on a movie and chill out and congratulate yourself. 

What kind of movies do you like Tibby. 

[indigo22]

Hi Tibby23,

Welcome to the forums and thank you for reaching out to us.

You are dealing with a lot right now, it's not surprising that you get fed up. I have been dealing with depression most of my life also, so I empathise. It will probably take a couple more weeks for your system to settle with the antidepressants so try to hang in there.

I am so proud of you for facing your demons rather than drinking them away. It is a real achievement to kick the substances to the curb. As for the addiction to the pokies, I had to kick that habit a long time ago and it was hard at first but it rarely enters my thoughts any more. One thing I found helpful was to play games on my computer to take the place of the pokies, at least it isn't costing anything and you are distracted from thinking about it for a while.

All addictions are really just a distraction from what we really should be doing - looking at our demons, kicking them to the curb instead and healing the emotions that have caused the addictions in the first place. I know that is easier said than done but it sounds like you are on the right track now by taking better care of yourself, that's a really good start to your journey of recovery.

Please feel free to continue this conversation when you need some extra support, we will be here for you.

Take care,

indigo22