Newbie Intro - old hand at depression, new to GAD & social phobia

[Al_KB]

Hi people,

I'm in a pretty bad way right now, could use some help. I've been dealing with depression for yonks, and thought I had a bit of a grip on it, but recently (December) I changed meds and my anxiety has gone though the roof.

I'm having trouble with my normal social media because I am convinced that I will say something wrong and the troupe will throw me out to be eaten by lions or something. So oh joy, I'm in extra iso in this time of COVID iso. I'm having trouble with finding any anxiety soothing exercises; I'm so hyped up nothing seems to work (except drugs). I have ME/CFS (aka chronic fatigue) so I can't go exercise, which used to be my go to for depression. Suggestions welcome, I've probably heard them all before, but you never know.

Is there a place I can go to talk about medication? Because I see you're not supposed to name them here, and I'm trying to prep for a psychiatrist consult in 3 weeks. OMG it is going to cost me $500 for an hour so I need it to be useful.

[mocha delight]

Hi al_kb first welcome and I also think I’ve had depression & anxiety since I was about 16 (31 now) although I’ve not been officially diagnosed with anything yet but I started on antidepressants for the first time ever in my life the week before covid 19 was first mentioned (not the best timing) but my gp strong believes I have depression. As to your first question I wish I could help but don’t have the answer to that myself unfortunately and can’t help with your second question sorry but if you ever need to chat I’m here for you ok.

[Al_KB]

Well you didn't hate me and throw me to a lion, so that's a great start!

Thanks for the welcome. I wish I could help you, too. As an old hand with depression, I can say what helped me has been:
* medications above all else
* sunshine
* outdoor exercise, just gentle walking is fine, more if you can. This can be really hard to push yourself to do when you feel down, but I found it helped to lie to myself that I'm just getting dressed and walking to the mailbox. And then it's easier to continue.
* I did an outpatient support group program at a local hospital. A mix of therapies, some CBT which can help some people sometimes. Finding out how much we had in common was really helpful.
* Name your inner voice, that one that tells you how terrible you are. The Brain Weasels. Donald the Dolt. Goofus. Scrappy Doo. Choose someone or something that you have NO respect for, and is a bit funny. Reframing your thoughts with that bit of distancing between "I am a total loser" and "Ivan the Terrible Imbecile says I am a total loser" can really help.

[PugsLoveHugs]

Hi!

This is a great place I’ve found when wanting to avoid the usual social media and just have a place where people may not be going through the exact same things but at least have a good grasp of what it’s like.

I’m not sure if the forum allows me to suggest websites but I used to use drugs.com to double check medications I was on and from memory found it pretty helpful. If you’re looking for something to suggest to the psych I found that just letting my GP and later on psychiatrist choose drugs for me was fine, even if it did all feel like trial and error or that I was a bit of a guinea pig.

I found it really useful to keep a bit of a note of what doses I was on and how I felt (I don’t want to call it a journal coz I wasn’t that organised even though that would’ve been even better haha) just because by the time you get to the appointment it tends to all blur into one and I’d end up paying $400 to sit there and go “yeah I’m fine I think?”

Also I’d be interested to see if anyone comes up with a nice place for people to talk without being thrown to the lions! I’m thinking of a friend of mine who needs a community exactly like that and I don’t know how to help her, it’s pretty much all I think about these days.

Best of luck with the psych appointment! I hope they find something that works as well as what had you feeling better before 🙂

[mocha delight]

Hi al_kb thanks for your reply and I’m not into lion throwing 😉😂 and I can think of many names for my inner voice but most would be quite inappropriate 😂 so the politest one is douchebag or db for short.

[Al_KB]

Well, since it's entirely in your head, you can call it whatever you want, even if you can't say the word on the forums.

[mocha delight]

Thanks for your reply and it might depend on what kind of mood I’m in at the time 😉😂😇