Difficulty coping

[Guest_0982]

Hey, I’m Ly. I’m in year eleven, and am currently struggling to manage a depressive episode. My doctor has upped my  prescription, but until it kicks in, I need to figure out a way to cope. The fatigue and exhaustion is so prevalent that it’s sometimes hard to move my body. I feel sluggish and slow, and the brain fog makes it difficult to do school work. I have assignments coming up and I struggle even starting them. When I’m mentally well I excel academically, but right now things are hard. My hygiene’s been slipping too. I often find it difficult to shower or wash my hair. Any advice?

[Sophie_M]

Hi Guest,

This is Sophie from the Beyond Blue moderation team. We just wanted to reach out and say thank you for sharing on the forums today, and also to check in with you to make sure you're ok. 

We recognise that adjusting to medication can be a tough experience so we're glad that you have reached out here. It sounds like this experience is impacting many areas of your life including school and your personal hygiene - maybe the community can support you with focusing on little steps you can do for yourself today for self-care. Writing here can be a helpful tool which we acknowledge takes a lot of strength. 

  We also wanted to let you know that is something you could discuss with the counsellors here at Beyond Blue, whether on the phone (1300 22 4636) or via webchat. A few more options are Kids Helpline on 1800 55 1800, and Headspace on 1800 650 890. All of these options are also available through webchat, if you'd prefer:

Kids Helpline: https://kidshelpline.com.au/
Headspace (9am-1am AEST): https://headspace.org.au/eheadspace/   

Thank you again for posting, it’s a really great step to have taken. There’s lots of lovely people on the forums who may be able to relate.

Kind regards,
Sophie M

[quirkywords]

Ly

welcome to the forum.

Thanks for writing your first post. Many years ago I was in Year 11 and I too was depressed. I tried to at least start an assignment, even it was compiling a biography or writing an outline.
Do you have a year advisor or as hook counsellor you can talk to. Itbis xo hard I couldn’t get to school many tines when depressed.
If you can take a walk, maybe keeping’s journal may help or being kind to yourself.Can you talk to your teachers and see if you can get an extension.

Sophie has mentioned some helpful suggestions. you are not alone and we are listening.

[Tika1]

Hey Ly, a couple years back when I was in grade 12 I had the same issues feeling brain fogged to the point of leaving my assessments to last minute and not wanting to do anything. I started making my showers into a safe zone when I’d start to feel off or slow I would go take a shower and see it as this will refresh me, the warm water turned from off putting I don’t want to shower to comforting and refreshing. It turned into my reset relax button. And to this day when I am stressed or riddle with anxiety at the beginning of end of the day I go take a hot shower to settle my nerves and use it for feeling refreshed instead of sluggish and unclean which made me not want to leave my bed or do anything at that time. With assessment and brain fog my medication helped a little bit with that but nothing was going through my head, so I got my mom to sit and throughly explain the assessment and ideas of what she might think to give me that little push and get ideas sparking off her little comments she had.
I hope this helps in any way, I know this is what ultimately got me through my last year :))

[Guest_0982]

Thank you, this is really helpful. I struggle to shower often, but maybe I can try showering more often

[lil quirky]

Hi Ly,

I am also currently in year 11, you gave me the confidence to create an account and reply to you (took me a few days but so what). I havn't been diagnosed with anything, but I am really struggling at the moment, I moved to my school last year, have big family issues and my brain was like whilst that is all happening why don't you try and figure out your sexuality in the meantime! Also no I still havent figured that out, all I know is that I'm not straight and don't have the time to figure it out, I am the oldest girl of 3 brothers and single mum, and want a relationship lol. And sorry to the moderators, I didn't want to create my own forum as I'm a lil scared and quirky haha. I walk around school with a smile on my face but lemme tell you no one is ok even if they say they are, I sure as hell am not ok, an thats ok and normal especially for people our age or just any age in general, where in high school for godsake and the stressors are through the roof! (so is hw and exams lemme tell u) I'm sorry your having to deal with this and if your ok thats good, if you say your ok and actually not, thats ok, if your not ok, talk to someone or I'll be your friend online here always ready for a chat 🙂

hope your medication kicks in soon, kind regards...

-lil quirky

[quirkywords]

Hello everyoneWelcome to Tika lil quirky

Ly you can tell there are people here who can relate and understand.

I am older but do recall the difficulties of year 11. I hope there is ore support at school than was decades ago. I do know it is hard as lil quirky says that many are pretending to be ok but are not.

lil quirky, glad you like the quirky word too.
Thanks for introducing yourself. You have insight into what is happening so that is helpful.

is there any teacher , year advisor or counsellor at school who you feel you can talk too.

Changing schools is a big challenge,

I am glad you posted here .
All the people here you are not alone and we are listening,

for everyone who posts there are so many more reading here who read your words and also feel less alone.

[lil quirky]

Hello quirkywords,

Yes I do love the quirky word haha, and there is an awesome teacher that I can trust, but I'm sure they have their own problems to deal with and their just like a teacher, they're not a professional or someone on the school wellbeing place idk, and recently they sent me a message because I reached out to them they sent me a message saying to talk to someone at school, but there not here to teach me this week, and then the next 2 weeks is school holidays, so hopefully I'll be ok during that time, I think my coping mechanism will be this for now, I think its good for me :). I'm glad I've found something that I can relate to, I have also posted in the lgbtqia+ part where people go to where they've got a question, need somewhere to start, as I would like some support on that, and have realised no one had posted in there for a while, so I thourght I'd mention that haha.

Also whoevers reading this I hope you have the best day, although you may not, thats fine, just give yourself some love, chat to me anytime as I want people to talk to, you can talk to me anywhere I'm sure I'll find some more places to give advice and personal experiences, even if you havn't created an account yet I totally get it, it's scary, I was scared but now I realise it's not so bad, so I hope you are well and just know I am here if you want to talk.

Thank you for responding to me quirkywords, feel free to respond to me again I would love to chat more 🙂

Ly I'm here for you if you ever need to talk 🙂

-lil quirky