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Depression

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Bother your GP to change your meds if they're not working. Or to give you alternative treatments - I found a self-help CBT-style approach very useful.

I don't know how much you exercise, but doing regular exercise can be a huge help if you aren't already. You probably know this, having suffered for years, but it's worth a mention.

And if you don't feel like you have anywhere to talk about this stuff, do it on the SMB. There's a lot of experience and good advice to be had in amidst all the shite.
 

shogun1904 said:
My advice won't be great mate because I am struggling myself so am a bit of a hypocrite but try to talk about it with people who will sympathise.
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I'm normally one of those people who doesn't like to talk about what's going on anyway, so talking about it is hard, although I will look to talk to me mate in the next couple of weeks or so.

All the best by the way.

socrates said:
I have had 2 mental breakdowns. one in the early 90's and the second in 2009.

you will know the cause of your stress/depression and you need to remove it. my first was a marital breakdown, coupled with studying part time for a law degree, alongside working 3 shifts (7 on 2 off), bringing up 2 young kids. I graduated, filed for divorce, and my kids chose to stay with me. work put me on office hours. I was lucky.

second episode was work related. fortunately I was able to remove work. I retired and have never been better.

I am not suggesting you can do what I did, because I don't know your circumstances, they are personal.

what I am saying is, look for the cause and if you can, think of ways to remove it.

by the way, a true best friend will help. mine did twice.
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Thought I had removed a couple of the main causes from last time, which I mainly put down to knocking about with the wrong crowd and going out on the lash pretty much every weekend, which in hindsight was never going to solve anything. Have a pretty addictive personality, so where I can I've tried to remove myself from situations where I'm likely to drink to excess or if I can gamble away a fortune.

Me best mate has been absolutely immense, had some great laughs together but always there for me when I need to talk.

SedgefieldMackem said:
Bother your GP to change your meds if they're not working. Or to give you alternative treatments - I found a self-help CBT-style approach very useful.

I don't know how much you exercise, but doing regular exercise can be a huge help if you aren't already. You probably know this, having suffered for years, but it's worth a mention.

And if you don't feel like you have anywhere to talk about this stuff, do it on the SMB. There's a lot of experience and good advice to be had in amidst all the shite.
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Not a couch potato exactly, but probably don't exercise as much as I should, although I do take the dog for a walk most nights after work. Have the odd spell where I'm down the gym pretty much every night but haven't been down in a while, will look to get back into that.
 
All the best mate, i'm not sure if I've got depression or not (I really should go to the doctors but I hate the thought of talking about it) but I know I can't drink alcohol these days without it making me feel like shit and wanting to jump off a bridge, sadly the couple of friends that ive got we only ever go out drinking together, so the only way of socialising for me!
 
ChrisAshley said:
All the best mate, i'm not sure if I've got depression or not (I really should go to the doctors but I hate the thought of talking about it) but I know I can't drink alcohol these days without it making me feel like shit and wanting to jump off a bridge, sadly the couple of friends that ive got we only ever go out drinking together, so the only way of socialising for me!
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Not wanting to sound like an amateur psychiatrist here mate, but I'd wager that you probably do, that sounds almost identical to the state I was in a few years back before I spoke to the GP about depression.

My advice would be to talk to one of your friends or a family member about how you're feeling first, it's awful to talk about but in the long run you'll probably feel a lot better due to having someone close to you who you can talk to, even if it does feel shite.
 
ChrisAshley said:
All the best mate, i'm not sure if I've got depression or not (I really should go to the doctors but I hate the thought of talking about it) but I know I can't drink alcohol these days without it making me feel like shit and wanting to jump off a bridge, sadly the couple of friends that ive got we only ever go out drinking together, so the only way of socialising for me!
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Go to your gp mate.
 
First of all, there's no way you can fight it alone.

Go to your GP and be totally frank about everything - including the suicidal thoughts. The NHS take thoughts and attempts very seriously.
Look around and see if you can find a MIND clinic nearby. It's good just to talk about it all.
Do any exercise you feel capable of.
I never tried this myself for want of a bathtub when I was suffering, but I've been told freezing cold baths can help.
 
As others have said get yourself to the GP and badger them until they either get you on he right meds or offer some other psychological based therapy. May not work and it is usually difficult to get access to such services, but if you are persistant (e.g. a pain in the arse) they will eventually do something about it.

My other advice would be to buy a pair of walking boots and get out into the hills for long walks. In the past when I've felt depressed/stressed, I could often feel my problems being left behind the further I got from the car and the higher I was up a hill, unfortunately the same issues were usually waiting when I got back to the car, but they did seem less important than they had when I'd set off.

Good luck marra, mental health issues are a bastard to deal with and I wouldn't wish them on anyone.
 
Quench said:
As others have said get yourself to the GP and badger them until they either get you on he right meds or offer some other psychological based therapy. May not work and it is usually difficult to get access to such services, but if you are persistant (e.g. a pain in the arse) they will eventually do something about it.

My other advice would be to buy a pair of walking boots and get out into the hills for long walks. In the past when I've felt depressed/stressed, I could often feel my problems being left behind the further I got from the car and the higher I was up a hill, unfortunately the same issues were usually waiting when I got back to the car, but they did seem less important than they had when I'd set off.

Good luck marra, mental health issues are a bastard to deal with and I wouldn't wish them on anyone.
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Good advice about getting out and about and seeing the GP for meds . Where the depression has reached levels of suicidal ideation medication is usually a good idea .

In terms of accessing talking therapy nobody should need to badger anyone . The IAPT service ( sorry on phone can't post link, look up iapt ) has been set up to give open access and you can even self refer( in Durham at least , if not its just 2 lines of scribble on a fax from a GP ) . If you ring you will receive a telephone interview within a week to decide the best therapy and will start some guided therapy within 28 days max
In the meantime look up getselfhelp ( all one word ) on the net , masses of self help materials to at least start the process .
Best wishes to the OP , sorry I haven't been able to post a link but it's not hard to find .
Contact the service , the SMB is great and you do right speak about your problems here but you need a little dedicated help sometimes .
 
Maravilla said:
Know this is a pretty frequently discussed topic on here and a lot of good advice is given so here goes.

Been suffering from depression for years and I'm currently going through one of those stages where I'm just constantly feeling shit no matter what I do and am really struggling to get up in the morning to go to work and can barely go an hour without having a suicidal thought, took an overdose of pills last year but that didn't work and in all honesty I feel like I did around that time, but don't really have the bottle to try owt like that again. Know fine well that I don't help myself in some aspects but just want to get to the point where I can live a relatively normal life.

I'm not especially close to my family and whilst I do love them I can't really bring myself to confide in them, been fucked about and fobbed off at every opportunity by the doctors whenever I go to see them about it, I do know that I can always tell my best friend but I don't want to bother them again with this shit, especially after a little drunken heart-to-heart we had last night, so just thought I'd give this a go.
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If that's true, go to a different doctor mate.

I know it can be hard, but just make sure that when you get there you say "I'm suffering from very bad depression, having regular suicidal thoughts, and I want to do something about it", and they should hook you up with some antidepressants and some sort of therapy - either group therapy, CBT, a counsellor, or a combination of those.

Best of luck marra, I've been through it myself a number of times now. It's not fun, but life gets better, and when it does you'll be so unbelievably glad that you didn't do anything daft like commit suicide.
 
greedminds said:
Seriously. Go talk to your gp
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not quite. Go and tell your gp whats what and insist on a referal to the local mental health team. Mine is brilliant to be honest cause i can have a rant at her and unload everything without feeling like im burdening friends and family
While i remember search northumbria nhs depression self help as an interim
 
Second all the go back to the GP and review your meds comments. Last time I was put on some that made things worse, but they changed me to something else and it worked for me.

MIND are great if you can get an appointment. Just talking about the issues with someone who wasn't caught up in the stuff that happened to me was great.

If you ever want to chat to a random internet wifey, send me a PM.
 
Maravilla said:
Know this is a pretty frequently discussed topic on here and a lot of good advice is given so here goes.

Been suffering from depression for years and I'm currently going through one of those stages where I'm just constantly feeling shit no matter what I do and am really struggling to get up in the morning to go to work and can barely go an hour without having a suicidal thought, took an overdose of pills last year but that didn't work and in all honesty I feel like I did around that time, but don't really have the bottle to try owt like that again. Know fine well that I don't help myself in some aspects but just want to get to the point where I can live a relatively normal life.

I'm not especially close to my family and whilst I do love them I can't really bring myself to confide in them, been fucked about and fobbed off at every opportunity by the doctors whenever I go to see them about it, I do know that I can always tell my best friend but I don't want to bother them again with this shit, especially after a little drunken heart-to-heart we had last night, so just thought I'd give this a go.
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It is frequently discussed on here, as you say, because so many people suffer or have suffered from it, myself included, and often dont talk about it.

A couple of thoughts that I would add - the first is that if you are having suicidal thoughts, you aren't safe. Please go to the GP and tell them that. Make an appointment today, it will be the start of you taking control over this thing. I'm not sure what you have told the GPs previously, when that was, etc, but my experience was massively positive when I spoke to my GP. Almost immediately I'd made what felt like the difficult decision to talk about it, I felt like I was taking small but important steps to take control. It's unfortunate that you have been fobbed off, I was too many years ago, but when I was really honest with them about how I felt, they listened. There is a lot of support out there which GPs can signpost you to.

Don't beat yourself up about this being your fault, or you could do more to help yourself, etc, etc. You have an illness which needs treatment (of some sort). We could all do more to look after our mental health, of course it would be good to exercise more, drink less, etc, but you have an illness. I really think you need to get into a safe place first, before you start to focus on some of the positive changes you can make.

It's great that you have a best mate who you can talk to about this - I can certainly identify with what you say about this being hard to talk to your family about. Thinking of yourself as a burden is a common depressive feeling. I'll just ask you the question - do you think that your best mate, if he was to know you were feeling suicidal, would want you to talk to him about it so that he could look out for his best mate, or regard you as a burden? So if he doesn't think you are a burden, don't put that label on yourself.

All the best, if you want to PM, please do at any time, as a lot of what you are talking about resonates loudly with me. But most of all, take that simple but massive first step today of seeking help. Then you begin to fight back and regain control of your life, day by day. And when you do, it feels great.
 
Maravilla said:
Know this is a pretty frequently discussed topic on here and a lot of good advice is given so here goes.

Been suffering from depression for years and I'm currently going through one of those stages where I'm just constantly feeling shit no matter what I do and am really struggling to get up in the morning to go to work and can barely go an hour without having a suicidal thought, took an overdose of pills last year but that didn't work and in all honesty I feel like I did around that time, but don't really have the bottle to try owt like that again. Know fine well that I don't help myself in some aspects but just want to get to the point where I can live a relatively normal life.

I'm not especially close to my family and whilst I do love them I can't really bring myself to confide in them, been fucked about and fobbed off at every opportunity by the doctors whenever I go to see them about it, I do know that I can always tell my best friend but I don't want to bother them again with this shit, especially after a little drunken heart-to-heart we had last night, so just thought I'd give this a go.
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Get yourself back to the Docs, my daughter suffered (I was utterly ignorant of depression I thought she was just a typical moody teenager) and she went back to the docs a few times to get the medication sorted out and she underwent counselling for about 18 months. She seems tons better now and her dose is right down - she has some stuff for depression and some for Anxiety but she only takes the anxiety stuff when she feels she needs it or starts to feel like she can't cope. I was utterly clueless about depression and how many people it affected until I started reading up on it after she started suffering - scary stuff. Keep going mate and take as much help as you can from anywhere.
 
Maravilla said:
Have been on Sertraline for a while, don't particularly find that it works that well to be honest.
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Go back to your GP, marra, and get him to change your medication. My wife suffers from depression as well, and over the years we have discovered that some meds work better than others. All the best, marra.
 
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