Do you feel like you are losing your mind?

[randomer]

I do, a bit. Can't concentrate, friendships ruined,motivation poor, a contant hum of anxiety in the background.

I work in mental health and a lot of what people are describing, poor sleep, lack of motivation, lack of concentration are symptoms of low mood. I expect you all know this!
Structure, routine, occupation, distraction and talking are all things that might help.
Mind have some great things to read about Covid and mental health on their website.
This will pass...

I feel real pity for the schoolkids expected to work at home and most if them must be feeling like this. To be expected to produce essays etc would just kill me right now.
I really really pity them.

@barbites thank you. I will look that up.

I'm.trying to have a few frivolous projects on the go. One chrochet blanket, one quilt to sew and totally obsessing over my kids clothes organising system. They are pointless and easy and serve no need. That helps. It might sound mad but if I think "oh God I cant take another day of this" I go off in my mind about my kids perfectly arranged tops on a spreadsheet. I have made any kind of start on it, but it just breaks the depressing what's the point I'm so boxed in thoughts. Plus the sewing makes me anger and happy. All good distractions

I just get shitfaced every night it really helps😳

There is certainly a feeling of unravelling, but I'm constantly marveling at the weirdness of it and the cleaness and clearness of the air and sea, and the amazing views, and the extra birdsong
and wondering will come next, is there a comet or an asteroid coming for us or aliens or what 😳

Step away from the liquor @B1rdbra1n😊

I have no wish for anybody else to be down, but I feel so much better reading the comments here today. @barbites, you say the lack of concentration, poor sleep, lack of motivation are symptomatic of low mood....mmm what to do?

Does anybody have any actual practical suggestions.
Something that works for me is called BehaviourActivation, which is a posh name for doing things! I had CBT for a while and they encouraged me to fill in a timetable. I found it helped. Hard to do though sometimes. The gist is it doesn't really matter much whats on the timetable, it could be small things. The act of doing them and ticking them off fired up yor brain.

Re, the friend, its been going on for years. I actually feel I am worth more .www.getselfhelp.co.uk/docs/WeeklyPlanner.pdf

www.getselfhelp.co.uk/docs/WeeklyPlanner.pdf

The first few weeks , I was drinking heavily every night. Kicked that into touch.

@Legoandloldolls your post about the whole of Dorset being wiped out and how you’re going to lick the tube door handles made me laugh (I know it’s not a laughing matter but your post was funny).

@SquashedSpring and anyone else who is interested, the things which are helping me are:

online yoga (a couple of teachers who are running classes on zoom, and one of them also teaches a free relaxation class on a Thursday evening which is lovely) - if anyone wants their details please PM me ,

going out into green spaces as much as possible - dd and I went further afield (35 minute drive) yesterday to a really lovely park which was really uplifting,

I am also trying to learn meditation (hard!!) with one of the above yoga teachers (on zoom again) but trying to access that peace is helping I think,

listening to music,

watching musicians performing from home - the rawness of it,

updating my Instagram account with a photo of something beautiful that day (sunset, the park, or anything else), kind of marking every lockdown day that goes past,

and now that we can, I have met the same friend three times (socially distanced and in the park) and that’s the thing which has probably been the most helpful - I did not realise beforehand how much we need other people and I am going to treasure all contact, however small and seemingly insignificant, now and in the future.

With the yoga, there is another teacher on Instagram who has put together a care package which you can either donate to or access for free, and I can also PM her details if anyone is interested.

Lots of love to you all 💖💖💖.

Thats a nice helpful post. yes, human contact , I need it.

Licking door handles can seem an attractive option some days for sure.

Please don't flame me for that, it is devastating for those who get ill and their families. But many others are sliding downwards slowly.

No mostly I am just about ok. This weekend was very bad but that was because it turns out that DS who is very depressed (from way before CV) and had been doing better with ADs and melatonin has decided to stop taking his medication. He was doing a bit better but he can't see that. He had a video call with his psychiatrist and pretty much refused to engage at all. So I am not doing well but it is pretty much 100% about DS and his problems which predate Covid , though of course us being all stuck here doesn't help much.

The talk about schools going back is also making me very sad and anxious because DS wont be going back . He was excluded in January and hasn't been back to school since. The school won't have him until they can be sure he will be manageable (as they say!!) and DS has had almost no education since then. He absolutely refuses to engage with online work and doesn't have the concentration to do stuff on his own He has not done a stroke of school work since January and he is a bright boy in year 10 , pretty much almost genius level at science so he is going to really mess up his GCSEs. I doubt he will take any.

It is so so stressful but Covid actually improved things for us as I didn't feel DS was mssing out on quite so much(selfish probably but nonetheless how I felt). Also life during covid is not much different to just before as DH and I had to be home for DS as he was not in school We had booked a lot of leave and home working days between us for a couple of months . Work was very understanding but it was incredibly stressful. It is actually less stressful now as we have given up trying to make DS do any school work and working from home is what everyone is doing now. We are a bit worried about losing our jobs but it is not likely to happen until the winter so I can't worry about that now.

the liquor
It's ok cannabis is my 'medication' of choice😊

I don't think mind altering substances are the way to go.

Do you not?
I find them very helpful 😊

Each to their own of course!

I have a very long history of alcohol abuse. In these circumstances I have had to fight for my sanity so I don't wish to add to the chaos.

Its very difficult.

Yes a bit. My best friends mother died 3 weeks ago and I'm racked with guilt that I can't visit her and give her a hug. Lots of other worries but this is adding to my anxiety hugely. She's single, childless and lives alone too and I'm worrying about her a lot amongst other things.

I have a very long history of alcohol abuse
I'm so sorry to hear that, I do tend to view alcohol as a very harmful substance...personally I never touch it!

However, I have a long history of finding cannabis very therapeutic.
(I do appreciate that it isnt therapeutic for everyone and of course it has a pungent odor which some find objectionable!)

I’m feeling it today. It’s raining here in Scotland (Glasgow at least). I’m a few days out from my period starting but DS is breastfeeding constantly (should probably have stopped before he turned two!) and my periods have been weird during lockdown. Super light but painful and my anxiety and depression had been off the scale. I feel like I’ve only just got over the last one! I know it all must be connected because this is how I felt on mat leave. And I had PND.

Trying to keep positive but also trying to fight this feeling of panic and sadness that there’s no point in anything. I had a better afternoon than morning and it’s supposed to be dry tomorrow so hopefully that will help. I miss the well earned tiredness of a full day out at work.

Same as agentcooper.

Peed down all day. The dry weather made all the difference.

Am feeling down.

It’s really hit me over the last four days. Feels like I’m simply existing and not living. I can’t focus on my work and my managers have gone silent so I don’t know what’s happening. I don’t want to wake up anymore, my dreams are far nicer.

I'm on my own now and generally like my own company most of the time. Going to work and chatting with colleagues is usually enough.

However, I'm feeling a bit out of sorts now. I'm working from home but I am more disciplined in the office. We have Teams calls a few times a week, but only with smaller team. Miss interaction with colleagues in other teams.

What helps is to get showered and dressed every day and wear clothes you could be seen in the office with.

Those taking a nap in the day need to do something else. Many many years ago when out of work, napping led to sleep paralysis. One bout of that stopped the napping.

I'm also taking advice from a colleague and trying to wean myself off all the news. It is so negative, for negativity's sake. Any goods news has a negative spin on it. Need to do the same with these forums too.

Just to add, that I'm classed as vulnerable, so only venture out once a week to the supermarket. Part of me just wants to get the virus now to get it all over with. This is even if chance of serious illness or death is quite high.

I Go through phases. Just now I'm in a down phase, napping in the afternoon even though I sleep at night ok. The weather is rotten and its keeping me in, although I went a walk today. I agree keeping away from the news is good for you.

@ssd if you’re also in Scotland, it’s forecast to be dry tomorrow. And actually nice on Wednesday. Thank fuck.

I’ve just had one and a bit weeks of quite good and am hoping that if I’m heading into another dip it’s not as bad as the last. Hope you’re out of your down phase soon. COVID needs to get itself right round to fuck.