"putting the SPRING back in our step - village support for depression and anxiety"

[LEMmingaround]

Heres the new thread guys. What is this, thread 9?

This is a thread that is situated in a virtual village of support for those suffering from mental health issues, or just those struggling with what life throws at them.

Please feel free to join in.

I take vit D3 from Holland & Barrett and this has reduced both the frequency and severity of my recurring depressions.

As for my anxiety I take a mild dose of Lofepramine which is on a repeat. I am high functioning autistic and am awaiting a formal assessment through the mental health services via the GP. This won't be until the autumn. When there is an anxiety flare up I take Bach Flower Remedies.

I also try and monitor my caffeine and alcohol since they interfere with my ability to manage stress. I log in my notebook daily my intake and review it. However it is easier said than done!

I also do Buddhist chanting which keeps me focused and keeps me going I wouldn't be without any of these strategies really.

That said as I am a single parent and although I work part-time I have no family support and I have had to stop access with my ex as he got violent to our 9 year old son. I am now learning to manage without access which will take a while to get my head around.

If I wish to go out to socialise I have to pay the teenage babysitter who is £4 an hour. It all adds up but I do try and mix even two nights is something. In addition I do body balancing at the local health club which is really good for stress and for relaxation.

I hope these tips help others. I shall continue to read this thread with great interest! Let's all support each other ladies. Keep the replies coming lol.

I would also like to suggest that people do the Aspergers Questionnaire if they wish to - it is an internationally recognised tool that is available online and see if they are low medium or high functioning autism or even asperger's if they are it does not mean their life is finished but as a learning strategy for discovering why they perhaps are more susceptible to stress than neurotypical people. It was a huge shock and trauma last spring in 2013 ti discover I was high functioning autistic but I feel it is better to face the assessment and get specialist help - I may even be prescribed a more suitable tablet i.e. no longer lofepramine but something else that works even better - and also that way if I get assessed through the mental health services I can be routinely checked every 6 months - I hope - leaving the GP to do the general work and not mental health work which invariably they are rather poor at.....!!

Sorry to waffle on but the AQ diagnostic screening tool is available on google search do take a look everyone if it is of any help to you. Unless you have been formally assessed already of course.

HTH!

Hi, equinox, I am currently awaiting the results of my assessment. I took that test with my CPN, on-line, as part of the info that my psych was assembling for my (self-requested) assessment. I scored middling, and said to both CPN and psych that I thought it laid too much stress on needing routine, so I thought that might underscore me. Both said it was just an indicator, which it is.

At 61, they have done the investigations - administered validated test about my cognitive style, and conducted interviews with me (and DM, who luckily is still alive!) I shall be interested to see how they came out.

I hate routine. Don't like check lists much, but am better if I use them. Have to have a mental check whenever I leave somewhere (keys, phone, hat, handbag etc) or I'm likely to forget it, often mislay things in the house when struck by a thought or an interruption. Find it hard to get started, then when started, find it hard to stop :)

...and stop. And post!

Evening all. Have had the most hideous tooth extraction so feeling sore and miserable which has brought my mood down with a bang. I think the tooth ache might have been better than this. I also miss my mum as tomorrow is the first Mother's Day without her. I think I'll take my sorry behind to bed, maybe tomorrow will be better.

Sorry to hear that, MP - I hope it calms down soon. I hope you get some good rest without the extraction waking you up.

That's interesting, equinox and shimmery. I'd never thought of exploring that avenue.

Have a good night all, and don't forget to turn the clocks.

evening MP that sounds horrible. Hope you manage to get a good night's sleep. Really sorry to hear about your mum. Take it easy tomorrow.

Hi snowy, shimmery, dd, hoochy welcome equinox

Been working hard on relaxing today. Sat out in the garden for an hour in the sun - lovely

Are you allowed strong pain killers, MP? co-codamol or something?

It was too cold and dull here today to go in the garden, and it rained all day yesterday. Spoke to my DM and it was lovely where she was - of DM and you, CiQ :)

Brain has been racing a bit, working on slowing it down but otherwise ok.

[hugs] to all

Hi all once again

Lovely to read the thread - although not quite sure if I have used the correct adjective there !

Shimmering - that sounds very interesting.

Sorry I can't do bold, sometimes a bit of an ignoramus with all things technical.

I can time my anxiety phases as I do astrology for a living and know I am in a flare up phase this month and next month so by June I will be on the mend again. I have studied the subject since the age of 15 and it is just the past 4 years I have been working professionally part-time at it. I find it so helpful to know in advance when I am more 'at risk'.

That said touch wood I rarely get self-harm thoughts or feelings of suicide. The Buddhist chanting helps me so so much!

Should anybody wish to know more about the chanting do send me a personal message I don't wish to dominate the thread on it.

Have a good Mother's Day everyone!

equinox look below the box for adding a post, and you will see how to do bold and stuff under Emphasis.

Speaking of equinoxes - the clocks changed last night and I stayed up till 4 am old time trying to slow brain down. (possibly the wrong way to go about it?) Am now full of new resolutions to get my sleeping pattern to be a little more ordered!

Shimmering what do you mean by 'look below the box' sorry to be thick but what box lol??

Yes I too had a really crap sleep I have been asleep new time from 10 pm to 3 a.m. How weird is that!

Surprisingly not shattered feeling quite hyper, must be the excellent weather we are now having.

equinox, we have cloud almost to ground level, as we are near the North Sea.

If you are posting on a PC, scroll down as far as you can, and you should see 3 headings: Smileys, Emphasis and Links. Here you will find that bold is done by surrounding what you want to bold with asterisks. So to bold a word, you type word (but without the spaces directly before and after 'word'.

If you are on a phone, I can't help

Spring is coming, glad your mood is matching the season today :)

I hope you can sort out your sleep, shimmering - it makes such a difference. I'm glad the relaxation went well yesterday, CIQ I'm glad you have some good coping mechanisms, equinox

Blood test tomorrow for me, need to make sure I get up in time.

Take care all.

thanks for that shimmering!

Hope you got to your blood test snowy

I've got too much to think about and my mind has gone blank, I can't seem to do anything today. There's so much I need to do and decide. I'm a bit in shock I think! I spoke to someone who knows DH about him the other night and she was shocked and a bit horrified. I'm shocked that she was shocked if that makes any sense and feel a bit lost.

Hope you are ok lem

Just did that test shimmering, what is a middling score? And are all the tests the same? (I did the first one that came up on google) I always thought these online tests were a pile of nonsense!

Hello all - I'm a bit confused as we still seem to be on Page 1 of the thread.....or am I being stupid - very possible!

Leech it seems to me that you are being emotionally abused by your (d) H - is your MIL supportive I wonder. Have I got this wrong but I seem to have the idea that you are in a foreign country? I have just seen a post where your H gave your child a plate of nuts even though she is allergic and her face became red and blistered - that in my mind is child abuse - I am worried that you are having to live with such a man. I'm sure he has his own problems but he sounds very controlling and that can't be good for you or the children.

Hi CIQ snowy (I had a change of psychiatrist too, but to a much nicer one and also male, so don't despair) shimmering (interested that you had asked for this AS questionnaire - and you mention CPN and psychiatrist - for some reason I thought you were no longer in secondary (or primary ) care so I must have that wrong)
Hi DD I just hope you can get the support you need from SSD Hoochy fuckitall net sorry if I've missed anyone and welcome Equinox - you sound very "alternative" (an observation not a criticism!) I got very interested in astrology at one point, I have the sun in Aquarius and I did have my birth chart done so know where all the other planets were at the time of my birth (it's been put away somewhere as my interest declined) I think popular astrology gives it a bad name, because one twelfth of the population can't be having similar experiences on a particular day of the week can they.

Ed I will PM you.

And where is LEM (worried about you)

Ah I see we are now on Page 14 so that sounds about right. MP sorry about the tooth but you have to expect some pain after an extraction don't you. Simple pain killers should help. I think the main problem is a "dry socket" and having had this once can say it is very painful but my dentist put in an antibiotic dressing and it sorted it out.

Are you mentally well now I wonder?

I did get there, but they got hardly any blood, not even enough to fill a paediatric vial. Just have to hope that there's enough, or I wont get my medication tomorrow.

((( TUL )))) I hope you can get some support from somewhere, sounds like a difficult situation.

I'm glad your change of psychiatrist went well, hope mine does too! I also wonder where LEM is

Hi all,
Have had a very busy day with various appointments - the most important being a ref for pain management. They have decided best course of action is to try injections in my back to help with the pain. I'm a bit scarred about it as my troubles with my back started with an epidural (injection in back during childbirth). I've not been given any more Info yet I will be sent an appointment in 2-3months time. I know I should have really asked but at the time I just went blank!

DD has come home from nursery poorly with temperature so the next few days for me are going to be dealing with her (I'll miss my group therapy tomorrow)

I just feel really spaced out at the moment & any kind of conversation is just one way with others talking & me just nodding my head. I seem to just want to sleep and do nothing else!

Hope everyone is having an ok day!

Good link here for you TUL
It might not be for you, but it might help.

I'm sure that'll be enough blood, snowy, you poor darling. My dh finds it hard to give blood as his veins are v. collapsed.

It's nice to see the lighter evenings, I sat on the doorstep after work with a no in the house and just looked at my mangy garden. It felt nice.

Much love to CiQ and DD, Nana and anyone else I've forgotten.

Oo, Equinox too, I love your posts

((( DD32 ))) Well done for getting through today, sounds like you've done a lot. I hope dd gets better soon.

I hope so hoochy, else I'll have to go to the hospital to get it done.

It was a warmer day today, almost didn't need a coat.

((( all ))))

Really tired but I can't settle. . I hope tomorrow is better for everyone.

Morning all,

A little Sleep deprived here DD didn't sleep till late.

hoochy hope u enjoyed the rest of the sunny evening.

snowy hope u got some sleep eventually.

equinox I tried that quiz too & got a middling score I'm not sure I understood it at all. I did just click on the first google result maybe I did the wrong one :(

Hope u all are having a good start to today... Oh pinch punch first day of the month no return (yes I'm 10 years old today)

Thanks hoochy!

DumDum - just go for the questionnaire that is the one for adults as there is one for children too. It is the internationally recognised one. I think if you google search mumsnet - asperger's questionnaire - you may well get it come up online too. So DumDum by that scoring you would be medium scoring autistic yes?

To my mind any information is handy. Hope it doesn't worry you too much DumDum as I was in shock and trauma for months after my scoring last spring 2013!! It took me months to summon up the requisite courage to face the GP surgery and request a formal assessment.

Hope you are all enjoying the sunshine today, if you are getting any that is. We are where I live....!