If you genuinely felt there was no hope, joy or point to anything what would you do?

[Throughautomaticdoors]

It's where I'm at and I'm running out of options.
Where do I go from here?

Well when I felt that way I went to the GP for antidepressants. It turns out that depression isn't feeling sad.

But that may not be why you're where you're at?

what's happened OP? Is there a specific problem that we can offer help with or has it been a slow decline? How long have you been feeling like this? Do you have thwarted dreams or can't see that anything could be any better?

Sorry. Lots of questions. Didn't want to leave you unanswered

As Jelly says, this is a common symptom of depression. Have you spoken to anyone about how you feel?

Know that everything is always changing, nothing stays the same. Live moment to moment, knowing it will pass. Sounds twee. Sounds bollocks at times, but it's true and it gets me through.

Long term, maybe there are small changes you can make. Diet, exercise, hobby. Bigger changes, work, marriage, therapy.

Are you depressed. Or in a bad situation perhaps?

Get to the gp and tell them that's how you feel. There is help out there for depression and lots of people make a good recovery

Also the times in my life when I've felt that I've quite aggressively tried to find something that makes me feel better. Some people find walking helps or wI'll swimming or listening to great music. Quite often for me just creating something lifts me. You might have to work at it, in fact you might just need good medical treatment first, but hopefully there is something out there you can connect with and start to feel better.

Where there is life there is hope. Once you're gone, there's no chance of things improving. Please hold onto that.

I'd keep looking for hope.

I started off a year ago thinking things would get better but they haven't. I'm anxious about everything and it drives this horrible hopeless feeling. I've had antidepressants. I'm having CBT. But nothing changes and I don't want to carry on living like this because I can't see the point. No one is happy all the time of course, i know that, but I don't think I will ever feel any better.

I felt like this, lived with it for a long time and finally went to the doctors, had a load of blood tests and turned out I was very low in Vit B12 (I'm a veggie).

Force myself to go for a run. Probably sign up for a 10k or half marathon and make myself go every other day at least, whether I wanted to or not.

It helps.

Hope you feel better soon.

I've felt like this and eventually went to the GP. The first antidepressants didn't really help so I switched to a different one and felt better enough to start exercising again. The combination of the 2 really help. I've just started CBT too.

I have felt that way and it transpired that I was suffering from depression. Please go and see your GP.

For me, those signs are several of what tells me it's time to go back to my doctor. It's not nice and I bloody hate facing up to the realisation each time that I'm not just going to wake up one day feeling all happy and sunny, but I know from experience the earlier I go, the easier it is for me and the consequences of not going will always be worse.

If you're just talking about a period of time where everything is a bit shit, I take each day in blocks; ten minutes at a time if needs be. I tell myself over and over that things will change soon, because nothing is shit forever, and I ask for help where I need it.

Hi op when you say you tried anti depressents do you mean you have stopped them now? I too felt like this the early part of the year but I finally started anti depressants combined with CBT and whilst it was not an over night miracle it really did help. I honestly got to the point where I felt I would rather not be here, when I think about how low I got it scares me but I feel so much better now, I have bad days but never those awful dark days anymore.

I think the others are right. You do sound depressed. Maybe you need to go on to the anti depressants again. Maybe the ones you had were not the right ones for you or your dosage was wrong. I have been depressed and anxious. I have been on citalopram twice in my life. It has helped but you need to stick with it. I had some CBT and coupled with citalopram it really helped me. I feel loads better now and can see the light at the end of the tunnel. Go to the doctors.

Cbt made me feel worse while I was doing it. Suicidal, disassociative... Keep going. Your antidepressants may not be suiting you. You will have lows, I call them blips. Anxiety is a motherfucker. I find it harder to deal with than the depression. Now I feel the best I've ever been. Make an appointment with your doctor and tell the truth about how you feel. We have amazing strength to be able to carry on with such debilitating an illness.

I think it might be worth asking for different medication. The last lot I was prescribed made things worse.

Hello OP, we are really sorry to hear you are feeling this way.

We hope you don't mind, but when these threads are flagged up to us we usually add a link to our Mental Health resources - here. You can also go to the Samaritans' website here, or email them on [email protected]. Support from other Mumsnetters is great and we really hope you will be able to take some comfort from your fellow posters, but as other MNers will tell you, it's really a good idea to seek RL help and support as well.

We also like to remind everyone that, although we're awed daily by the astonishing support our members give each other through life's trickier twists and turns, we'd always caution anyone never to give more of themselves to another poster, emotionally or financially, than they can afford to spare.

We are going to move this thread to the Mental Health section shortly.

I wish I had the answer, OP, as I'm standing on the edge at the moment. I've done the antidepressants, CBT, Samaritans. But they don't help the root cause which is chronic loneliness. I've been fighting this for the last 3 years but I have no energy left to fight it. I'm basically wishing for something to happen to me so that I'm out of it.

HI OP,

I read your post where you say you are 'anxious about everything'

I too am like this. If I have a problem I literally roll it round and round and round and round in my mind and cannot think or concentrate upon anything else. When that problem is sorted, I will move on to something else. If there are no problems to focus on, I will catastrophize that something horrendous is going to happen to someone I love. It is delusional.

there are the mental symptoms which go hand in hand with the physical symptoms , the panic attack the tight throat the churning stomach, the sh1ts, chest pains, hormonal changes which can lead to all sorts of things for me hair loss. Large bald patches in my hair brought about by anxiety of IMAGINED things.

I tried several things, medication, counselling, but SO FAR, I have found meditation to be the thing that works for me. I have begun to learn about Buddhism at a local meditation centre . it is very early days of trying this but so far I am finding I can get answers to questions such as how to deal with daily problems

sorry if this sound all hippyish, but I too have spent a long time trying to find answers and this, is so far, what works for me

HI OP,

I read your post where you say you are 'anxious about everything'

I too am like this. If I have a problem I literally roll it round and round and round and round in my mind and cannot think or concentrate upon anything else. When that problem is sorted, I will move on to something else. If there are no problems to focus on, I will catastrophize that something horrendous is going to happen to someone I love. It is delusional.

there are the mental symptoms which go hand in hand with the physical symptoms , the panic attack the tight throat the churning stomach, the sh1ts, chest pains, hormonal changes which can lead to all sorts of things for me hair loss. Large bald patches in my hair brought about by anxiety of IMAGINED things.

I tried several things, medication, counselling, but SO FAR, I have found meditation to be the thing that works for me. I have begun to learn about Buddhism at a local meditation centre . it is very early days of trying this but so far I am finding I can get answers to questions such as how to deal with daily problems

sorry if this sound all hippyish, but I too have spent a long time trying to find answers and this, is so far, what works for me

I agree with PPs that you should try other meds, preferably under the guidance of a psychiatrist rather than GP as they are the experts. When I saw mine I was told I would need to be on the right meds for a while to get up to a level where I would be receptive to counselling otherwise it would not be helpful & then only after counselling to sort out the issues with having been so low would CBT be of any use. So maybe you have not had the right meds & tried CBT when you aren't ready for it. It is worth a try with different meds & a good treatment programme.

Doors,
One think I would ask you to remember is that when you are ill, (or even unwell with a bad dose of flu), you forget what it feels like to be healthy and can only imagine being ill for ever.

You sound like you have depression. Depression is an illness like a malfunctioning thyriod. It can be treated. But, and this is a bit of cold water, it can be difficult to treat. It is not like managing diabetes where you can do a blood sugar test and take a measured dose of insulin. I suspect that if your meds are not working, you will need to try alternatives... and keep trying until you find the chemistry that works for you.

Please keep posting and good luck.