Recovering from breakdown

[EmmaEmerald]

Does anyone have any experience of this?
I thought I'd had a nervous breakdown in my 20s but carried on working. This time I'm knocked out. I got up at 8 and need a nap already!

MissMarplesNiece would you like a hug? I wish I could offer something better.

Should you call the Samaritans? 116 123

xx

One thing that helped me when I went through this (have been in crisis as well as working in crisis) was learning that o was sensitive to medication. If you are sensitive to meds, often a lower dose will hit the sweet spot. I got a pill cutter (with drs approval) and 1mg of diazepam was great for me. Same with beta blockers for anxiety, just 20mg was all I needed, sometimes less. Side effects are often your body’s way of saying it’s too much, so don’t be afraid to ask for a lower dose, too.

I also want to recommend l-theanine to anyone who has anxiety. It increases dopamine and gaba in the brain, helps with better quality sleep too. I found it incredibly helpful. You just get a wave of calm wash over you when it kicks in.

Obviously you should always check with your dr before making any change to meds or adding supplements, but advocate for yourself as you know your body and mind better than anyone else.

I’m rooting for you all. It’s so hard to the point of desperation, but you will recover.

Gentle hugs.

Flying yes, .i'm one of those.

Pill cutters are my friend.

L-theanine makes me feel odd, but so does green tea, can't have either.

So far today I have cried twice and I think I've napped twice but I'm not sure. Almost went to see mum but that won't do me any good. I have a strange sense of having forgotten who she is but as caring for her is partly - mostly - what got me here, it might be my brain trying to protect me.

Is anyone trying magnesium glycinate. I tried it for a few days but then stopped it because I couldn't work out what was making me feel worse. It's meant to be good for anxiety and sleep.

Flying I'm very sensitive to medication too. I often have to take lower doses.
That's one of the reasons that I'm so terrified to change medication.
I have been on this tricyclic for many years at v low doses but it just hasn't worked this time in the same way when I upped the dose in April and took 3 months off work. I really hoped that would help with recovery from breakdown but still really struggling.

Thanks buggerlugs I might try again for the sleep side.

I take magnesium, but not for sleep. I take it because its meant to help absorption & efficacy of vitamin D, which I also take. I take mine in the morning which is when I take all my other vitamins. Maybe that's why I'm always really sleepy at about 11am.

It certainly doesn't do anything for my anxiety.

Just waving hi
saw mum and need a nap now.

Thats good @TheBuggerlugs . I hope your recovery continues.

Hi allBuggerLugs that's really good news. Do you want to go back to work, do you feel it will benefit you?

I'm slightly concerned about my tiredness levels tbh. I know it has a lot to do with the elderly parent ups and downs - I put those on the elderly parent thread - but I had a good night's sleep last night and still needed a long nap today. I did do a lot of household chores yesterday, inbetween my naps!

I don't have a good level of fitness though and I think being very fat is catching up with me. The doctor has expressed surprise - or disappointment! - at me being 47 and not having any blood sugar or cholesterol issues or aches and pains etc but that's all fine. However, I do think being a slob is probably impacting my recovery so hope to tackle that.

Or perhaps this is just the nature of nervous breakdown? And meds clearing out of my system? In the first two weeks, I had two or three long walks - just strolling, but strolling solidly with no need to stop. It was very sunny too.

I need to find my SAD lamp already - I really noticed the night drawing in yesterday. I think it's at mum's, which is annoying.

Friday I start new meds. Scary.

On another note, I cleared my WhatsApp chats, which I do periodically. From July up till yesterday, there were upwards of 8000 messages between me and the now ex-boyfriend. That shocked me. I'm not blaming him - I was there too, creating funny memes and all the rest of it, and there were stressful days with mum where he'd say stuff that really made me laugh at a time I didn't think I could laugh.

But I think I accidentally gave myself sensory overload with that. It felt comforting because I was in a scary place but it's probably had a negative effect, like eating too much cake or something!

I would definitely switch to evening for the magnesium at least. I'm accustomed to insomnia but even I find magnesium helps in the evening, even if just for relaxation. I like an Epsom Salt bath too.

How's everyone?

went for walk and ran errands. Terrible sleep, must try to stop napping.

That sounds good BuggerLugs you're doing well
so is tomorrow night zopiclone only for you?

Re the naps, they've been totally unplanned so I don't know how I'd do that. I think the next time I feel myself nodding off, I'll set an alarm for 20 mins?

I think meds withdrawal may be causing some irritability. I've been waiting on Evri to collect a parcel - they just don't ring the buzzer and claim they tried and I wasn't home. They managed to leave a bunch of other parcels in the lobby though...

Unusually, the goods company customer service just doesn't care, and I had that thing of nearly crying just because I was annoyed!

Will try and do a stretching session later, sorting out some flat stuff atm. The combination of moving home, having no brain working for a while (I did realise it about 6 months ago but didn't know what to do about it), the mum situation and an intense boyfriend thing (wtf was I doing) has left me in total chaos but I'm slowly fixing it now.

I am going to try meditation at some point but while I'm prone to nodding off, I think I'll leave it till another time.

btw does anyone take co-enzyme Q10? I'm having that weird sense of food not giving me energy and thought it might help.

@TheBuggerlugs not zopiclone but a few years ago I ended up needing diazepam for a couple of month. I was really worried about withdrawal but I was ok when I did a steady reduction.

Hi all

How's it going?

BuggerLugs I'm careful about online resources as there's always horror stories.

I managed not to nap at all yesterday. I found my SAD lamp, happily it's here and not at mum's, so that will help. I think it's fine if I needed the sleep but it's so easy to create a cycle of night time sleep going wrong and mine isn't great at the best of times (since I was a teen, sleep hygiene etc makes no difference).

From tomorrow - new meds - yikes!

I slept fine last night but did have 2mg of diazepam.

I actually requested Vortioxetine. It seems to work in an extra way on top of being an SSRI. The GP was amenable to that and said it's good in the initial stages as well.

his main experience with patients is that they get very hot from it, which a poster also said when I started a thread about it.

he previously suggested mirtapazine but realises I can't gain any more weight, so that's not a great idea. He won't prescribe diazepam for sleep forever though of course.