Curiosity - does mental health ever go away?

[hk1993x]

I'm just curious. I'm about to start outpatient ECT treatment and apparently getting started on a medication that is for an underactive thyroid? Even though my thyroid is fine the doctor said it can be used for depression.

I'm just wondering, I've been battling mental health for the last 7 years and tried lots of medication etc so this really is a last kind of resort.

Have any of you ever felt "free" from mental health?

My mental health conditions have fluctuated during adulthood, I’m not sure my issues have ever gone away but they stabilised following therapy and with medication. Over the last couple of years the bad periods tend to last less time and be less extreme now, but I don’t think I will ever be free and I am always aware things can return and I still have a lot of day to day anxiety and a very poor view of myself. That said I find it hard to know which aspects of my struggles are due to poor mental health, which are due to being neurodiverse (which obviously can’t be cured), which are due to past traumas and which are just part of my personality.

Everybody has mental health their whole lives. Just as everyone always has physical health.

I do have an underactive thyroid. The psychiatrist I saw increased my thyroxine dose, he said it’s sometimes beneficial for people without an under active thyroid with MH issues, so might be beneficial for me to increase. I did recover, for several years.
Covid made me take a nosedive though, but not as bad as I was back then. I was suicidal back then.

MyLovelyPurse I was about to post the same. So many people say mental health when they mean mental health issues.

I’ve got GAD and OCD always had it always will I had talking therapy to get coping mechanisms and it helps

As the wife of someone with serious mental health issues, I would say they never go completely, but they are managed. It's a mistake to think otherwise. Don't get complacent, because then the issues come back with a vengeance.

Think you mean poor mental health. I have mental health and hope it continues!

? You hope it continues

Struggled with anxiety and depression over the last 10 years, but in a fairly good place at the moment. I think my anxiety and depression is very well managed at the moment, but I know it's there and know its often triggered by external circumstances e.g. when I gave challenges in my life. Life happens and I imagine I will be back there again at some, but I don't feel the daily struggles I used to. I'm on Sertraline and if I start to feel anxious it's often because I've forgotten to take my pill!

I have GAD and OCD I too had sertraline but opted for talking therapy and it helped massively you get to know coping mechanisms it’s so good .>.no more meds

Yep. I don't want to lose my good mental health, anymore than I want my physical health to deteriorate.

I mean debilitating mental health!

I have been battling this for 7 years and been diagnosed with anxiety ocd adhd and depression. I want to live but don't want to live like this (suicidal thoughts)

I am getting the help I need but I was genuinely curious if its possible to live life without the fear of it coming back. I have a few stable months then go back to square one, I can never seem to cope with my emotions.

Hence why I asked, has anyone been so bad that suicidal/intrusive thoughts were so intense that you needed immediate help. Can you go on to live a "normal life" without the fear of it returning? Feel like I walk on egg shells whenever I'm stable.

Have you tried taking therapy?

Not really, because I have adhd also I find it hard to listen and process, its so bloody frustrating! I'm hoping once I get more stable i can build a relationship with a therapist etc who gets to know me and that we can work together to prevent me from getting back on that roller coaster. Anything you recommend?

I have traits of ADHD too but I cannot recommend talking therapy enough it works for me I didn’t want to be on medication once I got my coping mechanisms honestly good luck in finding what works for you …I got talking therapy through my dr wish I had done it years ago

You understood perfectly what the OP was saying and this was your best contribution to someone with concerns about the wellbeing of their mental health.

Everyone on the planet has mental health. Some have poor mental health.

Honestly the therapist deals with this on a daily they are soooo understanding and they have heard it all before please try it

I have clinical depression.. so no it won't ever go away.. had time in psychiatric hospitals.. had counselling on and off for 40 years ( I'm 66) just had a course of EMDR.

I have been in touch with a personal centred Councillor privately as I think the NHS waiting list is massive! Thanks all, hopefully this treatment gets me on the right path and i can start some talking therapies etc to keep myself going 💚

Good luck I hope it works for you like I said it worked for me x

Thank you 💚💚

I've had depression and anxiety all my life probably due to being undiagnosed adhd until the age of 39.

I am thinking about getting an adhd coach, sort of like a life coach with adhd modifications. They give you strategies to help.

They can be funded through access to work (on government website) if you work op? I just haven't got round to actually doing anything about it yet in true adhd fashion 😂

I don't think it ever goes away but you can learn to manage it - exercise, diet, sleep etc etc all key

I've had reasonable and life threatening mental health and a mix of in between since I was around 10, im now 43.

The only advice I'd give is to make friends with it, accept it and then make it your own. Medication will always come and go because its all really a sticking plaster (but definitely vital at times). I'm extremely overprotective of my medication because I've found a balance that helps to keep things relatively steady. What has helped me more than anything is a therapist. I didn't know what to expect but I started to feel worthy of that hour slot and that's helped me grow and strengthen so that when bad times hit it gives me a chance of standing up to it.

It doesn't always help but is a huge improvement from daily self-harm, suicide ideation and panic attacks.

I hope you find some calm in your storm and belive that you are worth it.