Mental Health

My brother has just been (well I think he was diagnosed anyways) with Bipolar 2 which means that he is not at the extreme manic depressive end of bipolar at least. But yes its been a hard road, and its taken mum a long time to accept that he is just mentally ill. She has been blaming it and probably still blames it on pot smoking.

I don't think he is taking anything daily as it doesn't seem to help him but he is taking larazapan (sp) if he has a major up to bring him back down. His downs aren't very bad at all unlike manic bipolar.

So yes its been hard and trying to deal with it all when you are pregnant is NOT fun at all! The way I have gotten through it is just focusing on the little bubby that I will get to meet. Thats what I've been doing with a lot of things its been non stop with my family haha. Beside the point!

What a fantastic Dad you have

My aspergers means I'm mentally fragile. I have obsessive compulsive disorder and have points in avoidant personality disorder, dependant personality disorder, and histrionic personality disorder. I struggle with feeling inadequate, I'm extremely sensitive to how others view me and I'm hypersensitive to rejection or criticism. I'm excruciatingly shy (you wouldn't pick that up talking to me though lol), I like rules and order and organisation.

Its really hard for my DP sometimes coz he doesn't fully understand everything and I don't think anybody could TBH I'm a complicated little lass. He really tries but it can be difficult when I'm unconciously being inflexible and trying to keep order and it just comes across like I'm being a controlfreak!! Its really hard for me going out and being social. I'm so sure people don't like me or they think I'm weird.

Alot of this stems from abuse from extended family growing up. I had particular cousins who were awful to me. They continually told me what a retard I was, how I could never fit in, and y'know anything and everything they could say to hurt me or knock my confidence.

Having a mental disorder can be crippling but all you need is one or two people who belive in you. I was lucky to have parents like that and I think their support and love has made the difference between being ruled my my head and only being affected by it.

i have depression and severe anxiety disorder. I was diagnosed when i was in intermediate and have been on medication since then, however came off it after henry was born. I fully blame my mental weaknesses on being sexually abused. I was diagnosed because i started having seizures (or episodes) which were really freaky for anyone witnessing them. They looked like an epileptic seizure apparently and i was completely unresponsive. I have come to my own conclusion that its my minds way of protecting me from getting too anxious in a way.
It has been especially difficult for my family and friends. I have attempted suicide on numerous occasions and have often refused to see people etc. My family is amazing - especially my mum - i now realise all she did for me. I still cant believe that my dh stayed with me (i met him at 15years old and within a month of us going out was hospitalised for an overdose) he really trully amazes me.
Thankfully i am doing alot better now and i think it is all to do with hope. When things were really bad i didnt have hope - couldnt see that tomorrow might be better or that something might change. I still have really bad days where i cant leave the house (or my bed sometimes) and i completly issolate myself from everyone but now i have hope. I know that things cant stay bad forever.
My son is the best thing in my life. I have wanted a baby ever since i was 14 (not sure why just felt it so strongly). So when i got pregnant at 17 as terrified as i was its one of the rare times i can remember that i was truly happy.

Sorry that post went way longer than i thought it would. Felt really good to get it out though. I am happy to talk to anyone who wants to talk or has been through something similar.

oh and except for the last 10months i was on medication and twice weekly counselling. Neither really worked on their own but both together seemed to keep me stable.

Edited by angel4

Wow, this is great. Thanks for sharing everyone, it is good to hear from people who have depression and those who have someone close.

I always like the depression ad on tv in NZ where the wife of that fellow says that there have been some really bad times but it is great to see him pull through and come out the other side and I always think that about DF. So any of you people who are depressed, I am sure there are people who feel that way about you too

My experiences with depression in no way compare to the previous stories, but I thought I’d share to show the spectrum of depression.

My seriously depressive periods (where I haven’t been able to function) are usually triggered by something – leaving home, having a long distance relationship, moving overseas. But making changes to my life helped fight the depression.

But as well as those really black periods, depression is always the ‘black dog’ yapping at my door. I have days where I’m really sad and there’s no cause. Then I feel guilty for not getting much done around the house and I get so angry with myself that I can’t just ‘snap out of it’. Because I have nothing to be sad about; I have what should be a really happy life.

I have thought about getting some treatment for it but it’s not really that bad – mostly I just try to push on through because it’s more than likely that tomorrow will be better.

There are definitely mental health issues in my family, going back to my great grandfather at least and continuing down through. My mother and both sisters (one especially) suffer from it.

There is one common theme with exercise helping, the reason it does this is that it increases seretonin levels in the body which is what makes you feel good, or if they are low, you feel bad.

I suggest that if anyone is feeling like anakk is, there are natural ways of beating depression. You shouldn't have to feel bad, you can feel good.

A few that we tried & do work are:
St Johns Work Be Happy tea (orange packet at Supermarket, not for preg or BF though)
Nutri-calm at health shop.
Vit B6
Yellow foods, ie bananas & pineapple
Excercise
Nathuropath. A good one is worth their weight in gold. If you are in the Rotorua region I highly recommend Aidan at the Rotorua Naturopathic Centre.

If you google Seretonin & Seretonin with food or depression it will bring up some good links.

Also we found a huge step was to tell the people around us, family especially for support for me & DH's work mates because they also need to understand why some days he's quieter or what ever.

To everyone posting or to afraid to post.

Aliasmum wrote: A few that we tried & do work are: St Johns Work Be Happy tea (orange packet at Supermarket, not for preg or BF though) Nutri-calm at health shop. Vit B6 Yellow foods, ie bananas & pineapple Excercise Nathuropath. A good one is worth their weight in gold. If you are in the Rotorua region I highly recommend Aidan at the Rotorua Naturopathic Centre.

B6 does help DH, especially when he's only starting to feel a bit glum.

My Dad had his first severe bout of depression when I was 10. I didnt understand or know what was happening, but lots of things changed. He stopped working, Mum had to go to work, we didnt have much money, I got teased for having a Dad who didnt work, and I thought he hated us cos he was never happy. I later found out that several friends of mine were no loneger allowed to come and play at my house because dad had a mental illness, and they lots friends because of it too.
He got better after a few years and got a job.
Fast forward to when I was 20, he got really bad again. Left his job after an incident with a colllegue. His depression was affecting my younger bro - 17 at the time who had multiple suicide attempts but was deemed not bad enough to get help in the public system. My Mum also got depressed under the stress of it all too. I moved out- but only next door with my now DH. It was far enough away to give me a break, but close enough to watch over them and help out.
This time my Dad saw a phychisatrist and had counselling regularly, and my bro had a bit of counselling. 9 years on, they are both still on antidepressants. Dad has never returned to any sort of work. My bro is the most stable and happy I ever remember him. He is no longer taking any drugs so is not aggressive and horrible like he used to get.

I had never been depressed, but when Isla was 8 months old i was diagnosed with PTSD by my GP after traumatic birth, and put on meds. I saw a maternal m,ental health nurse who was helping me weekly. 4 months on we moved towns. Things got much worse after that and in Feb 2008 I was hospitalised on mental helath ward asfter overdosng on every med I could find in the house. It was hideous- I truly believed that my daugther and husband, and everyone I knew would be better off and be able to get on and enjoy life if I wasnt around. My meds were changed again and increased again and agian, then about a month later I had a massive allergic reaction to my meds. I had made my body over sensitive to them by taking so many weeks worth at once when I OD'd that when the dose was increased by the Dr my body couldnt cope. I then had to withdraw off them cold turkey and that was the most horrendous experience of my life- Im crying now just thinking about it. I decided I had to do something else other than meds - the GP was great- he sort advise from my physcistrist and they gave me a week to put other things in place- I had to be seen by GP daily to adjust the meds they were giving me to cope with the withdrawl process.
I started having twice weekly accupucture, changing diet and taking a variety of natural meds from a natural health practioner. I was seeing a phycologist too and that really helped with processing the traumatic birth and everything else too. My offical diagnosis was Adjustment disordwer with depression. It was a slow struggle but I made a full recovery. So lucky to have a fantastic DH and parents.
A year on, in Feb this year I returned to part-time work at a nurse. I am now very excited to be preg with our second child. Im calm and happy and feeling the best I have in years.

Thanks for reading, lol, sorry it was a huge novel!