Foo - Mentall Illness

Basically, I'm making this thread so me, and other members with mental illness, will know they're not alone. Basically, state your conditions and any medications you take. I'll start.

Psychosis
Severe clinical depression.
Generalized anxiety disorder.

My medications:
Celexa, 60mg a day.
Vistaril, 200mg a day.
Xanax, 1mg a day.
Seroquel XR, 400mg a day.
Melatonin, 6mg a day.
Doxylamine succinate, 50mg a day.

Sadly, I'm normal...

But curious: when did your symptoms start? Do you consider the cause nature (just born that way, or environmental), nurture (people affected you), or a little of both? Does the medication completely eliminate the symptoms - if not what percentage reduced is it?

Very good questions.

None of my inflictions started at the same time. At first, it was the depression, I'm not exactly sure when that started.
Psychosis and GAD occured about the same time, about 2-2.5 years ago. As for causes, I believe my psychosis and GAD is the effect of people I've interacted with.

Medication does not eliminate the symptoms, but they are about 70-90% effective most of the time.

You might try posting this in the A&S forum.

Or P&R.

You might try posting this in the A&S forum.

Or P&R.

Nope, this is a Foo topic.

^^^ I was kidding.

I actually think the OP has brought up a topic worthy of intelligent, mature discussion. I regret that is beyond my abilities.

^^^ I was kidding.

I actually think the OP has brought up a topic worthy of intelligent, mature discussion. I regret that is beyond my abilities.

No worries....we always make allowances for ya! ;)

Do you find that hard physical exercise, such as intense bicycling, makes any difference to your MI? I ask, because this is posited by many as a partial cure.

A ggod topic, by the way, and a possible new forum.

I bet there are a lot of folks who share your thoughts and concerns.

"Maintaining Positive Mental Health While Bicycling" or something similar

Do you find that hard physical exercise, such as intense bicycling, makes any difference to your MI? I ask, because this is posited by many as a partial cure.

A ggod topic, by the way, and a possible new forum.

I bet there are a lot of folks who share your thoughts and concerns.

"Maintaining Positive Mental Health While Bicycling" or something similar

Riding does seem to keep my mind off of things.

Riding does seem to keep my mind off of things.

In addition, increased endorphins and other hormines are cited by many as a result of physical exercise.

My issues:
Depression
Dislikes fellow man

Treatments:
Alcohol
Bicycling

In addition, increased endorphins and other hormines are cited by many as a result of physical exercise.

All of which are natural antidepressants.

I was on Celexa. It worked to break me out of the rut. I'm now drug free and happy.

I have been told I excel at normal. Good health to all!

My issues:
Depression
Dislikes fellow man

Treatments:
Alcohol
Bicycling

Alcohol, although it may work for you, is a depressent and is a major cause of many problems in life.

I sought treatment a long time ago for anxiety, but have since learned ways to manage the anxiety. 99.99% of the time, I don't even think about it anymore.

I sought treatment a long time ago for anxiety, but have since learned ways to manage the anxiety. 99.99% of the time, I don't even think about it anymore.

Care to share them with the class? I'm sure the OP would like to know. :thumb:

Here is my opinion on this:

It is not possible, not in a million years, to accurately diagnose a patient when you only see the person 30 minutes every 2 months. I bet the vast majority of this "conditions" are diagnosed in order to prescribe you the drug that gives the doctor the better commission per pill. Being misdiagnosed with something scary can then screw you up legally in the future.

And I have no doubt that there are some good doctors out there that really want to help people. But with so many conditions having overlapping symptoms, the best they can do is an "educated guess".

To respond to the OP... I get depressed with ease, have severe anxiety often and suffer from acute insomnia. But with all the crap that happens to me is probably normal.

Psychosis is widespread in road cycling.















Thank God I'm normal.

Of all the things I've discovered, meditation is the best. It teaches me to separate consciousness from the ragtag parade of thoughts that wander in front of my mind like idiots. The trick is to identify with the consciousness, not the thoughts.

Psychosis is widespread in road cycling.
















Thank God I'm normal.

Especially the delusion that one goes faster and farther than any real experience.

And then there's the whole OCP thing.

And then there's the body image thing.

There's a LOT of personal information being posted on this thread. Glad you guys don't mind sharing it with the world.

Here is my opinion on this:

It is not possible, not in a million years, to accurately diagnose a patient when you only see the person 30 minutes every 2 months. I bet the vast majority of this "conditions" are diagnosed in order to prescribe you the drug that gives the doctor the better commission per pill. Being misdiagnosed with something scary can then screw you up legally in the future.

And I have no doubt that there are some good doctors out there that really want to help people. But with so many conditions having overlapping symptoms, the best they can do is an "educated guess".

To respond to the OP... I get depressed with ease, have severe anxiety often and suffer from acute insomnia. But with all the crap that happens to me is probably normal.


I agree with you. It's almost impossible to diagnosis a mental issue in 30 minutes, and this is one of the reasons why I spent a week and a half in a psyche ward.

Care to share them with the class? I'm sure the OP would like to know. :thumb:

One of my main strategies includes regular exercise. Riding my bike, walking, skiing, playing volleyball, just plain working outside. Also, I have used yoga as a major healing process for myself. I also began identifying things that would trigger my anxiety attacks and avoiding them when possible. If I couldn't avoid them, I tried to have someone or something with me that would bring me back. I started some self-talk methods to help calm myself down when I felt myself going into them. I found things that I truly enjoy doing and do those on a regular basis. I have some creative activities that I do to take my mind off things. I have also removed certain people from my life that would cause me large amounts of anxiety. My health and mental health was not worth trying to maintain a relationship with them.

Alcohol, although it may work for you, is a depressent and is a major cause of many problems in life.

Yep. My alcohol consumption may make things worse, but I use it in moderation (mostly beer) for a moderate amount of suffering. :)

My wife claims I'm bipolar - I think she's @#%&*##$#$%^%$$%$@#$%#&*)! but after the voices in my head go away and the razor blades are out of reach I feel better.

Basically, I'm making this thread so me, and other members with mental illness, will know they're not alone. Basically, state your conditions and any medications you take. I'll start.

Psychosis
Severe clinical depression.
Generalized anxiety disorder.

My medications:
Celexa, 60mg a day.
Vistaril, 200mg a day.
Xanax, 1mg a day.
Seroquel XR, 400mg a day.
Melatonin, 6mg a day.
Doxylamine succinate, 50mg a day.

Wow - what a topic. I have a very close friend that has been struggling with problems (psychosis, mania, etc.) for the past 3 1/2 years, and been hospitalized about 8 times. Currently taking Seroquel XR, 600mg. It is critically important to find a doctor that you trust and will work with you. These meds are very powerful things, and even trying to "tweak" them can result in another hospital stay. I also have a friend that has been in treatment for bi-polar for over 25 years. He ends up with the police taking him to the hospital probably once a year.

Many Drs. just prescribe the latest meds and hope that something "works". Very few even try to find what the root cause may be (hormonal, chemical, etc).

I have over the years suffered from clinical depression. I do have other mental illnesses in my family: depression, OCD, manic-depressive bi-polar behavior, etc.

I have refused to take medication to mask my symptoms. Working with my dr and a psych. nurse, I have developed a way to deal with my depression by behavioral modifications. I know when i am getting depressed or spiraling downward. It's tough but I must take action as soon as possible and once i do the depression is stalled or goes away. The best therapy for me is cycling or hiking - with friends AND alone. The alone is very important because i need time to think about and digest problems and issues; instead of masking the problems, I try to attack them head-on. I then have a "talking with myself" (basically I tell myself to SNAP OUT OF IT!) and I am good to go.

I have also learned to stop sweating the small stuff and not really worry about the big stuff. Keeps the dark clouds (and thoughts) from coming...

one thing I know is very bad for any mental illness is using alcohol or drugs (I mean things other than prescribed to treat the illness - like pain killers or cocaine, heroin etc). Nothing causes your demons to come front and center than drinking and taking pain meds. Ask my brother in law who OD'd several years back. His life before he died was very sad.

There's a LOT of personal information being posted on this thread. Glad you guys don't mind sharing it with the world.

I get what you are saying - as long as the information is provided voluntarily there is no harm - it helps to admit a problem and seek communion with others...

My wife claims I'm bipolar - I think she's @#%&*##$#$%^%$$%$@#$%#&*)! but after the voices in my head go away and the razor blades are out of reach I feel better.

Dude, if you're having voices in your head as well as thoughts of harming yourself, you need to get help.

yes and no,

anti-retrograde amnesia. I am missing about 5 years of memory
I have issues forming new short term memories at times. If I focus or condition myself I learn things at times.
but the first few years were tough.

was also diaged with psychosis. but docs can find whatever they want if they look for it, and it is atleast happy psychosis usually. and since my memory is fried and or there is a seizure involved, I am not usually there for it.

All of it is caused as sided effects from the epilepsy and the meds.
good times.

Unfortunately (or maybe fortunately, as the case may be), my mental issues aren't the kind that can be treated with medication. I was diagnosed with dyslexia back in grade school, almost 30 years ago. I went through some adaptive therapy programs to retrain my brain how to interpret things properly, and it seems to have helped; although I do have to do some of my exercises on a routine basis to keep things sharp. If I forget to do them, I notice myself having problems with left/right, and with character transposition.
I just caught myself this morning when trying to explain something to a coworker, and he asked "my right or your right?" and I got very confused trying to figure it out while facing him, had to turn around and face the same direction and hold out my thumb/index finger to do the "L is for Left" check. :o

I sought treatment a long time ago for anxiety, but have since learned ways to manage the anxiety. 99.99% of the time, I don't even think about it anymore.

You could say that you're not anxious about your anxiety anymore?

I've gone back and forth with depression and anxiety. Some times it is better than others. I was on Bupropion to help with this and, while it did help with the depression, I had some crazy, vivid whacky dreams. Enough I wouldn't sleep some nights because the dreams were too much.

Not taking any meds any more. My wife and I have learned how to help me manage it when it gets really bad. My wife is what really helps me get through times.

Here is my opinion on this:

It is not possible, not in a million years, to accurately diagnose a patient when you only see the person 30 minutes every 2 months. I bet the vast majority of this "conditions" are diagnosed in order to prescribe you the drug that gives the doctor the better commission per pill. Being misdiagnosed with something scary can then screw you up legally in the future.

And I have no doubt that there are some good doctors out there that really want to help people. But with so many conditions having overlapping symptoms, the best they can do is an "educated guess".

To respond to the OP... I get depressed with ease, have severe anxiety often and suffer from acute insomnia. But with all the crap that happens to me is probably normal.

There is a huge field of psychiatry and psychology that have THOUSANDS of studies to prove you wrong.

When you see a doctor for 30 minutes you are getting a disease treated. Although the person changes the ,mental disease condition is the same.

I get what you are saying - as long as the information is provided voluntarily there is no harm - it helps to admit a problem and seek communion with others...

I'm with Siu on this. Yes, admitting a problem and various methods of group therapy can work wonders - but here? I'm sure BF has security measures in place, but do you really know how secure those measures are? Are yo certain that there isn't someone in Foo who can hack through and compromise your anonymity?

The reality is that you have to treat everything you type on your keyboard as public info. Reaching out to others is a good thing, and there is far too much undeserved stigma attached to mental health issues. But the only prudent way to conduct yourself on line is to not put anything - and I mean anything - out there that you would not mind seeing on the front page of the New York Times.

Well thankfully you don't know who I am... although I guess the mods might.

Clift... I also have dsylexia and went through all the training as a child. On top of that i sustained a brain injury from a bike accident in 2005 and talk about emphasizing the dsylexia!

You could say that you're not anxious about your anxiety anymore?

Not anxious at all. What makes you think I'm anxious about the anxiety? Was it something I said? ;)

Srsly, though, no. I have used the techniques for so long and so consistently that I use them without thinking about it anymore. It is just part of who I am.

Interesting.

We all have absolutely no problem discussing bikes, etc., but when it comes to discussing mental health we consider it a deep dark secret, not to be discussed openly.

We haven't come very far, have we!!

Dude, if you're having voices in your head as well as thoughts of harming yourself, you need to get help.

I can't be sure, but I'm thinking he was trying to be humorous.

Interesting.

We all have absolutely no problem discussing bikes, etc., but when it comes to discussing mental health we consider it a deep dark secret, not to be discussed openly.

We haven't come very far, have we!!\

Denver I have learned, secrets are not a good thing. Had my sister discussed my brother in laws spiralling depression, he might be alive today. After my treatment for =gasp= colon cancer and dealing with my family and my mental issues, I don't keep secrets. It is what it is and its better to have it out in the open, discuss it with others, "break bread" as it were so one knows they are not alone they to keep things like this is a closet.

I'm with Siu on this. Yes, admitting a problem and various methods of group therapy can work wonders - but here? I'm sure BF has security measures in place, but do you really know how secure those measures are? Are yo certain that there isn't someone in Foo who can hack through and compromise your anonymity?

The reality is that you have to treat everything you type on your keyboard as public info. Reaching out to others is a good thing, and there is far too much undeserved stigma attached to mental health issues. But the only prudent way to conduct yourself on line is to not put anything - and I mean anything - out there that you would not mind seeing on the front page of the New York Times.

This seems rather alarmist to me. Do I have something to hide? Do I have something to be ashamed of? We share experiences and advice here. How is sharing my experiences with anxiety any worse than someone asking for advice in their marriage or admitting they are a 40 y.o. dating a 19 y.o.?

Dude, if you're having voices in your head as well as thoughts of harming yourself, you need to get help.

The detachment of my frontal lobe as well as regular shock treatments and the daily fellowship with my friends here in the forums has helped immensely, although it pains me deeply that, as of yet, I haven't been nominated for a Ti membership.

Your good friend,
Red

This seems rather alarmist to me. Do I have something to hide? Do I have something to be ashamed of? We share experiences and advice here. How is sharing my experiences with anxiety any worse than someone asking for advice in their marriage or admitting they are a 40 y.o. dating a 19 y.o.?

Alarmist? Maybe. But even paranoids have enemies. And there are some creepy people out there who are very good at breaking through cyber-encryption.

As for the question about marital issues or one's dating preferences, I question the value of airing that stuff out with people you don't know, either.

Look, if you want to make your life an open book on the Internet, knock yourself out. Personally, I think you are better served being selective about such things. I absolutely applaud those who have mental health or other issues and try to get help and seek out positive, constructive ways of handling them. I do not believe that such issues should simply be locked away. But I also do not think anyone, much less someone who already has more than his or her fair share of crap to deal with, should be making personal information of that sensitivity potentially available to a world that includes any number of people who will use it for their own purposes without regard for the damage such use may cause. Likely to happen because of sharing on BF? No. But why run the risk?

Alarmist? Maybe. But even paranoids have enemies. And there are some creepy people out there who are very good at breaking through cyber-encryption.

As for the question about marital issues or one's dating preferences, I question the value of airing that stuff out with people you don't know, either.

Look, if you want to make your life an open book on the Internet, knock yourself out. Personally, I think you are better served being selective about such things. I absolutely applaud those who have mental health or other issues and try to get help and seek out positive, constructive ways of handling them. I do not believe that such issues should simply be locked away. But I also do not think anyone, much less someone who already has more than his or her fair share of crap to deal with, should be making personal information of that sensitivity potentially available to a world that includes any number of people who will use it for their own purposes without regard for the damage such use may cause. Likely to happen because of sharing on BF? No. But why run the risk?

What a clever way of admitting you suffer from paranoia. Is it a symptom of a more serious issue? I hope you are aware that there is help available for you to live with out living in fear of the worst.

I heard voices as a child shortly after the death of my father. Mom either did not believe me, or did not want to face it. This went on until I was maybe fourteen. It is weird to look back on this and realize something so potentially serious went untreated.
I was later diagnosed with anxiety issues and what the doctor called explosive personality disorder. I was on medication twice daily until I realized I no longer really felt anything. I was almost to the point , while medicated, that I wanted to cut myself just to feel something. I quit taking the medication and I am happy to feel anxious or anger because I can again also feel happiness.

Were this thread titled something like "Cancer" my guess is that it would look slightly different. Rather than members asking those of us with illness to continue to hide it, we would be getting sympathy and caring. It's as though my disease is something I should be ashamed of. It's something that I should hide lest mine enemies use it to smite me. I have nothing to be ashamed of just as someone battling cancer has nothing to be ashamed of.

If our society treated mental illness as it does any other illness that attacks our bodies, I may have searched out help quicker than the 15 years it took. It took me a long time to realize that mental illness is a disease rather than a reflection of who I am.

So to those of you "warning" us about not revealing too much, go to hell. Whether in good faith or deviousness, attempting to stop us from talking openly about what is nothing more than a disease is mean spirited and dangerous.

Man, someone woke up in a straitjacket.

My experience with almost any kind of problem is that more communication helps. It doesn't seem to me that there is anything worse in this topic than in the entertainment section of a magazine about the latest Brittany or Lindsay news. I haven't seen a 'let's keep it quiet' attitude about this sort of stuff for a lot of years.

But I don't get out much and there might be a small point to it, if you do keep it quiet when you're around real people. It doesn't seem like that's the attitude of the posters so far. I thought the topic was quite interesting.


My issues:
Depression
Dislikes fellow man

Treatments:
Alcohol
Bicycling

Enjoyed that, and some of the (massive) blog.

best wishes everyone

I would much prefer a thread title of

"Maintaining and building excellent mental health in bicycling" in place of "Mental Illness."

Anyone else?