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Sunday 26 October 2014

IT'S OK TO GET HELP

I'm going to write about depression and I know that certain people will view this as confronting. I just don't get the stigma still attached by some people to depression. If your leg or your heart or your skin has a problem, that's socially acceptable. But mention your brain having a problem and it still upsets some people!

I have suffered from depression all my life and I don't care less about stigmas. I talk about my depression and discuss feelings, medication and treatments I've tried quite openly. To not do that would be to play along with labelling others impose.

I could feel an attack building up a couple of days ago. Its hard to explain other than I was getting emotionally lower and lower as the week progressed. Also, all I wanted to do was sleep and I just couldn't. Its quite debilitating because while trying to keep a strong front, your inside strength crumbles slowly. You try to have conversations with people and maintain a "normal" facade,  but its physically and emotionally exhausting.

Eventually something really trivial triggers the final crumbling and ensures the tears and withdrawal start. In my case it was a joke by one of my doctors. He said that we needed to test something because I was weird. Normally I would have laughed and joked back, but this week it was a bit of a trigger for tears and anxiety.

 I decided to go home from the city,to my house, my bed and my husband. I can manage better in my own surroundings.

I spent a whole day alternating between bed and household chores. Everything I did tired me out and when I get like this, I know I need to rest and look after myself. This is what I used to do wrong. I used to just keep going because I had to. I had kids who relied on me. Who had time to stop and self care?

These days my tune has changed. I look after myself, so I can help those who rely on me better. I do
nice stuff - write on my blog, sit in a coffee shop and drink nice coffee, cook a treat. Above all I sleep.

And it works. Today after a five day downward spiral my mood is lifting and I feel a lot better, which is great because today the cousin is making the trek up to my town for a visit. He is presently on a five hour bus trip to get here. In Maltese terms, he has probably gone around the island a thousand times so far.

I really hope he sees a kangaroo cos he really wants to see a kangaroo.

But back to depression and why I wanted to write about it. I have started getting messages from people who follow my blog... and for the record I love it when people leave me comments/messages. A couple of messages lately have been from people suffering from depression and going through terrible ordeals, especially with their own health.

Now I'm no doctor but I am a professional patient. I don't know why I get depression, but the fact is I do. When you look at all the " crap" I've had to go through in the last 30 years, people always say:
 " No wonder. Poor thing"! And yes they're right. But, if you're waiting to have a life that is as rotten as mine before you seek help, then you have rocks in your head.

Depression is real. If you have depression do what it takes - see a doctor, take medications, exercise, write blogs...Do whatever you need to feel better ,because everything's so much better when your head clears. And don't worry about what other people may or may not think. You only get one life and you can't enjoy it with a grey cloud residing in your head.


Till next time...xxx






3 comments:

  1. I know how it is to be depressed. Blogging got me through it. I hope more people gets aware of depression and know how to deal with people who are going through it.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Great post. I get it. On so many levels. The depression part, the everything. I get it. Yoga has helped me presently. :)

    ReplyDelete

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