Anxiety and depression
Hi Kathleen,
I think it's a great idea to start up this blog about anxiety and depression - as it certainly needs to be addressed. I myself suffer from panic attacks and I have a couple of people tell me "to just get over I". I wish it was that simple. I find that when I am tired I am worse.
Good on you for starting on this topic.
Love, Ruth xxx
Comments
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Thanks so much Ruth! I was hoping it would be a good thing! Be assured, you can't be told to "just get over it", as people think they can do with depressed persons...asking them; "so what are you depressed about?" I've put my hand up for depression counseling, and looking forward to it. It happens to many of us, can be for many reasons, and talking about it helps I think.
Hopefully we'll get some more members and throw some support and strategies around!
Love from
Kathleen xx
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Thanks so much Ruth! I was hoping it would be a good thing! Be assured, you can't be told to "just get over it", as people think they can do with depressed persons...asking them; "so what are you depressed about?" I've put my hand up for depression counseling, and looking forward to it. It happens to many of us, can be for many reasons, and talking about it helps I think.
Hopefully we'll get some more members and throw some support and strategies around!
Love from
Kathleen xx
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Hi Kathleen, I could not find the page yesterday so I continue to do so today and I am very happy to have found it 'depression and anxiety' !
thank you for starting this page
Love Finita xxxxxxxxxxx
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Dear Finita
I'm very glad you found it! I know a lot of we girls share insomnia problems, worry and depression. So I thought I would start a new line if discussion. It will help all of us to share our feelings in this way. It is a normal reaction as a result of our condition, how we accept it, how our families accept it and most importantly how we choose to deal with it. And if course to be aware that the medication we need to be on for breast cancer can, in itself, be a a cause of all of these negative feelings.
Don't be afraid to talk here-we all experience it differently, and having this thread I hope will help us all and give us new and positive strategies that we can share.
Welcome and thanks so much for joining!
Take care
Love from
Kathleen xx0 -
Hi Finita and Kathleen, I am so glad that I have you girls to talk to. People don't understand. I have a Friend who thinks I'm okay and should go back to doing everything. which I morealess am except for driving. I am still sore and I have had no help or sympathy from her. She is the one who told me to just get over my panic attacks. But when something goes wrong with her she expects all the sympathy and even has a Husband to help her. I try to be positive and manage on my own but it seems as though she is jealous of me or something. I just don't get it.
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Hi Ruth
I am so glad you came into my group-making me feel useful!
I have to say that I know exactly how you feel, when you get the idea that others are jealous of you. It seems that if you show anything that resembles fortitude and strength and positivity, & they have a problem
with that, then of course they're envious, because they wonder where the source of your strength is when they clearly can't find one of their own.
I've also found, it's a bit childish, but some are envious because we get such amounts of care and attention when we're having our treatment. Then there's something else that really irks me ( while I'm doing a little rant!). We dress up, put our makeup on, trying to be positive after all our horrid times and treatments, and.....I gosh! We must be better now! Yep!
My thoughts (I'm not qualified to say "advice") are that you should have a mantra for yourself that you have reached this far by yourself, can learn to ignore and not be with people who are too negative, & continue on by being ourselves and being positive, in the sureity that its just right for your situation
Hugs to you
Kathleen xxxxx0 -
took me a while but I'm here! xx
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Jolly good Bella!
I think the Arimidex one was getting a bit long, frustrating to continually scroll to get to the latest messages.
This is a good spot for venting about lots of things and relationships that may frustrate us.
Love from
Kathleen xxoo0 -
I agree. Well done.
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You are so right, Kathleen. This particularr Lady did admit to me a long time ago that she was jealous of me. I find it very childish and will try to avoid her in the future and if I do happen to see her I will try not to take her remarks to heart. Like you say, I think it is because we are strong and continue to live life to the fullest. I try to be positive and enjoy every day and don't need to be put down. It is our strength that keeps us going when we could have easily crumbled. I am not going to let her get to me anymore because we need to be around positive people and people who understand where we are coming from. Unless they walk in our shoes, they have no idea what we have been through. Love Ruth xxx
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Hi Kathleen,
I hope that you are good . I have been wanting to write all of this week and part of last week, but just keep on forgetting. I am now in my 5th weeks of taking Lovan (antidepressant) and I must say that my mood swings and irritabilty have vanished so far and it feels good , but somehow I also feel kind of weird. Prior to the Arimidex I was fine, eventhough I still had my black days but at least I wasn't on cloud 14. And now with the Lovan as well , I feel like I am really floating . I am not used to being so relaxed and although in a way I don't mind , I just don't know how I feel...the doctor told me that it would help me sleep better, but that is not the case and in the morning a little after waking up I feel like I just want to sleep and I also feel tired. I know that this cold weather is not helping, but honestly I really feel numb sometimes and I forget things ...it is like I no longer have control of my life . Sometimes I feel really low and even a little depress...I think ?...not sure.? Is this quite normal, or should I be worried ? I do have an appointment to see my doctor next Wednesday , and he will be asking how I feel...truly , I just don't know were to start and he may even think me a little on the crazy side, because I am that kind of a person that always smiles and laughs but many times I wish that I could cry but I cannot even do that. I am very confussed , please advise me .
thank you so much
love and hugs
finita xxxxxxxx
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Hi Finita, Hope you don't mind my making a comment, because I have no experience of what you're going through, in that I have never taken anti-depressants. However, I do know quite a few people who do, including my best friend. IFrom what she has told me, and from what I have seen in other friends, it seems common that it is quite hard to get the dosage right first up - it even sounds a bit hit and miss to me. What I mainly want to say is that you should tell the doctor all the things you are feeling and thinking; and write them down if you need to as they occur, so you don't forget anything. Even print out your post, because it is a snapshot of how you're feeling right now . The doctor won't think you're crazy, and it should help him get the dose right; or perhaps change your medication if the Lovan is too much.
Hope this post has helped?
Love Bella xx
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Hi Finita
All these are normal feelings. May I ask, are you taking your arimidex in the morning or at night? My insomnia improved a lot once I changed from taking it in the evening to the morning. With the antidepressants...not sure. I'm on Pristiq, which helps quite a lot. Hving said that, I still get the feelings of not quite knowing where i'm at.
And at the moment, I have lots to panic/worry about. I', seeing a counsellor soon, so hopefully I'll get some strategies to deal with all the strange goings on in my brain. I acknowledge that if I didnt have the day looking fter my gorgeous grandson, and my couple of days accompanying a senior school choir, I'd be quite gaga. I think that having these two things to get up for and be comitted to, helps my coping. Then on the days when I'm home not doing anything, I have crafts to do and self help strategies, including relaxation and self help things.
One thing that has been happening for me recently, is really weird dreams, which I'll also talk about with the psychologist.
Anyway, hang in there, thry swapping the time you take arimidex if youre taking it at night, and know that everything you're experienceing is pretty normal, for all that we've been through. Remember that we've lost some of our hormones, and the arimidex is stopping the production of hormones, because that's what our breast cancer fed off. We're taking it to hopefully keep off more cancer.
I love this forum. we can vent and talk to each other. Please know that I'm here to talk to any time.
Take care
Love and hugs from
Kathleen xxxxxooooo
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Hi Bella
Those are great ideas. You're right - it does take a while to get the doses of antidepressants right. I think Finita's feelings are all about the "getting accustomed thing"
Mine may need to be tweaked again soon, as I've been in a pretty dark place recently. To a certain extent, the first step is that I'm aware of my feelings, and have a few resources to attempt to help myself. Like relaxation techniques, a really good yoga dvd, and some nice sound therapy tibetan bowls. I'm thinking, actually, of maybe starting a class with the bowls. I'll do a bit more research on it before I get into it.
Take care - love chatting on here, with girls who re going through the same stuff as me. It helps a lot
Love and hugs
Kathleen xxxxooo
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Hi Bella and kathleen,
thank you so much for your speedy response. Today I visited my mum and I could not wait to get home and open this page so as to read some feeback. This is truly so good ... and you you are both so good . I will be telling the doctor about it and maybe I just need more time to adjust.
As for the Arimidex, I have to take it at night because I have stomach issues and I was told to take it at night. The Lovan I take about 8.30 am.
As for weird dreams, I am getting that too, as a materr of fact my brain somehow wakes me around 3-4 am, right in the middle of a dream, and the weirdest thing is that since I been on the Lovan I either hear the phone, or the mobile or the cat or other things, and it is never any of those things , it is just my brain doing it ...and I then wake up with a jolt , leaving me feeling so terribly sick in the stomach, and then it takes me forever to get back to sleep... that is probably why I am always feeling tired .
Kathleen, I hope that you will be better soon after seen your psycologist and I am so very happy that you have your grandson .
Bella, I love your comments , so please keep them coming and thanks.
Love you both my bcna sisters,
take care
finita xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
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