Friday, October 4, 2013

Mental Health

Did you know that 1 in 4 adults and youth suffer from some form of mental health issues? I didn't.

I have suffered with depression and anxiety for most of the last 19 years.  For reasons known only to myself I chose to not take medication and attended lots of self help groups with much success. Or so I thought.   Recently my anxiety levels skyrocketed and I was finding it hard to leave my house, and getting through a day at work was becoming increasingly hard.  I took myself off to the doctors and after testing, was diagnosed with depression, anxiety, iron related anemia and perimenopause.  I decided I needed help, so I am on medication and also visit a psychologist.  Things started feeling better.

And then my 18 year old daughter was also diagnosed with depression and anxiety.  I sat in the surgery and cried.  The doctor was lovely and explained the statistics and told me that it wasn't my fault, that the stress of HSC had brought Megan's condition on. The decision was made that Megan would not be put on medication but would visit a psychologist.  We eventually found the right person for Megan and they are working on getting Megan back to her happy place.

Its hard on the whole family living with us.  There are days where Megan is just unable to cope with everything and has huge meltdowns and I am her comfort. Which means I can get upteen phone calls in a day.  There have been days where I am not in a good head space and I have to be short with her and ask Len to step up and help her.  The mama guilt quickly sets in, but I know that I have done the best thing for both of us.  I cant help her if I am feeling down.

My girl is a beautiful blue eyed blond, tall, nice figure and a beautiful heart, but she sees herself as plain and fat.  It breaks my heart.  I want to tell her to snap out of it, of course she is beautiful.  But I can't.

I feel helpless at times, but I feel that by getting help myself I am helping her.

Life isn't always happy in our house, but its getting there.

Bye for now,
Debbie

5 comments:

  1. Depression is such a difficult thing Deb but it sounds like you're doing all the right things and doing your best to get you and Megan back on track. Hang in there! I hope things get better really soon. xx

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    1. Thanks Sheree, its a blessing to have found our little group, everyone is so supportive of each other. It means so much to me.

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  2. Hi Deb I don't understand depression enough to say anything to be of help but even though I am a stranger I am here if you need to talk or message or email you know what I mean.My younger sister has been diagonesed with Bipolar as a result from drug use .She has cut herself from the family lives in a hippie commune and regulary goes to Bali for her needs I wish I could help her but she wants to be alone her family are the reason for her illness she says.I just don't know what to do anymore-love dee x

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  3. Thank you for your support Dee, I dont think anyone knows what to do or say. We just do the best we can and show our loved ones that we care.

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  4. Deb I know this is an old post but I have only just come across your blog. I too have suffered from depression. Sometimes I think going on the anti-depressants is really needed as depression is quite often an imbalance of chemicals in the brain so medication is needed to correct this. It is not the be all and end all of depression but it certainly does help in making you feeling and better and able to cope. It makes me sad that there is such a stigma attached to depression and mental health and because of this a lot of people wont seek help. I wish you & your daughter the best of luck and hope that you can get it under control.

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