Mental Illness Week at Joe’s Blog – Part 2: Identifying your Mental Illness

Mental illness is quite complex and hard to diagnose…. but here is a list on what you can ask your doctor about….. I will go into detail on each of the different mental illnesses in future entries

1. Anxiety – anxiety is a blanket term for many complex issues. Anxiety can be broken down two ways: generalised anxiety disorder (GAD) or social anxiety (SA). One of the most common mental illnesses
2. Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD and C-PTSD) – a disorder brought on by traumatic events (eg. war, traumatic accident, trauma as a person, etc)
3. Depression – another common mental illness which affects most people with anxiety. Anxiety and depression go hand in hand

These three are my main focus points during this week as I know people with the above and as a sufferer of two of the three myself – part 3 coming up tomorrow

Update and Eleva

Hi folks! Sorry I have been slack with the blog recently but here is an update for you all….

It’s been a month since I started taking the Eleva – have I noticed any change? I haven’t been as uptight as I have been in recent times…. I also had my very first session with a mental health social worker today. I found this session to be very beneficial to say the least! I have found some new coping strategies which I can try to use when I need them….

One of these strategies is taking 10 minutes for myself – I have yet to try this but will be doing so from Monday afternoon as I have a fortnight off work (company requested)…..

Stay tuned for more from this journey…..

Day 2 on Eleva – am I any different???

Day 2 on Eleva – am I feeling better? Well…. sort of…. my doctor said it might take up to 6 weeks to begin to have an effect on me. In the meantime, I will just keep on taking it as per his instructions….

In other news…. I have had an absolutely productive day today – got one of my lawn mowers (my lawn tractor style Murray ride-on) back in the grass…. that made me feel a bit better! Only problem is a rather sharp stabbing pain in the back of my leg…. climbing over the big moody sumbitch is hard because of the deck height lever being right there next to me!

Updates to come…..

Life Update

Well – I haven’t updated everyone with the happenings of me…. so here it is!

I had a doctor’s appointment yesterday my time – it turns out I have depression, major anxiety and stress (according to my DASS 21 test – scores were 8/15/16). I have been put onto sertraline (Eleva 50) – I will be taking this for a fortnight then going back to my doctor for a follow-up. We will be putting together a Mental Health plan to try and get me back to where I want to be…. I hope to get better soon but I know it will be a long, hard road! Will keep you all updated as I go!

Recent Blog Update – thanks to Lydia!

My wonderful friend and fellow blogger, Lydia (https://aidyl93.wordpress.com/) has prompted me to do a update on one of my recent blog entries (https://joehupp2004.wordpress.com/2015/08/19/anxiety-and-my-journey-with-it/)

I wish to take a piece of Lydia’s recent blog entry and share my thoughts on what we feel…..

“It’s the state of mind”, so I’ve been told. But this state of mind has lasted centuries. Is it just me? Is it just something so unfix-able I’ll never be allowed to enjoy the smell of fresh flowers in the spring again without worrying about the bee? And that’s truly putting it in its mildest form.

“It’s the state of mind”…. not true. When I first got my anxiety diagnosis back in 2006, I thought that exact same train of thinking. I look at that now and realise it isn’t a state of mind…. I always went through the early stages thinking the worst. Since then, I seem to have a lot more respect for my fellow anxiety sufferers – I suppose I know how they feel since I, too, have it.

“Is it just something so unfix-able…” – another untruth that I felt….. there were times I would get so angry and take it out on my mother. I realise now that I should not have done that…. I wish I could go back to those days and apologise to mum about taking it out on her. I ended up squishing one of my tablets with anger one morning – I was taking 50mg of sertraline hydrocholride (Zoloft) and I had just about had enough that day!

If you’re in Australia and want to get some help, here are a few ways to do so – some are Facebook groups I am in and others are hotlines:

Hotlines: beyondblue – 1300224636 or http://www.beyondblue.org.au/

Some Facebook groups I find very, very helpful – click on the blue link to take you to them. These are worldwide support groups:
Anxiety Support Group – a wonderful group of anxiety sufferers helping one another
Anxiety Disorders Unite – another wonderful group of anxiety sufferers. This group has some interesting photo challenges which are only held when admins ask….
Just Rollin’ With Anxiety – this group is amazeballs! I have had so much help through this group and have been supported all the way
Positive Support for Anxiety & Panic Sufferers – yet another amazeballs group I am proud to be a part of….. helpful and supportive which is always thoughtful!

That list is just four of the many anxiety groups I am in on Facebook. If you want to know more, feel free to ask! I won’t bite!

As a postscript, I want to thank Lydia for sharing her story which has helped me a lot with sharing mine as I don’t often do it…. I suppose I need to but talking to my colleagues at work helps me through even the toughest days and darkest points in my life. Writing blogs and talking about anxiety will help people understand it. This is one of the most understated mental illnesses in Australia – with due time, people like me will change people’s perceptions about it…. we are not different, we aren’t crazy. We just have anxiety – and a little support goes a bloody long way, let me tell you!