Mental Health Thread • Page 341

slept better wednesday night and thursday was mostly great and the best i’ve felt in weeks

annnnd i slept 0:00 tonight. what the fuck, man. this sucks.

i made an appointment today to try to meet with a therapist on wednesday, but i’m starting to think i might need a script if i’m adding just flat out not sleeping to the mix. i really, really don’t want to go that route but i just can’t shut the brain off.

 

My girlfriend takes melatonin and she likes the results. But she's also on an anti-anxiety and depression meds which I assume also help. Glad you made an appt with a therapist, though. Even if it doesn't solve the sleep problems, it's still a positive step.

 

I got nothing other than sending you positive energy and love. I’m an open ear if you need it

 

The rehab I work at and generally all rehabs mainly use two medications to help with sleep, trazodone and seroquel. They definitely help with sleep and are not too powerful. When some people detox they too deal with insomnia and those meds work wonders. Non habit forming too, just stay the fuck away from ambien man.

 

Just going to mention that trazodone does lose its effectiveness after a while, but it's nothing to immediately worry about. I was on it for a few years and I think my body just built up a tolerance for it and it stopped working as a result. But in the short term it should work just fine and seroquel works too

 

Thanks guys. Got some recommendations and picked up some magnesium and herbal teas to help with the sleep. Hopefully some CBT will help from the therapist. I guess if they think i need something stronger, they can refer me to a psychiatrist

 

Are there studies that go into how tv programming and music that's curated for you vs curating it yourself via collections, streaming queues etc does/doesn't effect mental and emotional health?

 

first session with the counselor was pretty helpful. have been feeling better the last three days and this increased that.

they did recommend they want to pursue EMDR therapy, as opposed to standard therapy. anyone have experience with this/know what it entails and what to expect?

 

One of the wildest times I’ve ever been under the influence was Ambien, it was like being sleepy and drugged out on some potent shit. I legit don’t remember the majority of the time I would be on it, spooky shit.

 

Love ambien, I take it every night after being an insomniac for years. But definitely fucks you up if you stay up too late after taking it. I take a half tablet daily for a month and then take a week off to get rid of any tolerance.

Trazadone made me sleepy but didn't actually help me sleep and would make me feel like crap the next day, and I already take Seroquel for my bipolar so that one was out lol

 

I did EMDR therapy for half a year back in 2015. As for what to expect, different techniques can be used. I remember the sessions starting like normal ones. My therapist would then ask me to strongly think about an aspect of the subject we were discussing, or focus on one memory that had just been brought up. I'd be given a headphone through which she'd play beep-y sounds that went left & right for one or two minutes, if I recall correctly. The trick was to "let go" aka not hold back if any (strong or not) emotions appeared during that part. Then I'd discuss the thoughts that came up, if any did, and why they made me feel this or that emotion. Repeat the process multiple times.

I don't remember if it was part of EMDR specifically, but she would also teach me breathing techniques and other mechanisms to get my panic attacks under control. Overall, it was a bit difficult to adjust to the sessions at first, and I would be really drained when I got out of each. However, this therapy helped me get over some trauma in such a short time, even if I didn't realize it right away. It's really... a fascinating and cathartic experience, and it can be a powerful tool if it works on you. I hope everything will go well on your side.

 

rad, thanks a lot, really appreciate this

 

my wife did EDMR pretty regularly for probably about six months a few years back and she thought it was great. like @Crisp X said it can be draining, but she said it wasn't scary or weird or anything. a lot of intense recall and discussion around certain memories, she said it helped her let go of things she didn't realize she was holding onto.

 

Have you noticed any memory/recall issues from taking it long term?

 

do you meditate at all? I’ve struggled with pretty crippling anxiety my whole life exacerbated by the relatively recent-ish death of the parent who cultivated it and I must say honest commitment to daily meditation has changed my life in a way I always hoped therapy could and would. Obviously take the path that feels right for you and apologies if this is advice you’ve received or attempted before but it may be worth looking into if not! hope EMDR cracks something open for ya regardless

 

Hmm. I've always been that way to a degree, so it's hard to say to be honest. Plus I smoked a lot of weed in college so that didn't help haha.

The only thing that really stands out to me is if I'm doing something immediately after taking it, I sometimes forget things entirely. Like reading a comic for 20 minutes or watching an episode of TV while I wait for it to kick in, I'll be fully into it in the moment, but forget big pieces the next day. Otherwise, mornings are rough, but I'm fine once I have coffee flowing through me.

 

The book linked has a pretty good chapter on EMDR (chapter 15) although it’s in relation to trauma. It’s a pretty quick read.

8freebooks.net The Body Keeps the Score by Bessel van der Kolk M.D.pdf - Box

 

i have relatively recently started meditation and it helps a ton for daytime anxiety. my issue most recently was i was in a chicken or the egg loop of night time anxiety and not sleeping, where i couldn’t tell anymore if the insomnia was causing the anxiety or the other way around. for whatever reason, the more sleep specific meditation i tried didn’t really help at all

i think i was in a magnesium deficiency and i’ve started feeling a lot better the four days since i started taking a vitamin for that. hoping the therapy/EDMR/meditation can be helpful as preventative maintenance like an oil change or whatever bc these last few weeks have been ... unpleasant lol

 

i will say EDMR seems a bit ... intense. like, i wouldn’t say i have PTSD or am suffering from any trauma really. my mom passing away was horrible but i wouldn’t say it’s something i “tucked away” or whatever. i still want to go into it with an open mind though

 

Without really going into details, my mental health has taken a big dive this week. Kind of had a breaking point two nights ago and haven’t felt right since. I just feel heavy and emotional. I’ve been looking for a playlist of songs about mental health now and I’m not finding too much outside of the obvious. Anyone have something made up on Spotify or have any go to songs that help them?

 

I’ve always used music to self medicate, even when I didn’t know that’s what I was doing. It helps me cope. Off the top of my head, these are a couple songs I’ve listened to quite a bit that are about mental health struggles:

Field Report - Begin to Begin
Lyrics:

the places that I’ve been and may never see again:
I won’t say “haunted”,
but I get visited
It follows me around,
wherever I go
So all things being equal,
lately I just stay at home
and listen to the refrigerator hum
and quietly hum along
and wait for it to come

begin to begin to begin to begin

I swear, dog knows it first-- I can see it in her eyes
when she seeks me out, checks in, curls up, and resigns
It’s like she heard music from the other room
that she recognized--
some theme song from a rerun on the air all the time
She don’t like it, she don’t hate it, she just knows that it’s on
and that means there won’t be conversation until the show is done
that’s when I zone out and disappear and it has begun
my darkness comes in darkness and it stays til it is done

begin to begin to begin to begin

blinding light
trip and fall
I’m a bat trapped in the house
clicking for the walls
cause I don’t cry out no more--
I just tiptoe down the hall
baby, keep on sleeping

I get out the house and it’s just before last call
caramel brown bottles, Packers shit is on the wall
suck it down, check the clock, beg another round
bartender says, “Dude, your idea of fun always feels like a breakdown”

text my therapist two four six am
“hey, it’s chris, it’s been a while...it’s happening again.
I’ll take the first hour you can get me in”
begin to begin to begin to begin

Owel - Get Out Stay Out
Lyrics:

You were not invited,
I don't know how you got in
There's a reason why that door's not open
But you stumble in like
It's a place you've been before
I don't care you weren't aware that I was home

Get out
Get out
Stay out

Sheepskin,
You're a wolf wrapped in sheepskin
Just 'cause I'm not resisting
Doesn't make it right
And I would call for help, but we both know I live alone
I chased off all my neighbors

Get out
Get out
Stay out
Get out
Get out
Stay out

Disappear, how do I make you disappear?
There is nothing to take here
Nothing you would want
Burglar, get your feet off the furniture
Swear I won't tell a soul
That I know who you are

Get out
Get out
Stay out
Get out
Get out
Stay out

Don't go
Don't go
Don't go
Don't go

 

“Can’t Handle (Poor Decisions #3)” by Gasoline Heart is like the perfect song for helping with mental health imo especially being able to just sing along or scream it out in a car is super fun

 

Working on a playlist for ya!

 

I posted in here a while back about olanzapine and how it seemed to be helping. Well shortly after that, things took a turn for the worse and I was constantly physically exhausted. Pretty much lived in my bed and slept 16 hours a day for a week until I stopped taking it. So that was a major bust.

But I started taking lithium about a month ago, and even though I’m on a relatively low dose (600 mg), I’m noticing some positive changes in my mood. Maybe only 10-15% improved but it’s nice to at least get a little relief, and there’s room to increase the dose. I’m concerned about the side effects (some of which are pretty severe) but I was at the end of my rope and willing to try anything. And nothing too bad so far.

 

I’m about to get put on something. I haven’t been on medication for about a decade, but I really do need help. The peaks are a bit manic and the lows are incredibly low. I’m pretty much at the end of my rope right now as well.