GRcade

Yeah. I definitely have a tainted experience. Counselling helps but I still bang on about my more negative work experiences to anyone who will listen. It's chronic. And probably makes me unemployable at this point.

Perhaps I could expand in one respect. One of my managers was friendly, but inexperienced. Another was a highly paid, but awful manager (again, just a bad manager) in a very nice place to work. The office I worked in for the longest (1.5 years) was also a nice office and building and area, in fact I helped set it up (I built and networked all of the computers). A lot of my struggles are down to my weaknesses, but thanks to the equality act, at least in principle, I am supposed to alleviate those things with extra help and minor changes, which I never got.

Maybe one day, I will return to a university, or design company, or something like that, which actually treats its employees well and follows the letter of the law when it comes to getting the best out of disadvantaged people who nonetheless have some incredible skills and great qualifications. Sadly, I do thinks it's pretty hard to find those employers. graduating after a recession, going straight into unpaid work in an industry rife with Cowboys, gooseberry fool supplier/buyer terms (media) and so many other systemic issues, was not a great start. And everyone is desperate to get their foot in the door. It really was the worst time in the last couple of decades to join the "world of work", despite all the studying and the real achievements in my past, which demonstrate to most positive people I meet, a real character and fortitude to fight where most would have simply given up.

I'm normally fairly cynical of Christmas at the best of times, but hearing christmas songs on the radio etc after news reports of failing trade talks and Corona restrictions is doing a real number on me.

I get that people need something to look forward to etc, but to me it's like the naive optimism of new years eve somehow making all the gooseberry fool stuff somehow go away amplified to 5000, I just can't handle it.

I know what you mean. I don't particularly enjoy Christmas at the best of times but it seems worse this year. I'm trying to avoid the news as much as possible and my mindset now is just to get through it. I'm around pretty much all over Christmas if you want to drop me a PM at any time.

I agree, I've also been finding it very difficult to relax right now knowing 2021 could easily be even worse than 2020.

Absolutely riddled with anxiety just now. Took me not being able to open my work laptop to know I had to seek help. I've had anxiety issues before but this takes the biscuit. Work is definitely a factor, but the combination of 2020 plus a multitude of other worries has left me feeling a mess mentally.

I've been on fluoxetine before for anxiety but have been prescribed setraline this time. They said it would take a while to settle so I have felt increased anxiety over the last 7 days but hope it levels out.

Sorry to hear that.

What is making you anxious besides work?

Re: work, gotta remember it's just a job. Yes it's important but it's not that important.

Harry Ellis wrote:Sorry to hear that.

What is making you anxious besides work?

Re: work, gotta remember it's just a job. Yes it's important but it's not that important.

Difficult to say. Having read the comments in here on misophonia and phonophobia... im convinced i have something similar. Had issues with my neighbour using a tumble dryer last year but it stopped in January this year when I *think* they got a new one which was clearly quieter. I've recently tuned into it again and whilst it is better its still triggering an unreasonable reaction in me.

Also, i lost a close family friend recently which compounded things...on top of 2020 and the difficulties most people are facing.

Have you been able to speak to a professional about how you're feeling? I found that an emergency counselling session helped when i was struggling recently (i sourced an independent non-NHS one locally as it meant i didn't have to wait).

Vermi Claus wrote:Have you been able to speak to a professional about how you're feeling? I found that an emergency counselling session helped when i was struggling recently (i sourced an independent non-NHS one locally as it meant i didn't have to wait).

Not yet but I've instigated the counselling package that my employer offers.

Paying for someone for a bit more of an immediate help might be something I have to consider.

Prototype wrote:

Vermi Claus wrote:Have you been able to speak to a professional about how you're feeling? I found that an emergency counselling session helped when i was struggling recently (i sourced an independent non-NHS one locally as it meant i didn't have to wait).

Not yet but I've instigated the counselling package that my employer offers.

Paying for someone for a bit more of an immediate help might be something I have to consider.

I saw (and am still seeing) a private counseller for anxiety after I started having panic attacks about work and essentially stopped working for 6 months over it. I found mine on BACP (Google this - not sure of the exact site) - you can search by area and specialism.

Mine was £60 for an hour in London, which I had the luxury of being able to afford but I didn't think it was that bad once a week. I've dropped down to once every two weeks now as I work on stuff with her that's a bit less urgent.

Anxiety really sucks, especially as you start spiralling about how stupid it is to be anxious etc etc. Hope things start getting better for you soon.

Went to a psychiatrist for the first time yesterday after a really bad few months that sessions with my counselor just didn't seem to be cutting through. Got prescribed some meds and holy strawberry floating gooseberry fool in a year that's centered around hernias and oesophageal burns and proton pump inhibitors and I've still never felt as nauseous as just one of these strawberry floaters did.

Apparently it should subside so fingers crossed but I legit had to bail out a brunch with some mates because not only could I not eat anything but I was basically sat there silently focusing on not vomming over the table.

Throne of Lies wrote: I legit had to bail out a brunch with some mates because not only could I not eat anything but I was basically sat there silently focusing on not vomming over the table.

Sounds like a sicky situation.

In all seriousness though hope that the meds help! I'm thinking of taking propanalol to help with my anxiety symptoms as after working with my therapist it seems like it's the symptoms that I focus in on when I'm anxious and it clouds my thinking to the point of paralysis.

Hope that you're doing okay in what must have been a very stressful couple of years over there x x x

I’ve been prescribed 50mg of Desvenlafaxine a day, and I’m not sure what that means beyond having hit the nausea with all the other post-hernia drugs I was given that it faded after about 3 hours.

The thing that really strawberry floats me off is that apparently no one who was responsible for putting me on heavy stomach medication thought to tell me that a side effect of effectively not having any gastric acid since February is clinical depression because you can’t process vitamin B12 into serotonin.

And now I’m taking pills that make me want to vom out a lovely brunch coz all I want is the motivation to make having a shower not feel like the only thing I can hack in a day.

...

Throne of Lies wrote:I’ve been prescribed 50mg of Desvenlafaxine a day, and I’m not sure what that means beyond having hit the nausea with all the other post-hernia drugs I was given that it faded after about 3 hours.

The thing that really strawberry floats me off is that apparently no one who was responsible for putting me on heavy stomach medication thought to tell me that a side effect of effectively not having any gastric acid since February is clinical depression because you can’t process vitamin B12 into serotonin.

And now I’m taking pills that make me want to vom out a lovely brunch coz all I want is the motivation to make having a shower not feel like the only thing I can hack in a day.

...

Sounds fun!

Not mental health related but reminded me of a girl I knew who got IBS for life coz she strawberry floated some guy with a massive dick



And he was a one night stand.

Merry Christmas!

awaayl1 in a manger wrote:Not mental health related but reminded me of a girl I knew who got IBS for life coz she strawberry floated some guy with a massive dick

Big dick -> Nasty UTI -> Nasty antibiotics -> all healthy gut flora devastated beyond repair -> thus far incurable IBS

And he was a one night stand.

Merry Christmas!

WTF

Nah I give girls UTIs because of the cleanliness, not the size of mine.

awaayl1 in a manger wrote:Not mental health related but reminded me of a girl I knew who got IBS for life coz she strawberry floated some guy with a massive dick

Big dick -> Nasty UTI -> Nasty antibiotics -> all healthy gut flora devastated beyond repair -> thus far incurable IBS

And he was a one night stand.

Merry Christmas!

I shouldn't have laughed at this, every ounce of my own moral fibre told me not to, but i did, and now i can't stop.

awaayl1 in a manger wrote:

Throne of Lies wrote:I’ve been prescribed 50mg of Desvenlafaxine a day, and I’m not sure what that means beyond having hit the nausea with all the other post-hernia drugs I was given that it faded after about 3 hours.

The thing that really strawberry floats me off is that apparently no one who was responsible for putting me on heavy stomach medication thought to tell me that a side effect of effectively not having any gastric acid since February is clinical depression because you can’t process vitamin B12 into serotonin.

And now I’m taking pills that make me want to vom out a lovely brunch coz all I want is the motivation to make having a shower not feel like the only thing I can hack in a day.

...

Sounds fun!

Not mental health related but reminded me of a girl I knew who got IBS for life coz she strawberry floated some guy with a massive dick

Big dick -> Nasty UTI -> Nasty antibiotics -> all healthy gut flora devastated beyond repair -> thus far incurable IBS

And he was a one night stand.

Merry Christmas!

Holy gooseberry fool that's amazing.

So between Covid and Brexit related news the last few days have hit my mental health a little hard, it doesn't help that a few days in the past week I've forgotten to take my Sertraline on a morning. I've remedied that by setting a reminder on my phone for every morning, but with so much doom and gloom in the news it gets hard to try and see any bright sides coming along. Especially when suddenly there's talk of potential food and medicine shortages coming up and reports of gigantic queues beginning to reappear at supermarkets and shelves being stripped clean again.

Lagamorph. Have you thought about doing a media blackout? Everything you seem to be getting worked up over is out of your control. I hope that doesn't sound blunt, as I do care, and try my best to emphasise. But at the same time, one thing I've really been trying to focus on is what i can do for ME. Things out of your control, are exactly that, you can't change them to make things better, to make yourself feel better, then why the hell should they be allowed to make you sad.

Boris strawberry floats christmas? I can't control that, there is NOTHING I can do. What can i do right now for me? a nice walk in the winter sunshine perhaps? That's in my control and I can do that to make myself feel better.

Turn the news, the aps, the social media off. Hhell this forums negative threads, dont go in them. Focus on the small things that you enjoy that you can use to improve your mental well-being.