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Posts created by eleveno

12 years ago 0 +0 / -0 619

I do Not Feel Like But I Have To

Today I wake up not so well because I slept very badly last night. In my country, Portugal, we have governmental elections today, and my wife is helping with the elections, so I would have all the day for my self.

Usually, when I wake up like this, I know I would have a bad day. But today I wanted to do something different and challenge my thoughts. I live in the south of Portugal in a beautiful region called Algarve. We have a Mediterranean climate here and at this time of the year summer is showing us its presents with a beautiful day.

I thought to myself that I could go to beach, dip in the sea, put my feet on sand and try to relax. This would be the first time this year on the beach. I packed my towel, put shorts and sandals, and left home. First I stopped in a market to buy sun screen and then head to the beach. When I arrive on the beach I admired the beautiful day, with other people already sharing the blessings of this wonderful weather with me.

It was a beautiful morning and while at the beach I catch up some reading with a Stephen King's novel (I took a picture of this moment which appears in my profile).

The story is: I need to challenge my anxious thoughts and do pleasant activities even if I do not feel like. In other words, I need to learn to live life again so I can get better.

12 years ago 0 +0 / -0 619

What we know about stress at work

Stress has an huge impact in my work. It was so huge that I had a nervous breakdown last year triggered by stress at work. Remembering my past jobs, I never knew how to deal with stressful situations leading to severe episodes of anxiety and depression. Because I didn't know how to manage stress at work I was too involved in problems and become even obsessed about them. This lead me to forgot other aspects in life, including my wellness goals, and increasing even more my anxiety and depression symptoms. When this happened to me on my first jobs I quit because I couldn't handle the pressure, but on the last job I didn't realized it and when I knew it I was with a nervous breakdown.

12 years ago 0 +0 / -0 619

Understanding Social Anxiety

My anxiety and depression caused me many problems in my relationships. When I am feeling well with myself I am an easy going person and very talkative making friendships easily. The bad news is that for at least the last 7 years I was feeling down without realizing it and practically never made a new friend during this time. When I had an opportunity to socialize I avoid it because I didn't have the joy of talking with people. Relationships problems due to anxiety and depression almost caused me my divorce. Fortunately me and my wife love much each other and we were able to win the worst part of anxiety and depression together.

My new therapist, which I had the first appointment last week, said to me that interpersonal relationships are one of the key areas of our work together and that people who develop a trustworthy network in their families, friendships or colleagues have more resistance to mental health problems.

12 years ago 0 +0 / -0 619

I do Not Feel Like But I Have To

Most of the time I enjoy a pleasant activity (or what used to be a pleasant activity), I felt a little better. It couldn't immediately, but sometimes I felt the positive effects only on the following days after doing pleasant activities. This is the reason why I keep insisting with myself to plan pleasant activities (I only start doing this about 3 weeks ago) even when I do not feel like it. It is not easy but as they said: Rome was not built in one day.

12 years ago 0 +0 / -0 619

Anxiety, Depression and Bipolar Disorder: Confusion?

I have been dealing with anxiety and depression for the last 7 years or more, but 2 days ago I did the Anxiety Test presented on this program. It revealed that I could meet or not formal diagnostic criteria for a bipolar disorder. I know that this conclusions must be evaluate by an health care professional but it made me thinking about past situations.

I had many of the symptoms associated with a bipolar disorder and did some other tests on the Internet, indicating also some probability of being with a bipolar disorder.

Even thought I know that no one here can give me a definitive answer, I would like to know if the symptoms caused by anxiety and depression can be confused with the symptoms of a bipolar disorder.

In my case most of the symptoms associated with the mania phase of a bipolar disorder appeared after I was in very stressful situations at work. When I had my nervous breakdown last year I was experiencing mania symptoms with paranoia.

12 years ago 0 +0 / -0 619

I do Not Feel Like But I Have To

Hello hugs4u. To have a picture in a small size it can be called conversion, resizing or optimization. I hope this helps.

12 years ago 0 +0 / -0 619

Anxiety, Depression and Bipolar Disorder: Confusion?

Thank you for your feedback and especially Davit for so detailed report about bipolar disorder. You are right, anxiety people tend most of the time to look for the worst scenario. Definitely, and in my pre nervous breakdown, I had many problems at work which caused me a lot of stress and anxiety. I always wanted to get things done (and even became obsessed about it), so I thought that in resolving these problems and do more than I was expected I would escape anxiety. The problem is that I got caught in the panic cycle (behaviors, physical sensations, thoughts) aggravating my anxiety levels until I had the nervous breakdown. Maybe the symptoms that I associate with the mania phase of a bipolar disorder could be caused by this increased anxiety and because I was in stressful conditions at work during several months. Moreover, I always had problems with sleeping and especially in more stressful conditions which could contribute also for the symptoms.

I will talk with my doctor about my concerns, but last time I had an appointment with him I remember he said to me that I had mood swings but did not refer anything about bipolar disorder. I will also talk with my therapist about this.

12 years ago 0 +0 / -0 619

Everything is Going Fine But my Sleep

My recovering has been very slowly and right now one of main challenges is the lack of sleep. I talk several times with my psychiatrist about this and he said that besides 20 mg of Lexapro (morning) and 15 mg of Mirtazapine (bed time) I should have 100 mg of Seroquel (dinner) to help with my sleep.

I have tried Seroquel but the side effects are nasty. Last night after taking Seroquel my eyes get irritated and I barely could watch TV. I have vivid dreams during the night and this morning I wake up with an hangover. What a ride for a med! Heavy stuff the Seroquel!.

Because I wanted a second opinion I had an appointment with my GP. He said that instead of Seroquel I should try to increase the dosage of Mirtazapine to 30 mg at bed time to see if it helps with my sleep. I will try this on the following days and see how things work.

12 years ago 0 +0 / -0 619

One Post

A post that has made a difference to me was titled: "Express yourself creatively" posted initially by Josie. This topic was covered in 3 posts. This made me a lot of sense to me, since I am an engineer by profession and tend to look life only with reasoning thinking. We know that for the mind to be balanced the reasoning and creative parts should be both used. With my anxiety and depression things got worse and practically only used the reasoning side.

It was suggested that one should found hobbies to express oneself creatively. I already put this in practicing with my hobbies (see my profile).

I also use this concept in other aspects of life. For example, when I have something to do that involves completing multiple tasks I write only the principal tasks to be completed, leaving some space for contingency's (which always happen no matter the plan) or adaptation (creativity) of the plan as I carry the tasks. Before this I tried to think and write all the activities putting much effort and energy on this process and in the end nothing went as planned, giving me a lot of frustration.

It is important to have reasoning thinking but it is also important to express ourselves creatively. In the last years I forgot the last part but now I am changing that.

12 years ago 0 +0 / -0 619

Your top 3 - people you would like to meet

It is funny because I never thought in important people I would like to meet, with one exception: the writers of my favorite books. I enjoy reading business books and have read many of them.

Since my nervous breakdown last year I am not working, but one of good things I did just after the breakdown was to enroll in a master degree program. It hasn't been easy since I get very tired after working for a few hours (especially in the beginning) but in July, if everything goes as planned, I will finish my degree in business consulting.

Now I am feeling a little better comparing with some months ago, and after finishing my degree I will be marketing myself to a new job in the consulting industry. I will pick your advice and choose then 3 reputable consultants for helping me with the right approach to the industry. I will try to have a coffee with them and have an informal talk (even if they appear unreachable).

We are always learning on this program. Keep the good work Samantha and the rest of the health educators.

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