1. < Depression & Anxiety

Accepting Your Symptoms

Posted by njp1013 @njp1013, Sep 23, 2019

Hi everyone. I am finding for me I feel a lot better when I accept my symptoms and give myself time to heal. But I also find I have a great deal of difficult doing that because of the fear the symptoms cause in me and the need to hold it together at work and with my kids. Do any of you have any tricks/pointers you use to help you accept your symptoms?

Interested in more discussions like this? Go to the Depression & Anxiety Support Group.

mandrake70 | @mandrake70 | Sep 24, 2019

@njp1013 Insomnia is the worst since it tends to make depression and anxiety worse. I am still working with my doctor to see about sleep medication since none of the other things I have tried have worked. If none of the tricks for getting back to sleep after you wake up at 4:00 seem to help, you may want to see about talking to your doctor about it. Also, have you looked into sleep hygiene (https://www.sleepfoundation.org/articles/sleep-hygiene)? Have you done a sleep study? I have been waking up around that time, or earlier, most mornings as well for the past month or so. I really sympathize with what you are going through but it is good to hear that your wife is supportive of you. I know it is hard to focus on yourself when you have your kids to worry about but it is something you need to do to get better. Does your boss know what you are going through right now or is he/she not someone you can talk to?

REPLY
njp1013 | @njp1013 | Sep 24, 2019

@mandrake70 for me the insomnia is a symptom of the anxiety/depression as much as it is a cause, when i am fine i sleep fine, but when i have a depressive epsiode i have early waking. my psych doc prescribed me ambien to help me sleep while we wait for the effexor to kick in but unfortunately has not been helping very much. unfortunately i think its just a matter of toughing out this ramp up on my meds and then the sleep will come, that is how it has worked for me in the past. im on day 10 now and my psych doc says for the first two weeks i shouldnt expect any benefit, which is consistent with what ive experienced in the past. yesterday afternoon and night i felt really good so hopefully slowly but surely i am getting there.

REPLY
mandrake70 | @mandrake70 | Sep 24, 2019

@njp1013 I understand. Ambien didn't help me either. I'm glad to hear that the insomnia will go away as soon as your medication kicks in. Try to focus on that and the fact that you were feeling better last night. It will get better and hopefully soon. Best wishes.

REPLY
njp1013 | @njp1013 | Sep 24, 2019

@mandrake70 thanks very much, this site is great and everyones support means a lot

REPLY
annedodrill44 | @annedodrill44 | Nov 21, 2019
In reply to @lisalucier "@njp1013 - that's helpful to know that the symptoms of depression and anxiety you are trying..." + (show)
@lisalucier

@njp1013 - that's helpful to know that the symptoms of depression and anxiety you are trying to accept while you heal are insomnia, sweating, loss of appetite, feeling anxious, crying at the drop of a hat and inability to focus on work or things you enjoy. That's an interesting point that you find it difficult to accept your symptoms at times due to the fear that arises from your symptoms.

Hoping that some of these members might have some tricks/pointers you might use to help you accept your symptoms, like @mandrake70 @cdcc @contentandwell @grandmar @sandij @mommabird74, especially in light of trying to hold it together at work and with your kids.

In all honesty, I think that getting an increase in my dosage of fluoxetine (Prozac), along with time and trying to keep more in control of my thoughts (instead of letting them control me and ruminating on what I was anxious about) also helped me out, along with acceptance.

In addition to trying to accept them, are you finding anything helpful thus far with addressing any of the symptoms you mentioned? Any nights where something helped you sleep longer, for instance?

Jump to this post

My doc is moving me from Escitalipram to Prozac. I’m happy to see that you feel better on this med. it gives me hope for reigning in this dreadful anxiety!

REPLY
View MoreView Less
Please sign in or register to post a reply.