Depression

I’ve been in kind of a weird situation for almost 20 years now. I deal with epilepsy and have suffered a few brain injuries over the years as a result. The medication I take is also commonly prescribed to people with depression as an anti-depressant. Thing is, if you don’t already suffer from depression, it tends to have the reverse effect. For that reason, I have to really take care of my physical health to make sure the medication doesn’t hurt my mental health. Working a really stressful job doesn’t help matters either.

What I have found helpful is to lean into hobbies and find friends that let you just do your thing. I’ve been lucky in that that most of my closest friends have their own things going on, whether it be kids or their own medical issues. A lot of times I’ll get super into wanting to hang out or diving way into my hobbies. Then, out of nowhere I’ll just not feel like doing anything at all. My friends don’t give me crap about it. It’s totally ok to take those basically weekend long naps or cancel plans or just not do anything. My friends are also pretty good about letting me know they’re available to talk without forcing me to talk. When you’re down, there’s nothing worse than someone telling you to just cheer up.

Been battling it quite a while. Tried to kill myself around 25 but bounced back. This past winter was really hard and I got close to trying again back in January. My depression is one of the major reasons I stopped drinking, 2 years and 8 months now, so at least some good has come from it. It’s one of those things that I know will always be there. I’ve learned to accept life is easier when you chase things that make you happy in moments and in the short term rather than putting pressure on yourself to be happy long term. It’s very taboo to say but I know if I live long enough it’s almost a guarantee that depression wins I end up killing myself. I just have a lot I want to accomplish before I do. So I guess my only advice to give is make a bucket list and start knocking off everything you can. Get the rush of living. Get help with the drinking if it’s getting that bad. Who knows, maybe you find something that turns your life around.

I made a list this weekend of negative things/bad habits I want to work on changing about myself. Seeing things laid out and written down made me feel less overwhelmed about accomplishing them. Also reminding myself that I’m not going to get instant results and I may backslide or up here and there helped a lot too. Just my two cents to anybody that might want to try this. Hope everybody is doing alright.

Right there with you man; I been in a really dark place lately.

I'll keep you in my prayers.

My struggle with depression has been pretty well documented here over the past year. I finally made the decision to try and spin it into something positive, and advocate for the millions of people who suffer with it (in addition to advocating for others who have Cerebral Palsy, like myself) starting off small by launching a blog so that I can put my love of writing to work for me (hopefully)

miseducationofbradleyblake.blogspot.com/

Ironically, I was looking for a thread like this and can relate to a lot of the people on here. My current problem is I have an injury and stomach problems that’s been taking away from my personal life. I reached a point where I’m in constant pain every other day and don’t remember what it’s like to live a normal life. I have to tell people I feel good and fully feel like I won’t be able to live off the rest of my life like this. I feel like somewhat of a failure because so many people had expectations of me and now at the age of 28 still have not finished college or have a well paying job. I’ve had to eliminate and remove myself from social interactions due to my stomach problem, but it gets worse with my injury. I can’t really exercise and it was a huge part of my life. I feel like I’m wasting my youth. I hope anyone else going through this gets better and finds some sort of clarity.

I think almost everyone suffers from depression now & then. It just hits some people differently.
If anyone feels overwhelmed, please PM me. Sometimes venting to a stranger will make you feel better.
Plus, I'm a lot older than most members here. I'm kind of like that old guy who sits on his porch eating pieces of an apple with a pocketknife. You can always hear advice from someone like that.

As horrible as you probably felt, at least you didn’t marry her. Break ups suck but at least they don’t you over as bad as divorces.

First, I'm sorry you're going through that currently. It's not a fun place to be. But the fact that you're actively seeking advice and want to get help is a really good sign that you're going to get through this!

I've been pretty fortunate that I only went through it once after a brutal and sudden breakup in the summer of 2021. But once is more than enough. I never knew what deep depression was until I actually experienced it and went through every stereotypical symptom of depression. Feeling like my life was over, not wanting to wake up, struggling to get up, not eating, not seeing the point in anything or enjoying the things I used to, having no energy to do basic things like take a shower or shave for days on end(and I'm a pretty clean guy!) and feeling extremely suicidal.

After 2 months of feeling like that, the thing that turned it around for me was antidepressants. I pretty much asked for them on autopilot at the suggestion of others, and had zero expectations of them helping in any way. But I had all to lose and figured I might as well try. Almost right away they did exactly what people told me they would and soon enough they numbed my emotions and levelled me out. Long story short they helped save my life. Within 2 weeks I had gone on a date that went well and was feeling genuinely happy again for the first time in almost 3 months.

When I was struggling, people had told me all the things you usually hear such as "it gets better". At the time you scoff at such nonsense and ask how they could possibly think that. But it's because they've been through it and they know what they're talking about. And low and behold, they were absolutely right. From September 2021, I've been only moving onwards and upwards and I'm the happiest I've ever been.

My first step would be speaking to my doctor, it's what ultimately helped get me back on track. If you have good friends, confide in them and tell them how you're feeling too and ask for their perspective, the ones who've been through it are probably the better ones to lean on. Hang out with them when possible. I was fortunate to have good friends reach out when they knew I was struggling and being able to hang out with them or message them helped me feel less alone when I really needed it.

You're gonna get through this man!