Anyone Here Mentally Ill?

Anxiety and depression, but it's mostly controlled without medication now, as long as I get strenuous exercise most days. Running is my xanax.

My depression usually makes me irrationally irritable rather than sad feeling, but I've found I can talk myself out of a funk when I recognize it's depression making me feel so wonky.

I think I have slight PTSD from when my mom died after 4 months of intense hospitalization and every complication under the sun. There's certain noises that trigger a fear response in me, like beeping or alarms that sounds like hospital monitors.

GAD and I passed the crappy gene onto my son :sad:

Chronic anxiety here.

PTSD Trying to find help now, my MD says she can't help

As someone who has struggled with anxiety (mostly) and alcohol addiction/abuse (binge drinker) in the past, and having gone through the wringer to "fix" myself... as well as coming from a formal education background in psychology... I just poked my head in here, and wanted to say how nice it is to see the stigma of mental illness seems to have lessened quite a bit in the past 15 years

Kudos to those who state their issues fearlessly. And I hope you get it "fixed"

I don't mean to be condescending, only saying it with genuineness. Can I just applaud you all? I have a family member with severe bipolar. Exercise and health are the furthest things from her mind, despite all of her meds and dr. visits. I see her struggle just to get through every day. It's been exhausting to watch for my entire life so I can only imagine how exhausting it is to live it.

So for all of you adding healthy food and exercise to your already full plate I applaud you.

Here is my experience with Bi-Polar Disorder:

In the summer of 2007, I had a manic episode that put me in the hospital for 1 month. During the month that I was in the hospital, they thought I was schizophrenic...but as I got better, they changed the diagnosis to schizoaffective...and finally, once I got even better they changed it to bi-polar. When I came out of the hospital I was on all kinds of meds that made me feel like a zombie and gain weight. I was taking huge doses of depakote, cogentin (to battle the stiffness of the other meds), geodon, risperdal....trust me, it was bad.

I could write pages about my experience and the things that I think happened the right way to put me in a place where I was able to recover. But these are the things that make me angry about the way we view "mental disorders".

1. People try to define you with them & people try to define themselves by them - YOU are not "bi-polar"....you just have bi-polar tendencies. You can't sum up a persons entire complex mental and chemical process with a freaking two word phrase and then suddenly everything makes sense.
2. Medications - I personally had an AMAZING psychiatrist, who supported me in my efforts to get off my medications as soon as I got out of the hospital. I am currently only on Clonopin as needed to help me get to sleep (because things are bad when I don't/can't sleep). I just feel like MOST people I talked to were scared and also tried to make me scared about the idea of me not being on meds. The implication in that is that I was not a complete person without medications to make me "normal".
3. Family and Friends- When I'm upset, crying about something, when I'm SUPER confidant bordering on narcissistic......don't you DARE ask me if I "went off my medication". My feelings are legitimate and real, just like everyone else's and if you are too LAZY or uninterested to help me deal with my problems then get out of my life.


For me, bi-polar is a non-issue. I rarely ever even think about the word anymore. If someone was to ask me if I was emotional, I would say yes. Am I possessed by life? Yes. Can life sometimes feel overpowering and overwhelming sometimes? Absolutely. Do I wish my life experience could be less intense? Never! In fact, the idea is frightening to me.

Yes! a broken robot since I'm born ahah
Bipolar (never been diagnosed such but I've all the symptoms unfortunately)

i'd wait for a formal diagnosis before telling anyone that. just to be on the safe side.

Diagnoses mean very little sometimes... functionality is what's at stake. Labels are essentially nothing.

I have GAD, PTSD, ADD and cyclic depression. I've also battled agoraphobia, didn't leave the house for 3 months but that was associated with my first major depression. The anxiety is a ***** to live with but the depression is worse for me. I took Wellbutrin and it made my anxiety worse. Zoloft helped tremendously, escpecially after the birth of my 2 children. That was a frightening time. I've had minor depressive episodes in the last 4 years but nothing that led to the suicidal thinking. I'm always afraid of it though and I wonder if I'll always be scared. The anxiety is a constant but I learned behavior modification to fight that so it doesn't get to make choices for me anymore. The ADD, it's a joke that isn't funny but I laugh it off anyway. I'm like a moth on crack...bing bing bing all over the place, 10 half started projects and I don't retain anything. I figure it's the one out of everything I have that saves me. If I was able to actually maintain a thought and remember everything that goes on in a day I'd flip out. Thank you so much for starting this thread, if you don't have it, you don't get it and it's nice to see people who understand.

Clinical depression, OCD, PTSD, Eating disorders, anxiety disorder are my psych issues.
Also have mild Aspergers, but that is considered neurological rather than a mental illness, but it doesn't help any.

I have Post traumatic stress disorder, major depressive syndrom(whatever it's called)
Diagnosed by my psychiatrist &counselor, I also have a mild form of body dimorphic disorder
...

Hi there I do have mental issues. I have very bad anxiety, and everytime im outside i feel that people are staring at me, laughing at how big i am. I have fear of walking around outside. I hate big stores because there is so many people. .My doctor has me on meds but i dont think they help very well. I wont go get a membership anywhere because of all the people. My anxiety is getting worse that there are times i want to walk out of work and just stay in my house, but cant afford to do that, so I suffer through it, and plus I have great friends at work that help me out. So I understand what you are talking about. :flowerforyou:

Clinical depression, OCD, PTSD, Eating disorders, anxiety disorder are my psych issues.
Also have mild Aspergers, but that is considered neurological rather than a mental illness, but it doesn't help any.

My husband is an Aspie, too. It may not be a mental illness, per se, but it can be just as debilitating. Between my issues and his Aspergers, we make quite the pair.

Part of me wishes my fiance knew me when I was really suffering 3 years ago. Its hard for him to understand me most of the time - with PTSD I have flashbacks, get scared for no reason, or freak out. Every year around my trauma I call out of work and stay in bed and can't face the world. He doesn't understand how one day I can go out and another day I can't do anything but sleep.

I told him this year "It doesn't make sense. Today, it doesn't have to make sense. It never makes any sense and it probably never will again."

There is just something that clicks in my head that makes me feel like theres a weight in my chest and my skin is on fire. I'm happy he tries but he's always trying to "fix it". I don't need him to fix it, I just need him to be quiet and try to understand it.

That is so hard. Watching someone hurt so badly and not knowing how to help or what to do- or not being able to be content with "just wait" is pure torture. I hope he finds a way to understand.

My husband suffers from this from his time in the military. It is so hard, wanting to help, knowing I cannot change the things he thinks about constantly. He gets upset because he thinks I "expect things to change overnight"... I don't expect him to ever "just get over it" but I just want him to seek the necessary help.