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Depression and Anxiety

Stebro said:
My dad is bipolar and quite unpredictable at the moment. He is drinking a lot of alcohol and taking antidepressant which made him worse the last time. He have all these projects where he can "make a lot of quick money". He just keeps saying that everything will be all right, and often he is in situations where he needs money quickly. Today he called the emergency number and they offered to send out a team to talk to him, but he said no, because he's afraid that they will force him into the hospital and keep him there. He jokes about taking his life, usually when he is drunk. Me and my siblings have picked him up when drunk a couple of times.

Today he told me that he doesn't feel threatened, but that he will get a life insurance. He's a custodian for a guy that goes in and out of jail, and my dad had a burglary for about a month ago and suspect it was the criminals friends'. He seems to enjoy that things are happening, he also admits that he needs some excitement. So it's tricky to know how to handle this. Me and my siblings agreed to try to convince him to follow us to the ER for psychiatric disease tomorrow, but he is very stubborn.
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Hope your Dad gets the help he needs and realizes that you all care for him.
 
Stebro said:
My dad is bipolar and quite unpredictable at the moment. He is drinking a lot of alcohol and taking antidepressant which made him worse the last time. He have all these projects where he can "make a lot of quick money". He just keeps saying that everything will be all right, and often he is in situations where he needs money quickly. Today he called the emergency number and they offered to send out a team to talk to him, but he said no, because he's afraid that they will force him into the hospital and keep him there. He jokes about taking his life, usually when he is drunk. Me and my siblings have picked him up when drunk a couple of times.

Today he told me that he doesn't feel threatened, but that he will get a life insurance. He's a custodian for a guy that goes in and out of jail, and my dad had a burglary for about a month ago and suspect it was the criminals friends'. He seems to enjoy that things are happening, he also admits that he needs some excitement. So it's tricky to know how to handle this. Me and my siblings agreed to try to convince him to follow us to the ER for psychiatric disease tomorrow, but he is very stubborn.
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It's hard man, I wish there were answers. Unfortunately I kind of think people need to want to help themselves. We've tried interventions with my grandmother and my mother and they basically both just sat there in front of the TV for the vast majority of their free time.

I hope your dad comes to understand you're trying to do what's best for him and recognizes that he needs help.
 
hockeyfan1 said:
Stebro said:
My dad is bipolar and quite unpredictable at the moment. He is drinking a lot of alcohol and taking antidepressant which made him worse the last time. He have all these projects where he can "make a lot of quick money". He just keeps saying that everything will be all right, and often he is in situations where he needs money quickly. Today he called the emergency number and they offered to send out a team to talk to him, but he said no, because he's afraid that they will force him into the hospital and keep him there. He jokes about taking his life, usually when he is drunk. Me and my siblings have picked him up when drunk a couple of times.

Today he told me that he doesn't feel threatened, but that he will get a life insurance. He's a custodian for a guy that goes in and out of jail, and my dad had a burglary for about a month ago and suspect it was the criminals friends'. He seems to enjoy that things are happening, he also admits that he needs some excitement. So it's tricky to know how to handle this. Me and my siblings agreed to try to convince him to follow us to the ER for psychiatric disease tomorrow, but he is very stubborn.
Click to expand...

Hope your Dad gets the help he needs and realizes that you all care for him.
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Thank you, for your kind words!
 
Bender said:
Stebro said:
My dad is bipolar and quite unpredictable at the moment. He is drinking a lot of alcohol and taking antidepressant which made him worse the last time. He have all these projects where he can "make a lot of quick money". He just keeps saying that everything will be all right, and often he is in situations where he needs money quickly. Today he called the emergency number and they offered to send out a team to talk to him, but he said no, because he's afraid that they will force him into the hospital and keep him there. He jokes about taking his life, usually when he is drunk. Me and my siblings have picked him up when drunk a couple of times.

Today he told me that he doesn't feel threatened, but that he will get a life insurance. He's a custodian for a guy that goes in and out of jail, and my dad had a burglary for about a month ago and suspect it was the criminals friends'. He seems to enjoy that things are happening, he also admits that he needs some excitement. So it's tricky to know how to handle this. Me and my siblings agreed to try to convince him to follow us to the ER for psychiatric disease tomorrow, but he is very stubborn.
Click to expand...
It's hard man, I wish there were answers. Unfortunately I kind of think people need to want to help themselves. We've tried interventions with my grandmother and my mother and they basically both just sat there in front of the TV for the vast majority of their free time.

I hope your dad comes to understand you're trying to do what's best for him and recognizes that he needs help.
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Thanks! Yeah, it's difficult to find a solution, sometimes you can only show that you care, and try to help people help themselves, I know I wasn't easy to get to when I was really depressed. Yesterday I read some of the things I had written in this thread, and I thought to myself "Man, was I negative?!", but now I've reached a spot where I can have sympathy for myself, because I know that I was in a really bad spot. I heard a good quote the other week that I really like. "We all have to get through the darkness, because that's where the next morning is".
 
Hi, just checking in. I've been on ADs for about 5-6 weeks now. Side affects were bad at first, but are evening out a bit now. I've had a couple of bad days but mostly good. It's been an interesting time as I've had some open conversations with my parents about what's going on and past events and I was surprised to learn my dad's on the exact same medication as me! I would have never guessed that.

I've been learning about self-care and have been picking up drawing and sketching again. I enrolled in a portrait drawing class and I'm just loving it. I'm starting to feel passionate about something.

My wife even joke-complained last night that I'm feeling too good; mostly because I kept trying to get her to dance with me all night. lol.

I don't care if this is the medication, the therapy, or just a natural "up" period, I'm going to enjoy the good feelings for now.
 
I think the turning point in my recovery was kicking my wife and her brother's and sis-in-law's asses in Just Dance on the xbox. But, who am I to gloat?

All three of them were drunk and I was totally sober, but I doubt that had anything to do with it.
 
Bullfrog said:
I think the turning point in my recovery was kicking my wife and her brother's and sis-in-law's asses in Just Dance on the xbox. But, who am I to gloat?

All three of them were drunk and I was totally sober, but I doubt that had anything to do with it.
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It's usually the other way around for me....I become a more awesome dancer the more I drink...or something like that.
 
I don't really have a go-to, but lately, I've been listening to a lot of Aretha Franklin, Otis Redding, and Marvin Gaye.

Also, Michael Kiwanuka's Cold Little Heart is always a choice. I'm not looking to bust-a-move, but to really feel something.

But I can bust-a-heims....I mean move, when called upon, just so we're clear.  :D

I also sing. Very loudly and very, very badly.
 
Bullfrog said:
I don't really have a go-to, but lately, I've been listening to a lot of Aretha Franklin, Otis Redding, and Marvin Gaye.

Also, Michael Kiwanuka's Cold Little Heart is always a choice. I'm not looking to bust-a-move, but to really feel something.

But I can bust-a-heims....I mean move, when called upon, just so we're clear.  :D

I also sing. Very loudly and very, very badly.
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May I recommend some Earth Wind and Fire and a bit of Sly & The Family Stone to complement with your Motown groove. Oh...and Tower of Power is always good.

PS....while you're on a Motown kick you ought to throw some Stevie in there too.
 
Bullfrog said:
I don't really have a go-to, but lately, I've been listening to a lot of Aretha Franklin, Otis Redding, and Marvin Gaye.

Also, Michael Kiwanuka's Cold Little Heart is always a choice. I'm not looking to bust-a-move, but to really feel something.

But I can bust-a-heims....I mean move, when called upon, just so we're clear.  :D

I also sing. Very loudly and very, very badly.
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I approve.
 
Been back to suffering from some strong anxiety.  Then a friend told me about "Calm" an app that I downloaded through my phone. I did my first session with the program yesterday and found it was a very big help.  They give you a week for free then it costs 76 a year.
Worth a try for those of you looking for some non drug relief.
 
by the way I am on Day 5 of this program and it is working for me big time.  Strange coincidence is LeBron James is involved with this and actually does some talking inside the program.
 
Its strange, I never had anxiety and rarely depression until a few years ago. I lost a full year of income in the Hurricanes of 17 and it has really affected me.  However the Calm program helps me when I get the anxiety coming on.  Its more anxiety than depression, however prolonged anxiety certainly seems to bring on depression.  Its nice to be able to break the cycle.
 
Highlander said:
Been back to suffering from some strong anxiety.  Then a friend told me about "Calm" an app that I downloaded through my phone. I did my first session with the program yesterday and found it was a very big help.  They give you a week for free then it costs 76 a year.
Worth a try for those of you looking for some non drug relief.
Click to expand...

I've been vaping weed a lot more regularly lately myself. I think I just went through a long bout with anxiety lately. I wasn't able to sleep, my body felt wired all the time like I could hop out of bed and be alert immediately, increased and heavier heart rate and after 2 or 3 days of this I'd go home and nap for a few hours and then not be able to fall asleep again. I tried melatonin (huge waste) and sleep-eze (not bad although my anxiousness was still there so my body over-rided it at times). I thought for a while something was physically wrong with me but I did a bunch of tests and the doc thinks I'm in good physical health.

I'm finding vaping a higher CBD weed is really calming me down and I've been pretty good almost every night afterward. I do want to try this though because I don't want to be reliant on vaping most nights just to get a good night's sleep.
 
Bender said:
Highlander said:
Been back to suffering from some strong anxiety.  Then a friend told me about "Calm" an app that I downloaded through my phone. I did my first session with the program yesterday and found it was a very big help.  They give you a week for free then it costs 76 a year.
Worth a try for those of you looking for some non drug relief.
Click to expand...

I've been vaping weed a lot more regularly lately myself. I think I just went through a long bout with anxiety lately. I wasn't able to sleep, my body felt wired all the time like I could hop out of bed and be alert immediately, increased and heavier heart rate and after 2 or 3 days of this I'd go home and nap for a few hours and then not be able to fall asleep again. I tried melatonin (huge waste) and sleep-eze (not bad although my anxiousness was still there so my body over-rided it at times). I thought for a while something was physically wrong with me but I did a bunch of tests and the doc thinks I'm in good physical health.

I'm finding vaping a higher CBD weed is really calming me down and I've been pretty good almost every night afterward. I do want to try this though because I don't want to be reliant on vaping most nights just to get a good night's sleep.
Click to expand...

I went through a really difficult period in my life a few years ago (I don't post much here but I even vented in one thread a bit at one point) and nothing helped me get through it better than meditation did. Weed is helpful too, especially a high CBD strain, but it was more of a short term crutch for me and not a long term solution. I still use it occasionally whenever my stress and anxiety levels start climbing again, but it's meditation that helps fix the cause while weed only helps with the symptoms created by the root problem.

I used the Calm app for awhile but I've switched to one called Let's Meditate now because it allows me to download my favourite sessions instead of always streaming them. Meditating was a very difficult skill to learn at first as my brain and body actually seemed to fight against it since they were so used to the high strung "normal" that had been my life, but anything that teaches you to slow the mind down is worth the effort, whether that's meditation or yoga or Tai Chi or whatever works for you
 
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