Mental Health

[hellkat]

[to v or not to v]

Jesus saves.

[Nobby the Bastard]

[BigTim]

White Christian FC
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MZ S50B, Suzuki GP100, Honda CBF1000, Honda Blackbird (I like my Blackbird)

[Skudd]

Even though there is loads of shit around me at the moment, I feel a lovely calmness at the moment, Like the calmness of a harbor in a storm, the coming to terms with what I have. Other people's problems seem to be far more than mine. Those that are causing some of my troubles are so insignificant compared to others that they no longer register.
I'm happy, not the just won the lottery happy, but content with what I have for now. How long will it last? I don't know, but while I'm in this little bubble I'm OK.
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Famous last words of Humpty Dumpty. " Stop pushing me "
Petty Anarchists look at "1984".............. The Visionary looks at "Animal Farm".

[Freddyfruitba...]

[JackButler]

I'm not sure that BCF is in anyway qualified to dispense sound advice in the general direction of mental health.

(que' the immature pics of nobcat) etc. etc. etc

Then we need to discuss whether or not you a screw loose on a picnic is a good idea on a forum that earns its money from stripping the privacy details off your dead corpse.

Just sayin' like.
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I clean my guns with the tears of the snivelling, left wing scum.

[Robby]

The gradual weaning off bit is important, but I find anyone who proposes that as a target at the beginning is similar to the people who tell you to pull yourself together.

More appropriate to say that it may be appropriate to gradually come off the pills, or replace them with different medication, over a long time period at some point in the future. Not until you want to, and the doctor agrees. Expect to be on some kind of medication for years.

And as a counter to me being nice, the other side of it. Getting your head right isn't going to be easy, the drugs aren't magic, and it will require effort and doing things that make you feel even worse. Getting to the point of doing something to fix your situation - whether that is exercise, going to job interviews, or riding the bike - is a lot harder when your mental health is shot. That is not an excuse to not do it. It is not an excuse to moan about it on facebook. It's just a shit situation that's hard to fix for no good reason, and will get worse if you don't do something.

Or another way of putting it, your mental health may explain your actions but it does not excuse them. It just means you have to work harder to do something that others see as easy. Once you've mastered that, you will find it easy to do things that other people see as hard.

[Ste]

[Easy-X]

Just having a chat with my friend and he recommends CBT* which you may have already started with as you mention therapy and the following book:

The Happiness Trap: Stop Struggling, Start Living by Dr. Russ Harris

He would also recommend exercise but only as a partial solution. He stresses that CBT (for him) has been the key:

[Nobby the Bastard]

Cock and ball torture? I can see how it woukd take your mind off your problems but I wouldn't want to rely on it in the long term?
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trevor saxe-coburg-gotha:"Remember this simple rule - scooters are for men who like to feel the breeze on their huge, flapping cunt lips."
Sprint ST 1050

[RhynoCZ]

[Pigeon]

Not really sure if this is worth mentioning due to possible death implications, but anyway.

SSRI's take weeks / months to build up / down.

I had lots of side effects (perhaps down to concentration of Serotonin receptors in gut rather than brain). Hopefully never again.

Anyway, these days If mood has crashed and been there a while......eg randomly crying while watching an Andrex Dog on TV advert for the second week in a row, then I reach for L-Tryptophan
An amino acid that is a pre-cursor to Serotonin (amongst others).

Within an hour, the nose of the plane just levels out and climbs back up to cruising altitude.
This is probably 6-12 times generally over winter months for me.

As per SSRI, raising serotonin compresses your emotions, lowers a delirious high, raises a gutter low.
The fact that a reaction happens in an hour (which is felt for several hours) without weeks spent building up medication is for me a winner, in that its another little thing in the toolbox to use occasionally.

It also boosts Melatonin. So again, if there have been a few nights with zero sleep. I'll sometimes take L-Tryptophan.

Taking any supplement too often is considered bad. Down regulation of receptors, or more recently I think science also says they can be switched off for a while.

Most importantly, DONT take L-Tryptophan when on medication that alters Serotonin. eg Either SSRIs or MAOIs.
Serotonin syndrome isnt fun, can lead to stroke, heart attack and other organ failure.


One other Amino Acid I take occasionally is DL-Phenylalaline.
If there have been several days of can't be bothered misery and distractions are not working, then one of those in the morning.
It's a pre-cursor to L-Tyrosine, which itself is pre-cursor to Dopamine, Epinephrine and Norepinephrine.
You can take L-Tyrosine, and some prefer it because they can't produce Tyrosine correctly. Although I found taking Tyrosine a bit like two coffees, jittery.

But there's a rabbit hole of stuff potentially with all that.


Meditation is another fantastic tool, but can take time to implement in a way that works for the person, and crucially takes daily practice.
One of the best things really.

Fits in nicely with CBT and ACT too. Because they are about acceptance and being aware of our states and potentially changing / challenging recurring themes.


Overall its about having a dozen little things in your toolbox. Strategies, mechanisms, activities, drugs, therapies, foods, people, places etc
Figuring out what helps, what hinders, trying to do more of the stuff that helps, and less of the stuff that doesn't.

[Tracey Suntan-King]

[hellkat]

^^ exactly right^^

We may not be professionals, but we're very experienced at being barking mad and, like all nutters, we like to listen to the sound of our own voices give generously of our empathy.

A bit like when you are newly pregnant for the first time and every woman you meet wants to tell you about the gestational horrorshow that she endured.
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Not nearly as interesting in real life.

[Eddie Hitler]

Found it much harder through summer last year and during the run up to Christmas. I suffered a fairly serious nerve injury stopping me from training for over 2 months in September, losing a hell of a lot of strength which wasn't a great thing for my mental state.

This third lockdown hasn't come as any surprise, and as such built my own gym from sandbags, fence poles and all sorts for next to f*** all ££. It works. Diets on point, gaining mass and strength and feeling more positive in general. I have lots to look forward to that I've worked hard for in all aspects of my life over the past 3 years so that's keeping me going.

The suns on the way too. .

[Ribenapigeon]

Who's prescribing your meds? GP or Psychiatrist? The problem with GP prescribing for psychiatric issues is there's often very poor reviewing of treatment. If your having thoughts around self harm and or suicide then you really should be sharing this with your clinician. Sadly these days after twenty years of cuts there's very little of proper psychiatric services left so you have to push for help. Don't feel bad about doing that either.

As others have said you need to knock the alcohol on the head. It will increase anxiety and exacerbate any issues of poor mood. Unless your a long term drinker there's no problem with immediately cutting it out either and you should feel some benefit in days.

There's a lot of feel good bullshit mental health awareness shite around these days. It's splattered all over social media and of sod all help to anyone with a genuine issue. It's become a cheap way to give the impression that something is being done. Psychiatric services always were the cinderela relation of the NHS and that was before cutbacks. So you do have to push for help.

[Easy-X]

[johny2bikes]

Well thanks for everyone's feedback / advice / help...

I have been on ssri ( citalopram) for nearly 10 years with gaps of 6 months every 2-3 years when I feel well enough to taper down and come off them. However like clockwork 6 months later I seem to crash and end up having to go back on them. As someone pointed out though they take at least 4 weeks to kick back in.

When on citalopram I have never had a serious issue so obviously they do help (plus as someone also said I can feel them numbing some of the more extreme emotions) but on 20mg it was bearable and I am still able to enjoy life.

This time round going back on citalopram even after 8-9 months there was no change and I keep having these really bad dips every 3-4 weeks which would last for 2 weeks. Thats when I started drinking just to get some relief when things got really bad (even though next day it makes it worse). I do have Diazepam which is a better short term alternative but only on limited supply (for obvious reasons).

There is a chance on citalopram I have tachyphylaxis which is when the drug stops having an effect. The guy administering my medication is a mental health expert and I am now trialing an snri (very similar to how ssri works). This means tapering down ssri and tapering up on snri).

Not had a drink in 3 weeks getting outside plenty doing some building work, and also seeing private therapist. Its 50 quid an hour but he is top notch and a lot is based around mindfulness, noting emotions but not reacting to them and techniques in calming the nervous system (I have studied Buddhism and Advaita Vedanta for practical and philosophical purposes so it ties in with that). He said things have moved on a bit from standard CBT and the next stage is something called EMDR.
He said the primary thing though is to keep practicing so the bodies natural responses become reprogrammed.

Its a lot of cash but I have been around the block a few time with NHS therapy and I this fella is a definitley in a league above. Quite happily spend the cash if it means developing a permanent solution which means I could eventually drop the meds.

Thanks again for the discussion... hopefully can keep on the level from now on and good luck to anyone else 👍
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Current bikes - CBF-125 / R1250GSA
Old bikes - Triumph Speed Triple R

[Ribenapigeon]

Sounds like you're doing all the right things and if you find a particular therapy works then keep at it. I would be interested to hear how things go if you try the EMDR therapy as it's quite controversial.
Mindfulness has been at the core of a lot of practices both within and without conventional practice. I remember reading a study back in the nineties which found that self help books were effective amongst the cohort of less seriously ill people who suffer mental distress, this being the case as most of such material was essentially promoting some form of mindfulness.

[Pigeon]

Top man

Mindfulness is a brilliant life tool. Takes time and practice (like most things).

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