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Thread: Depression...

  1. #31
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    jhovel, I love metaphors and yours is a beauty and fits me well. Thank you.

    Over the years I have struggled to see "a glass half full" and these days I remind myself whenever i think of it to see that part of life.
    It doesnt come naturally, and I know it to be an imprint from childhood, but its easy to be stuck in that old 'excuse'.

    Actually looking for the 'positive' has helped me through a lot of ;down; time.

    One experience that helps me regularly these days happened when I was in my mid thirties and an 'old guy' I worked with who was in his 60's and a total workaholic was retired because of massive heart attacks and surgery etc,
    He was the fitter and foreman of hundreds of machines and so loved working with his hands. It was apparent that those days were over.
    About a year after his retirement, he came in to work, to catch up.
    In my eyes he was 'ancient', but we always got on so I was asking him how he was going.
    'Good" he said, " I almost got the fence finished"
    He had wanted a brick fence around his property and had had the bricks delivered just before his heart attack.
    "Wait a minute", I said. "How the hell did you do that?"
    "Well", he said, " My neighbours poured the foundations for me. since I had already dug the trenches by hand before I went into hospital.
    " Every day when I get up, I have a system. Over the next few days I carry down two or three bricks, one at a time and usually one in the morning and lunch time and then evening.
    Then the next day I mix up enough 'mud' to fill an ice cream container, and I set as many bricks as that mud will do.
    Its taken me all year but the fence is finished."
    He didnt say it but I could see how proud and satisfied he was.
    These days , his persistence is always a reminder to me that I can still get stuff done if I just do a little when I can as long as I persist.
    I know that might not work for everyone, you have to find your own path, but like jhovel says, you just do as much as you can 'steady like' and watch the temperature gauge and ' give her a spell, before she overheats.:"

  2. #32
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    i'm greatly depressed at the moment, did something to my back and as a result couldn't stand, sit or walk. Wife called the ambulance and off I went to hospital for four days. Care was atrocious, wouldn't give me anything but panadol without the Doc's approval.

    Finally had a needle inserted in my abdomen and got a minor hit of morphine and a couple of Endones, that worked well so they never gave me anymore. Every morning I woke around two or three screaming in pain, Panadol again and then wait for an hour for the Doc to turn up.

    Finally had enough after four days and discharged myself. Swallowed a handful of pain pills and went out to the workshop or a couple of days - bad move, now retired to my recliner unable to walk or stand, this is the third day, going crazy with pain in hip and leg and not being able to do anything.

  3. #33
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    Sounds like a compressed nerve. One would think you would have been given some anti inflammatory tablets.

    Just remember there are plenty of good doctors out there and plenty of crap ones as well.
    Gold, the colour of choice for the discerning person.

  4. #34
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    Not trying to be judgmental.
    I don't think I have or have ever had REAL depression, I get upset about things , it could be about being divorced, breaking up with a new partner,problems with appliances,car problems ,issues at work or home but I treat each day as new.
    I don't dwell on what I can't change/fix.
    Would this be the outlook of someone that doesn't have ( the typical/common depressive nature).
    I ask this because I just don't know, and at times I get annoyed with people that always see the worst in everything around them.
    Thank you.

  5. #35
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    I think so yes. When I get depressed, it is like the world has closed in on me. Nothing works, nothing goes the way it should, mole hills become mountains. It is a real struggle to do anything. What happens to other people just does not register. The normal 'feeling down' is something that others can jolly you out of whereas when in the grip of depression, it is so much harder. Even getting a depressed person to laugh at a joke may just them being polite as the inner voice is probably sending a steady stream of negative messages that negate any genuine feelings of amusement, joy or happiness.

    As a simple example, on a normal day if a carbide insert chips it's usually replace it and carry on. If I'm feeling depressed, I'm just as likely to take it as proof that the world is against me; that I should give up, that I'm too stupid to even try and so on.

    Michael

  6. #36
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    Michael, I'm about an hour up the road, if you ever want to chat or have a cuppa, or I can come down there????
    Same goes for anyone else in the Adelaide area.
    Sometimes talking with a sufferer is better than talking to a "profesional", as we understand where you're coming from!!!
    Kryn
    To grow old is mandatory, growing up is optional.

  7. #37
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    Thanks Kryn. I'm good at the moment. Glad to have the support though.

    Michael

  8. #38
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    Quote Originally Posted by .RC. View Post
    Sounds like a compressed nerve. One would think you would have been given some anti inflammatory tablets.

    Just remember there are plenty of good doctors out there and plenty of crap ones as well.
    Yep, lots of crap Docs, they all seem to congregate in the public hospital. The first one I saw wanted to send me home with some Panadol. I think they must have gotten sick of my screaming , they sent me off for an MRI which showed up a herniated disk (20 year old injury) and two bulging disks with a compressed nerve.

  9. #39
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    I feel like an imposter reading some of your stories. Aside from a brief period after being diagnosed with a disease where I suffered bouts of terrible depression, I've not managed to sink myself again, that was over two years ago. I am pretty self motivated so I managed to claw my way back and I have't really sunk to any great depth again. Make no mistake I suffer pain 24/7 but, it's now the new normal so I've accepted that, I've worked out alternative ways of doing things, it still causes pain and takes 10 times as long but I'm managing. I'm determined to enjoy my life as much as possible before my use by date comes around.

  10. #40
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    Hi 4Me. Guys,

    I like your euphemism " I'm determined to enjoy my life as much as possible before my use by date comes around."

    I've an awful lot more that I want to do well before mine comes up.
    Best Regards:
    Baron J.

  11. #41
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    4me,
    Without opening an argument about doctors verses quacks, have you tried chiropractic?
    It has worked for me.
    John

  12. #42
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    Can't say I've suffered depression thankfully, things can annoy me no end on occasion though and result in insomnia if I dwell on them. Generally find exercise the following day will eliminate the chance of things giving me the tom-tits long term.

    Quote Originally Posted by 4me
    Yep, lots of crap Docs, they all seem to congregate in the public hospital. The first one I saw wanted to send me home with some Panadol. I think they must have gotten sick of my screaming , they sent me off for an MRI which showed up a herniated disk (20 year old injury) and two bulging disks with a compressed nerve.
    I think a lot of the medical profession are taught, a large percentage of back problems are psychosomatic, at least that's what I heard from a few friends who were GPs. Their first instinct was just issue asprin rather than powerful addictive opioids straight up, which seems to be a problem in certain places overseas.

    I wouldn't get too much into the stereotypes. I've also got an autoimmune disease which first manifested 45 years ago or so, affects my spine chiefly, fractured it a couple of years ago, titanium rods initially then doubling up with cobalt later to hold it all together, the public hospital surgeons and staff were great. A mate who had a similar operation in a private hospital a decade or so ago, had all sorts of problems plus almost died from a resulting infection. He's just had a repeat last year, 20k more in medical bills, still in 24hr pain. I was on Targin and Endone for a month or two, he's still on it and a whole suite of other pills - and in much greater doses than I had immediately after the op too - but he's also greatly overweight diabetic which wouldn't help!

  13. #43
    BobL is online now Member: Blue and white apron brigade
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    My experience with WA public hospital docs also has been pretty good. When SWMBO fell off her horse (again!) recently I was really impressed with the degree of care and checks and double checks. Firstly they had an ED doc do a prelim exam, then a different pair of ED docs did a second more thorough exam, then a doctor from the trauma ward came over and did a separate exam. The degree of care and checking was because she had bruises all over the place, the major injury turned out to have a broken shoulder. They put her in a sling and sent her home - I thought that would be it and her GP would take over. Not so - fortnightly specialist visits and X-rays at a hospital outpatient clinic, 8 weeks later she has been referred to a public Physio and has started her exercises - all at no charge.

    Just to add to my list of health issues my (previously good) left knee decided to go feral on Saturday while walking the dogs. I was just ambling along and it just started hurting more and more over the distance of about 10 steps. Just made it to the car about 50 m away and was able to drive home and spent the rest of the day seated or on the bed. This also retriggered the pain in my right knee so I am back to a walking stick and short painful hop along steps. Can't stand for more than a couple of minutes or walk for more than 20m. Shed work appears out of the question for the immediate future. Thankfully SWMBO is now able to cook.

  14. #44
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    Just a bit more info on depression and its manifestations...
    Feeling "down" is so unpleasant for humans, that we NEED a reason to assign the feeling to. We say things like "I got out on the wrong side of the bed"... in the hope that we won't tomorrow. I'm following this thread and many of you are assigning "causes" to bouts of depression. That is a normal way of assigning "fault", to keep the reason for our misery "at arm's length".
    The real reason for depression is actually a biochemical imbalance in the brain, sometimes caused by anxiety, possibly by nutritional deficits, occasionally by physiological stress like serious illness or infections. Often for no identifiable reason... sorry.

    However, life events which cause grief, psychological loss, bad luck events in life etc, cause this imbalance temporarily and acceptably. This is often called "reactive depression". We have all experienced it and we KNOW that it is temporary - and live with it for a while and then expect to - and usually do - recover.

    The trickier to live with kind of depression is the WITHOUT identifiable cause. Often medically referred to as "clinical depression". The Clinical Manual specifies that it has "no described precursor and lasting for more than 14 continuous days".

    I mentioned serotonin in my previous post. It is one of the biochemicals synthesized by our livers, stored and transported in blood platelets. It is used for all sorts of reasons by the body - one of which is mood stabilisation. If it used up by other processes, like blood pressure regulation, pain responses, management of responses to stress, such as triggering anxiety, the body's stores can run down. Or the molecules are just simply not taken up by the brain in large enough quantities. These molecules have a "one-time" function in the brain and are then "re-uptaken" to go back to the blood and eventually excreted in urine.
    The successful "Serotonin re-uptake inhibitors" (SRIs) modulate this "wasting" of the serotonin molecules and ensure that more stay in the brain. Since the serotonin itself is a normal biochemical, these SRIs have very few if any side effects.

    The point I'm making here is that you shouldn't blame yourself or others for depression which continues or recurs - or blaming someone for suffering it.
    The second point I want to make is GET IT TREATED! Find a GP or get a referral to a psychiatrist (psychologists can't prescribe medication) to find the best antidepressant with the least side effect profile FOR YOUR BODY. And then get on with life. The worst that can happen is that you have to put up with some side effects for a fortnight at a time with a variety of antidepressants before you find one that works with you without adding any problems. It is a nuisance and may take a couple of months at worst (about the same length of time it takes a broken bone to heal), but then your life is back to what it should be like. The alternative is worsening depression, possible psychiatric hospitalisation (not usually fun) - or even loss of willingness to live at all, and suicide.
    There is no "Metalwork Forum in the sky", nor a "Swiss Workshop in heaven" - so don't think about that option. Please.
    Here are lots of people you can openly talk to, who are more likely to "get it" - and best of all, possibly have never seen you or will (if you don't want them to). An incredible human resource. Use it.

    I'm really pleased that this group of like-minded metalwork enthusiasts allow this kind of open non-judgemental personal disclosure and support for each other!
    Cheers, Joe
    retired - less energy, more time to contemplate projects and more shed time....

  15. #45
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    Thanks Joe, for the breakdown in laymans terms of this wretched affliction.
    To grow old is mandatory, growing up is optional.

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