Motivation

Hi Little Bird,

How are you treating your depression and insomnia?

HH

Hi! LittleBird... I hope that whatever you're studying is likely to improve your future and I sincerely wish you every success with your continued studies. If you are finding problems with depression and insomnia, I would suggest that you need to consider the root cause and seek help with managing your worries and concerns about coursework, etc. If you are a college/university student, there will be someone in the welfare department who would be willing to arrange some advice and guidance, maybe even some counselling... Try not to delay asking for help with this for too long as you could be denying yourself a wonderful opportunity to improve your life in the long term should you allow the depression and insomnia to engulf you entirely! Take care of yourself : )

For depression I was on Citalopram but I've stopped taking it now as it was causing weight gain and tried counselling for a bit, I wasn't really treating the insomnia as such because I'd tried over the counter remedies with no success and was wary of prescribed sleeping tablets, however when I finally couldn't cope and got some prescribed the pharmacy couldn't even get them in for me.

At the moment I'm going to revisit the doctor and counsellor. I'm a university student and have been going to counselling through uni. I'm trying to keep in mind that it's an important experience being here but right now I can't stand it. I would never drop out, but I worry about my marks. It's manly because of social reasons/social anxiety problems that I feel so uncomfortable and sometimes it stops me going to class or I get there and I feel so ill I have to leave. I'm not very good at asking for help with this because I spent so long dealing with it by myself but I'm realising now that it's not going to make it any better keeping it to myself I just got into the habit with not having anyone around to support me in these kind of feelings or decisions. No one in my life who knows about it is very supportive and I don't know if that's because I always bottle up the worst so as not to inflict it on them or cause them discomfort, but now I feel like they just wouldn't care anyway.

I know I need to be more open with the doctor and counsellor about how I feel but I also know I'm too scared because of how people have rejected my less-serious problems...

Hi Little Bird,

I know how you must be feeling.. sick to death with worry about your coursework and exams! I've been in the same boat as you recently and I just wanted to urge you not to stress yourself further by just keeping it to yourself. Please go and speak to a tutor you trust, that's the best thing I did. They actually are very understanding (or at least they should be) and they can work with you to rearrange your deadlines and find you extra help.

I too am not good at asking for help but it's just not going to do you any good keeping it to yourself and actually it's doing you harm. You must know that depression and anxiety are really common illnesses, and because they are so common, actually university staff have to deal with it a fair bit, so you're not going to be the only person to have been to see a member of staff. I know lots of people hesitate because of the stigma, but the university can do nothing but be helpful (otherwise they can be reported etc). Staff want you to succeed, not fail and cause yourself further misery, stress, ill health etc.

And, do go and speak to your doctor. What you're going through is serious, and you do need help, so please don't be scared. I felt the same too, and there's no magic way but to just bite the bullet and be open so you're doctor can help you. Sometimes doctors can be rubbish so if you feel that your doctor hasn't taken you seriously in the past, then could you perhaps see another doctor at your surgery?

Sorry, I didn't mean to post that yet. I was going to say all the best and I hope you get some help. We can't deal with things like this on our own, nobody can. Everyone gets help, so don't feel bad about asking.

I'll be following this post, so if you want to ask me any questions, please do.

Best wishes, Kiki

Thank you, I'm going to sign up with a different practice in my area because I'm not comfortable with the doctors in the practice I'm with at all. I do keep putting it off and then it's at night I feel worse and can't sleep because I'm worrying so much and feel so low. I plan to get on with it tomorrow though and make an appointment with a counsellor. I just feel like none of this will help because it won't change the things that are bothering me... and while I've tried to change what's upsetting me it's just not working no matter what I do.

While I struggle getting professional help what I really have trouble with is how little the people around me care. I don't have anyone to talk to who is close to me and that makes me feel really alone. While talking to a doctor or counsellor may help me talk through how I'm feeling, it's not going to be able to mend that so I'm not very positive about it helping very much.