Depression & Psychosis

[Freyaa123]

Hi,

I've read that people who have had extreme cases of depression can get psychosis. Has anyone on here had this? What were your personal symptoms?

[Photogeek]

Hi I'm sorry I can't help you with this. As I have never been psychotic myself, Thank God. If you are worried that you may be Psychotic it might help to have a chat

With your GP. I know it's very treatable, if you get help fairly early on. Please do t

Be ashamed or embarrassed just get help.

I know that sometimes people who are psychotic often lack the insight into

Their illness, so they do t even know that they are psychotic, so they don't feel

They need help.

Are you worried about yourself? If so best talk with Dr. Good luck with everything,

Hopefully someone will be online who might be able to empathise with you.

Hannah

[Freyaa123 in reply to Photogeek]

Hi Hannah,

Thank you so much for your really lovely and thoughtful message. I feel so lost at the moment, I feel like I lost the real me 10 months ago, i'm now vile and a monster and I can't stop thinking about whether something is true or not or if its just my mind.

I'll see if I can find them. Thank you so much for replying, I thought nobody would reply as I think people think im crazy and disturbed.

Have a lovely evening ^^

Freya

[Photogeek in reply to Freyaa123]

Hi Freya thank you too . I am sad that you feel so scared, you

Are not vile or anything bad, but you know the thing is anyone who is suffering from Depression can slide into psychosis if they are under

Too much stress especially. I know this myself, the fact that you

Are thinking those bad things about yourself is very sad and tells

Me that you should make it a priority to talk to your GP, he will

Allay your fears, don't worry he will be well used to this, but worrying

About the ifs and buts of Psychosis could topple you over to this.

Getting help is the first step and be proud of yourself for being

Proactive about your mental health. I myself try to really watch my

Stress levels as I know that I don't cope well with very stressful

Things, so I too monitor myself.

Hope this helps, and NO your not crazy , you may be ill, but

We are all vulnerable. I hate to think of you being afraid, as once

When my marriage broke up, many years ago, my Dad had a heart

Attack and I felt under enormous stress. I remember driving along

And feeling I was losing my grip on reality etc, but really it was just

A severe Clinical Depresssion, once I started Meds, I began to

Feel much much better, so there is lots of help and hope out

There.

Warm hugs to you and please look after yourself and let us know

How you are doing.

Hannah

[Freyaa123 in reply to Photogeek]

Thank you so much for your thoughtful and sweet message Hannah, You sound like a such a lovely and charming person. I'm so sorry to hear about your past, You're an inspiration to how strong you have been.

Warm hugs to you too, please don't hesitate to chat to me if you are ever feeling low

[Photogeek in reply to Freyaa123]

Likewise Freya Private message me any time for a bit of support. You sound quite young , and this can be frightening when you feel this way. Now I'm older and

Much happier and more chilled, life gets easier so don't

Worry too much.

My life now at 66 is a 100% better than when I was younger. I wish someone had helped me feel less

Alone then . I am glad that I can help and give back,

It helps me too.

I love that name Freya .

Hannah xx

[Freyaa123 in reply to Photogeek]

Thank you You're a very kind lady I was very fortunate to have you replying to my messages .^^ I'm really happy that we can help each other in our journeys Thanks you have a beautiful name

Freya

xxx

[celtic2746]

hi freya im not the best person to comment on it but have you tried googling it for a in depth answer to your. question ! there are several places you can try for instance the charity called MIND the might have the answer you need. take care david

[Freyaa123 in reply to celtic2746]

Hi David,

Thank you so much for your kind message, I gave it a google and it opened my view a bit more. As I think I was in denial for a long time about whether I had it or not as I had imagined a different picture to it than what it sometimes is, I'm currently 50/50 to whether I have it or not but will hopefully get an answer from my gp on Tuesday.

Take care and have a lovely evening

Freya

[celtic2746 in reply to Freyaa123]

hi freya im glad i could be help good luck with your doctor on tuesday please let me how you get on take care david

[Olderal]

My daughter had it. Symptoms were paranoia. She had this pretty mildly at age about 22 and then no problems of any kind until about age 38. That time it was more severe paranoia but through it all she looked after her home and children well and carried on working. It did n't last long although she had to take what were presumably anti psychotics.

It was probably more frightening to us our immediate family , but my impression was it was less serious for her than depression would have been. I was pretty worried but the medication seemed to pull her out of it probably more quickly than anti depressants work for most. It is frightening to others to see a loved one out of touch with reality, but probably not as distressing for the sufferer. She was not out of touch with most aspects of reality, just the paranoia, and became overly worried about imaginary and vague dangers to her family.

I do feel for you, and hope that if you have this its only briefly and with as good an outcome as for my daughter.As with everything to do with health I do think its important not to worry about it. As Hannah has said I think its more easily treated in general than most other conditions and the fact you seem pretty calm and collected about posting on it is I think a very good sign.

As Hannah says see your GP. they should be able to tell you whether you have any psychosis more reliably than amateur doctors like me or family. After all you might be the one that's more in touch with reality.

[Gambit62]

The symptoms of B12 deficiency include depression and paranoia and it can cause marked changes in personality so it is worth asking your GP to run blood test but please be aware that the results need some interpretation and 'normal range' doesn't necessarily mean that everything is okay.

Just in case anything else rings a bell this is a link to symptoms of PA

pernicious-anaemia-society....

Doctors aren't very aware of B12 deficiency. If you think it is a possibility then it is worth thinking about joining the PAS forum on health unlocked (Pernicious Anaemia Society)

I had roughly 4 decades of depression - when it was really bad I had terrible anxiety and was starting to experience psychosis which for me took the form of really not being able to cope with noisy and crowdy places - was like everyone was shouting at me - lots of movement was also rather difficult.

I was also very grumpy and there were times when I would be screaming at people and inside wondering what the hell was going on and why I was behaving like that as it really didn't feel like me

As others say, if you are experiencing psychosis you do need medical help.

[Qwan in reply to Gambit62]

My B12 is within normal range but on the lower end. Most drs ignore it once it's within range forgetting that sometimes the 'normal range' includes both well and unwell levels because that happens to fall into average scores. Normal doesn't mean optimal. =.=

Anyway, as it's *so* hard to OD on B12 because we metabolise very little of it (I think it was 0.5% or 5% is metabolised so hardly anything) it's very safe to take supplements even when within range.

I've double checked with Drs and they have no problem with this whatsoever.

Taking it I felt more clear headed, energetic, and I began responding to my iron treatment I'd been having for 9 years with no positive result. So totally helped even with absorbing other medication!

My brother also started taking it and felt more alert and energised (and he's one of those exercise buffs so raves about it now!)

So worth a try even if Drs refuse to do testing, or results are within range.

[gardengnome]

Glad you are seeing the g.p. this week. Tell him as many details as possible, so he can figure out which symptoms need treating, I know some people are reluctant to reveal all the facts.

I went through a bad patch about a year ago, feeling very detached, starting to have morbid and paranoid thoughts, so I'm on a low dose of quetiapine at the mo. But meds are not the answer for everyone

[Qwan]

I believe I get psychosis with depression (and possibly hypomania too).

For me my symptoms are obsessions on negative things around me and the belief that I'm the cause of everything that goes wrong, this extends to natural disasters and the fact people can die. If someone I know has died I believe I was supposed to die and because I didn't they had to.

I believe I'm the devil, and that if I didn't exist the world would be perfect, but I also believe I have to exist and find a way to encompass all the negative in the world so others can be happy.

I sometimes think I'm god and also the cause of all these bad things. It can merge into the same thing, it's a bit difficult to explain. :/

I also feel people can read my mind. I start to see a lot of stuff, normally dead things. Like a dead animal in a tree or something. I may start to think I'm being spied on, I remember being convinced there was a camera outside the house facing directly in my room for about a year (not sure if that was real or not). And that anyone ringing me is either a spy or the phones are bugged. I also had the belief letters were bugged, so got scared if post came haha

Another thing I get that's odd is I worry that people are pretending to be someone. So say I'm talking to my sister and she says something a friend said, I will be convinced they're both the same person, pretending to be different people to trick me. I've had that since childhood and I can never get a good reason of WHY they'd be tricking me, just that they are. It happens in person too (even before I could go online and have it happen on the net). So not sure where that came from.

Never spoken to my Drs but my mom knows a little about it. I also hear voices around that time and when I was a child felt I always had a dark spirit over my right shoulder (like standing over me rather than perched on me lol).

I've never been medicated for it. I'm only just getting comfortable saying it's probably psychosis tbh. >.>

Anyway sorry for the long message but I have bipolar and while it's more known people can get psychotic while n a high it's possible to get it on a low which I more so get. I almost always keep in touch with reality in some way (just enough to think 'This is weird, maybe it's not true') but am scared enough by it that it changes my sleep, whether I take meds (might think drs are out to get me for example), or to act differently. And because of that, it's still significant and worth telling a Dr you trust.

Hope you feel ok and if you ever need to talk feel free to throw me a message. *sends positive vibes and peace*

[Freyaa123]

Thanks to everyone for your replies