OK, so I have recently started to feel myself again yet as I start to do well bad habits that trip be back to the really bad points in my life keep nagging me and at first, I push them away and try to focus but after a while I do them. Any suggestions on how to stop doing them. I don't want to go back to the low point I was on especially since I made the desicion myself to cut down my sertraline dose to 50mg and then eventually stop completely. I want to start trying myself and I know I can but it is like the evil part of my brain doesn't like me moving forward.
Any ideas would be awesome,
thank you and I hope everyone is well.
Has anyone else had to deal with something similar?
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agile-orangutan
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Hi sorry you haven't had a reply yet. The only thing I know about negative thoughts is to keep interrupting them with something - anything. It is very hard a first but gets easier in time.
Maybe you have cut down on your ad's too soon? Have you thought of going back to your doctors? Have you had any counselling? I hope you find an answer. x
Yes, it will take a lot of stubborness and patience, I guess we
I think it was the right time. I had been on he dose fr 4 or 5 months and I had started to tackle a lot of things to start making things better. I want to try by myself and see if I can do it. I have asked for the same dose but just cutting the pill in half so if I start to struggle bad after a few weeks i can pick up the dose again but I am feeling ok. Yesterday was just a really low day I think, and it didn't help I didn't start my day off with some exercise which always helps.
But I do need to have a a routine where if I start to do something or think something I shouldn't, to replace it with a healthier better option. That is a really good idea and I think it will work.
It will take time and a combination will help it I think.
How are you by the way? Has interruption been good with you?
Hi A-O yes it has worked wonders for me. I base it on the principle that negative thoughts are learned behaviour and the more these are entrenched in the brain the more we concentrate on them. The way to stop this is to continually interrupt these thoughts on the same principle of teaching say a dog not to bark. (Not that I am saying we are dogs or anything ).
I saw this great programme on telly about how we learn and the more we repeat a behaviour the deeper the learning grooves are in the brain. When unhelpful thoughts continue the deeper the groove becomes. The way to stop this is to stop the negative thoughts by continually interrupting them. This way eventually the negative thoughts become less over time and the grooves in the brain begin to lessen. I do this on a regular basis and it does work.
If I am feeling down and sorry for myself another thing I do is will allow myself to feel self pity but to put a strict time limit on it - say 15 minutes then I deliberately turn my mind to positive things instead.
I think you are being very sensible in the way you are tackling your depression and I wish you lots of luck. Bev x
Hello A-O. Glad you're feeling so much better. Only thing I'm afraid that will really help in breaking bad habits is the thing I'm short of ,self discipline. There is no easy way but if you can crack this now at a young age and develop a lot of self discipline you may go far. Its certainly more likely. Nowadays life is so competitive you need a lot more self discipline than in my day.
You also sound as if you've got what I've got a rebellious brain. Its supposed to work for me but gets stroppy, I won't say evil, (might upset it) but often it seems to work against me .
Like me you are looking for an easy way out and there ain't one. There are a few tricks that might help.
Make commitments and make friends aware of them .Stubbornness and pride then can help make sure you keep the commitments. This is good with a very important factor, exercise (nearly as effective as most psychodrugs ). If you arranged to meet friends at 6 to play football,you'll almost certainly play football.
Give yourself a reward when you do the right things but you must be ruthless with your self. No perform ---no reward.
Be careful about cutting the Sertraline -go at the rate your GP advises. You've done very well but its often wise to keep a maintenance level going well after problems have ended.
Thank you so much for taking the time to reply, I really appreciate it.
I think I wll try that. I found opening up to people very hard but I have noticed it is getting easier especially since my mum now understands what was happening. Making my commitments known will definitely make it easier to overcome some of all the rubbish
And my rebellious fustrated side has already cut the dose in half, I want to try it myself and see how I get on. If I find it is too early I will stop cutting the pill in hald keep it at the dose before. As I am starting uni again in a month so I want to see how I can cope on my own and I am just keen to stop having to take it, but I understand to take it easy or risk jumping back. But the exercise I agree with completely, exercising straight in the morning I see the rest of the day is a whole lot better and clearer
[Yesterday was a low day but today feeling much better...after a good cycle session :)]
The exams went...with practically little revision as at the time I had only just started to take the sertraline so I was still at a really bad point to be blatant, I passed - not with flying colours but not scraping by the edge of my teeth either. I am just happy that for my second year, now that I understand a lot more of what happened and how to deal with it better, I know this year will go much better and I am actually exicted. I felt a bit like I was wearing heels on ice last year and it was all a blur, but like you I am stubborn and now that I feel a bit clearer I want to make this year count. Thank you remembering by the way
How are you doing by the way? Are you doing well? And how have you found the tips to be working for you?
So glad you got through the exams . If you were not in the best of shape at the time that was a considerable achievement. I did n't do much work at university but luckily I attended all the lectures and was able with a lot of last minute revision to get a 2/2. I did very well academically up to university, but the lack of school discipline meant my performance gradually dropped off over the 3 years.
That was back a long time ago when only about 7% went to university and possibly it might have been a bit harder in a technical subject which I studied. Unfortunately having passed with a lot of hard revision at the end, meant I was ill equipped in my profession as the knowledge did n't stick well with last minute revision. I was lucky as I found a career in an associated field in a commercial role where deep technical knowledge counted less and social and personal abilities were important, with technical skill secondary. This was pure luck like so much of life.
If I were you I would work very hard when things are going well (not easy---self discipline!!). This will keep you ahead of the game and mean that you can absorb a bad patch and momentum will carry you through. That way you'll take some of the luck out of it and if as I hope you don't get a bad spell that hard work still won't be wasted when you start a career. Watch yourself closely for a possible reoccurrence and get medical help quickly if it happens.
No I'm not doing that well. I seem to be ,like many of us, much better at giving advice ,which I think is mainly good (immodest b------d ) and based on a lot of experience of depression ,than I am at taking what I know is good advice. I am oldish now and retired with a goodish pension and grandchildren ,and very grateful I survived many bad spells of depression but also many happy spells of normality and some hypomania (I was lucky enough to have no manic spells ever ).
best of luck for next year.
Hello
Sorry I was not on for long last night, the country air was breaking down my Broadband link
If you are trying to reduce your medications too soon you will find that you will suffer low mood and then you will revert back to the original dose this will make you back track and it will take time for the medication to take affect once more. You will then suffer the contraindications once more and that could cause problems with memory and concentration.
To be honest if you have done bad things in your life a matter of a sour taste in your mouth will not disappear. The only thing that will sort out these feeling is to come to terms with your actions, problems and regrets will always be there and you will need to understand and control your base instincts, no matter how many medications you take. Talk to your GP and act on his recommendations when to stop taking medications by reducing the size of the tablet.
You can of course go for talking therapy and that will help you compartmentalize you problems and live with the consequences of your actions.
Personally I feel you may need more time on your medications possibly for a further length of time. We all need to remember you are not alone when it comes to bad actions against our lives or those who we hurt. We all need to learn from any actions that we dole out in our lifetimes. As long as we learn from them and avoid doing other things that hurt those in society.
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