Posted by deirdrehbrt on January 17, 2004, at 21:41:09
In reply to Re: My husband looks at me if I'm crazy, posted by holymama on January 17, 2004, at 18:24:32
Hey there,
It is certainly scary at the beginning. It's also scary in the middle, and I'm assuming at the end. Just look at how our culture is educated about mental illness in the media.
I need, even now, to keep reminding myself that I have a mental illness, and that I'm very sick. I hope that I'm getting better.
One thing that might help is a movie that you may have seen, called A beautiful mind. It shows the troubles of a college professor. This man went through an amazing amount of pain and suffering, but eventually won a Nobel Prize and is still teaching.
I won't tell you more about the movie, but if you haven't yet seen it, it's worth renting.
I guess my point is that we need to see the truth, look for the positive experiences, and learn from the negative, but not dwell on it.
Do I always follow my advice? No..... I sometimes look at the bad things, I almost feel as if it's more comfortable and safe to wallow in misery than to fight for health. Someone once said "better the devil you know than the devil you don't". I take that to mean that I know what to expect from my illness, and though it's tough, it's familiar.
It takes alot of effort to step out of that 'comfort', and start fighting for health. It can be done. You can't though beat yourself up everytime you slip. If your illness is like anyone elses, you will slip. You'll occasionally give in to it. That's normal, and it won't help to dwell on it.
I guess I've two more bits of advice for you. First, Don't give up on therapy. If your relationship with a therapist just isn't producing results, ask around and find another, but don't quit. It's incredibly important and will make recovery much much easier. Second, and probably more important is this: Don't stop or make a change in your meds without consulting your doc. It's really tempting to cut back on the meds that may feel like they're slowing you down, but you NEED to consult with your doc before any changes to your meds.
This is just stuff that I've learned from my own experience and from close friends. I hope it helps you.
Dee.
poster:deirdrehbrt
thread:300691
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/social/20040109/msgs/302146.html