Summer from Hell: Getting a Handle on Anxiety & Depression
Wednesday, September 05, 2007
JC Jones MA RN
I am so glad summer is over because for me, it has been a summer from hell. It's not the worst summer of my life - that was the one when my husband died when our daughter was 7 months old and the mountains were on fire. I thought the world was ending. No this summer, my darling daughter who once worshiped me turned 13 and decided she hated me and let me know about it, loudly and often. That caused me a lot of anxiety. My job was causing me anxiety. I got anemic and run down for the usual reasons. Things were spiraling down hill. Hey! I'm a health expert - this isn't supposed to happen. I needed to get a handle on things.
I got my stress under control. I sent my daughter to visit my sister and her daughter for 3 weeks. I took a vacation - at home, alone. Sort of. I got my anemia under control with rest, food, iron supplements and a multivitamin with folate. I spent time in the sun, exercising. I meditated. But crazy things kept happening to me. The well collapsed on a property in the country that has been in our family for years - I have to get a new well dug!
Anxiety and stress that last over time and come at as from so many angles of our life can begin to erode our confidence in ourselves and our sense of competence as a person. The first symptom I recognized was middle insomnia - I was waking up in the middle of the night, ruminating about all the things I felt I was doing wrong. Then I realized I had lost quite a bit of weight without really trying (not so undesirable!). Next I realized I was feeling sad, blue and irritable. When it was a beautiful sunny day and I found myself lying in bed crying in the afternoon I said, "Oh, yuck. I'm depressed." I wasn't profoundly depressed - it hadn't gone on for 2 weeks - I was mildly depressed. This called for action. Prompt action to prevent a slide downhill. I share this with everyone because I'm not really ashamed. There are few people who don't get depressed from time to time. Most of us don't realize we can prevent a slide into a deeper depression -(some of us, sometimes).
- Reach out to people who care about you: I made some phone calls and talked to people who love me
- Get out of the house and do something fun: the worst thing to do is wallow - get up &: get going. I chose several fun things to do and had fun doing them
- Make sure you get a good night's sleep.
My kid is back at school, I'm back at work, and my stressors continue to bombard me. But I am sleeping through the night, and I am not depressed. Summer is over. Tomorrow is another day.
Labels: anxiety, depression, insomnia
1 Comments:
At Wed Sep 12, 07:13:00 PM 2007,
EAD from SD said…
Funny as you call it, but I also had a summer from hell. It was in 1998. There were sybling family issues, my mother-in-law was about to have open heart bypass surgery and could no longer care for my father-in-law, who suffered from lower extremities parkinson's. Therefore he was put into a nursing home setting. Our oldest son was graduating from high school and about to leave the nest for college. (My husband & I have 2 sons and we have always been very close). My mother also suffered from severe depression 8 years prior. My brother experienced it also in between. I thank the Lord over and over for a wonderful husband who stood by me through thick and thin. I also thank God for our sons, my parents, sister-in-law, parents-in-laws and dear friends for supporting me. I could not eat, and vomited often. I cried all the time. I lost over 30 lbs in less than 3 months. After seeing 6 different Dr.'s I finally found one who understood, got me on the correct medication and encouraged me. He kept telling me "There is a light at the end of the tunnel." I also saw a counseler who helped me to deal with many little issues that had snow balled in a huge snow ball. Slowly it did melt away and I finally did see that light at the end of the tunnel. I am still on medication, but almost 10 years later, I feel that we as a team have concurred the demon of my depression. When I tell people what I once went through, they can not believe it. Praise the Lord!!
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