Nursing & Depression

micro, RN · Jan 2, 2003

hi all.........

survived the holidays and ddoiodaat

big whooppie horny scopy!!!!!!!!!

actually feeling pretty good today.....

but I am sure somebody will ruin that....hehehehehehehehe

I am so glad to see this thread still going.....

sphinx.........thx.......the hormonal/chemical/fluid/physical exchange that occurs in our bodies and our minds.....are indeed so true.....and .........

it makes you wonder why there should be such a stigma about mental illness and other (not physical*)......... out there in and amongst the 'scientific & intellectual' community.........

as well as everyelse......

we are all but a bunch of flesh, bones, fluids, and hormones.........

now, to my depression........oh well.....s......h.........

thank goodness I don't have ...............

yana,

micro

hey feelings.........there was a great song written about feelings......

and pink's song.......'don't let me get me, I'm my own worst enemy"

and pink is young, blonde and gorgeous.........

yana again,

micro

micro, RN · Jan 2, 2003

Originally posted by sphinx
I for one can't *feel* my hormonal changes........

Bla......my thought have been racing all weekend, yet I've been sitting like a lump. A srange combination. I feel like I am going a thousand miles an hour when in fact I am but sitting still.

I can't tell when my testosterone is flaring or my estrogen is glaring......but I can tell when I am f.i.n.e. and when I am okay.....

hormones of age, turn the page.......

sphinx, boy can I relate......

btw, again.....

it is good to see each of you here again.........

micro

Long Term Care Columnist / Guide · Jan 3, 2003

Good to hear from you again, micro!

Seems like I unleashed a new discussion here when I mentioned the menopausal stuff I've been dealing with. I appreciate all of you guys' comments about what you've experienced and how you've dealt with it. It all connects somehow: the moods, the hormonal changes, the depression, the physical and emotional ups & downs, etc. Just to let you all know, I'm seeing the OB-GYN next Friday morning, and hopefully we'll get this show on the road. I've decided this is probably the best time to have my hysterectomy---I'm still not working, but I've finally got my unemployment benefits coming in, and if I went back to work now I'd just have to take a leave of absence to have the surgery and recuperate. I'm serious--I bled from December 2 until the 29th, sometimes so heavily I went through two super-plus tampons, a pad, and an Attends within 2 hrs. I can't help thinking that getting this bleeding and pain stopped for good will help my energy level and my moods, not to mention my capacity for work! And I'm going to consider trying Premarin, even though for some reason an Ativan @ HS seems to reduce my hot flashes and night sweats (what's up with THAT, anyway?). Maybe the hormones will help straighten me out some more---I'm doing a little better on the increased Paxil, but there's definitely room for improvement.

The other good thing that's happened recently is, I got a call on New Year's Eve from the DNS at my ex-workplace, who's actually been more of a friend rather than a boss to me. She confirmed that my termination was, indeed, politically motivated (which I'd suspected all along), and that she, too, is about to lose her job for the same reason. She's currently on medical leave for the same "female" difficulties I'm having (her surgery is on the 15th), and she was telling me that the facility did NOT pass its re-survey last month; now the corporate people have to blame some one else, and they're running out of personnel to pin it on. (Ya THINK?!) She also said she'd be delighted to give me a good reference anytime and wants to stay in contact with me because I'm a "good person and a helluva nurse".

It was so gratifying to have my feelings validated this way, and I have to admit it did me a lot of good to hear it from her. I'd never blamed her for the whole mess; I knew she didn't agree with it, but she wasn't in a position to save me, and I knew that too. Now that I've had some time to assess the situation, I realize that I'm far better off out of that job, and that this "downtime" is God's gift to me---an opportunity to examine my heart and figure out what I want and need to do next. It's also a chance to get the physical stuff I've tried to ignore for five years taken care of, once and for all, so I can truly move on with my life.

Once again, thanks to everyone who has continued with this thread, and contributed to the mental health and well-being of all of us by sharing your experiences. It's cheaper than therapy, and for my money it's just as effective....after all, there's nothing like talking to other people who've been through the same stuff!:)

micro, RN · Jan 3, 2003

omg, yessirree........

talking about menopause is indeed taboo.......like diagnosis of depressives I knew!!!!! (me, I am talking about me)

hormones fluctuate in each of us.....and when we age they fluctuate more.........men and women, hormones don't keep score.........

then some of us get hit harder, earlier, while others hardly nil........

but hormones in our bodies still do fill.........

is there an answer, yessirree......but medicine is still an 'art' along with a science.........indeed still a mystery.........

and the best docs, the best ________, will all agree.........

it all comes back to each of us just being human, you see.......

but for me, I also am grateful that I have been reminded that there is a _______ inside of that is 'just me'

mjlrn, good to see you also.....

a break away.....maybe that is all you needed just for today.....

and we never quit learning .........

Mario, good to see the ??? coming still, my friend. Never quit questioning and finding the answers.

and mjlrn.......speaking again of menopausal........stuff

Gail Sheehy.....is a great author of just that.........

the book is called Silent Passage.....

you have probably already seen it.........it has been around 'eons'..............(oooops, dating myself.....where is my dang cane).........or actually no, I was over and done with menopause at a 'rather' young age.........

she also is a great author, imho.......writes books on the passages of life, and though I haven't read it.......think she also addressed a book talking about passages in men's lives..........

humanity has no gender clause that puts you here or there, we may each be different, but we are each more the same than different, man or woman, east or west.........cold or hot......old or not........

but my mind waxes wax...........without out the aid of exlax......

time to stop and go, my friends.......

micro and out..........

again xoxoxoxoxxoxoxoxoxxoxoxoxoxox

mamabear · Jan 3, 2003

Micro:

Honey, what are you on? :confused:

Did I miss something in the translation, or is it a generational thing? :rolleyes:

To quote Page & Plant: "I've been dazed and confused for so long, it's not true". :confused: :uhoh3:

micro, RN · Jan 4, 2003

Originally posted by mamabear
Micro:
Honey, what are you on?
Did I miss something in the translation, or is it a generational thing?
To quote Page & Plant: "I've been dazed and confused for so long, it's not true".

mamabear.........

generational thing.......

well, I am 41, going on 8, going on 90.........

translation.........missed.........I am the one that probably missed something from synaptic activity to typing......

but what am I on.........living, chocolate chip cookies, coffee and 40 mg prozac daily.......no, this is just me today.....

waxing poetic as I type, think and say.....

to all my friends.....here.....

mamabear.........

you are also so very dear.........

that life is beginning to look a bit brighter and more hopeful as I 'trudge' along the way.........

but I do like having 'fun with words'..........so, I find fun and peace with what I do and say.....

the tears are less today

yesterday is past and gone.....

and to steal a line,

the future has not come.....

so today is all I have,

and about all I can handle anyway,

so for that I am glad.............

:stone

abrenrn · Jan 4, 2003

Hi, all -

It's been a while, I've enjoyed the notes so far. My question for micro - do you always speak in metaphors? I myself love a good metaphor, use them often but worry if I go too far - am I getting manic, schizo????

Long time ago, I read a book called "Abnormal psychology in literature", used Ophelia in Hamlet as a perfect example of schizophrenia, hebephrenic type (whatever hebephrenic means). I recently read Hamlet - it's a long story, I'm generally a mystery reader - and it had good notes. When Ophelia "went crazy" she was using metaphors to describe the insane situation around her. She couldn't live with the lies and threw herself off the cliff. Was she really crazy?

Well, yes. She killed herself. There are other choices, other ways of looking at things. I think it's the extremes we need to watch out for. Poetry and metaphors are cool. Have they reached an extreme? Only the teller really knows. But, if smart, will listen to feedback from those who care.

Just more deep thoughts from Anne. Knew you all missed them.

micro, RN · Jan 4, 2003

No, I do not always speak in metaphors.....

Schizophrenia..............

"I Never Promised You a Rose Garden"

is a very good read......

have had closer connection with schizophrenia than a good read, also.....

I know you say words out of caring.....and for this I say thank you

but I am doing fine............well, actually okay.....

f.i.n.e. stands for something else to me these days.....

and just enjoying being me.....

will keep some of my 'strange way of think/type' for my first novelette/poetic prose......

it may be complete in about 4-40 years.........

different is just different.........

same is the same............

I am a bit of both.........

by all now,

glad you came,

micro and out

sphinx, BSN, RN · Jan 4, 2003

micro,

I think you've been quite poetic. A couple posts back you were even rhyming, and like the child I am, I got a kick out of it!!

:)

abrenrn · Jan 4, 2003

Micro -

glad you saw just caring. Only you know. But, as I recently discovered for myself, poetry can be dangerous! I tried to write a poem and then stuff I imagined happened! Glad it did though. It just needed a new verse.

mamabear · Jan 4, 2003

Okaaay:confused:

I guess it must be me. I'm being treated for depression also: Remeron and Seroquel at night (30mg and 200mg, respectively), Effexor XR 150 mg in the morning.

I work straight midnights, which sort of confounds the problem, but I've been on this med regimen for >3 years, so I'm doing something right. It helps that I have the best shrink in Northwest Indiana.:kiss

micro, RN · Jan 4, 2003

mamabear.......

no it ain't you, my dearheart.........

omg, straight midnights...........my hat off and hugs to you.....

no, sometimes i do type straight from my brain whatever words wafting through the darkness refrains.........

but then again, I straighten up and act as if again.......

abrern

oh, yes caring is never wrong......

and I thank you for the caring heart that you show me and others here......and more important in 'real life'...........

what the world needs now is more caring and understanding.........

poetry and words and thoughts are what you make of them.......

there is indeed extremes in everything..........

that all or nothing........

sphinx

my dear friend

one day in this lifetime.....

a pot of coffee we will share.......

thanks for taking care of yourself first......

so for me and others you are always there.........

and hey, to the original author of this AWESOME AND GROWING THREAD.........

carpe de em...................

(- hats off to you,

(-:

the end

(for now)

micro

Nursing & Depression

Nurses and Depression/Anxiety