#mentalheallth #add #attentiondeficitdisorder #pmd #selfcare #depression #anxiety #selflove #strategies
Hello, there. Hope you’re doing well and that it’s sunny where you are. I wanted to share something with you that I’ve found helpful in my life, when I bother to use it. I call it a mental health first aid kit, and it’s meant to be used when you’re overwhelmed with something or feel triggered and distressed. I’ve experienced mini-mental breakdowns in all sorts of places and situations, and for the most part I just hole up and don’t do anything or talk to anyone. Or, I try to zone out. Now, at least 1 time out of 10, I’m trying to turn to things that will actually help me. This “first aid kit” can also be used as a preventative measure. For example, I’ve started trying to just sit down and look at all of the pieces everyday, to remind me of God’s promises and not to do anything that I’m going to regret. Maybe something similar will help someone else out there.
I’m coming down off of a sizeable mental breakdown myself. The past few weeks have been a culmination of all the ingredients of my head soup: the crest of a PMD cycle, a spike in SAD that I always get twice per year around daylight savings time, a drop in energy and motivation due to these things, leading to anxiety which leads to a spike in ADD symptoms, like procrastination and more anxiety, which leads to just the general depression and feeling that I’m just a garbage human and a failure. I don’t know if you’ve ever felt like that. But now that this wave is passing, I’m trying to pick up the wreckage on the shore and fortify myself again, and part of this is taking my mental health “medicine” everyday, including going through this first aid kit.
I also got officially diagnosed today with ADD (FINALLY!) so we are going to try and find a good combination of medication to go with all the strategies I’ve been trying and (sometimes) failing at. I’m finally starting to come to terms with all of these chemical imbalances, but it’s not easy to admit to it. Especially the PMD (who wants to talk about their cycle, yikes!) but I’m trying to live in reality and realize that I need some real help! I’m quite nervous though, because the last time I tried mental health meds for depression, it was awful and I hated it. Hoping I can stick it through and find something that really works.
Have you ever tried mental health medicine? How many combos did you have to try, and how did it feel?
What do you think you would put in your mental health kit if it’s something that would be helpful for you?
Unfinished 