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First Post

ElleCasual Contributor29 Oct 2015, 5:49 pm AEDT

First Post

Hi this is my first post and I am really looking forward to joining the discussion on wellbeing.

I have been a survivor of severe mental illness for twenty years now, with it escalating to my first episode of psychosis almost eight years ago. I had two relapses initaially, spanning over the next two years, and then I had been stable for almost six years.

Three months ago, after being under sustained stress for over a year, I relapsed and was in and out of hospital for about a five week period. Aside from the trauma of being psychotic, I have managed to keep myself reasonably calm and allow myself to slowly get back to my old self which includes looking after my three year old and taking care of the household chores. I am also very lucky to have a supportive family and trusted Psychiatrist.

After this recent relapse my medication has been upped significantly and a mood stabilizer has been introduced. I am an extremely tolerent person in terms of side effects and have always stuck to my doses. I am currently finding it so hard to wake up in the mornings which leads me to being grumpy and it takes me about half an hour to feel awake and alert. It really is frustrating me and I was hoping someone could give me some tips to manage this.

Also prior to this I had lost twenty two kilograms which took so much dedication and hard work with my diet. I have in three short months regained this weight and I am trying not to let it bother me but it is. Just thinking about what I had to do and the level of commitment it took to achieve it leaves me feeling so unmotivated. I was at a stable weight before I was medicated and have, in different attempts, lost then gained ten to twelve kilograms every year since my first episode. To say I am disheartened is an understatement . I also noticed that most of the people in hospital were overweight as well. I will always stay on my meds but the struggle with weight gain is really hard to take. Any advice will be greatly appreciated!

Regards,

Elle

2 replies

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In response to: First Post

NikNikSenior Contributor29 Oct 2015, 11:37 pm AEDT

Re: First Post

Hi @Elle

Welcome to the Forums. I'm glad you have found us 🙂

I'm sorry to hear you're disheartened - you are doing such a great job and it seems like you have come along way, especially with your mental health. I hope you're really proud of those achievements.

I was just writing to @carlos here about the dangers of making weight a measure of success. He's experiencing a similar situation to you it seems.

All that hard work you did put in would have done fantastic things for your body - your muscles, bones, cardio system and the list goes on... weight is just one part of the whole picture. So please don't be too hard on yourself. So keep up that wonderful work you're doing and just picture the great health your insides are.

Great question about waking up in the morning - I struggle too - but I don't have any life changing suggestions on that one 🙂 I just walk 1/2 asleep to the shower.

Other members may have some good tips though....

In response to: Re: First Post

AppleblossomSenior Contributor30 Oct 2015, 3:40 pm AEDT

Re: First Post

I have had some aspect of dealing with serious MI all of my life. I put most of my weight on during early child raising period and being in unhappy marriage. it was not a result of meds ... When I started meds nearly 15 years ago I also began a gym program ... I struggled to get weight off but then had all weird mental self defeating thoughts that I did not deserve to look good or be thin ... so I have had to face up to those self defeating aspects of myself. I have focussed more on mind healing that body weight ... threw out my scales and stopped worrying just trying to keep approximately health and active. I can obssess about it as I will then bring myself undone ... its funny how we are all different ... some people love the measureable as it gives them a sense of control ... good luck ... lately I have been walking again ... I am hopeless about getting out of bed ... but figure that my mood when i am up is important so work on that more than sticking to routines ... I dont have a 3 year old though ... keep posting and i hope others can help more.

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