I had a call yesterday from a dear friend who is having a tough time. They are struggling. Are full of anxiety and worrying all the time. They’re trying to work out what to do and whether medication could help. So they asked me, because I’ve been taking medication for about six years now. This is what I told them. In case it’s of any help to you. First. Seeking additional help is not only the right thing to do but takes a lot of courage and you should be proud of yourself. There is no shame in admitting you need help. Second. Remember how if this were a condition about another part of your body, like your blood pressure, and you needed medication to help that, you would not be anywhere near as hard on yourself. Third. Call it medication or tablets not drugs. Drugs makes you think of something else. It makes you think of addiction and numbing and being out of your mind. Fourth. Medication comes in differing doses and different types. You might need a certain one and a certain strength (our body doesn’t like every food we try, some hit the spot, others don’t). You can change. You can try. You don’t need to be taking something ‘forever’ but if you need to then you need to and that’s ok. Fifth. I find it helps to think about medication as a foundation to stabilise my mind. It allows me to do other things to build my resilience. It keeps me more level. It calms the waves to let me be able to swim Sixth. You have worries about taking medication. You need to compare what you are worried about and how it makes you feel now to how you could feel with the medication. What would that foundation of stability help you feel like and help you cope with? How could it help you believe in your ability to cope with uncertainty. Seventh. Try hard not to catastrophise what could happen if you take medication. Do you read the side effects list of every tablet you’ve ever taken. When you take ibuprofen do you think that you will be the 1 in 10000th person who will have X or Y. Finally. Take the first step. Have the conversation with your doctor. Find out the options. Discuss your worries. Be proud of yourself. Take care and don't be afraid to use whatever help helps Paul
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7/10/2022 01:36:35 am
I agree Paul. I have never jumped on the world Mental Health Day/week bandwagon because to me it feels like tokenism - what shall we post about today? - I know - mental health is trendy this week so we’ll do that!
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AuthorMr Paul Wyse Archives
January 2021
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