h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

>Effers, am I on the wrong medication?<

Well I couldn't say, not knowing all the facts, and I'm not medically qualified. But from what you have described it sounds like that might help. The important thing is to be absolutely honest with the docs about what you are experiencing and then ask them if there is a medication that can help with that if its causing you distress.

I've found you have to play it by ear. Some psychiatrists like to be all in control so you just have to tell them straight and ask what they'd suggest. Others are more than happy to discuss it more as equals. But you really shouldn't be suffering unneccessarily given modern medications.

I've been in the system for 20 odd years, so my perspective maybe slightly different...not that means you will. Yours maybe be temporary...but nontheless you are entitled to the very best treatment.

Best of though. I still admire your honesty, which has certainly helped me.

Just remember SS, that knowing nothing about you would make it difficult for us if you really needed help and I know that is a worry for some people.

I am sure talking about it helps, if only to get things in proportion. Bottling things up in your head is no good to you or anyone else and must make things worse.

Make sure you explain everything on Monday. If they don't know they can't help.

Websailor

Yea! I was seeing things as well, out of the corner of my eye, I thought at first that I was going Mad, but then I got told it was a possible side effect from my meds.

Its the mood swings that I am having problems controlling, mind you having a go at that Bas*** next door, made me feel a lot better even if it did take me over an hour to calm down.

As for having a sense of humour, I think we need that need that and make the best of the good days


Smudger.

yep, seeing things out corner of eyes, and having horrific nightmares and fantastic hallucinations between asleep and awake are another side effect of meds. I had the cupboards in my room turn to rubber and the handles stretch out to be inches infront of my face!
Those sort of things do fade eventually though. The crab I saw/halllucinated in Benefits office wasn't really a meds sideffect, more a 'ME' sideffect, lol!
People pay good money for effects like mine through illegal drugs, well used to when LSD was stronger 30 years ago, however that was by choice and one would imagine in comfort and safety of own frontroom when 'THEY' wanted it to happen and took enjoyment from it, not uncontrolabley in an office full of people you don't know and in a place you don't want to be.

The other day I did the usual sanity written test I always do at examination docs for depression/anxiety and the results for me were predictable.
I just sent one upstairs (I didn't really) for Mr Noisey to do as he just woke me up again by hoovering at 01.15am. The results are clear, of the two of us it is beginning to look like 'I' am the more sane one of the two of us, lol!
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From now no more excuses for him I don't care if it embarases him in front of his visitors, I am wacking the ceiling every time he hoovers around this time 1am, 2am, 3am, etc. Infact I have so far tried to avoid embarrasing him by wacking ceiling/going up if he has guests but might do it more now to embarras him into fitting a carpet and behaving like a normal human being!

Just been to Shrink(phychiatrist) and it is good and bad news.
Clearly the hallucinations are worse and now sometimes hearing 'voices', hey a toy sheep spoke to me from a bag the other day!, but shrink still thinks it is caused by severe stress/depression. On the possible getting rid of very bad stress, the shrink thinks the problem with stress is it can be fairly to get rid of or impossible really, the latter could be me I suspect.
I explained the Paranoia is now litteraly extreme. Lets face it crossing a road to check the side lights of a van to see if a camera is hidden there to film me is hardly normal nor mild. The shrink said that sort of very bad Paranoia is also difficult to treat and get rid of. My belief is that it isn't the checking vans for cameras, etc that is the problem, it is the disturbance to normal life as can't be certain that what is happening is real or not.
So all in all a mixed Shrink's visit and am carrying on with new anti-depressant with combined anti-anxiety mediction. I shall of course carry with my two other anxiety meds!
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However what I am certain is real is the noise from Mr Noisey upstairs as the problem with noise has been confirmed by my best friend as she said, without me mentioning noise, how bad it is. If he keeps on making noise, he will, I am fit to bust and likely to resort to my teenage years and go mad with the noise, music blaring, etc. I have nothing to lose now as tried the being nice and polite route. I will avoid a face to face thing as he won't open door, but noise I can do as well, if not better than him as at end of teather!

Aye! I know exactly what you are going through as regards the Noise! We had 7 long years of it, went through all the councils noise abatement hoops, of keeping logs, and recording equipment. He was a drug dealer, she was on the game and no one would listen or believe us.
Then al long last, the police raided their flat (the one above us) but came to our door by mistake (shows you organised they were)

Then, after they were both arrested, the council then believed us, and in the end moved a decent person in, as that was the second drug dealer we had, the first one was even worse
Smudger.

I think Mr Noisey upstairs thinks if he doesn't buy a carpet and keeps on with noise and Laminate floor I wil just give up and leave.
The problem is he is thinking in a straight line, logically and without putting himself in my shoes. The problem is my flat is the last thing I have left of any importance to me (apart from cat) so if I lose that I have nothing. He also seems to have no real idea of how much his noise has affected me over the last 2 years or so. He thinks if he turns TV a bit for a couple of days but carries on wearing his noisey boots, etc it will all blow over.
However what he doesn't realise, due to him only thinking of himself and never facing me, is how by him making my Mental health worse how impusive and unpredictable I have become.
I think he thinks I will just quietly leave one day saying to myself "Hey ho, best man won, I will just leave quietly and a life lesson has been learnt.". I don't know exactly what will happen but if I end up having to leave my flat that is not how it will end. It won't be him winning, me losing. No one will win in end.

I have just been to a classical piano concert in a Church. As soon as I sat down I wondered which way the hallucinations would go. This sounds off the wall and indeed it is.
A semi solid Virgin Mary hallucination appeared to side of church in a walkway and walked towards to me. Of course with the good side the evil side will appear too and unsurprisingly a devil like image appeared in a dark recess above walkway. a little later it turned into a form we oftem think of involved in evil, a Serpant and slithered out of high recess and came towards me to disappear.
All these forms are simply what the classical image of good and evil are and will be versions of what I have seen in past or indeed exact sopies. As to voices, I wouldn't say they were exactly voices, very odd but not voices, and actually what we think of when we think through things in our mind, as we often do. I was talking to virgin Mary( did I really just type that!) in my mind and asking if things would be ok(presumably health wise). She said, of course I would be ok as it is what I want to hear.
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It only lasted 5 mins at most and sounds Crazy with a big 'C'. The rest of concert carrried on without any other things happening. I was lucky and didn't get the sentence I kept repeatng aloud for last couple of days while stressed "Voices of God", Remember I am in a Church with vicar only yards away all ready for an exorcism I am sure, lol!
All very bizzar and not something you would tell everyone in real life off here!
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As an aside, kerry Katona who has Bi Pola looks to be near to cracking again judging by the photos of her boozing again. Fame can rip people apart sadly! She might be a sort of Star but she is a human being too....and in pain by looks of it.

Hey! SS, you can now complain to a council department called the "noise abatement" which was set up all over the country a couple of years ago.
They were not much good to us, to be honest, as it was a barking dog problem we have? However if it is loud music, they can, and Will confiscate his stereo or TV, what ever is causing the problem, as I have seen that done in the past.

As for the thumping around, we had that once, they came in to our flat and set up a recording device, then after a week they had enough evidence to challenge him
Smudger.

Yes I sympathise with the stress caused by neighbours...I've experienced devastingly in the past...and at present I'm having problems with the sub sub letted people continually moving in and out upstairs in the last year. It's all one big racket that the housing association know nothing about...and its getting worse. Many of these people have no conception of how to behave in close proximity to others, having to share a converted building. It's getting me quite bitter, and more and more angry.

I live on my own...not in some nice cosy family, which makes these problems harder.

Anyway SS, I really understand how these problems affect mental health and have very little time for people for people who spout sensible patronising optimistic twaddle who don't begin to understand the harsh realities that many of us have to deal with everyday.

yep effers, noise can grind you down and down. It is so unnecessary as even after I told him about noise problem within weeks of moving in he tore up all the perfectly good nearly new fitted carpets and thick underlay and put in wooden laminate flooring everywhere. So the problem is he did it KNOWING about noise problems!
What I don't understand is in the last 15 mins he has dragged his side table around about 10 times sending scraping noises through to my flat and the question is why do it so much, how difficult is it to line a small table by a chair?
If he is deliberately winding me up in the state of mind I am in then that is very foolish and a big mistake. He has only spoken to me once in 2 years of being here, he won't open door, and due to mental health problems my character and personallity has changed a great deal since he spoke to me the once and only time. I am much more impulsive and likely to do something out of character from how i was 2 years ago.

Yep it's not noise that's the problem at present, all manner of other problems too numerous to mention...though it was in the past, along with homophobic stuff. I do understand though what noise can drive you to...I ended up in hospital then after eventually going berserk about it...which actually got the then upstairs tennants to move out I won't go into details or neccessarily recommend it though. And I dread to think how I'd react if 'noise' became an issue again.

Yea, but the selfish sods moved out so it worked out ok in end Effers, lol!
Strangely for the around 15 years before Mr Noisey moved in we all worked together to live in harmoney and it worked really well with not a single complaint from anyone here, including me. Since he moved in even the neighbour below me has complained about his noise, 2 flats down!

Yeah I absolutely agree, noise pollution is the very worst. To be honest its half the reason I haven't contacted the housing association about the present problems, for fear of new official tenants moving in who play thumping music all hours. At least with the present illegal tenants noise isn't an issue. Better the devil you know, I keep thinking

Listen, S Strange, I'm not a doctor, but I am bipolar, and I've got to question some of your doctors decisions. You're having severe hallucinations, and he thinks it's just stress?! In my opinion, you should be on a mood stabilizer and/or an antipsychotic. And antidepressants can kick you up into mania, especially if you aren't on a mood stabilizer. I would strongly suggest seeing another shrink for a second opinion. Good luck hun.

I had a row today with my of a neighbour, its seems that these days I can vent my anger, whereas before I used to be able to control it. I've been told by the therapist that its these mood swings that I get with this PTSD they say I have, what ever it is, it has changed my whole personality and I don't even recognise myself some times?

Smudger.

*waves to Effers and everyone*

Yay great to see you here JEllen. JEllen is the est SS.

Aww, shucks.