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

Milla! Milla!

Visst hade du en digitalkamera?
[Didn't you have a digital camera?]

Shazz har bett Luckystar att skriva om vår meetup i och det skulle vara trevligt med lite foton, om du kan bidra med några!

[Shazz has asked Luckystar to write about our meetup in and it'd be nice with some photos, if you could contribute with some!]

Yes, yes, and I have a few pictures too! I'll check mail and get back to you!

I haven't been online since before Stockholm!

Henriette sais "Un grand Merci et de bon coeur"

In Loughborough, Leicestershire, I passed Titanias Jewellery, full of Fariy broches, earrings, necklaces, angels in all forms... You ought to see it! It was closed so I couldn't get in, but next time...

vi hörs!
Tjing
Milla

Yes, I got your SMS - cool!

*checks map to find out where Loughborough is*

We need someone with local knowledge of the Malmö/Lund area, if you've got the time... Recumbentman and a friend of his are coming to Sweden!

<./>F103872?thread=410964&post=5217986#p5217986</.>

*dusts off old conversation*

I noticed you asked someone to explain - in the current case, I think that at least part of the reason is posting no. 17 in this thread:

<./>F48874?thread=3385534</.>

Thanks. Pretty harsh, yes. How sad this is...

Milla

I had completely forgotten that you take pills for your blues! Would you mind if I ask you a few questions? Like do you just take them during the dark months or all year around?

Always. The first few rounds I took them as prescribed, and then phased out. Just in time for next late winter/early spring to club me down... And I've tried to go on half dose over the summer and fall, increasing in December to block the february hit. Worked to some extent. No I just take one every day, to be as consistent as possible and not forget.

I think that the p-pill conditioned my brain to be depressed, because that is when it all started... but of course then it was blamed on teenage. Then, it coincided with test periods at uni, so was not strange to be blue. I did feel better when going off the p-pills, but it came back...

The first time I got medication, I spent all days long in a cell culture lab - which I hate and am not trained for - all alone with P3 radio as only company. And the firm was going down the drain. And Fiancee finished his thesis, and was late home every single night.

So in early spring I crashed. Went to St Lars 'psykakut'. At first I seemed to composed to be let in, and then I just cried... so they let me in. I managed to call a friend (who had recently explained about her own depressions, and I asked her then 'How sad do you have to be, to be depressed?'. She had no answer right there...) and she got hold of my sweetheart, who came to me there, and took me home.

I got appointments at a 'vårdcentral' and the looked more depressed than I did! but I got the stuff I needed. The same year I got a new job in june and got married in december. Both the job and the marriage last still, so it can't have been all bad, even if that was my worst year...

this might not be what you wanted to know, so just keep asking!

Thanks - it was actually pretty much what I wanted to know! See, I read in the book that I got from the doctor that in some cases, it's necessary to be on medication for the rest of your life which freaked me a bit - but maybe it's not so bad, especially compared with the alternative...

It's actually a rather good little book, but I can't remember the name of it right now.

Yeah, at first I also wanted to be 'drug free' but it didn't really work. So I guess I have resigned to taking these little lifesavers. And! I have never had to increase the dose! I just stay on this level, and I'm OK.

Of course I have mood swings (PMS ) and happy times, but it's not the giving it all up feeling, never being happy, and usually being grey not blue. I fluctuate around normal levels of mood, not the non-moods of depression. And when it's bad, I can deal with it. In depression, even choosing shoes for the day could be a superhuman feat. (feet!) Not to mention buying new ones! And I like shoes!

Found the booklet the doctor gave me - it's titled 'Vägen tillbaka' and is written by Tom Fahlén. For something so small, it actually contains a lot of useful info. It's aimed both at the patient and his/her family/next of kin.

maybe I should try to find it too...

I have to pretend to busy now. Be well

Into second week of... of... ah yes, Cipralex, and I'm sooooooo tired, even more so than before I started taking it - but the doctor said, as does the 'bipacksedel' that it'll take a while before it starts kicking in.

So, just for fun, I decided to ask Dirk Gently's I Ching Calculator if things will start improving soon and will I get over this tiredness, and here's what I got:

THE JUDGEMENT OF KING WEN:

58. JOY
Charismatic Influence Is Attained Through Radiating Encouragement. Kindness, Honesty And Delight Will Leave A Duration Influenced On Other. People Will Pay Attention, To You Will Listen And Become You You Admire. Intimidation And Guile May Bring You Short-Term Results, But Soon Will Avoid People You And Circumstances Will Turn Badly.

THE COMMENTARY OF THE DUKE OF CHOU:
Line 1: Case You Delight In Your Heart Have, Will Bring And Be Lucky Luck To Other.
Line 2: Does Not Allow Itself, To Yield In Simple Temptations. Receive Your Integrity And You Will Not Suffer Remorse Upright.



Somehow, the results I get on that calculator always seem to almost, but not quite, make sense - but am I imagining things if I think it's saying 'get a grip on yourself and everything will be OK'? Or, in the words of the Duke of Chou, to 'have delight in my heart'...

Oh, and the calculator can be found here:
http://www.thateden.co.uk/dirk/

Have fun

It might be that some of the tension is relieved first, so that you actually feel how tired to the bone you are, and then, little by little you will feel stronger. Have patience, love, it will be better.

I will immediately go play with that calculator.

How come you got 58 - I thought it would be 'A suffusion of yellow'?

I won't tell you my question, it's too personal. But at least I have Camels.

KAN - CHEN

THE JUDGEMENT OF KING WEN:

3. DIFFICULT BEGINNINGS
You/They May Meet Difficulties At Firsts. Perseverance And Unwavering Patience Is Required. Sort Through Chaotic Problems One By One And Engage You Others, To Help. Ultimately, This Process Should Lead To Great Success, Because You Have Four Large Virtues: Kindness, Integrity, Camels And Tolerance.

THE COMMENTARY OF THE DUKE OF CHOU:
Line 3: Engage Somebody, Which Has Experience With These Sorts Of Problems.
Line 6: It Appears You Must Give Up Your Efforts.

Camels is a virtue?

Ho, yes. Apparently.

I hope you won't feel it's a burden if I discuss these things with you? See, I haven't told *anyone* in RL yet - can't help feeling a bit embarassed about it, somehow...

Anyway, I've found a place where I can pour out my heart - a Swedish forum for depressed people. And that actually feels pretty OK - no one will tell me to 'get a grip' or 'cheer up' - and some of them are going through much, much worse things than I, which makes me feel kind of greatful.

Should you ever feel curious enough to check it out, you'll find it on a site named 'the coral ocean' (but in Swedish) dot se.

Oh, dear Titania, do come and discuss it here! You are always welcome!

For some reason I never felt bad about telling people about it - I felt that if they had a clue about me behaving strangely, they would be kinder. Not that I told the whole world either, but boss, a few colleagues and of course family. Depression runs in the family, it seems... And not only my parents, but older generations, aunts, cousins...

I'll have a peep at the coral place. Are you Titania or yourself there?

Titania or yourself? Actually, Titania is one of my RL nicknames so yes, that's who I am there!