Shoot I was wondering what watch Mr. Williams is wearing in that picture, not as my primary thought of course but was that kind of prickish?

 

See and to prove I’m serious my wife bought this and asked if I could carry it in for her. I said “sure no problem” , very kind if you ask me I am off to an excellent start on my “prick decrease” mission.

 

In 40 years in Law Enforcement, I saw too many suicides. Hardest calls I went on.

 

Thanks for your service.

 

Hard post to like but you know what I mean. I think the funerals of a suicide victim are one of the most surreal things. Unfortunately in my early 30’s a very close friend took his life. Seeing his family suffer with the “guilt”, I felt similar but I’m sure nothing compared to them. But for the families I just can’t imagine.

 

Sixty years ago, I was entranced by a female. A number of events occurred before I realized it was not going to work. It would perhaps have been easier to endure the withdrawal symptoms, but she lived right across the street, and I saw her every day. Never before or since in my years have I ever felt such depression! I came down with shingles, to add to my symptoms. I am certain the few months during which I felt so low, might be akin to the the chronic depression that some of the respondents in this thread have felt. Fortunately, for me it was short term. Condolences to those to whom this is a way of life.

 

Being honest and open is important. I have direct family members who suffer anxiety and depression. Thanks for making this post.

 

This post is amazing and took a great deal of courage. I think you for this and reiterate the sentiment that we indeed have to talk about it more to make those in need of help feel more comfortable to reach out.

 

Thanks for this thread. Every month I pick up my meds from the chemist (I'm in the UK; maybe you call them pharmacists where you live) and I while I have something of a love/hate relationship with antidepressants they have at the very least allowed me a much improved quality of life and possibly saved me from a much worse fate.

If you're struggling, seek help. Even a chat with a friend can make all the difference.

 

Just a brief tale and this is not about me being the “good guy” as quite the opposite I have many regrets and have not always treated my fellow humans with the dignity they deserve

I was at Walmart getting food for my cat sooper dooper and a younger girl with a cute baby who I was making funny faces at was short at the cashiers check out by like 3 bucks. I was too focused on making the cute baby smile by sticking my tongue out and such I didn’t realize the mother went into panic mode. I thought she was fishing the three bucks out of her pocketbook but I finally looked up and she was stressing trying to pick an item to put back. It dawned on me I had cash as I’m getting ready for the cyber war so I was able to take three bucks out of me pocket and give it to the cashier. The poor girl began crying and thanking me. I tried to play it cool and say “don’t worry it’s not like I haven’t forget to bring cash” but it seems that made her cry a bit more making me feel bad. So I just said “you have a beautiful baby” that brought out a little smile fortunately. I’m not good with public emotion.

It reminded me of something mother Theresa wrote years ago. “Sometimes you can save someone’s life with a warm smile and a nice greeting.” Meaning sometimes people are so downtrodden and hurting they almost lose their connection with humanity (internally) and a small act of kindness can have a major impact.

I don’t think I’ve experienced something so powerful in the checkout lane before. She actually waited out front of the store to thank me again and asked if she could return the 3 bucks (2.86 I think) next month. I told her just pass it on when she had the opportunity but was under no obligation to do so.

In all honesty it helped me out as I got a bit depressed about my shoulder hurting so damn much the pass few days I think I was surrounding myself with myself and that’s no good. So damn it doesn’t take a lot to make a major difference in someone’s day.

 

Seeing this thread bumped made me miss Norm. Hopefully he will make a return at some point.

 

Let's just be good to people. Because it does make a difference.

 

I really appreciate this post and it’s great that you can talk about it. It takes a lot of courage to do that. My young daughter battles with depression and anxiety. We’ve had her at numerous therapists and doctors and nothing has really helped. As a parent it’s totally heartbreaking not being able to help someone who means everything to me. Hopefully one day she can find something that helps her cope with this illness. Until then I’ll support her in every way possible.

 

I’ve been away from the forum for a bit, I was thinking I’d take a 1 - 2 week break from the internet. But it ended up being much longer. Work got stupid-busy, I switched jobs (a bit of a promotion ) and I felt like I was out of gas and had an attention span of maybe 8 seconds. It was a feeling of being untethered.

I started going for longer walks, especially over lunch. And I got this meditation app that’s connected to a heart rate monitor - and wow - that produces a quick sense of calmness. I also tried to focus more on what was going well in life, and upped the morning workout from 30 minutes to 45. Feeling back to myself again.

I’ve missed the friendship here on the forum, and I’m happy to be back in amongst the banter. It seems like I missed someone posting about a watch they inherited from their uncle, a discussion about the best oil to boil watches in and some fine Tell Me A Joke posts. Anything else?

Nice to see you all again

 

I wanted to give a shout out to my mother for bravery. She is in a medical facility with an incurable illness. About two months before she got her diagnoses she was by her brothers side when he died of the same illness.
She knew the time would come where she could not make decisions for herself. She asked me to sign her up for any experimental treatment possible. She said “I know it’s not going to help me it’s too late for that but maybe they can study me and years down the road help others or cure this thing.”
I am supposed to go up this week for what would will be her fourth experimental med, most of them are delivered IV and I don’t know the name or maker it’s usually numbers and letters. I don’t like signing all the paper work as a death waiver is on every page and “sudden onset of death” is always listed as a side effect but we went over all this when she was healthy and she accepted the numerous possible downsides.

She was still cognitively function at a “normal level” her first two of these treatments and they had some pretty bad side effects but she looked me dead in the eye and said “don’t you ever stop this it isn’t about me you know how many people die of this.”

None have helped so far but hopefully all the bloodwork and studies they are doing will lead to progress in the future.

 

This is kind off but perhaps important. I was visiting someone helping them fill out some paperwork when we a loud noise in the kitchen. Turns out the guys son in law took what he thought was 1 or 2 /2mg Xanax bars “to relax after work”. He was out but two pills that had fallen on the kitchen floor Gave us a clue. I only had two Narcan sprays on me, they brought conscious briefly.
So chest compressions until the ambulance arrived, they were quick to respond and had one of those giant tube Narcan sprays and an epi pen type one. So the stats are around 100k people a year are dying from fentanyl overdose. I wonder how many are people picking up something they think is a different drug but with the US being soaked with Fentanyl it is cheaper for the dealers to get pills compressed with fentanyl (same shape and markings)

Stuff like that is really scary. My guess is many here aren’t buying street pills but maybe you have kids who should be made aware. I find the dope addicts are pretty wise to the scene and you can get test strips for fentanyl and narcan spray at many health departments in the US. But these poor people picking up a few pills getting caught up in this is pretty bad. Not passing judgement I know it’s not right but people do as they do.

 

I lead projects in the U.K. for mental Ill health within a charity supporting unpaid carers of those with Severe and enduring mental health issues. If you are in the U.K. supporting anyone in any manner please contact your county’s carers centre, they all have one and they can and do help thousands of people every year. This country would be lost without unpaid carers so keep yourself healthy. All the best

 

Hate to bring this up here but I need to make some decisions quickly and even the MD’s are are being indirect in my inquires but Covid is again ripping through an assisted living facility where a family member resides. She has it again. Last time I was able to get her that plasma treatment which was amazing people who were on deaths door were sitting up asking for food in 24 hrs. But apparently we are low on that again so I’m thinking about that new pill treatment. She can’t make this decision herself and it falls on me which I really dislike. (Meaning making treatment decisions)

I am not asking for a medical breakdown just wondering if anyone knows anyone who took it and if it was successful. They offered it to me my 3rd time with Covid a couple months ago but in the end the MD said since I got through it twice already with no serious side effects (spinning head and lethargy are apparently ok I guess) now I wish I took it so I could make a more informed decision. Sorry to place this here but I only have five days to decide and no big deal if I get no response as I have other feelers out and I am going to talk to an MD and PA I know personally it’s just they are busy and I don’t expect them to drop everything for me.

 

Well done for being open and honest about it, and thanks for the links, do you find that even though it's one of the most subjective matters to talk about it, folk will still try to tell you how you should be feeling or what you should do - usually with the best intentions at first but once their patience wears thin they start with the "well if you'd done what i told you" stuff
I'm not sure if i have depression but i do hate everything and everyone on the whole planet, and sometimes have small shimmers of mild tolerance, but they're like smoke on a windy day, my Mum is the only person who i would seriously hurt if i died so i'm waiting until she's gone,
i try to like stuff but it feels as if i'm being fake and going through the motions
i piss people off almost as much as they piss me off, envy the hermits who can live in the middle of nowhere and not speak to folk for years, whether it's the two years in Iraq or eight years in Afghanistan, watching my little brother die from brain tumour complications, or watching my Mum watch him go that caused this feeling i'll never know, but i'm at peace with it, and know exactly how to do it when the time comes so nobody has to endure finding me and dealing with those consequences.
I'm not sure how long i can maintain the current "taking a swig out of a bottle of scotch at 0630 before starting work" cliché though, i self medicated for about 12 years on diazepam and codeine, cold-turkeyed off it last December - which was an experience - so shouldn't find it too difficult seeing as i'm not a long term alcoholic, 2 years or so.
Good luck with your ongoing recovery, and i sincerely wish you the best for the future.

 

Me too. I wish I could talk. This thread is a sort of comfort, but I can't join in and open up. I had my support pet euthanised today. No, still can't. Hang in there everyone