i am feeling really flat, with little emotion. Is this normal? I have been putting a face on for such a long time, but I can't seem to do it. I am really flat. Trying to act normal is really hard as I can't be normal. Have anyone had the same thing?
Sorry to keep asking, I know nothing about depression. It's the first time and don't know if it's normal or medication. Sorry!!!
Yes it's just the classic symptoms of depression I do it all the time when I'm working I have to pretend I'm happy and cheerful in front of my clients and I find it exhausting when really I just feel like curling up and dying
I have been dealing with the same thing for around 6/7 years and i've just run out of steam with it. everyone knows im putting it on and it has totally affected my personal and working relationships. i think i'm only just realising that i need to either deal with these issues now or spend the rest of my life fighting them. its horrible!
You don't have to be sorry about asking anything that the point of this forum to give each other help advice and support your more than welcome here we all love and care about each other and someone will always reply to you. We all understand so never be sorry
Hi F,
I sounds like you may be taking the medication called lithium. Is that so? That med does make people taking it feel flat. It's safer than feeling severely depressed and prevents episodes of mania. Once you've been on it for a number of months your doctor may decide to reduce the dosage or put you on mood stabilizers instead. I felt flat while I was on lithium but my doctor felt it was safe to take me off of it. The mood stabilizers worked really well. In fact my depression finally left me. I just suffer from the mania now a days. I get angry too easily, I over spend, insomnia is a problem & i often lack motivation to do the simplest things in life. My life will never be perfect. I'm on a combination of two mood stabilizers... Carbamazepine and Divalproex. My self esteem is good.
I had enough too, putting a face on is hard. Like you I have got to sort myself out. I also don't want to spend my life like this. I just never realised how hard it is, to live a normal life.
I'm on citalopram, they put it up about a week ago (40mg) I'm not crying but just flat. I still don't like myself and feel useless, hopeful the councillor will help. I want to be normal.
You certainly need to do something about it or it will just keep getting worse!
how long have you felt like this?
I am going to see a councillor, I need to sort myself out as my parents need me. And for me to.
Feeling flat, a couple of days. ive upped the medication and didn't know if it was that.
yes everyday but the more I force myself to do things I mean really force myself this feeling lifts regular excercise keeps me going and doing things I used to enjoy the feelings of happiness start to come back throughout my day are now starting to back I was so flat before I couldn't even get showered eat or get dressed I don't think depression is a quick fix it takes time but I am sure you will get there
good luck
Oh please don't call yourself Failure. That is so not true. People with depression are not failures,they just have an illness which many other people have. What you are feeling is very common with depression. We lose so much, it takes away so much.
Not easy to appear OK when inside you are crying, I know that from experience. I think you will find that all of us here have the same feeling you do, because that is part of this illness. I do hope you are getting support.
Keep posing, and you will see what lovely people they are here, and how caring about each other. We all know what it is to have depression.,
I feel like a failure, big time. I hate myself for letting it all get to me. I'm a let down.
Try to find something to focus on that stops you feeling flat. i know this is easily said than done if your mood is low. But depression is an evil disease and it it wants you to give up and limit you in what you do. Your only mechanism to fight back is you. Some days you will have the fight other days you wont. But dont let it win the war, its ok to lose a battle or two but you got to believe you will win in the end. However long it takes.
Yes 'Failure' I have gone through the same things. Back in 1991 I had brain surgery to remove a benign tumor. Within a week after the surgery I developed severe depression. I ended up atempting suicide a few times. The reason for the depression was because the tumor was in the right frontal lobe of my brain. That's the part of the brain that keeps the chemicals in the brain in balance. My brain will never recover. I will be stuck with bi-polar illness for the rest of my life.
But thanks to a great psychiatrist, I was able to overcome the depression. She put me on the right cocktail of medications to keep my depression at bay. To this day, I don't suffer from severe depression any more. All I have to deal with is the hypomania. I do have some slight symptoms of depression though. I lack motivation. My desk and my apartment are a mess. I can't get to bed at a decent time any more. I'm quite simply hyper. It's not unusual for me to stay up till 3 or 4 in the morning working on the computer either reading forums or FaceBook. I often over spend. I too easily get sucked into Internet scams that rip me off for hundreds of dollars. My credit card debt is over $3,500. All my credit cards are cut up now. Luckily I am in a Debt Management Program where I pay a debt counsellor $155/month to pay off the credit cards. Another bonus is that the program has made a deal with the banks to reduce my high anual interest rate. The reduced rate is between 0 and 3% per year. So this way any money sent to the cards goes to pay off the balance not the interest. What a blessing. It beats going into bankruptcy.
Sadly enough, a year after my operation, my sister who was suffering from post partum depression from the birth of her second child, she took her life. So my parents were very concerned about the mental health problems in our family. So they joined the Family and Friends Group of the Mood Disorders Association. in our city. They lasted there 5 years and became very supportive towards me. They passed the info they learned to my siblings who all in all supported me both emotionally and financially. My sister in Calgary pays my brother for my monthly bus pass. My brother takes me shopping at the local discount food store and pays the bill. My Dad pays for my dental appointments at the University Dental college... including cleanings, gold crowns, root canals and gold bridges. It's cheaper to go to the Dental college. He's on a great pension. Even my daughter helps support me and buys me new clothes when she thinks my clothes are a little shabby. What a supportive family.
If there is a Family and Friends or similar group in your area encourage your family members to join. The group I belong to is split into numerous groups... Bi-polar, Depression, Borderline Personanlity Group, Schizophrenia group and Family and Friends. They meet every Wdnesday evening for 2 hours. Not to mention other groups during the week. It is like a second family to me.
Check and see if such groups exist in your community.
I used to do that while I was in work, and while I was working as a security guard I put on a fake smile everyday, I felt like I was invisible at most times and felt lifeless at times. As soon as I got home Id crash out on the sofa and fall asleep. Since then I've gotten better my real smile is coming back. I lost interest in everything I loved ie hobbies but now I feel it's time that I got back what I loved
I was in denial about my depression for many years but it has gotten worse lately. Like you say, I find it hard to do the simplest things in my life. I refuse to exercise, I often don't get dressed up during the day just hang around in the apartment in my pj's, don't eat enough, don't shower often enough just to mention a few simple tasks. I need to discipline myself. If I would just tackle one thing at a time I'm sure I would improve myself. I don't want extra medication to remove my depression because I'm over medicated as it is. I just have to think more positively about myself. I have gotten lazy these last few years. I know I can do it better. I'm not a failure, I'm just simply undisciplined. Positive self talk will change me one small step at a time.
I have been like this for weeks...finally I stopped eating gluten and also tried to cut down on my many goals. In other words, instead of telling myself I need to do this, and this and that today...and feeling worse, I googled How to Get Motivated When Depressed and found some good articles. Reading them helped and then I decided to do just one or two things. Small things. By just making your bed and getting dressed (not too fancy, just doing a pretty good job) you will feel more self-respect and motivation. If you are too tired to go on, then hey, at least you did more than yesterday! And if you feel motivated, you can try something else!. By doing this slowly, I have finally been able to get my new apartment reasonably organized and tidy. I think we also want or expect too much. I want my place to look like a celebrity's but I have to remember I don't have millions of $$