Welcome 2015 and I hope it's a great year for all of us

This place is to support you in your daily (or sometimes hourly!) struggles with depression and how it affects our health journey.

Remember you get what you give and try to support others as you seek companionship here.

I do have to work today, only because I volunteered (dummy ) but the money will be good. I have been fighting off cold germs that are coming in from my family AND at work (does NO ONE cover their %$^& mouth when they hack, stupid boss and wife!!) and I don't feel awful, but a runny nose and overall bleh.

I usually make a point to work out New Year's Day but don't think I should today, I will make up for it when I feel better.

Have a good day!

Holly: I just realized that I needed to start the new January thread, so I am happy that you already did! You are on the ball, girl! Sorry you are feeling blah. I am still fighting the cough portion of my cold/flu. It seems to just linger and linger. Hope you don't get the full blown deal! You are probably wise to wait to work out until you feel better.


Wishing everyone a very HAPPY and HEALTHY New Year!!! I am declaring 2015 the year I take my health back..... ONE day at a time!!!

Hello all!
I've been MIA for several months, I know, I'm sorry. My Effexor was increased from 150 to 225 and my GP added 5mg of Abilify. I'm not sure if the Abilify is doing much, but I feel the difference with the Effexor. I actually feel pretty good! I even went to the gym today.

I've started eating meat again for the time being. South Beach is easier, for me, when I have meat available! Starting tomorrow (see above gym comment) I am going to go to the gym before work in the morning.

Holly: Hey there! Happy new year to you! Feel better soon!!
IBelieveInMe2: Between the two of us, Ohio won't know what hit it! We're both going to rock it this year.

So yesterday I had a horrible time...my family life is dysfunctional and everyone pretty much tears one another down verbally. I decided to start up a new blog on livejournal.com. is it possible to share it on here for you guys? The entry describes the day and how I felt really well.

sheerbibliophile: to the group! I am happy you joined us on the January 2015 thread! So sorry to hear that you had a rough time yesterday. I can certainly relate to living in a dysfunctional family with everyone tearing each other down verbally. It is NOT fun! It makes everything harder. I am in the midst of some family turmoil right now, too, but I will NOT let it derail my efforts to get healthy in body and mind this year. I am sick and tired of being "fat" and unhealthy! It does make it more difficult to get healthy, I think, when you live in the midst of an unhealthy environment, as you described, but it is still possible. Write about it all you want to here. We are listening and we want you to succeed in your weight loss journey! We are all here to support each other and we can do it together!!!

penmage: It is so great to hear from you again! Glad to hear that your meds adjustment seems to be helping. Good luck following through with your commitment to get to the gym before work in the morning! YOU CAN DO IT!!! We are definitely going to rock Ohio this year!!!


WHERE IS EVERYONE ELSE???

Thanks for the support. I figured out how to share my blog. It's on my profile.

hi everyone
sorry i've been MIA during the holidays
sometimes it feels so overwhelming even to write down my feelings & experience but i know journaling helps
i have 2 more days to enjoy vacation before going back to work
i should clean my house & organize it but it feels overwhelming. i already bought empty containers just have to use it
recently i discovered that checklists & to do notes help tremendeously and i could just go on autopilot doing things
it takes the stress out of remembering what to do,what to pack etc in the midst of my racing thoughts
happy new year 2015..hugs to everyone here

sheerbibliophile,
hi..(can't send PM & can't post comment on your blog)
i've read your story. wow..sara's behavior is similar to my younger brother. best thing to do is to pretend they don't exist,keep minimum contact for your own sake of happiness & calmness. nowadays i don't live with mom & him anymore so i don't have to communicate with them.
while you still live together, get busy,get a job or take up a hobby that occupies your time & mind. that helps for me. goodluck.

lira: I know what you mean about sometimes feeling too overwhelmed to even write your feelings down in a journal. I have found, though, that when I do it, it does really help. At least try to take some time to sit with your emotions and figure out what you need to begin to address and lessen the overwhelming feelings. This, too, can be difficult, but ~ I have found that the feelings of overwhelm don't go away until I can face them at least to some degree. Journaling and prayer seems to help me the most, but it takes a concentrated effort to quiet myself enough to even sort out what I am feeling. My mind is constantly rambling with a hundred thoughts at once, so sorting out the thoughts from the feelings can be quite a challenge! Stay with it and don't give up on yourself! You will be okay!

I am in the same boat regarding cleaning and organizing my house. Literally, I have been trying to address the clutter in my home for over 20 years. It has even deteriorated to the point that it is currently threatening my marriage. I am and have been extremely overwhelmed with this monumental (it feels like) task. I have even hired a professional organizer to help me, but I can never seem to maintain the areas we clear. I know it is related to my "body clutter" (excess weight), too, so there are some HUGE issues there which I need to face. I am determined to face and tackle these issues in 2015, but I am also scared to death that I won't be able to conquer the clutter or the weight.

My whole point in writing all of this is that you are NOT alone in your struggles. Please come here whenever possible and we can help each other along in our journeys to better health and weight loss. It really does help to have others who are working toward the same goals for support and encouragement along the way! Best of luck to you! WE CAN DO THIS.....TOGETHER!!!!!

Well folks, last Saturday night Bob and I did something very, very stupid. If you ever had any thoughts about my seeming to be an intelligent person, you can just throw those thoughts in the trash can right now. Around December 26th or so I had had nausea & vomiting and was losing fluids out the other end for days. I was starting to feel, to know that I was getting seriously dehydrated. So we did this very, very stupid thing: we took me to an E.R. On a Saturday night. At the height, or at least the beginning of the height, of respiratory virus season in the D.C. area. I should have suspected we had made a mistake when I noticed (1) everyone else there was either coughing or with a child or elderly person who was coughing, and (2) the two bathrooms were hardly being used, and in fact were refreshingly clean. And in the blank for "triage" on my admission form, the nurse had written "3"—the lowest level, the level where you don't do anything for the person and just hope they will go away.

Around 2-3 hours later, after making several hundred trips, in a wheelchair (that's how drained I was), to those clean bathrooms, and not having been seen by a doctor, the light finally dawned in my head—if not outside yet. I said to Bob, "We're gettin' out of here" and we left. I couldn't get out of that place fast enough.

But as it turned out, we should have turned right in our tracks at the beginning: Bob and I had just succeeded in exposing a dehydrated person whose immune system was flagging (that would be me) to just about every nasty urban critter that attacks people in their lower respiratory system that was trollin' the hospital scene that night. Doh!! =hits self on head=

We got home, came to our senses about my acute need for fluid and electrolyte replacement, put me on the BRAT diet (bananas, rice, apple sauce & toast), gave me some Lomotil, and fixed that situation pretty quickly. Bob just barely made it to the all-night grocery store to get those supplies during the tiny little window before he got very sick with a chest cold, and by the time my G.I. bug was on the run, I was coughing, too.

Oh man am I sick. I don't know if it's the flu or just a garden-variety cold virus, but ohmygod the muscle and joint pains are killin' me. We were exposed to so many coughing people, we don't even know if we have the same bug!

I'm too sick, in fact, to write any more. At least now you know what I've been up to: being very, very stupid.

Kathleen, I have just one suggestion for decluttering your house: do a BERP (Big Entropy Reduction Project). Make up your own acronym, or borrow mine, whatever, just get it set in your head as a major, a massive undertaking that will push all your other projects, including weight loss, so far onto the back burner, they're not even on the stove. Figure out how many hours a day you can devote to this HUGE activity, and start puttin' those hours in. Yes, it helps if you have a deadline coming up—like the arrival of pedigreed kittens—that really motivates you, but you can do it without that motivation. There is so much truth in the line "Just do it!" Don't underestimate the size of the project, and don't underestimate your inner resources. You have what it takes to accomplish this, but you gotta start it. Start with the easiest part of the project, something that may not even show, and gradually work toward the harder parts. It will be hard, hard work, and you will hate it at times. Use that slow belly breathing technique I've preached about before on this forum: start with 5-10 minutes of that, every single day, right before you begin the labor. It really works to help your mind and body stay on the task at hand. And tell us about it! Be accountable to us for starting the job and for maintaining your focus. Take at least one day off, every weekend, but start putting those hours in. It may be a long time before anyone even notices a change, but we will know and you will know that the project has begun. =sound of a starter pistol firing= Now!

Hello ladies,


I am very upset. I have lost my clonazapam. i have no idea where it is. I need it when my anxiety gets bad. I only have a few pills, maybe 10 or 12. I filled my prescription in early December. I may see if I get another one filled tomorrow, if my insurance will cover it??? It may be too soon.

I hope you all had a good New Year's Eve.

Jennifer goes back to school tomorrow. I am sad but we are on the downslide. She is almost done with school. She only has one more semester and she is interning the whole semester. She is almost done.

I have to work tomorrow. sigh I wish I didn't. I'd rather go to church but I need the hours.

Hello lira, I don't remember you from before. I'm so sorry if you were here. Anyway WELCOME to the forum.

penmage, WELCOME back, we've missed you!!!!!

I went and got my hair trimmed yesterday and it looks so much better. I always feel better when my hair looks better.

Have a great weekend everyone and think about me, wish me luck trying to get my prescription filled.

Fi: I am so happy that you wrote to tell us what's been going on. I am so very sorry that you are so sick. I hate to tell you, but it sounds like what my daughter, husband, and I all had before and during the holidays. It feels like you've been hit by a truck and it is not clear whether you have a cold or the flu or both. We all had the terrible coughing, too, and the cough just lingers and is annoying. So sorry you made the dreadful trip to the ER and were exposed to all of the germs there. That was not stupid. Many of us would have done the same thing in your situation. Just take the time to rest as much as possible and keep pushing the fluids. I hope you feel much better as soon as possible!!! Hope Bob gets better soon, too!

Thank you for the advice on decluttering. You are proof that it can be done. I will do my best. The organizer is coming this Friday and I need to let her know how dire the situation is. It is going to take a daily effort, but I can't put the weight loss on hold due to the insulin resistance. I am in danger of developing type II diabetes and really need to make changes in my food intake and get consistent with my exercise. I am starting a coaching program on January 12th to address issues that I believe will help me with both weight loss and decluttering. I have long known that the two are related. My excess weight is just "body clutter." I am scared out of my mind but also excited to face the deep issues and make some major progress in both areas! Thank you also for the reminder about the breathing techniques. I will try it out prior to my efforts each day. I need to use every tool possible and "just do it" as you said.

Lisa: I hope you either find your clonazapam or are able to refill your prescription. Try not to panic over it. You will be okay and all will be well soon. You are a strong woman and you can handle anything in the meantime until you get more clonazapam! I will keep you in my prayers! Hang in there!

ibelieveinme2,
thank you for your response & encouragement
fiona,
your post for kathleen speaks to me as well. very inspiring. i also need to declutter & organize my room, i've been putting off too long
Lisa,
i understand how you feel. i also have to work tomorrow & it sucks. i rather have one more day of vacation staying at home.
this thread is making me feel better. i will check in often.
i believe we can do it, we can work on our decluttering, on our goals, on the things we've been putting off for so long.
2015 is a fresh new start. together we can do it.

Fiona- Feel better!!
Lisa- aw thank you! You're so sweet. I missed you guys too.
Lira- welcome!

Doing pretty well today. I was supposed to have a dinner date this evening (he's a total cutie. Heavy right now but actively losing weight, which is definitely motivational to me! Plus I've seen a picture of him at his goal weight, and...rawr.) but he had to work instead, so now I'm sort of scrambling to figure out dinner plans. May just pop over to walmart for a rotisserie and call it good.

I did some de-cluttering of my own yesterday, now I just need to move the de-cluttering process to my car. I swear it looks like I live in it.

I hope you ladies all have a great day! I might check in later, but if not, see y'all tomorrow!