Hi all, and welcome to the February 2017 Ups and Downs support thread.

This is group for those who need support, as a place vent and share your life comings and goings. Please join us, and keep us company.

Hi all, I tried to set up the new thread for February, but I'm afraid I missed out "February" in the title, and it's not letting me sort it.... This is why I don't start threads!

I'm going to respond to gingerkibble and nerdbling in this months thread, so we don't lose the response.

nerdbling, I hope you found our thread alright. How are you getting on? I am sorry to hear you're struggling with your depression at the moment, I hope things will ease a bit as we come out of the winter months. Hope you're keeping well!

Hi GingerKibble, welcome to the thread! I am sorry to hear you lost your job, it's hard not to turn to food at times like this. It would be great if instead of comfort eating we wanted to comfort exercise, huh? Hope you are keeping well!

Hi to everyone else! I'm still not at a point of posting about myself, I will update you soon enough.

Hi nerdbling (cute name ) to our thread. I am sorry to hear that you struggle so badly with depression and anxiety . And I hear you about not wanting to get up in the morning. Please feel free to talk about whatever you want here

H GingerKibble (that's a cute name too! ) and also to our thread! Ugh sorry about losing the job you loved!! that is really a shame. Gosh yes we all find comfort in food don't we. Hope to get to know you better

Coop - thank you for realizing we needed a February thread! and for your nice welcomes to the newbies also. Hope you're okay

Lisa - you have been tackling so much lately no wonder you feel a little overwhelmed! I hope you can justifiably take pride in realizing all you've accomplished so far.

Kathleen Hi!!! and thank you for your kind words of admiration for Eddie the dog also He is Lab, German Shepherd, and Rottweiler, and we think he has the best characteristics of all three then of course we are biased! Whenever I have to step over him in the hallway (that is many times a day ) I always bend down and pet him and tell him what a good boy he is, what a good-looking doggy, etc. But NOW i have been telling him that my 3FC friends have said he is BEYOND ADORABLE and SOOO HANDSOME and he just loves it!

Hi Monica! and Snapple! and anyone else reading .

Well my friends, I had my appointment with the cataract surgeon yesterday. Yes, I have made the appointment dates...March 29 for the first eye, then mid-April for the second one. However, a new unpleasant surprise!! He told me he found evidence of a disease, Fuch's Syndrome (what the fuch, lol) and in the l-o-n-g run and worst case scenario, pain; corneal transplants, or blindness! Just great I am trying so hard NOT to freak out about this..I had a previous eye doctor tell me for 10 years that she was worried my enlarged optic nerve was gonna lead to glaucoma and it hasn't..so there I am going to TRY to make even more healthy choices to do all I can to MAKE this dumb body be well all over ! Oh and I have to have a pre-op physical next month, that means being weighed, haven't weighed myself in over a year so that is no fun!

Lisa you never ever bore us! I love reading about what is happening with all of us, and you should be patting yourself on the back for all the huge decisions and work you have done for yourself!

and thank you so much for your kind and supportive words to me, you are right, I will just focus (ahah focus with my ill eyes ) on the scheduled surgeries and take it one step at a time.

I am doing pretty good on working on my 'thankfulness' on lots of things, even if I don't want to go to work, I am thankful I have a job, thankful my car works to transport me there, thankful I am in good health (other than the eye issue)

Right now , even though I dislike winter so much I am thankful it isn't snowing at the moment and there is some weak sun shining .

I don't want to work out but I am going to do a short cardio with light weights before getting ready for work.

hello to all and please post if you can!

Hi ladies, I hope you all are well. I am watching the Super Bowl, Atlanta is playing so good. Doesn't look like the Patriots are going to be able to come back.
I've been laying on teh couch so comfortable for the entire first half of the game. I'm trying to take it easy, I have a big day tomorrow. I actually caught a cold but feel much better today. I'm bouncing back. I am very lucky that I don't get sick very often.


Holly, I know it will be hard not to freak out about your eyes and what might or might not happen. Just concentrate, if you can, on your surgeries. Just think about how wonderful it will be to see better.
Whatever happens, I wholly feel you will be fine, we will ALWAYS be here for you.

Thankfulness is very important. I am so damn grateful that things seem to be going my way after years and years of struggling and being so sick. I really think that if you are grateful for what you have when times are tough, God really hears your spirit. I know he heard mine. Sorry, if any of you ladies aren't religious or spiritual. I don't want to offend anyone.

VermontMom - I hope you're okay and everything goes well! My step mom was told she may get glaucoma 15 years ago. She's still waiting for it!

lisaloveshearts - Good luck with the move!

So, in terms of jobs, I have found a new one, but it won't start for a few weeks and is zero-hours so swings and roundabouts.

But, on the plus side, the zoo I was made redundant from is looking for volunteers with their bird section and, as I happen to be friends with the supervisor (and may be dating a bird keeper), I am guaranteed a spot! I just have to let them know when I'm ready to start! Hoping tomorrow but I've got to get rid of this nasty head cold before then.

Hello everyone,

Holly, you might want to consider a second opinion. Mass. Eye and Ear is the top place in New England; you might want to research and decide whether to give them a call. If that is too inconvenient, I would suggest a second opinion in your area.

Yes, I was in corporate law for 30 years; I wanted to be a defense attorney, but after studying some cases and realizing I would be defending guilty people 95% of the time, I switched to corporate law. But, for fun, I would take weird cases pro bono - like the coffee shop workers. I once represented a woman whose wedding dress was a mess because of the person who did alterations; that was a dramatic one! The bride was a large woman, and needed a size 24; they only had a 22 and 26, and the store convinced her to buy the 26 and they would alter it so you could not tell the difference. And, this was a very exclusive shop. Not only did they butcher the dress; they charged her $450 for the alterations, after stating (but not writing ) they would do it for free.

Eddie is adorable!

Kathleen, I hope things are settled for you. Stress and tension are tough to deal with.

Jessika, I am sorry to hear about your mother. It is a very difficult part of life.

Lisa, congratulations on your quick action! I hope you are very happy in your house.

Hello to everyone else.

Monica

Guys, I'm sorry for not posting much recently, I felt a little inappropriate with Jessica's news. I know everything will be much rawer than for me, but I had mentioned I was having a tough time, and thought I should go into it a bit more. Last week was the second anniversary of my mum's death, it was a horrible week. I took some time to visit my dad at the weekend, and to visit her grave while I was there.

The thing is, my dad seems to have met someone new, and I'm finding it hard to come to terms with. They have been together for about a year, but we were only told the truth at Christmas, when my sister asked him. While visiting my dad to pay my respects to my mum, the new lady invited herself through, which made a tough weekend tougher.

Unfortunately the whole thing had me really upset, I barely slept for 3 nights with anxiety. I ended up having a huge rant to my OH about how my dad has treated us through the years, which was very insensitive given he lost his dad 6 months ago.

On top of this, my OH's Gran has been having difficulty with her memory - up to now, it has been quite minor things, but we had a bigger incident at the weekend. We are not sure if it's just an age thing (she's 88), and she did lose her son not long ago, but we're worried it's the start of a more serious problem. We live 2 hours away, which makes things difficult. I really hope she'll be alright.

Hello everyone I guess I answered my own question when I looked and saw this thread I didn't realize there was a new one for each month. That is pretty cool I hope everyone is doing ok

Coop I am sorry to hear about what is going on with your family, I know changes are never easy to begin with then you add emotion to them and they turn into a whole different beast.

I really thank you guys for being so open and I feel like this is a place I am come to and talk and not be judged or looked at funny. When people hear about depression they are just like yeah yeah ur sad all the time what ever. Then when they hear bi-polar they think you are absolutely crazy. The sterotypes really annoy me. And it makes it hard to talk about to anyone about it. Then the anxiety on top of it is just sometimes an incredible weight to handle and I would rather not deal with it and I know I have alway hidden or eaten my feelings for most all of my life. But I want to be healthy and feel better physically. The mental health I guess with just take time to sort out and work through, sometimes I don't think it will ever get "better" But I know I have control over my physical health and that is why i am working so hard and looking for the support to keep my head up and to keep on keeping on. I really hope everyone will pull through their struggles and be able to have a good year. If anyone has any questions they want to ask please feel free.. Thanks

Hello everyone. Thank you so much. It's been really rough. I'm glad I have you all here. Love you guys

We had her celebration of life gathering on Jan 28th, and are going to spread her ashes on the weekend of Feb 24th. I miss her dearly, and continue to struggle quite a bit

I've set up appointments to see my therapist weekly, I've been doing a lot of journaling, reading a daily grief recovery meditation book, I see my psychiatrist soon, etc. I have definitely struggled, though, with depressive and hypomanic episodes, anxiety and OCD stuff (I have Bipolar2 Disorder, GAD & OCD, and a couple of other diagnoses...)

My sleep is all messed up, for the first 11 days after her passing I was only sleeping approximately 3 hours a night, and I kind of went off my rocker a bit. My sleep is bouncing around now, for a couple of nights I'll get solid 6-8 hours of sleep, then it's back to just a few, and then back again

My wife has been very supportive, but it's also been hard on that front bc I'm an introvert and she's an extrovert, and we deal/cope with things in very different manners on that respect. Plus, considering I was the only child, everything is falling on me (all the red-tape stuff, which believe it or not is a lot, especially for someone who in her life didn't have much. I'm actually having to go to probate court soon, and that's just the tip of the iceberg.)

I'm also very much struggling at work... I am a counselor, actually, by profession, and it's not the work it self that I'm struggling with - it's just keeping up in general

Lastly, my eating has been out of control for the last 2 weeks. Prior to my mom dying, I had broken out of my weight loss plateau and lost 6 pounds on Weight Watchers... Then she passed away, and I've been binge eating for 2 weeks. I'm frustrated and disappointed with that.

Anyway, I wanted to stop by and give an update. Thank you all again for all of your love and support. I'll be back soon

Jessica it's really good to see you! It's nice to see you're getting on with things. I really like the idea of the celebration of life ceremony, it's a lovely way to say goodbye.

I know my eating and sleep were awful for months after my mum passed, it's pretty standard - you're either a comfort eater or a comfort faster! You'll get there. Having to deal with courts for probate is tough!

If you're into this sort of thing, Rescue Remedy really helped calm me through some of my darker times. You might find it helpful.

lisa I'm guessing your sans internet for a while, but I really hope your move went well!

holly what difficult news from the eye specialist! I agree with Monica that a second opinion might be worthwhile. By the way, I loved the photos of Eddie! He looks like a big softie!

monica I've been listening to a lot of stories about defence law recently, I'm thinking you were right to stick to corporate law! I do find the whole profession fascinating, but a lot of responsibility. The pro bono cases sound like a good way to break the work up.

Nerdbling glad you found the new thread! I hope you can keep stopping by, and things can get a little easier for you, even if you never get truly better.


My OH had a Celiac test before Christmas, but was told his tests came back normal. He went to the doctors about something else today, and his doctor just happened to relook at his test results - it turns out he actually tested positive for Celiacs disease. Can't believe they told him otherwise! It's going to be a huge overhaul for us. Most of the foods he has to cut out are unhealthy though, so I guess there is a silver lining somewhere in there...

Lisa I hope so much that Moving Day went smoothly! Are your fur babies getting adjusted? (and you?) thinking of you!