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Ellen70
16-03-07, 01:35
Hello everyone, my name is Eibhlin and I joined this site the other day. I am from County Limerick in Ireland and I am 36 years old. I had my first panic attack when I was 15 years old and have had about ten billion of them since then! And you know what? They NEVER become less terrifying, no matter how many you have had! Then again, if you are a member of this site and reading this, then you are well aware of that fact!
I am single, no children and live alone. I live in a rural area, in a small village, and was born and brought up nearby. I am not in a relationship, my last 'real' relationship was about five years ago.
I am too well acquainted with loneliness.

The things that make me 'mentally interesting' are agoraphobia, panic attacks, general anxiety disorder, depression and a little bit of ocd. I used to be housebound with agoraphobia but now have a 'comfort zone' of 5-10 miles from my home, depending on how good or bad I am feeling at any given time. I drive and that has given me great independence, the strange thing being that I can drive 5 miles from my home but I can't go for a 5 minutes walk from my home. The car gives me a sense of 'coverage' or something.
Been hospitalised about ten times over the last 20 years and have a bit of resentment and anger towards the way I was treated in hospital and towards the psychiatric service in general. My last time in hospital was about six years ago and that is a bit of a record for me! Recently I have been very, very near a breakdown and very near being in hospital again so I am terrified of losing all the progress I have made in handling my problems on my own.

I see a psychiatrist about once a month. The meds I am on are Quetiapine (for sleep), Setraline (coming off that as it doesn't benefit me), clonazepam and other tranquillisers.

I submit to tranquilliser and alcohol 'abuse' when my anxiety goes off the scale. I take Lorazepam and Xanax and pretty much any tranquilliser I can get my hands on when I feel really bad.

Tricyclic anti depressants work best for me and I have been going steadily downhill since my psychiatrist stopped prescribing Prothiaden (dothiepin) for me 15 months ago. SSRIs don't help me at all.

I have had ECT in the past but the only thing it did was make me lose my short term memory for a while. I used to see a great psychotherapist when I was working and could afford to see a therapist but I haven't been able to work for a while and have to rely on the shortcomings of the state health service now.

Money can't buy you happiness but it can buy you good therapy! :yesyes:

So there is my tuppence worth. Hope to make some good 'mentally interesting' friends on this site :D

RachelC
16-03-07, 02:42
Nice to meet you Eib! Im in Dublin.
Think youll like the site, it has really helped me
tc xxx

(i am def mentally interesting lol, PD anxiety and agoraphobia.)

Ellen70
16-03-07, 04:10
Thanks Rachel! I often feel sorry for the sane as it sounds so dull to be sane and not mentally interesting like ourselves :D

manmoor
16-03-07, 08:11
Hellooooo Eibhlin lol,

A big warm welcome to you from a fellow Irish sensible person. xxx :flowers:

jo61
16-03-07, 08:50
And from another one!! Who was born and went to school in Limerick!!

Rain
16-03-07, 09:50
Great to meet you Eibhlin...Up the Irish! :yesyes:

kittykat
16-03-07, 14:30
Hi there Eib,

A BIG welcome to the site.

Take care

shirley xx

Ellen70
16-03-07, 17:58
And from another one!! Who was born and went to school in Limerick!!

Jo - born and bred in Limerick????? Your next life will have to be a major compensation for that :D Nice to hear from you, Eibhlin

Ellen70
16-03-07, 18:04
Thanks for the welcomes Rain, Rachel, Kittykat and Manmoor, hope you are all on the positive side of mentallly interesting at the moment. :hugs:

nomorepanic
16-03-07, 18:07
Hi Eibhlin

Welcome aboard and lovely to see you here.

You will meet some fab people and get loads of support and advice.

Lindalou64
16-03-07, 21:04
WELCOME EIB,
SOUND LIKE YA HAVE A GOOD SENSE OF HUMOR,THATS GREAT KEEPS YA GOING, IM SURE YA WILL MEET LOTS OF PEOPLE AND FIND INFO HERE,WISH YA THE BEST,...........LINDA

Pink Princess
17-03-07, 15:15
hey welcome to the site, hope you settle in soon x x x x x x x

Ellen70
17-03-07, 17:58
THANKS ALL AND HAPPY ST PATRICK'S DAY TO YOU ALL!!!!!:yesyes:

trac67
17-03-07, 18:51
Hi,

Welcome to the forum, you will get a lot of good advice here and make some new friends

Take care

Trac xx

Nibbles
17-03-07, 18:54
Welcome to the gang of the mentally interesting! :sign20:

I chatted to you briefly in the chat room and look forward to seeing you around.

Take care,

Fairywings2612
05-02-08, 14:26
Nice to meet you Im Christine from Navan.

kellie
05-02-08, 18:21
hiya eibhlin. welcome to nmp its nice to have you here. hope its as helpful to you as it is to me. hope to talk to you in chat soon. take care .

kellie.

weeble40
05-02-08, 19:59
HI and welcome hope to see you around sometime

Emma xx

Lilith1980
05-02-08, 20:23
Welcome to NMP Eibhlin :D

Jo xxxxx