This is no life, enjoyment has gone and i cant get it back.

[Desprate Dan]

For over a year now, i have lost hope, enjoyment, but when i say lost i mean vanished its totally gone. I've been on medication had cbt, but nothing seem's to have worked, i am fast loseing hope that i will ever feel enjoyment, enthusiasm i once had, i feel i am pushing myself to do things i once enjoyed and resenting them. I feel so tired i just want to goto bed all the time, i feel so guilty and shameful for feeling this way, but something has a tight grip on me, please i just want enjoyment back. I am so worried as to were all this might end, i am so anxious i am wasting my life and feel powerless to stop it. I am desperate please help, what can i do? Thanks DD

[GlasgowGuy]

If any consolation I'm in same boat mate.

[bomberbeamish]

me to im the same,,,, as soon as kids go bed im straight to bed,, and sleep when ever i can,, i dont want to go out,, i dont want any one round,, i dont wanna do nothen

[caz1625]

I know exactly how you feel :weep:

When I look back at the person I used to be before all this started I was fun loving and loved going out and being with friends and having fun. Now it takes me all my time to get through a day and is a real struggle to get out the door just to do the things I have to do. How I would love to be that carefree happy person again. I miss her.

Carol x

[Desprate Dan]

I get this enormous feeling of guilt and shame, as if i should be enjoying life, but you can't force it. I know i am lucky and there is people in worse posistion than me and i sympathise, thats why i have this guilt because i shouldnt feel so down..

[Jaco45er]

Hi Dan

I was in that very same boat for years. Stopped going out socially, stopped fishing, biking, guitar gathered dust, never had the music on, stopped cooking. My life was was just a constant existence of doing what I had to do just to pay the mortgage and survive.

So, like you are feeling now (no hope, saddled with this, it's never going top get any better for me, why can't I content and happy like those around me?), I felt exactly the same, until I found what worked for me.

Anxiety is a complex illness, which is why there is so many treatments that one can try to alleviate the symptoms. But, i do believe there is a treatment for everyone, the trick is finding what works.

This can be therapy (tried that) meds (tried them) chinese herbalists (well you pay's you're money I suppose ;)), there are lots, but the one that worked for me, was plain old exercise. After years of hating life, simple exercise caused the anxiety to lift and gradually I could get back to doing stuff i enjoyed.

I am not saying the anxiety has gone forever (bad days come and go), but my point it there will be some treatment out there that will work for you, and I wish you all the luck in finding it.

TC

Jaco

[Veronica H]

:yesyes:I agree Jaco. I always take a downturn if I don't get enough exercise. The elephant in the room is always this over thinking, being over critical of ourselves and imagining that there is something that we are lacking which 'normal' folk take for granted. We are being tricked by our sensitised nerves and by engageing with this are creating the problem. Fixing it is not easy, and I agree what works for one may not work for another, but if we can stay in the moment as much as possible and stop being so hard on ourselves then its a start.:bighug1:hugs to all. Vx

[Vixxy]

Hi dan. The main thing Ive learnt is acceptance. As soon as you accept your current situation no matter how harsh it is then youll start to improve.
Dont push yourself to do things you used to enjoy. Youre a different person now. Mental health will change you as does age.
For instance I was 19 when I started getting panic attacks, Im 29 now. I used to go out drinking and dancing every weekend. Theres no way I would want to do that now. I much prefer sitting in and watching a movie!

[Desprate Dan]

Thanks you are all so kind and you are right, Jacko i am really pleased excercise helped you. I joined the gym i still pay £24 a month, 12 month contract, hoping that would be the answer, but i really didnt enjoy it, i use get so anxious before going, would rather go to the dentist.. I use to go fishing and use to really enjoy but even that has become a chore.. I really need to find the key and find it fast.. I know its harsh to say, but i hate myself so much for feeling this way... DD

[GlasgowGuy]

Dan i totally sympathise. Glad you made the thread cause I'm in exact same boat and like reading the responses.

I've felt with seeing so many professionals(GP, Psychiatrists, Psychologists, Psychiatric Nurse, Hypnotherapists, CBT Therapist, self help books) and ultimately its a kinda well here is the ball you gotta pick it up and run with it. It's that which scares me. The long rocky road ahead and it's gotta come from within. It's tough on us to do it and some people can do it with a lot of work and some like us struggle.

Gotta keep believing are better days ahead. We have coped with all our mental illness and are tougher than we think.

[MidnightCalm]

These days all I do is lie in bed depressed, scared to do anything in case I get a new sensation or realise I'm still not any better.
I wake up needing to cry, go to sleep needing to cry, certain words on television will remind me of my fears and send me into a slight panic, just getting a text makes my stomach drop because it makes me feel sad that people are contacting me but I'm just not the person they're expecting a reply from :(

[Vixxy]

Maybe you could all try doing 1 positive thing each day. Ive made myself a twitter account and every day I post the positive things I do each day on there. Because I update it daily I feel more motivated to actually do something worthy of posting on there.
Even doing something like washing your hair is enough. Eventually youll start to do bigger and better things and more of them.
It really does work :) If anyone wants to join my twitter escapades then please let me know. Moral support it always good :D

[mandie]

Hi Dan

Sorry you are feeling this way, i could of written that post, thats exactly how i am to :weep:

everything seems such a chore these days, i have no pleasure in doing anything. The only time i seem to be anxious free these days is when im asleep.

love mandie x

[trish1955]

you dont ave to join a gym you can go in to your bedroom put some music on and do wat evr excersise you like i no it does work 15trs ago i got myself into a routine of doing excersise in my bedroom after the kids had gone to school and i noticed a major diffrence i ave sufferd on and off since i was 12 yrs old i was 40 wen i did the routine but i was stuid things changed in my home and i stopped the some realy bad stuff happend in 2000 and i just cant get myself bk but they are right it does help just try u might bot enjoy it but if it helps just think wat its giveing you bk take care lv trish x

[Bill]

I think when we feel we're carrying too much weight, it can stress us so much that we feel that to push the boulder off us can feel hopeless.

I feel that if we feel forced into a dark room by fear of the outsde world with no way out, the key to unlock the door can feel impossible to find.

I think if we feel we're standing on a desert island watching others on the mainland enjoying themselves on the beach, we will ask ourselves why can't we feel free too....

........and all the above will make us feel depressed.

To lift depression I feel there is only one way - find ways to ease the weight of our boulder - force ourselves to open the door that we feel too afraid to open - and then allow ourselves no matter how afraid we feel to find and have the things that we feel we need to feel happy again no matter how difficult or how long the journey otherwise we'll always live in fear of living and left forever feeling depressed.

If though we can't identify the causes or our stresses and fears, that's when we need support and guidance to feel free once more, and that's when we need to push for the help we really need no matter how tired we feel or how hopeless it all seems.

There is Always light at the end of the tunnel no matter how hopeless everything feels. Sometimes we just need the right help, patience and willpower but hope is always there if we don't give up on our dreams.:hugs:

[GlasgowGuy]

Wise words Bill. Is still so tough but your words mate are always a comfort.

[Nigel H]

Read this link in regard to Time Line Therapy which is highly effective and gives real, tangible results. I was fortunate to have trained in this before having an accident and related PTSD - so once physically healed [despite losing 70% of the use of my right arm] I knew where to go to overcome the associated mental scars.

http://www.timelinetherapy.net/anxiety.html

http://www.timelinetherapy.net/

It's not my site, rather that of the originator of TLT, Dr Tad James. I hope that anyone who has such a condition can find a way to resolve it and anything I can offer in way of help will hopefully lead some to get the right help and so leave that old problem behind them.

Nig