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Friday, 5 November 2010

Anger, jealousy, and anxiety

I am a) absolutely furious, and b) feeling really shit. Which isn't a great combination really. The anger is because as I wrote about a couple of months ago (here) I had to start looking after my 5 year old nephew after he finished school on Thursdays, until my sister could get here to pick him up. Although it doesn't sound like a big deal, I have found it incredibly stressful, and I have got into a complete state at times as I have been so panicked about it. There were also a couple of times when I was supposed to be seeing T, but wasn't able to because I had to be at home to look after my nephew, and that obviously annoyed me because I don't often see friends, and so when I can, and feel like it, I don't want to not be able to because I have to look after my nephew. So every week I told my mum that I really didn't want to do it, and how anxious it made me, and then in the end after having to tell T yet again that I wouldn't be able to see him because of looking after my nephew, I said to my mum that was the last week I would do it, and they would have to make other arrangements for the next week. Naturally they didn't, and I had to do it again, and was really angry that I had been completely ignored yet again, and said I really was not going to do it anymore. She asked if I could just keep doing it until half term (last week) as that would give my sister time to make other arrangements, so I agreed to that, but said I was absolutely not going to do it after that, and that if I was needed for the odd afternoon because someone was ill or something then that was one thing, but I did not want it as a weekly commitment. So as far as I was concerned my responsibilites with that had finished a couple of weeks ago. Then on Monday, my mum asked me what was going to happen about him this week. I said I was under the impression that she had told my sister I wouldn't be looking after him anymore weeks and weeks ago when we discussed it, as the whole point was that she would have time until after half term to find another arrangement. Turned out she hadn't actually mentioned it at all, as she said she knew my sister would say how selfish and mean I was and how I only thought about myself, and she would be able to see her point. I said I didn't care, I wasn't doing it, and she said she would call her. I then didn't think anything more about it, until I heard hammering on the door this afternoon. Assumed it was a delivery or something, went downstairs, and there was my nephew. I was absolutely furious. I hate that my feelings are just completely ignored - I have said so many times that I just find it too stressful, and it makes me really upset and anxious, plus I don't want to be tied down and not able to arrange other things if I want to, but it seems like that is completely unimportant. My sister is such a bully, and as long as everything suits her then she doesn't actually give a shit about whether something suits other people, or how it makes them feel. And I am really angry with my mum for telling me weeks and weeks ago that I only had to do it until half term, and then doing absolutely nothing about it, and then telling me again on Monday that she would speak to my sister, and again doing nothing about it. And after he had left I said to my mum how annoyed I was, and that naturally I hadn't been expecting him today, and once again got the 'Well I really don't see why it is such a big deal, I don't know why you can't just look after him, and there is nothing about it that should make you anxious' speech that I get from her every time. I have tried to explain that I think it is actually irrelevant that she doesn't think it should make me anxious, as it does, and it also makes me very upset, but she is more concerned about not rocking the boat where my sister is concerned than she is about my feelings. So I am feeling really pissed off and upset about the whole thing. I don't care if I am selfish for not doing it - I just get too stressed by it, and I don't see why I should have to put myself through that much anxiety, just because my sister can't be bothered to find someone to look after her child.

I think the feeling shit is primarily just the natural progression of how I have been feeling this week. My mood just seems to be dropping further. I hate this so much. Knowing what is happening, and yet being powerless to stop it. The depression is certainly getting stronger yet again, as are the suicidal thoughts. And it is continually in my mind that if I am going to act on them, I have to do it in the next few weeks, or I can't for 2 months, and that does scare me quite a lot. I am also having thoughts that I don't like and feel quite ashamed of. They annoy me, because they just sound so typically borderline, and I don't want to be that. When I have thoughts that are typical of depression or disordered eating for example, obviously I hate having them because they make me feel bad, but I don't feel anything negative towards the actual thoughts, whereas I really do about thoughts that I perceive as borderline. They always make me feel ashamed of myself and embarrassed, and so I try to just pretend they aren't there - I often don't write about them because I just don't want to be thinking them. At the moment I think I am just feeling a bit envious of a couple of my friends, and I hate myself for that because they aren't well, but I just can't help it. It is one in particular really, my friend A who took the paracetamol overdose the other day. It sounds awful already, saying I am jealous of someone who took an overdose. She also spent around 9 months in hospital fairly recently, from about this time last year, until this summer. Anyway, she is fine, she was on a drip for a while, but she is back home now. She has been saying for a couple of weeks that she is feeling really crap and having suicidal thoughts, and obviously I have tried to be supportive and talk to her etc. But what I am finding difficult is the amount of help she gets. We had very similar histories, and she used to be in a similar position to me, and see someone weekly and that was about it. Then she started DBT, and so had quite a lot of support from that, and also got a lot of referrals to the crisis team. She had a couple of short admissions (1 week) when she was struggling. Then around this time last year she was admitted, and for some reason kept there for about 9 months. They did a lot of messing around with her meds to try and get her onto something that would help stabilise her, which made sense, but I was really amazed that they kept her in hospital for so long as she wasn't manic or psychotic or anything else that people are usually hospitalised for a long time for, and it was just a normal acute NHS ward, not a therapeutic community or anything like that. I found it difficult sometimes when she was in hospital, as she would say she was feeling really bad for example, but some of those times I was also really struggling a lot, but on my own, without constant support like she had. But I knew that there was no way I would have wanted to be in hospital for that long when it had no therapeutic value etc, and I also thought it wasn't a very good idea, as she would find it really hard when she left and suddenly didn't have all of that support. As predicted, she found it difficult when she was discharged, as I think she had completely forgotten what it was like to feel really shit and not have 24/7 support, and what it is like to have suicidal thoughts and just have to get through them on your own because there is no alternative. But she had been doing ok. She was coping as well as could be expected really, and didn't seem to be doing too badly really - the medication definitely helped her and she wasn't self harming, and didn't seem to be that low or suicidal - certainly a lot better than I have seen her other times. Then a couple of weeks ago she started feeling worse and telling me she was having suicidal thoughts but didn't want to be admitted or see the crisis team, and so I tried to remind her of all the times in the past she had managed to cope with thoughts like that, and that she could do it again. And then the other day she took the overdose - it wasn't a suicide attempt, as she told me she had done it about half an hour later, but she had bad news and she said she just did it before she had even thought about it, and she was planning to go to hospital for it etc. When I spoke to her earlier she said she was being seen by the crisis team, and if she wasn't feeling better by Monday then she would be admitted, and she said she didn't care either way. And for some reason I just found that really hard to hear. I think it is because of the countless times when I have been feeling so completely desperate because of how suicidal I have felt, and just how terrible I have been feeling, and just had to cope with the same amount of support as usual, ie a weekly appointment, or sometimes not even that if it has been a period when L has been away. I don't get seen by the crisis team or offered admission. I haven't even been admitted following suicide attempts, although I did have a couple of admissions back in 2005 when I was living away from home. And I have been feeling worse and worse over the last week or two, and the suicidal thoughts are getting stronger, but I know that it wouldn't matter how bad things got, I still wouldn't get that kind of support. And I do understand why, because I know I need to learn to cope with the suicidal thoughts without escaping into hospital, and that it really isn't a solution in the long term, but sometimes I just feel so desperate, and a break from having to fight constantly to keep myself safe would just be such an enormous relief, and if I am honest I do feel jealous that she can have that if she asks, or even if she doesn't, when I can be feeling exactly the same and get nothing. But I hate myself for thinking like that, because if she is getting more help it must be because she is more ill and needs it and deserves it more than I do, and I really shouldn't be jealous of her for it. But I can't help it.

I am feeling a bit stressed, as a friend I've not seen for 2 or 3 months sent me a text the other day asking if I was doing anything on Sunday. I said I had a concert rehearsal from 11 - 12, but was free after that. She replied asking if I would like to go out for lunch. Since I had just said I was free, I couldn't then say I was busy, and she's a very long term friend, who I have known since I was 4 and she was 2, and I would like to see her, but the thought of eating out is really scaring me. I always find it fairly difficult eating out, because I know it is likely to have a bad effect on my weight, but it is something I try and do anyway, because it is one of the most obvious ways of socialising with people, and actually I like some food a lot, and therefore quite like eating out - it just makes me feel guilty, and I quite often purge. But I still do it. But this time it is actually filling me with dread. I think it is because I finally, over the last week or so, seem to have got my body into a pattern of losing or maintaining every day, without really gaining at all, and I think I am just terrified of ruining that. I don't think I have ever felt quite this scared about a meal out. I think it is because emotionally I am really feeling on the edge at the moment, and knowing that my weight is going down is the only positive I can see at all, and I am scared of what my reaction will be if the numbers start going up, as I just don't think I can cope with any more bad feelings at the moment. I am angry with myself for letting my eating and weight get this much control over me - regardless of my weight, or what stage I have been at eating wise, ie whether I have been purging or restricting or whatever, I have always still gone for meals out, and I am just furious that I have now become so terrified by the thought of it. Why have I been able to do it for the last 7 years, and now suddenly it feels like the scariest thing evver?! I suppose it must just be because I am feeling so precarious mood wise, and so I am just desperate to cling on to the one thing in my life I can see as a positive, and I am scared that this meal will shatter that, and therefore any semblance of coping. I am scared.

I have an appointment with Dr O tomorrow. It is lucky they always book me a double slot, as I seem to have a string of things to tell her. My back still isn't better, my hamstring/hip thing is bad, and then there is the lump thing that I should mention. Plus the usual getting my medications, her making assumptions on my mood based on whether or not I am smiling, and suggesting I learn to cross stitch if I am not doing well.

I need to sleep. I have been writing this on and off for 11 hours now. My concentration is just all over the place. I can't think properly, and my brain just feels slowed down.

7 comments:

  1. ((((((((hugs)))))))) Bippidee

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  2. Sorry your under so much stress.
    For the lunch, why don't you say you can't make it until mid-afternoon (2'ish)and that way you can just go for coffee instead of a meal. Might take the strain off the whole eating thing & then you can relax and just enjoy visiting with your friend.
    I too often feel like everyone else gets help & I don't. I see a P-doc once every 6 - 8 weeks and thats it! Nothing else. Obviously I need more but because I'm not working I have no medical coverage for anything else. It makes me a bit mad when people think I should just cope on my own and wonder why its so difficult. (IT IS!)Again thats why I like out twitter, blogg community here on the computer. It's people who not only care but totally understand.
    ( hugs )

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  3. *hugs*

    I can really relate to your "borderline" thoughts. I'm really ashamed of mine too, but it feels like I've never been taken seriously by mental health services, and always been expected to struggle on with the minimum of support, so it's hard to see other people getting that help.

    The sad thing is it doesn't sound as though all that hospitalisation and DBT is really helping your friend. :(

    Take care x

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  4. *thousands of hugs* That's an awful lot to be dealing with. I can offer no adice but I hope things are btter soon

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  5. (((Bippidee)))

    Hang on, okay? I can relate to the feeling of urgency in the suicidal thoughts. But it may help to take life one day at a time instead of projecting ahead to the next 2 months.

    Wishing you well,
    NOS

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  6. Thanks for the replies. It's a bit late to tell her I couldn't see her until later, as when she initially asked I said I was free from 12, and so she suggested meeting straight after and I said that would be fine, so I don't really know how I could come up with a valid excuse to change that.

    It is good to feel like I am not alone in my jealousy/'borderline' thoughts, as that does make me feel slightly less guilty, but I really sorry that there are so many people out there not getting the support they need and deserve.

    xxx

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  7. I understand the jealousy thing about other people getting help...I've just been discharged from the CMHT and so now see noone at all! All because I'm high functioning or something... So in a way, I'm jealous of you for still having L.

    Hope you manage to sort the lunch stuff :)

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