Mental Health

Mental health update: I am doing a lot better. I have adjusted my medications and went through an experimental bi-polar/depression treatment in July called intravenous ketamine treatment. Ketamine is an anesthetic drug that has been used for since the 1960s as a pain reliever and sedative. Only recently has it been explored as a treatment for drug resistant depression, bipolar, chronic pain, and other things. My experience with the drug was very positive. After my first infusion I noticed an immediate difference. My depression was significantly lower. One interesting side effect was that my anxiety increased as my depression decreased. It is almost like the depressive part of my mental health was masking the severe anxiety side of it. This effect mostly went away as I continued treatment. I had six ketamine infusions over the course of about 3 weeks, steadily increasing my dosage with each infusion. Professional anesthesiologists administered the drug and monitored me so I felt safe. ...

I have mental illnesses. In order to combat the stigma I want to explain my personal struggle with it and encourage others to seek help. Trigger warning: discussion of depression, anxiety, and suicide. I suffer from anxiety, OCD, depression, and bipolar II disorder. It has taken my entire life to be properly diagnosed since many of these types of mental illnesses are connected. As a child I remember always being anxious about everything and experiencing huge signs of OCD, including moving the pots and pans in the cabinet to an exact placement and feeling like my mother would die if I didn’t adjust the doorway exactly four times every night before I went to sleep. As I grew older I figured out ways to work through my OCD symptoms, but even today I still get these feelings that things need to be moved or touched or ordered a certain way or else bad things will happen. ...