Depression Support Thread

whitevanwoman

To Shazrobo - have you got your Ugg boots yet? What do you think of them? I just remembered that you asked about what to use to protect them - I don't really wear mine outside, except to put the bins out, fill the coal bucket, because I think they would just get trashed if you wore them outside in our weather. I wear mine as slippers - as soon as I get in, the shoes come off and the Uggs go on and stay on till bedtime and then they go on first thing in the morning and stay on unless I'm going out (I have nipped out in the car down to the shop etc in them but don't really wear them out).

At first I tried to keep them clean but gave up after a month or so. What I did put on them at first was some stuff by Nikwax, nubuck and suede proof which is a spray on waterproofing and it did help stop them absorbing any wetness. It's made for hiking boots etc and you can get it in outdoor clothing shops, unfortunately not v cheap, about a fiver, but you'll probably get several proofings out of it. I've cleaned mine using a sponge and liquid soap but you might find that if you do that you will need to do the whole boot otherwise you might get a watermark if you just do an odd spot. If they get soaked through, stuff them with newspaper and leave to dry - change the newspaper every few hours or once it feels damp. You will probably find that they stretch too - I bought some fleecy insoles for mine and also made some thermal insoles from an old traditional woollen blanket that I picked up in a charity shop for about £1.



Someone else was talking about sleeping alot - can't remember who and sorry, but just can't be bothered reading backwards through the thread but I've discovered quite an interesting website with some info about depression and sleeping - here's a link to the page http://www.clinical-depression.co.uk/Understanding_Depression/understanding.htm

It really made sense to me as for years I have needed a minimum 8 hrs and if I don't set an alarm I can easily sleep 10 - 12 hours and still wake up filling !!!! and tired. I really struggle in the mornings and find that it is usually lunchtime before I feel halfway human and this causes me real problems workwise - the thought of starting work at 9am fills me with dread and causes real anxiety which then means that because I'm so stressed I can't go to sleep and so then I'm only going to get a few hours sleep so I know I'll be even worse, and might even sleep through my alarms - I have at least 3 alarms and can easily sleep through all 3 - it's like a vicious circle. To anyone else it just looks like I'm lazy and have no will power about getting up.

Hope everyone is having an ok day - I'm trying to catch up on paperwork, bills, etc which I haven't looked at for weeks and also revise for a big exam next week but not feeling very motivated to do either

shazrobo

hi wvw, how are you today?
got my ugg boots last week, and have only wore them the once outside, and that was just in the car to my mum's, scared of ruining them lol

i'll have a look at the link re sleeping, as i need loads sleep too, and am still always yawning.
hugs
shaz x

geminilady

whitevanwoman wrote: »

To Shazrobo - have you got your Ugg boots yet? What do you think of them? I just remembered that you asked about what to use to protect them - I don't really wear mine outside, except to put the bins out, fill the coal bucket, because I think they would just get trashed if you wore them outside in our weather. I wear mine as slippers - as soon as I get in, the shoes come off and the Uggs go on and stay on till bedtime and then they go on first thing in the morning and stay on unless I'm going out (I have nipped out in the car down to the shop etc in them but don't really wear them out).

At first I tried to keep them clean but gave up after a month or so. What I did put on them at first was some stuff by Nikwax, nubuck and suede proof which is a spray on waterproofing and it did help stop them absorbing any wetness. It's made for hiking boots etc and you can get it in outdoor clothing shops, unfortunately not v cheap, about a fiver, but you'll probably get several proofings out of it. I've cleaned mine using a sponge and liquid soap but you might find that if you do that you will need to do the whole boot otherwise you might get a watermark if you just do an odd spot. If they get soaked through, stuff them with newspaper and leave to dry - change the newspaper every few hours or once it feels damp. You will probably find that they stretch too - I bought some fleecy insoles for mine and also made some thermal insoles from an old traditional woollen blanket that I picked up in a charity shop for about £1.



Someone else was talking about sleeping alot - can't remember who and sorry, but just can't be bothered reading backwards through the thread but I've discovered quite an interesting website with some info about depression and sleeping - here's a link to the page http://www.clinical-depression.co.uk/Understanding_Depression/understanding.htm

It really made sense to me as for years I have needed a minimum 8 hrs and if I don't set an alarm I can easily sleep 10 - 12 hours and still wake up filling !!!! and tired. I really struggle in the mornings and find that it is usually lunchtime before I feel halfway human and this causes me real problems workwise - the thought of starting work at 9am fills me with dread and causes real anxiety which then means that because I'm so stressed I can't go to sleep and so then I'm only going to get a few hours sleep so I know I'll be even worse, and might even sleep through my alarms - I have at least 3 alarms and can easily sleep through all 3 - it's like a vicious circle. To anyone else it just looks like I'm lazy and have no will power about getting up.

Hope everyone is having an ok day - I'm trying to catch up on paperwork, bills, etc which I haven't looked at for weeks and also revise for a big exam next week but not feeling very motivated to do either

Hi wvh You sound exactly like me,i am hopeless on a morning and can also sleep 10 hrs,luckily i work 2-8pm so do not have to get up early wich is a good job seen as i am up till 2am most nights.Have you thought of working evenings/nights?it might suit your body clock better.

whitevanwoman

geminilady wrote: »

Hi wvh You sound exactly like me,i am hopeless on a morning and can also sleep 10 hrs,luckily i work 2-8pm so do not have to get up early wich is a good job seen as i am up till 2am most nights.Have you thought of working evenings/nights?it might suit your body clock better.

I used to work evenings as a youth worker and it did suit me much better and I have tried to explain this to where I work now and request if I could only work afternoons which they agreed to for a few weeks after I'd been off sick but then said I had to go back to working normal hours - so much for the DDA! I've been job hunting for several years as the job I'm in is causing quite a lot of stress and I would really like to get out of it but I live in a rural area and there isn't much work around especially part-time or evenings and I can't afford to travel too far afield. I can't afford to move or sell my house (even if it did sell) and I wouldn't qualify for any council or housing association housing even if I could sell it, so I'm pretty stuck where I am. And then having a history of mental illness makes it so much harder to find work that you want to do, enjoy doing and suits you best,
- I'm sure I've lost out of jobs because I've been honest about my illness.

Sorry - that all sounds really negative but I think part of my problem at the moment is that I feel quite out of control of my life because I'm stuck in a situation that I can't do much about until I find a job that pays enough, without it being too many hours and is flexible enough to not be affected by repeated bouts of depression. I've recently registered as self-employed and am in the process of doing a business plan to start my own business but its obviously not the best time economically at the moment and it will take some time to generate enough work to see a benefit. Fingers crossed for the job application I put in last week - I should know tomorrow if I've got an interview.

Sssssss

Hi wvw, fingers crossed you get the interview, I don't know how you feel about interviews but I always think it's best to be yourself. The job I got on friday there were two of us in the interview, the other guy was trying so hard to impress the boss that I just wanted to throw up. I'm really not into all this nice firm handshake crap, I am who I am. Good luck anyways.

p.s. do you really drive a white van

whitevanwoman

Sssssss wrote: »

Hi wvw, fingers crossed you get the interview, I don't know how you feel about interviews but I always think it's best to be yourself. The job I got on friday there were two of us in the interview, the other guy was trying so hard to impress the boss that I just wanted to throw up. I'm really not into all this nice firm handshake crap, I am who I am. Good luck anyways.

p.s. do you really drive a white van

I really do. Reason - at one point a few years ago, I had 3 medium to large sized dogs. But whitevanwomen are a completely different breed to whitevanmen. I'm a nice driver - I don't cut people up or overtake dangerously or drive right up behind you or park in disabled spaces and after 21 yrs of driving I still have a clean licence and have never made an insurance claim!

mezer3000

I sometimes find that my sleepiness is due to my meds and when I take them

rosepink1984

Thanks so much WVW for the link to the site about depression/sleeping. I am tired all the time, and sleep all night and still need a nap by the afternoon! I always get wierd, vivid dreams and had never made the link between dreaming and being tired. I knew the tiredness was caused by depression though, but hadn't realised about the dreaming part!
I wonder why you say you wouldn't qualify for council housing? We have just applied to go on the housing register - even if you are on a low priority and it takes years to get something, at least you are slowly moving up the list and know you will eventually get something. We decided to go for it and see what happens. In our area, we have Homechoice, not sure if it's nationwide, but its council in association with a housing association, and everyone gets assigned to a category which says your priority so A for high priority and E for low priority people or whatever and then you get a number within your category according to when you applied. The thing is that you can bid on up to 3 properties a week and if noone in a higher category or with a higher number wants the place you get it! Might be worth looking into?
Thanks so much for the info, sorry things are hard workwise and money wise. Hope things work out with the interview.

clipboard2

Happy New Year everyone!

It's the Chinese New Year of the Ox
(26 Jan 09 - 13 Feb 10)

DH tells me fireworks are going off all over Shanghai.
Only 10 days and I'll be there myself, reunion with DH then down to Sanya, the "Chinese Hawaii". Oh, I can't wait...

I wish you could all come with me....CB2X

whitevanwoman

I had some extremely wierd and vivid dreams whilst I was trying to stop smoking and had a 24 hour nicotine patch on. Apparently its a well known side effect and I had been warned about it but didn't expect the dreams to be quite so wierd and vivid. I had to stop using the 24 hr patch after a few nights of madness, which left me feeling exhausted.