In addition to therapy and upping or changing your anti depressant through your PCP

Try to get some exercise, ideally outside. start with walking. Look up couch to 5k plans. Running has been the best thing for my anxiety. Anything that gets your heart rate up is a good start.

Also listen to audio books or podcasts (not ones about the news) as much as possible to stop your rumination. Or music if I'm working. It works better for me than mindfulness or trying to talk myself out of catastrophizing. Libby is a free app with a ton of audiobooks, and you just need a library card.

Hang in there!

Does your work provide an EAP program? Normally you can be seen by a therapist quickly and for several sessions before they assist you in finding someone to transition to.

Sheppard Pratt also has a psychiatric urgent care in Howard County: https://www.sheppardpratt.org/care-finder/psychiatric-urgent-care/

So, already on an antidepressant, check with your Primary care doctor if a higher dose should be considered.

Make sure your kids in college are looking for summer jobs or paying internships now. Let them know that money is tight and reach out to their school resource offices for guidance.

Insist your dad call and get regular care coming into the house. Tell him this will immensely help your mom, your father, and you. If any of you get worse, as it sounds like you are on the brink it will only make it worse for your mom. Have him find a social worker to help find resources in his community.

Tell your husband he needs to up his game. You are on the brink and he will be without any income shortly if he doesn’t make a solid game plan for full time work. In the meantime find gig work, don’t know if it is true, but have seen information on picking up lab specimens and delivering to laboratories is reasonable pay.

Then schedule time for yourself. Get outside and walk, in nature if at all possible. Date night. What else is self care for you. Give people deadlines and ask them to send you progress updates weekly.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If you feel like you are in imminent crisis, please do go to the ER. They have psychiatrists there who can manage it for you on short term, emergency basis. It might help long enough for you to find a psychiatrist and change your meds.

As somone who has been in your shoes before, please know that this is not forever. You will claw your way out. Just take one minute at a time. Don't think about the future. Think about the next 10 min or the next hour. If you've taken a shower, that's a win for now. If you've eaten, another win. If you need to call in from work, do that, though keeping a routine helps me when I feel very depressed. You can overcome this. Big hugs

What constitutes imminent crisis? I would never hurt myself. I'm just not wired that way, and plus, there are too many people who rely on me. And my kids-- I want to see how that turns out. (So far, so amazing.)

My heart pounds. My hands shake. Where's the line?

Start with L theanine supplements. Helps with rapid heartbeat.

Your heart isn't something you should self-medical. Cardiac symptoms get a trip to the doc. Don't mess with unregulated supplements, herbs, etc. until you're sure there's no physiological reason, illness, defect, etc. A lot of problems in your body manifest as "stress" or "anxiety" (especially if you're a woman; docs love to say it's all in our head!)

You can get a virtual appointment with a psydoc nearly next-day, and many are completely covered by insurance.

Look up GrowTherapy, Talkiatry, TalkSpace, ArrayBC... Appointments online really aren't much different than appointments in-person when you're dealing with mental health concerns, and online providers can/do provide meds for short-term anxiety management until you can get a psychologist/therapist to help (re)built a coping skill toolkit for what you're going through. Your GP can also prescribe meds for interim/urgent help.

If it's completely overwhelming right now, call the SAMHSA National Helpline at 800-662-HELP (4357), or call or text the National Crisis Lifeline at 988. Both services are free and available 24/7 All calls are confidential.

You can also text “HOME” to 741741 to talk to a Crisis Text Line counselor (or go to https://www.crisistextline.org)

See whoever prescribed the antidepressant for an adjustment and a plan going forward.

See a dentist and get fitted for a mouth guard (hopefully covered by insurance). There are also ones over the counter but they are not as good. Grinding/clenching is very bad for your teeth.

Any chance you could be perimenopausal? If so, HRT may help.

Telehealth therapy if you can’t do in person, exercise, meditation, setting aside a dedicated time daily for worrying, prayer if you’re religious or spiritual. It’s okay to cry and feel frustrated and angry.

I write in a journal to my Wise Inner Sage (got the idea from author Cheryl Strayed) as a two-way dialogue — it allows a deeper part of myself to respond with empathy. It sounds utterly stupid but give it a try and it might help.

Once I was so frustrated with my life situation that I screamed outside late at night, then walked away quickly and hid because I think the neighbors called the police. I don’t recommend that.

Hang in there. Take good care of yourself. Big hugs.

You can just do an appointment with a PCP, even virtually, who will screen you for depression and prescribe meds. Should be easy enough to find one via insurance website if you don't have one.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If you feel like you are in imminent crisis, please do go to the ER. They have psychiatrists there who can manage it for you on short term, emergency basis. It might help long enough for you to find a psychiatrist and change your meds.

As somone who has been in your shoes before, please know that this is not forever. You will claw your way out. Just take one minute at a time. Don't think about the future. Think about the next 10 min or the next hour. If you've taken a shower, that's a win for now. If you've eaten, another win. If you need to call in from work, do that, though keeping a routine helps me when I feel very depressed. You can overcome this. Big hugs

What constitutes imminent crisis? I would never hurt myself. I'm just not wired that way, and plus, there are too many people who rely on me. And my kids-- I want to see how that turns out. (So far, so amazing.)

My heart pounds. My hands shake. Where's the line?

Start with L theanine supplements. Helps with rapid heartbeat.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If you feel like you are in imminent crisis, please do go to the ER. They have psychiatrists there who can manage it for you on short term, emergency basis. It might help long enough for you to find a psychiatrist and change your meds.

As somone who has been in your shoes before, please know that this is not forever. You will claw your way out. Just take one minute at a time. Don't think about the future. Think about the next 10 min or the next hour. If you've taken a shower, that's a win for now. If you've eaten, another win. If you need to call in from work, do that, though keeping a routine helps me when I feel very depressed. You can overcome this. Big hugs

What constitutes imminent crisis? I would never hurt myself. I'm just not wired that way, and plus, there are too many people who rely on me. And my kids-- I want to see how that turns out. (So far, so amazing.)

My heart pounds. My hands shake. Where's the line?

That's the line. Plus everything else you wrote. I would just go. You don't need to be suicidal in order to be in crisis.

Agree. I can recommended Shady Grove in MoCo.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If you feel like you are in imminent crisis, please do go to the ER. They have psychiatrists there who can manage it for you on short term, emergency basis. It might help long enough for you to find a psychiatrist and change your meds.

As somone who has been in your shoes before, please know that this is not forever. You will claw your way out. Just take one minute at a time. Don't think about the future. Think about the next 10 min or the next hour. If you've taken a shower, that's a win for now. If you've eaten, another win. If you need to call in from work, do that, though keeping a routine helps me when I feel very depressed. You can overcome this. Big hugs

What constitutes imminent crisis? I would never hurt myself. I'm just not wired that way, and plus, there are too many people who rely on me. And my kids-- I want to see how that turns out. (So far, so amazing.)

My heart pounds. My hands shake. Where's the line?

That's the line. Plus everything else you wrote. I would just go. You don't need to be suicidal in order to be in crisis.

Anonymous wrote:If you feel like you are in imminent crisis, please do go to the ER. They have psychiatrists there who can manage it for you on short term, emergency basis. It might help long enough for you to find a psychiatrist and change your meds.

As somone who has been in your shoes before, please know that this is not forever. You will claw your way out. Just take one minute at a time. Don't think about the future. Think about the next 10 min or the next hour. If you've taken a shower, that's a win for now. If you've eaten, another win. If you need to call in from work, do that, though keeping a routine helps me when I feel very depressed. You can overcome this. Big hugs

What constitutes imminent crisis? I would never hurt myself. I'm just not wired that way, and plus, there are too many people who rely on me. And my kids-- I want to see how that turns out. (So far, so amazing.)

My heart pounds. My hands shake. Where's the line?

Therapy and meds. You got this!!

I know this is only one tiny part of your problem, but talk to your doctor about the clenching at night.
A mouthguard and/or a muscle relaxant will help with this so at least you won't wake up sore and you will probably sleep better.

If you feel like you are in imminent crisis, please do go to the ER. They have psychiatrists there who can manage it for you on short term, emergency basis. It might help long enough for you to find a psychiatrist and change your meds.

As somone who has been in your shoes before, please know that this is not forever. You will claw your way out. Just take one minute at a time. Don't think about the future. Think about the next 10 min or the next hour. If you've taken a shower, that's a win for now. If you've eaten, another win. If you need to call in from work, do that, though keeping a routine helps me when I feel very depressed. You can overcome this. Big hugs

I will probably regret this.

But I need a lifeline. I'm spiraling and fear that my mental state will affect my physical health, or that one more straw will crush this camel.

I wake up every morning with a sore jaw from clenching all night, and my brain immediately picks up every little worry and spins it into the worse possible outcome. My hands tremble throughout the day. The stress nauseates me most days.

There are big changes happening at my company and I'm on the front line. I can't afford to quit and I'm lucky to have a job in my field of expertise at all. Many of my peers aren't so lucky. My mom is dying and my dad refuses to get help caring for her, even though he's not in great shape himself. My husband has been underemployed for a while (he's hustling but it's hard out there) and so 90% of the household income is mine. We have kids in college. They got full rides, but I still have to pay for housing and the rest.

I can't keep doing it, but I can't stop.

What concrete action can I take? I can't even start looking for a shrink because I just know it's going to be a wretched, complicated process that may or may not-- probably won't-- improve anything. I cannot add more friction to my life; I'm rubbed raw and bleeding already. I'm on an antidepressant, which has been helpful in the past, but it's not keeping up with the current state of things.