Tracy

My experience with suffering from anxiety & depression started at the age of 21. 
I was made redundant from a job that I had been working in for 3 years. 

I was depressed & anxious about having no job & finding another one. The redundancy had come as a shock. 

After a few weeks of this my mum took me to my GP where he prescribed some small blue tablets (don’t know what they were). My heart felt it was going to burst as it was thudding the whole time. I didn’t realise it was a result of the stress I was feeling. 
I have suffered depression or anxiety or both several times since usually as a result of something bad happening in my left like being in a bad relationship or one ending or a job coming to an end.

Last September my mum passed away & I had no job at the time as I had given up a full time job to take one with less hours so I could spend more time with mum who lived in London. The day I started the new job my mum was rushed into hospital with a chest infection. 
Almost 3 weeks later she passed away in intensive care. 

I told the new job I couldn’t go in as I needed to see my mum so not only had I lost mum I had no job & no income either! 

Of course both things happening at the same time triggered the depression & anxiety. I found I either slept too much & didn’t want to get out of bed or couldn’t get to sleep as I kept thinking about my mum in intensive care. 

It took weeks of being like this to pull myself out of it, get a job & go back to living my life again. 

As a child I suffered from bronchitis so had to spend a week or even two in bed so all I could do was read (no tv in my bedroom in those days). I still love reading books!
For me personally to way I overcome the episodes of depression and or anxiety is having a job to go to which gives me a sense of purpose, yoga classes, meditation, spending time with nature & making sure I stay connected to people. 

I live on my own & do enjoy my own company but realise I do need to have a connection with people too. 

I am so glad I found Claire’s group as when I lost mum I didn’t have any support really apart from people sending me sympathy cards no-one actually picked the phone up to talk to me which made me feel even more alone. 

Its such a good feeling to know I am not alone & have the support of other people that have suffered with their mental health as a lot of people do not understand.