i am against meds because the problem is not that I have a “chemical imbalance” that needs correction. the problem is that I’m losing my mobility, and it fucking sucks. My depression is a perfectly normal response to facing a shitty, depressing situation. any drug that could make me feel differently about it would be distorting my perception of reaslity, not correcting it
[quote]huslinbriks wrote:
no cry for attention… well maybe just a little bit but the main thing is that i’m trying to see where i stand attitute-wise comapred to others. my abilty to deal with shit.[/quote]
It’s hard for us to understand where you are coming from when you choose not to speak about the issues in your life, for all we know you may have just broke a nail.
[quote]huslinbriks wrote:
i am against meds because the problem is not that I have a “chemical imbalance” that needs correction. the problem is that I’m losing my mobility, and it fucking sucks. My depression is a perfectly normal response to facing a shitty, depressing situation. any drug that could make me feel differently about it would be distorting my perception of reaslity, not correcting it.[/quote]
You are not necessarily correct. The way you view things does alter the chemistry of the brain.
By the way, if you ever drink alcohol, you’re ingested brain altering chemicals, it’s not as big a deal as you make it seem to be.
If you are in fact “depressed”, instead of simply unhappy and upset with your reality, you are already facing a distorted view of things. Depression is one of those words with a common usage and clinical usage… so please don’t imagine I’m trying to trivialize your situation.
[quote]huslinbriks wrote:
i am against meds because the problem is not that I have a “chemical imbalance” that needs correction. the problem is that I’m losing my mobility, and it fucking sucks. My depression is a perfectly normal response to facing a shitty, depressing situation. any drug that could make me feel differently about it would be distorting my perception of reaslity, not correcting it
[/quote]
See a psychologist, not a psychaitrist. They don’t perscribe. I had one while my parents were getting divorced, it was great to have him there. It doesn’t necisarily solve all your problems, but someone you never met before who’s job is to care is very nice.
[quote]vroom wrote:
huslinbriks wrote:
i am against meds because the problem is not that I have a “chemical imbalance” that needs correction. the problem is that I’m losing my mobility, and it fucking sucks. My depression is a perfectly normal response to facing a shitty, depressing situation. any drug that could make me feel differently about it would be distorting my perception of reaslity, not correcting it.
You are not necessarily correct. The way you view things does alter the chemistry of the brain.
By the way, if you ever drink alcohol, you’re ingested brain altering chemicals, it’s not as big a deal as you make it seem to be.
If you are in fact “depressed”, instead of simply unhappy and upset with your reality, you are already facing a distorted view of things. Depression is one of those words with a common usage and clinical usage… so please don’t imagine I’m trying to trivialize your situation.[/quote]
Well put, vroom.
In addition, I would add that while being down or frustrated with the obviously horrible situation of losing your mobility is perfectly normal, beginning to contemplate suicide is really a big issue you need to address without much hesitation.
Also, if taking the medication helped you be more balanced about your situation, I’m not sure how that is a distortion of reality. Two people can view the same set of facts in completely different ways, but that doesn’t automatically mean one of them is distorting reality.
So what about your reality are you looking to correct? I’m really not seeking to demean your situation in the slightest, but I am struggling to understand where your resistance to psychiatry lies. Let’s even take the drugs out of the mix for a second: What about counseling? Is that off the table too?
[quote]huslinbriks wrote:
the problem is that I’m losing my mobility, and it fucking sucks.
[/quote]
As in Friedreich’s Ataxia, muscular dystrophy, or amyotrophic lateral sclerosis? Arthritis?
Let me tell you, losing someone you love to suicide is the most painful thing I’ve ever dealt with. It has been almost one year since I lost my younger brother to suicide. It’s been rough. I miss him, the rest of my family misses him, it’s just been a rough ride for everybody.
Huslin, it’s perfectly OK to call this a cry for attention. When you say you are trying to see where you stand attitude wise compared with others…and your ability to handle shit, please do not worry about that. Don’t do that to yourself. I would think it would only make matters worse to perceive yourself as the only one who can’t handle tough situations. It’s OK to admit that you have problems, to admit you need help. It’s OK to ask someone close to you for help. It’s NOT OK to confide in those who you know won’t drag your ass into a hospital.
I wish I knew what words to tell you that would guarantee your well being but I don’t. What I can tell you is how I wish I could pick up the phone and call my brother. How I wish I could hang out with him, talk to him, hear him laugh, hear his voice.
Others have made some interesting suggestions. This being a bodybuilding website I assume you train? If so good for you as I think lifting is an excellent way to exert positive energy. But I think you need way more than this. I think we all need faith that we can survive anything. We need internal peace. We need to love ourselves and be proud of who we are. We need to look forward not back.
The pain you feel is undeniable. You obviously feel it and understandably don’t want to feel pain. But think of the pleasure that comes from overcoming pain instead of letting the pain defeat you.
I’m beginning to ramble now so I’ll finish up. May you find peace in your life today and the rest of your days.
Aaron
[quote]hockechamp14 wrote:
huslinbriks wrote:
i am against meds because the problem is not that I have a “chemical imbalance” that needs correction. the problem is that I’m losing my mobility, and it fucking sucks. My depression is a perfectly normal response to facing a shitty, depressing situation. any drug that could make me feel differently about it would be distorting my perception of reaslity, not correcting it
See a psychologist, not a psychaitrist. They don’t perscribe. I had one while my parents were getting divorced, it was great to have him there. It doesn’t necisarily solve all your problems, but someone you never met before who’s job is to care is very nice.[/quote]
They can refer. Talking in a meaningful manner can help greatly, the expression and empathy is there.Seeking out others in similar situations and drawing strength is a good idea also.
[quote]nephorm wrote:
huslinbriks wrote:
the problem is that I’m losing my mobility, and it fucking sucks.
As in Friedreich’s Ataxia, muscular dystrophy, or amyotrophic lateral sclerosis? Arthritis?[/quote]
As in osteoarthritis in all of my weight bearing joints… spine, SI, hips, knees, ankles, feet. At twenty fucking three. This has all come on within the last three months under very ususual circumstances.
There is nothing that I loathe more on this earth than sitting and lying around all day, being sedentary. I don’t have to be an athlete, but if my ability to stand and walk is limited and I’m destined to spend the rest of my life hobbling from chair to chair, then I’d rather just fucking die right now. I can’t be happy like this.
Sitting, by the way, worsens my back pain. Standing and walking make my back feel better. But I can’t spend much time on my feet because my feet are worse than my back. I’m staning on my knees as I write this. It’s fucking stupid.
I don’t know if you’ve already checked out their resources, but if you have not, you should…
http://www.arthritis.org/conditions/default.asp
I am not going to blow smoke up your ass, but you owe it to yourself to spend your energy looking into research, understanding the causes and issues at the level of current research, and seeing if there are ways to combat the progression of this disease. This is much better than being depressed and contemplating suicide.
You should be able to find and talk to people that share your condition – that will be able to implicitly understand your concerns. Don’t be afraid to mix supplementation with conventional medicine, where appropriate, again, no smoke up your ass, but you have to try things, not just give up.
To answer the original question, hell yes.
If I was old and lived alone with no family or friends, lost both arms and legs, and had to have a person come into my house to feed me and wipe my ass… hell yes I would somehow end my life.
If I was trapped on the top floor of a burning building and my only options were burn or jump to my death, I’d probably jump.
It comes down to a judgement call I suppose. If you reason (with a lot of rational thinking on the matter obviously) that your life is seriously not worth living, then why bother staying alive? End it.
Personally, it would take some crazy horrible shit to make me kill myself. My girlfriend dying… nope… losing an arm… nope… losing my sight, smell, hearing, and sense of touch… yeah I’d probably kill myself in that situation, if I could find a way!
Now I dont know much about you, but if you have to THINK about whether killing yourself is the best choice, then it’s probably not…
It shouldn’t be a difficult desicion! Your life is either completely fucking incredibly useless and disgusting and painful and you have no responsibilities whatsoever… or not.
But hey, if you have some messed up disease where you know you’re gonna die in 10 days, don’t end it like a pussy and shoot yourself. Do something awesome! Go out with a bang! It’s possible that you only live once!
btw my career goal was to be an emergency surgeon for the army or marines… be deployed to horrible places for long periods of time, see awful things, work long hours in bad conditions, recieve little pay, the whole nine. now I won’t be able to do it because i can’t PT and pass the physical tests. even if I somehow managed grit my teeth and lie my way through it, I won’t be able to wear boots after I get my big toe fusion. hows that shit
My babysitters oldest son was “found dead” about 2 weeks ago.
They had a closed casket.
He was going through a tough divorce and just gave up. He left a young daughter behind and his family is absolutley crushed.
He was taking anti-depressants.
I suggest you get some counseling but do NOT take anti-depressants.
I swear they take away inhibitions and increase the likelyhood of suicide.
Good luck man. I was massively depressed when I tore up my knee. Loss of mobility (even temporary) is an awful thing.
[quote]huslinbriks wrote:
i’ll pass on the professional “help”… i don’t want to rely on toxic mind-altering drugs to be happy. sorry to sound like a scientologist but i really dont want anything to do with a psychiatrist
[/quote]
Well, if you’re depressed then you may need mind-altering drugs because your mind needs altering. shrug
Only if something happened to my wife and daughter (and maybe just my daughter). There would be no more point in living if they weren’t alive.
I’d either end it, or go on a big crime spree, doing whatever I wanted with nothing holding me back, even the threat of jail or death.
If I never met my wife or had my daughter (or met anyone who I love more than life its self), then I don’t think anything would ever have a chance in making life not worth living.
If you don’t like how things are going, start changing them NOW. Everything might not change immediatley, but nothing will change if you don’t start the change.
A very good friend of my mother killed himself a little less than a year ago.
He was gay, so he had a tough enough life dealing with that, but that’s not why he did it. He was in his late 40s to early 50s, had a life-partner, very nice house, and a bunch of great friends.
He killed himself because he couldn’t take the guilt of embezling money from the company he worked for.
He was found in a bath tub with plastic laid down and his wrists slit. There were turniquets wrapped around his arms when he was first found, suggesting that he changed his mind and tried to stop the bleeding at the last minute.
He has no idea how much he hurt his friends and family. He had children from a previous marriage, and very young grandchildren.
If you want an answer to the question:
-
Once, early 20s, I hit a low point in my life and there was a fraction of a second when the thought went through my brain: “This is the kind of thing that makes me kill themselves.” It was an overwhelming acknowledgment of despair that I rejected almost immediately. Very sobering.
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Two years ago I hit another low: BIG and seemingly insurmountable problems with job, friends, family, health–and responsibility to make things work out all on my shoulders (I felt). The one stable facet of my life was my marriage, and that held me together.
I’ve known my share of suicides, and done my share of reading about it, and I’ll tell you this: the suicide’s problem is that he withdraws into himself and loses all meaningful connections with the outside, including people who can bring comfort. Do NOT do that. Always try to reach out, talk to others–either friends or professional help. Counseling for the depression and despair that often accompany chronic pain is NOT a crazy idea.
BTW: fascinating book just out last January: “Cliffs of Despair” by Tom Hunt; discusses suicide in the context of Beachyhead in England. He discusses his own bouts with depression, while trying to figure out what it is that makes suicide a worthwhile decision for some.
Stem Cell Generated Cartilage Potential Replacement Tissue for Osteoarthritis
Don’t give up. You never know what science will come up with. There’s hope.
[quote]Reef wrote:
Stem Cell Generated Cartilage Potential Replacement Tissue for Osteoarthritis
Don’t give up. You never know what science will come up with. There’s hope.[/quote]
Don’t give exactly for this reason. Arthritis is a widespread disease. A lot of research is being done because so many people have it. Your cure may be on the way. Suicide is a permanent solution to what may turn out to be a temporary problem.
Osteo is heavily researched. A ton of drugs and therapies are in the pipeline. At least a few of them will work out and become blockbuster drugs. They will change your life. The pace of medical development is quickening each year. Diseases that were fatal 10 years ago are now treatable. The pace will only get faster.
I don’t know where you live but get to a big city in the US. NYC or LA. Talk to a top man in the field and get the straight scoop on what’s coming. Don’t kill yourseld son. You will get better. Bet on science.
I’m not impressed with the scientific developements- any cure for osteoarthritis is, at best, many decades away. I will probably be dead, and at least will have required joint replacement long before then.
Treatment for osteoarthritis hasn’t advanced two inches in the history of medicine. It’s still pain control and joint replacement, just like it was decades ago. There isn’t even the slightest reason to believe that the outlook will improve any time soon.
The stem cell development is relevant to focal cartialge defects (small areas of acute damage), not global surface degeneration. As a matter of fact, just a few months ago the bioengineers at Rice grew entire cartilages surfaces to fit specific rabbit femurs:
Unfortunately, it’s one thing to grow a peice of cartilage in a bioreactor. It’s another thing- a thing which is bordering on impossilble- to implant that cartilage into a working joint.
Any surgery to replace the joint surface would be as destructive as joint replacement itself- the synovium would be resected, ligaments would be cut, etc. The cartilage implant would also have to be divided into peices to fit it over the bone, thus disrupting the continuity of the surface, which is critical for its performance.
And, even if those problems were solved, how are you going to get the cartialge to adhere to the bone? You can’t just use cement, because the cartilage depends on the subchrondral bone for respiration and nutrition. So unless they find some way to make the cartilage grow onto the bone, which they won’t, the engineered tissue will be useless.
In short, my life will have been ruined long before they find a viable solution for OA. That’s not pessimism. Anyone who holds out for science to cure or even help their osteoarthritis is just comforting themselves with wishful thinking.
I remember when I was in highschool and had dreams of going to the Air Force Academy to become a fighter pilot.
One big problem was my vision. I couldn’t see shit without glasses or contacts. At the time, they didn’t like that too much (I even looked into getting RK, but later found out it wouldn’t matter. even later yet I come to find out they started accepting vision correction, what a bitch.)
So a childhood dream of mine got crushed. I was still a kid with a lot of growing up to do, and you know what, I fucking grew up (sort’ve).
You’re depressed because you’ve been chasing a dream your whole life and the big door just got slammed on you, and it slammed down on you hard.
I guarantee you though, if you really want to do something with your life, you can fucking do it. Sometimes on the road of life there are detours, and sometimes they take you to places you never intended on going. Sometimes they’re great places, sometimes they’re shit. You gotto get through the shit son!
Use your passion, your anger, your energy, and apply it to something else. 23 is young. It sounds like you have been planning on being a doctor, that’s at least 4-8 years of school. Why not take that energy and devote it to doing research on your condition.
Maybe somewhere out there is some kid who’s life that you could radically transform for the better by applying a new medical breakthrough found via your research.
There are countless other avenues you can pursue in your life, and maybe make someone elses life a little bit better. As they say, the sky’s the limit.