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The Entirety of My Mental Health Issues: Intertwined and Unfiltered
“Depression Fucking SUCKS”
My name is Tommy Fucking Roel, and I’m here to tell you a little about my battles and what I have faced. I have an enzyme disorder in my brain called MTHFR Mutationwhere the B Enzyme Folic Acid cannot be broken down because I have an absence of the enzyme that does such, therefore I cannot naturally secrete normal levels of dopamine and serotonin. What’s this all mean? Depression, a fat fucking wad of depression.
Secondly, I have G.A.D, or Generalized Anxiety Disorderwith frequent panic attacks, often 2-4 times a day, maybe 5. The anxiety has been nerve-wracking and crippling for almost ten years. Ever since I was a 13-year-old kid. Fuck man.
Lastly, I am diagnosed with BPD, or Bi-Polar I. Yup, I’m a fucking nut. But if you’re fucking nuts like me, at least don’t be bland.
Even though I’m not how I’m supposed to be, I still got some kick in me.
But,
To get you a little idea of how bad my shit really is; here is a list of medications that I have been on and failed.
- Lexapro– This was the first one, an SSRI, WHICH I CLEARLY DIDN’T NEED. It made me fucking hallucinate. No joke.
- Lithium– This was firstly for my Bi-Polar. It made me feel alright, then crazy, then alright, then crazy. It also didn’t affect my acne very well.
- Abilify– Abilify is a mood stabilizer that, which is safe to say, doesn’t stabilize shit because I’m still sad.
- Seroquel: I was on Seroquel for a while and that helped a tiny bit, but it just made me hungry and gain weight.
- Rexulti: I have been on Rexulti for a month or so now, and felt minor improvements, however nothing major and the sadness relapsed.
- Lamotrigine: This med is the only med of these that I continue to take because it helps a little. Granted, I’m throwing it on the list of shit that’s failed because it hasn’t prevailed yet, but there is some room for hope still.
- Divalproex: The newest med I’m on. How many meds does it take to get to the center of a depressed kid’s heart? The world may never know.
There you go, six or seven different meds (and a suicide attempt) later and I’m still here battling the demons. Now why would I ever be so open with my medical history?
BECAUSE NO ONE ELSE IS AND ITS TIME TO OPEN MY MOUTH FOR EVERYONE.
No one has completely helped me through this. Now plenty of people and counseling have provided aid, but ultimately the sadness is my own battle. Me vs. Depression.
And one day I WILL fucking win, man. In order to avoid delving in too deep and even furthermore than I have before, I wanted to tie everything I have written about anxiety and depression together. Here is a combined excerpt of what it feels like to be lonely, and what it feels like to be depressed.
ANXIETY: “Razors”
The world feels like a room full of razorblades and no matter where you move or walk, you’ll get cut, and that’s what anxiety is like, the world is the room and we’re in the center with all the razor blades around us and we just are scared of life and moving forward because we are scared we are going to get cut and hurt or that we might even get so hurt where bleed out. So, we stay stagnant and sit in our spot not moving so that we don’t get cut by the razors, we don’t get hurt. But how can we feel anything if we don’t move? Finally, the fear of the blades and anxiety becomes too much, so we need to move. but instead of making an incision in order to end it all, I realize that I cannot stay stagnant or end it, so I realize I must fight the razors. I put my head down, and I move forward towards the door. Despite all the pain from the razors and anxiety, I move. And finally, I think, I’ve made it out the door. I have plenty of scars and cuts and wounds. But here I am. Outside.
- Yup. In my best words, this is what anxiety feels like. I finally have been able to overcome some of it, but however, depression and anxiety have a funny but not-so funny way of relapsing.
- On to the next one!
Depression, MTHFR Mutation, and Bi-Polar: What It Feels Like To Be Lonely
What It Feels Like To Be Lonely”
Being lonely is different than from what you think. It’s a mental thing. It’s not just being alone physically, not simply the physical absence of company causing you to yearn to surround yourself with individuals just because you want to socialize. You yearn to surround yourself with people around you so that the presence of others can distract you from loneliness. Loneliness, see, it is a constant and consistent feeling, the fear, the sadness, the desperation of wanting something, but yet you do not know what it is. You are lonely and empty, and the loneliness actually causes the emptiness, forcing you to try and find something, anything, to fill up that emptiness. You are alone. Mentally, even if you physically aren’t. Like mentioned before, You fill yourself in rooms full of people, familiar and friendly faces, momentarily filling up the deep darkness and emptiness inside of you. And for a brief moment, you are content. But in an instance your being content with the situation changes and the loneliness comes back, and the momentary happiness slips away into thin air. It is a vicious cycle. We strive to fill our loneliness. But we don’t know how to fill it, or what to fill it with. We try to find passions, careers, relationships. Or we use external methods of escape such as facing the bottle or taking that pill. But the artificial happiness created by external factors such as love and other drugs soon and suddenly evaporate. We find or search for pointless careers in which we try to find a purpose within such careers hoping we find our calling, or purpose. Some lucky ones find such purpose, but us, the lonely, cannot. Soon such loneliness will return to haunt us. The empty space within us will always fill up with momentary and artificial happiness before we are drained and stripped of such happiness or empathy, leaving us just as empty as we were before. But despite our faults, our loneliness, we smile through the pain, through the despair, the emptiness, and through the loneliness. We don’t know how to solve it, but we are trying to. There is no scientific cure for loneliness as I believe that loneliness correlates with our souls, not simply our genetic makeup regarding cognitive function. Loneliness is a matter of the soul, a soul who feels empty and alone, yet through the pain, we know we must persevere. So we smile, we are lonely, but we smile because that is exactly what we need to do. We cannot let our loneliness engulf us, we cannot let our sadness bury us. We cannot hide it, but what we can do, is fight it. Smile, day by day, fight by fight, battle with loneliness, and eventually one lone-full night, the loneliness will evaporate because we have won the fight. You cannot give up, be brave and be bright. Loneliness sucks, but we must persevere and not let it take our lives. Smile, because someday everything will be alright.
- This, in every word, is how I have felt for the past, God I don’t know, nine years at least. I know I will win the battle and continue to fight, but God is with me and so are my parents, family, friends, and support from my medical professionals. Together we can beat our ravaging depression. NO MORE attempts. The only attempt we need is to further our lives, better ourselves, and never look back; only forward. Hold each others hands, hug the ones you love, because in times of turmoil these are the ones that truly matter to us, and make us realize that life itself is a gift because it gave us the ones we love. And it gave us the ability to love. And although I am massively and seemingly helplessly depressed, I am SO GLAD to be able to feel these feelings because before I could not feel anything at all. Now I feel again, and I feel alive, more-so than I have ever been. Without heartbreak, there will never be love. Because love is the only thing that can put our hearts back together. Never give up, never stop caring, never stop fighting, be proud of who you are, and spread the love as far and as wide as you can. Together, we shall conquer sadness by creating beauty.
- From one mind of an incredibly fucked up Kid,
- Thank You
- Tommy Roel
