MS and Mental Health (Anxiety and Depression)

Описание: !!!!!PLEASE READ!!!!!

I have been sitting on this video for a couple of weeks now as I have been a bit scared to share it as mental health is such a fragile topic and I really don't want to upset anyone and do not want to make mental health seem like a casual thing as I know I am quite an animated person and to cope with things that I find hard or uncomfortable I often make light of situations or talk in a slightly comedic way.

Mental health is not funny or comedic in anyway. It is the hardest thing in the world to cope with, to go through and to live with. It is also something that I find so uncomfortable talking about and so I was worried watching the footage back that I brushed past having depression and having anxiety. I really don't want it to seem like I have just thrown those two words around casually and don't know the meanings of them when I am very aware what it feels like and means to suffer with both.

When I was battling depression and low mood things were awful. I put on a smile to the rest of the world but inside I was close to a breaking point. I stopped doing everything I enjoyed. Stopped doing work, stopped running and going to the gym, stopped seeing friends as much. I was not happy and had horrible intrusive thoughts, especially at night, which made me feel horrific about myself. It was at this time that I sought help and started doing CBT. What I found comforting at that time was that (this sounds a bit mad but…) I was not in control of my thoughts, therefore those thoughts are not me and I have the power to change those thought patterns - I just needed some help to retrain my brain. In this video I didn't explain this very well as I find this subject (depression) really hard to talk about. But maybe one day I will have the strength to make a video just on depression as it is a horrible thing to have and the whole point of this channel is to raise awareness and bring some comfort to anyone else if they are feeling the same way or are going through similar things, to feel less like they are alone and less like they are the only ones facing this.

Also a reason I haven't posted this is because the video is so dark and half my head is cut off haha! I have thought about re-filming but I couldn't be bothered to talk about all these topics again and then just reminded myself I am not trying to be a professional, I am just trying to talk about things that might help people.

One last thing I would like to touch on is that I talk about the second hospital being awful (think awful is my word of the video) but this is not a representation of the other patients (who were all lovely) or any of the physios, nurses or doctors who worked with me as they were all amazing. The hospital severely lacked funding, half of it was closed down and was a bit like a ghost town to be honest. The staff worked with what they had (resources and staff), and overall they got me walking again and I cannot express how grateful I am to them for giving me my life back.

My first video:
   • Aggressive Multiple Sclerosis at 22.  

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https://www.instagram.com/izzy_ms/?hl=en

If you are struggling with your mental health, need help or want to find out more about mental health see:
https://www.mind.org.uk/
https://www.samaritans.org/

For more information about MS or advice see:
https://www.mssociety.org.uk/