Hello
Apologies to Amanda_George who had claimed to be the newest newbie, I'm the new newest newbie but don't know how long for
A brief intro .....
I've recently been given a diagnosis of dysthymia, the onset of which was at least 30 years ago, perhaps more like 50 (I'm in my mid 50s), although I considered my low moods etc to be "normal", not knowing any different. I've been an IT guy since leaving school, but continual stress (partly through being pushed away from technical towards management which isn't really me) is probably what caused what is perhaps best described as a crash a few years ago that ended with me losing my job. My confidence & self esteem had plummeted and are still pretty low. A period of doing virtually nothing for a while eventually led me to seek help; problems with my GP saw me asking my local MIND branch for help, since then I've been having therapy for around 2 years. I'm now working again, albeit in a totally different job than before and for a lot less money .... I see this as a step on the recovery road, although I can't say that I know where that road is going, or even where I would like it to be heading, but I do know that this is perhaps the happiest I've ever been in work.
I still avoid my GP, knowing how low my last 2 visits left me. The closest I get currently is putting a repeat prescription through the letterbox for collection from pharmacy. The next 2 nearest surgeries are all part of the same group which makes me reluctant to change to a different practice. At least I found another route to help through MIND.
I come to this forum having been a member for several years on another forum which closed last year, I've seen a couple of familiar user names on here. I found that forum helped a lot at times and hope to get the same here and also to reciprocate and offer whatever help I'm able to others. Bear with me, it may be a while before I say much; I lurked on the other forum for a long time before getting beyond a hello posting, but the positive support experienced there may help me to contribute here a lot sooner.
Roger
