Mental Health and running!!

[daz h]

nice post glass ankles

glad your getting there

[Careful Now]

Sounds like things are coming right for a few people .
Glad to hear Glass Ankles is making some progress.
I can add that I'm off the Diazepam as of this week
5 1/2 months of hard graft that was , not recommended .
Depression lifted as I came down and down on the dose, so that's not really a problem now .
Now to sort out the fatigue , bad back and get off the trazodone

I'll be back ....

MJ

[TonyVortex]

Planter Fasciatus (Ouch!) - Tips.... Alternate Hot/cold on foot to stimulate bloodflow, and roll a hard ball under the sole of your foot as hard as you can bear (golfball or similar) to break up scar tissue & stimulate healing - worked a treat for me.
You might try the old "balancing on one leg with eyes shut" trick to keep your fell-running ankles "Alive" whilst not running - I ride my road bike for my endorphin kick when I can't run too.

The running/sleeping/mental health thing - I've had issues of my own in the past, and found running to be invaluable in my range of "coping tools" & it is reccommended by health experts.
This'll sound a bit "alternative/ hippy", but I have found a really good reflexologist who really helps to balance me out (& boy do I sleep better!). I found self-help books useful too - Barefoot Doctor's "Urban Warrior" Spiritual Survival Guide to change the way you think about the slings & arrows of life & help with insomnia, and Pamela Anderson's new book "Head Case" will help you understand what's going on in your head & what to do about it.

Hope this helps a little, I know that when you get to the stage where you don't HAVE to run, but can chose to if you feel like it - you are winning!

All the best lads......

[Careful Now]

Thanks for the advice Tony. I'll look into that .
I'm stalled currently, because sleeping is still problematic . If I could get the sleeping consistent , I could reduce the dose on the Trazodone and my energy/strength would start to come back . Otherwise, I've had a range of blood tests whic were good , I'm basically healthy , good iron levels, cholesterol same as it was 6 years ago . Just frustrated . I'm getting some sun though , now it's come out - on a Vitamin D drive .

MJ

[scaniagirl]

dear glass ankles, great to see you're still at it and getting through ok.

[Careful Now]

I can highly recommend vitamin D and sunshine .
Reducing the dose on the 'government drugs' now .
Energy improving . Spent last week up in the Lakes . Climbed 4 small mountains . Saw the start of the Blencathra race . Spoke to 'Marrow' in the pub . Ran for 11 minutes this evening .
It ain't fell running but it's a start .

MJ

[Big Bad Baz]

An old one to revive,but i think its relevant.

Ive recently seperated from partner of 9 years and it has not been pretty for the family as you might expect. (1 stepson and 2 daughters)

After a paricularly bad night, which involved me being at the hospital (not for myself) during the early hours i was feeling very low.

This morning i got up and and went straight fro a run-2 hours.

The turn around is quite miraculous-evrything seems to have been put back into perspective and my mood has been lifted considerably.

The importance of this should never be overlooked by the health professionals.

Thanks for listening.

[huf&puf]

An old one to revive,but i think its relevant.

Ive recently seperated from partner of 9 years and it has not been pretty for the family as you might expect. (1 stepson and 2 daughters)

After a paricularly bad night, which involved me being at the hospital (not for myself) during the early hours i was feeling very low.

This morning i got up and and went straight fro a run-2 hours.

The turn around is quite miraculous-evrything seems to have been put back into perspective and my mood has been lifted considerably.

The importance of this should never be overlooked by the health professionals.

Thanks for listening.

Hi BBB

Glad you had a good run today. I think running helps the brain to sort stuff out in a subconscious kind of way. I find I solve all kinds of stuff without thinking about it, 'specially on a long run.

Hope all turns out OK

........

[Glass Ankles]

The running/sleeping/mental health thing - I've had issues of my own in the past, and found running to be invaluable in my range of "coping tools" & it is reccommended by health experts.
This'll sound a bit "alternative/ hippy", but I have found a really good reflexologist who really helps to balance me out (& boy do I sleep better!). I found self-help books useful too - Barefoot Doctor's "Urban Warrior" Spiritual Survival Guide to change the way you think about the slings & arrows of life & help with insomnia, and Pamela Anderson's new book "Head Case" will help you understand what's going on in your head & what to do about it.

Hope this helps a little, I know that when you get to the stage where you don't HAVE to run, but can chose to if you feel like it - you are winning!

All the best lads......[/quote]

This is excellent advice, totally agree with the last part..........

However I am still looking for the Pamela Anderson book to tell me whats going on in my head and what to do about it!!

GA

[ZootHornRollo]

just like to add my support for glass ankles and others on here who are coping with mental health problems

I was diagnosed with mild depression a few years back, didn't really like prozac, due to the 'flatness' it seems to induce, so I took myself off it after six months, and managed to make myself feel better through a combination of exercise, drinking less and seeing more of my mates - the last two not always going hand in hand!

Fell-running must to my mind be the best form of exercise for lifting the spirits - combining as it does hard exertion with beautiful surroundings, and also the challenges of coping with bad weather, navigation etc - that sense of self-sufficiency, testing and proving your capabilities. The benefits of hillwalking in fighting off 'the noonday demon' were recommended by Wordsworth and Coleridge in the Lakes a long time ago.

Moreover, with the crossover between fell running and hillwalking and long-distance challenges etc, it has the potential to develop into a serious hobby and social thing, more than road running tends to I'd say - and if you believe cognitive behavioural therapists they'll all tell you an interest or hobby or some new learning of some sort can help bring you out of a fug.

Glass ankles - I realise your condition is a lot less straightforward than was mine and that simply exercise and 'getting out more' isn't going to be enough on its own, but it can't hurt can it, eh? All the best.