stigma of suicide and ice cream

Last night I wrote a blog about being a loser. I don’t know if I am or not. I know most people would not consider me a loser but the reason I feel that way is because I am struggling with mental illness on top of being in chronic pain. I can’t stand either condition. I fight with myself constantly with suicidal thoughts. I am so jaded to suicidal thoughts that I seriously wonder why people get so out of whack when I bring the subject up. People honestly don’t want me to kill myself and I wonder why? People I don’t even know, like the people I meet on the internet, all think I should continue to live and I honestly wonder why? Or that I shouldn’t have these thoughts. Well, sorry, I do. I think about killing myself 85% of the time. I think about acting on it not so much, though I have come close a couple of times.

I think the stigma around suicide needs to change. People need to be able to think about suicide like they do vanilla ice cream. They either like it or hate it but regardless, vanilla ice cream is still going to be around. As long as there are conscious people, there is going to be suicide. It might be thought about like people like me, that are in chronic pain and suffering from depression. It might just be that the person is suffering from depression and they just feel like they cannot go on. They might have voices telling them they should not be around or just disappear. Or maybe the voices just tell them to kill themselves because they will be better off. But I do know this…people should be open to suicide like they are to ice cream. They should hear the person that is bringing up thoughts of death and thoughts of killing themselves or harming themselves. The stigma needs to stop. The hurting needs to stop and I don’t know if this blog will make sense and reach the people it needs to but as long as I am here and not in the grave, I hope that people will read this and know they are not alone. The feeling of being able to talk about this openly needs to happen. Too many people feel they are crazy and they don’t need to be. Too many people seek help and are turned away because they have suicidal thoughts need to be helped. They just need an understanding ear and an open mind.

So the next time someone is thinking about death or thinking about killing themselves, I hope that you hear their story as to why this is so. Because hearing their story is going to be the deciding factor on whether that person lives or dies.

A Pain night, YAY! NOT

dermatome

I have been having some weird pain in my left hip the past couple of days. If it was a one time deal, I wouldn’t be worried about it. But every time I sleep on my right side, my left hip goes berserk. It’s like getting zapped with an electric prod of some type. I never have had nerve pain like that so tonight I decided to look up the dermatome map to see what nerve pathway could be causing this. It is the L3 nerve. Just great. It’s the section I had surgery on almost seven years ago. I am really nervous now. But I know the first thing the doc is going to say is lose weight, which I have been trying to. I have been eating cereal rather than making something else to eat, like a fried egg. Course that is the only thing I do know how to make. I can’t make something fancy like poached eggs because I usually end up making it a hard boiled egg. Or egg drop soup. I usually have my mother make it for me if I am in the mood for it.

SO I have this new weird pain that may or may not mean anything. I am not having any weakness but my foot is wicked hurting me for the past few night really bad. This is despite me not doing anything and I don’t know if it is the position I am sitting in that is causing it to feel this way or what. I just know that when I lie down, all hell breaks loose. It’s like sitting up is the only way for my body not to hurt. Trouble is, I CAN’T SLEEP SITTING UP!!

I was going through my legal pad of paper today as there is a lot that I have rolled back and came across my letter to my psychiatrist about ending my life. There was soo much more I wanted to put in it but I think what I wrote is to the point and says what I need it to say. It is a really sad letter. I feel like bringing it to her at my next appointment, but at the same time I don’t think it will be a good idea as she might hospitalize me. I still am thinking about ending my life but a week later, the 23rd of Aug when I turn 37 yrs 8 mths old. It just some how works out in my head that way. I really want to stick around to see if the Red Sox make it to the play offs. I think they will but I am not sure. The bullpen has not been really strong but the new addition of Peavy is fun to watch. He likes to talk to himself on the mound. It’s like watching Dennis Eckersley on the mound. And he is a good pitcher, just like Eck.

I just feel like I have to do something to try and make my life better and killing myself is the only option I have. I don’t want to be anymore. I am so tired of fighting myself all the time. Of fighting to deal with this pain every fricken day. It is so tiring an no one knows except my fellow CES friends and bloggers. I can’t tell my family because they just say go to the doctors. The doctors don’t have any answers for me anymore. And I am scared to death that this new pain policy is going to be the death of me anyways. Might as well kill myself now and get it over with. I am sick of fighting for my pain meds. My one relief I can count on is a couple of pills a day, sometimes more. But lately I don’t feel like I deserve it. I feel like I should be in pain because I am a bad person so I wait until the pain is a 10 before I pop a pill. No one has told me otherwise. No one has cared enough to tell me when I should and shouldn’t take my pain meds except the voices. They know how I should take my meds and when I need it sometimes before I do. They sometimes are helpful but lately they really want me to OD on them in ways that I don’t like. I rather take a bottle of Tylenol than OD on my meds. And besides, it isn’t going to kill me. It might make me sick but that is all. I would need at least a three month supply of meds to kill myself and I don’t have it, nor can I stock up on it because that would mean not taking my meds and I NEED relief more than I need a method of killing myself.

I don’t know if I mean that I will kill myself. I know some day I will do it but I don’t follow through on my taking off or planning dates. The 17th will be here before I know it. But I just found out it is my friend’s birthday so I can’t do it on that day. I don’t think it would be right. It would so be a slap in the face. But that is not the person I am. I hate being in pain tonight. I don’t know how much meds I will take to make myself go to sleep. I still have a bottle of Neurontin I can take but I doubt it will do anything but zone me out.

Angry Rant

I had to remove one of my posts the today because it became a hit for spam messages. I got at least 12 or more a day and I don’t know why. The messages were mostly the same but with long ass names like spelling the same name over and over but dropping a letter in the middle. It was really weird. I thought by changing the name (blog post 389) to something more meaningful it would stop but it didn’t. I am so aggravated by this, and frustrated.

I am up because I was talking to a friend and then I heard some noises so now I can’t sleep. I am fearful my mother is going to have another one of her “attacks” so I might as well stay up just in case. I am listening to my favorite country tracks as I am trying to stay up. I really want to take another dose of pain meds but I don’t want to pass out. My ankle is throbbing something fierce.

My friend asked me a question tonight that got me upset and I got off the phone. She asked me what I have been doing during the day and I could tell by the tone in her voice she really didn’t give a shit. I was done talking. I wasn’t going to explain to yet another person how pathetic my life has become by just going to Starbucks, drinking coffee, and blogging. She never read any of my blogs. She is on the computer most of the time and yet doesn’t read my blogs. That is fine but I thought we had a closer connection. It’s ok though. I don’t know why I am so angry but I am. I am so sick of having to justify every hour of my existence to someone and she just touched the wrong nerve tonight. She was surprised I didn’t want to answer the question and so be it. I wasn’t going to answer it. My prerogative. I had to listen, again, to how she is never having another therapist when her therapist retires, that she is not going back to therapy. UGH I know. You already told me fifty million times you are not getting a therapist. I get it. I wish mine would retire and I could start over. But that is not going to happen because no one wants to deal with a suicidal freak like me. I am so tired of everything and the fact of the matter is that I am thinking of taking my life again. I really want to end it this time. I don’t think I can stand another breakthrough bleeding episode or anything of the sort. I am tired all the time of doing nothing. Yet if I try to do something my foot explodes and I am done. I can’t help my mother with the chores of the house anymore because I am so disabled. I hate being this way. So I just want to fucking die. I will do something to take my life in the next two weeks. There is no significance to the date that I am choosing, though I think it will be the week after. I have to do this. I just do.

Relationships and Suicide

Relationships and suicide

While I made a promise to myself I would never kill myself over someone, some people feel like they should take their life because a relationship ended. They feel so badly that they want to take their life. They may feel this way for multiple reasons. They feel they are not good enough, or that the girl/boy friend or wife/husband would be better off without them. It all is a matter of feeling connected and once that connection is broken, the hurt can be too much for a person to take. There is also a sense of belongingness that a person feels that contributes to their self worth and whether they belong. If they don’t feel this type of connection, they feel their life is over. They feel they have nothing to live for because their relationship is over. It can happen to anyone at any time in the relationship or when it ends. The important thing to remember is that these are just feelings and they will pass with time. You are not always going to feel the same level of hurt that you feel right now. Most importantly, you are not to blame for the relationship ending, though you may feel that way or even been told that by your significant other.

Another reason people feel suicidal after a relationship ends is because they feel that they can never have what they lost. This is especially true when the person they love dies suddenly or is taken away due to cancer or other illness. This is especially hard to deal with because it hurts just as much if not more than a mutual break up. People feel more alone after a death of someone and thoughts of suicide can run rampant to an already depressed person or to someone who has never experienced the type of loss that death brings. Trying to move on from this hurt is very difficult. I have a friend going through this type of loss right now. He lost his soul mate over a year ago and still feel the pain every day. It causes him much grief but because he has a busy work schedule, he buries himself in his work duties. I fear that should something else happens in his life, he would be inconsolable and be very suicidal.

There is no comforting word I can say that eases his pain or your pain, if you are reading this. Time is the only thing that helps and also moving on. Letting go of the hurt and pain as much as you can stand at a time. It doesn’t mean that you are forgetting this person. It doesn’t mean that you love and care for that person any less. It just means that you are ready to move on with your life and let some hope in to heal the heartache.