Discussion Struggling with Mental Health (Call Beyond Blue (1300 224 636), Lifeline (131 114))

This is a good point! Even for those of us who have been affected with battling their demons it doesnt necessarily translate to being allknowing or helpful
to others in the same situation!
Today is the 10th anniversary of my best mates death! And it still haunts me every day. We were incredibly close, our mothers were sisters but still
i have plenty of cousins but none i shared so much with! In and out of each others pockets from 4 years old we were as they say 2 peas in a pod!

We pretty much shared every possible experience in life, right from the young days playing sport, going to the footy and just generally clowning around
To our adolescent years, meeting girls, taking up smoking. wagging school with the girls getting ourselves pissed like naughty boys!
Remember once when we were only about 11 or 12 years old wanting to go to Luna Park. Knowing we had to catch the train to StKilda and we
Would have to go down Fitzroy st to get there, we convinced ourselves that we needed to stuff socks down our pants in order to negotiate
the tough scene at the time so we looked like Pimps! lol....Can only just imagine what the locals must have thought seeing these young punks with
Bulges bigger than Johnny Holmes strutting down the boardwalk!

As our teenage years were ending and we started becoming young men. Our harmless curiosity started turning a little more sinister and we began
then our initial dabbling with drugs and more and more drink, constantly partying for what seemed an eternity!
Together we both became hooked on the s**t and for many years it was a constant battle to not destroy ourselves especially in
the Music scene as we were back in the day....But still no matter what we were always there for each other and helped each other out numerous
times when it came to having the other ones back!
As the years rolled on and i got married, he of course was my Best man, i began to pull back from the life that i knew even then was killing me
So when my first Son arrived i had well and truly quit the drugs and tried making a fist of being a responsible working father!

My mate sadly fell deeper and deeper into the abyss of the Drug culture to the point it was now compromising who he was in every way
Still we never went more than 2 to 3 days without checking in on each other! Even when my marriage and world fell apart he was unbelievably
kind and helpful to me, taking me in all the while still taking drugs like a Mofo!
Eventually i got myself sorted again but he continued down the path of self mutilation! Anyways after numerous attempts to get him help with
Rehab and other forms of support he was still sinking faster and further!

Then one day when i had my boys over for the weekend he popped over as usual, only problem was he was completely shitfaced on
copius amounts of Heroin, looking absolutely dreadful in front of the boys who used to idolise him. I was most concerned about the impact this was
having so nervously tried making small talk with him about what he was up to for the day, when he replied loudly that he was planning on taking a
s**t load of drugs and then stealing a car i cracked and showed him the door! For the first time ever i had kicked him out. Even still as i was walking
him to the car explaining that i just cant have him talking like that in front of the boys there was still no bad blood, just sadness on my part!

So when he then proceeded to tell me how he was going to kill himself for what seemed like the 150th time i scoffed at him and told him to
Grow the **** up! As he was leaving he said he was so sorry and that he loved me! Twas the last time i saw him!
We then went 2 months without contact till one night i got this horrible feeling in the pit of my stomach and frantically was trying to reach him
Only days earlier his mother my auntie was about to travel to Greece with my folks when she made me promise to her at the airport that i Must
look after her boy! Your the only one that has ever reached him she said....My boy is in trouble, please help him! I agreed but secretly was at the
end of my patience with him.....Suffice to say in my desperate search for him that last night i went to his sisters where he had been staying for a few days
Missed him by half an hour. She was very worried repeating the same calls for Suicide from him and pleading with him to go to my place as i would as always
Help him! His last words to her were tell Steve i'm sorry man, thanks for all you've done but i'm too far gone sis this is it!

Next morning i got the dreaded call! To this very day it haunts me in a way i cannot shake! I had abandoned him and cast him out, promised his mother
i would take care of him only to walk away from a desperate man! Tried to justify it to myself that i had taken his threats seriously the first 100 times
and was tired and had enough dramas in my own life that i didnt need this s**t! Now he was Dead and i have had to live with the overwhelming
shame and guilt that i let him down so horribly when i was needed the most!
Even though family and friends have tried being supportive to me over my overwhelming grief and guilt including his mother whom i never
could look directly in the eye ever again till she passed just recently! To be honest i have never truly recovered from losing my soul mate and brother
due to feeling so bloody horribly guilty about it all! Its still a real grind to find happiness again after the personal trauma of feeling responsible!

Still miss him so much! And wish with everything i have that i could go back and change it all! No matter what anyone says i just cannot forgive myself!
So Gringo know you did the right thing brother and you should be very proud even after being personally attacked and hated for it at the time
that you stood up to be counted man!

Man, that's ****ed. I had mates who were on smack too. Plenty died, some came out the other side. It's nothing to do with you, you did everything right. Once someone gets a habit their ability to tell the truth seems to be the first casualty, rational behaviour is second to go. You couldn't have known the outcome, I'm sure he'd want you to live a good life and not live burdened by guilt. I know from experience how many people give up on junkies, if you were still with him that far down the path you probably outlasted every one else in his life. Mates who went off the rails burnt every bridge until often there was no-one left in their lives that cared.

From what I saw having two people who have had drug problems were probably the two worst people to be around each other, you did probably the best thing you could do for him by showing that you could move ahead with life and change things. I saw guys steal everything from their families, have treatment programs at the families expense then go straight back to heroin over and over. It really is something you can't do for anyone but yourself when you're ready.

Go easy on yourself man.
 

Yawkey way

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I’ll just add I had been sick with a zoonotic disease I contracted at work, something I knew nothing about and as such suffered flu like symptoms every couple of weeks with fevers for about 18 months before a chance comment lead to a specific test and a diagnosis and a recognised compensation claim.

I was told to never leave by several people in the zoonotic diseases group at work, they told stories of suicide and severe anxiety. Unfortunately due to a traumatic second pregnancy where my wife had a detached placenta, gestational diabetes and months in hospital I was unable to take a job in Canberra as planned. I took long service leave and came back to a gutted department and due to my wife’s post pregnancy anxiety I took a package.

Six months latter I was in casualty.
 
It’s difficult to know where to start, there’s a definite starting point at 12 years old but so many different chapters with different twists and turns that it’s just too complicated to put down here.

I guess I was to varying degrees about to come apart at the seams for years, looking back it seems so obvious but we often can’t see it ourselves and just as often we aren’t totally honest with ourselves or others, making getting help impossible.

Sometimes we find help in the company of others, those risk taking self destructive but often very loyal and protective friends that seem to find each other. They often don’t stay that way as behaviours escalate but I have done my best to stay friends or friendly with my mates from those days.

At any rate after many chapters and years of enormous pressure I bend over to do up my shoes experience severe chest pain and a racing pulse. I wind up in emergency at the Alfred where they run some tests and think it’s an electrical problem or ?. It’s a very strange sensation when your resting pulse is about 40-44 to have your heart doing 220+. I end up transferred that night to Cabrini so my fathers cardiologist prof Harper can look after me I’m 35 too young and fit for this s**t. I get to Cabrini and before I’ve seen professor Harper a nurse has shoved a DVD of open heart surgery and how and why it’s done on my tv and a priest has given me the last rights wtf is going on.

I have a coronary angiogram and various other tests over a ten day stay pristine, muscular skeletal spasm, say what?. So I’m out and about and have no idea what happened to me but I’m looking over my shoulder, about 3 weeks latter I have another one. Into casualty no your fine, this begins what has been a 20 plus year battle with severe anxiety and panic disorder. It’s strange you get some comorbidity with depression, ocd and agoraphobia but it’s the root cause that I can’t shake.

I have been up and down over the years but drugs haven’t worked for me and cbt is a total wash, I defy anyone when told by real medical doctors that only they can tell if it’s your heart or not and to get to casualty to just think rationally and sit through it.

I guess plenty of you already know this but to the outside world I’m doing pretty well, beautiful wife, 4 beautiful kids with a nice house in an expensive suburb. Appearances can be deceiving even as a kid being elite in a sport and generally talented at most as well as being smart and popular with the girls doesn’t scream needs help.

Screw appearances and what other people think get help, this thread has energised me to make an appointment with my specialist and see what’s new after pretty much coming to an impasse about 4 years ago.

Probably gringo, ask questions it’s important.

You can see a psychiatrist as often as you like I believe, of course you pay for it but there’s no limit because their doctors I think whereas psychologists are in a different category.


Jesus, that's intense, is there a trigger for it? You've probably tried everything already but some say mindfulness training is really good for some people suffering from a range of anxiety disorders. My wife is retraining as a psychologist and I read bits and pieces of her material. CBT and other therapies don't work for everyone but some swear by particular ones. Sometimes it seems it's just trying different ones until one works for you.

Makes me feel a bit ashamed of my s**t cracking when the footy doesn't go the way I'd like it too.
 
I’ll just add I had been sick with a zoonotic disease I contracted at work, something I knew nothing about and as such suffered flu like symptoms every couple of weeks with fevers for about 18 months before a chance comment lead to a specific test and a diagnosis and a recognised compensation claim.

I was told to never leave by several people in the zoonotic diseases group at work, they told stories of suicide and severe anxiety. Unfortunately due to a traumatic second pregnancy where my wife had a detached placenta, gestational diabetes and months in hospital I was unable to take a job in Canberra as planned. I took long service leave and came back to a gutted department and due to my wife’s post pregnancy anxiety I took a package.

Six months latter I was in casualty.


That sounds like a nightmare.
 

Yawkey way

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Jesus, that's intense, is there a trigger for it? You've probably tried everything already but some say mindfulness training is really good for some people suffering from a range of anxiety disorders. My wife is retraining as a psychologist and I read bits and pieces of her material. CBT and other therapies don't work for everyone but some swear by particular ones. Sometimes it seems it's just trying different ones until one works for you.

Makes me feel a bit ashamed of my s**t cracking when the footy doesn't go the way I'd like it too.
Who knows probably just some traumatic event that kicks in a gene that you can’t turn off, I’ve seen some interesting work done with twins on the subject.

Yeh I’ve tried just about everything, I really think I’m behind the eight ball as I’ve always suffered from hay fever etc and had an operation on my nose at 21 to help my breathing. I’m a knuckle dragging mouth breather so I think I’m always just a sigh away from hyperventilating. I would get pissed with my specialist as he would say what where you thinking about, what had been happening it’s stress. I would say look I’m in a good place lying on the bed reading a funny book then I’m on the ******* ground with crushing chest pain. So I carry around that trigger of feeling short of breath, hands tingling getting dizzy etc.

I used to see a woman who is an OT at her house in Brighton. She does guided meditation and deep diaphragmatic breathing with progressive relaxation. She was fantastic and a tremendous advocate, she would arrange massage and heathy meals if needed and ring your GP, specialist etc and get things straightened out give them a rocket etc. it’s soo expensive and at some point people get old and scale back. Action beats anxiety is a Japanese saying and funnily enough my last consult with a different specialist at Albert road told me that weights work as well as drugs for some people.

The other think is nothing happens in a vacuum you’re raising kids they have their own challenges as you know so I guess for a lot of people finding that clear air to just concentrate on yourself is often pretty difficult to do. The other thing is that you always at least early on expect that you will get better and life will return to normal. Getting on top of things as early as possible is very important imo.
 

St Muir

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Who knows probably just some traumatic event that kicks in a gene that you can’t turn off, I’ve seen some interesting work done with twins on the subject.

Yeh I’ve tried just about everything, I really think I’m behind the eight ball as I’ve always suffered from hay fever etc and had an operation on my nose at 21 to help my breathing. I’m a knuckle dragging mouth breather so I think I’m always just a sigh away from hyperventilating. I would get pissed with my specialist as he would say what where you thinking about, what had been happening it’s stress. I would say look I’m in a good place lying on the bed reading a funny book then I’m on the ******* ground with crushing chest pain. So I carry around that trigger of feeling short of breath, hands tingling getting dizzy etc.

I used to see a woman who is an OT at her house in Brighton. She does guided meditation and deep diaphragmatic breathing with progressive relaxation. She was fantastic and a tremendous advocate, she would arrange massage and heathy meals if needed and ring your GP, specialist etc and get things straightened out give them a rocket etc. it’s soo expensive and at some point people get old and scale back. Action beats anxiety is a Japanese saying and funnily enough my last consult with a different specialist at Albert road told me that weights work as well as drugs for some people.

The other think is nothing happens in a vacuum you’re raising kids they have their own challenges as you know so I guess for a lot of people finding that clear air to just concentrate on yourself is often pretty difficult to do. The other thing is that you always at least early on expect that you will get better and life will return to normal. Getting on top of things as early as possible is very important imo.
Another courageous post, thanks Yawkey! As we're seeing there's all sorts of conditions and circumstances leading to mental illness and a big variety of strategies to deal with it. There are so many variables that there aren't simple answers but sometimes something might work. I hadn't heard of that proverb before but that approach worked for me, I'm really strong on dealing with anxiety through exercise. That's almost impossible in the depression phase but if meds get you out of that then there's usually enough energy to get started on something, then really build resilience as your fitness and strength grow. From your description of the work you did with the OT, it sounds like yoga might provide an alternative at a much lower price.
Regardless of what you do, I'd like to wish you all the best mate, you've got my full support whenever you need it.
 
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Yawkey way

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A great day full of colour and life it feels like the faint smell of roses when you enter a room and it reminds you of spring.

I’m in the bathroom with my diving gear trying to clean my mask and snorkel at the same time I’m cleaning another set for my eldest son, he’ll be paddling along beside me as always like my watch dog, I’m pissed, frustrated that I feel anxious going for a swim at Elwood beach a place I love and have spent half my life at. I’m disappointed at myself that my gear isn’t ready and has been left sitting around.

I go through the usual check list of sunscreen, towels and rash vests packing the car for the long 1k trek, but hey it’s too much hassle to walk with all the gear. I get a park 20 metres from my spot at the point. I’m out of the car headed for the sand in double quick time, as the wife and kids struggle along behind me I’m off.


I throw on my gear grab my speargun and plunge in at full speed heading around the point and out to the reef, I feel the anxiety washing away, this is my element water, cool clean clear water washing over me, I can’t tell them that if I wait I’m worried I’ll have a panic attack. Then I feel it my ******* phone in my pocket, I stand in the shallow water and pitch it in to my wife even the ****** phone won’t spoil this. I plough threw the water and feel better and better maybe the exercise is getting my blood gasses back into balance, maybe I’m just happy doing something I love. I look back as I reach the reef and slow my progress for my son to catch up, I give him some instruction on where I want him and confident he’s safe I start my dive.

It’s pretty clear and I’m in luck I have a couple of big flathead on my stringer in no time at all, schools of snapper are flashing past just on the edge of my range I’m not worried about them as it’s the flathead I’m really after. I head out a bit further around the point into deeper water, Jesus the place is alive with fish and I can’t be much more the 60 metres from shore. I pick up a couple more really good rock flathead and target a good snapper, he goes spiraling down struggling with my spear in his head. I drag him up onto a shallow sand bar and work him off the spear as I chat to my son. I tell him to watch out for the big bull Stingray that has started to stalk me for the fish on my stringer, an old piece of cord I’m using is now getting pretty heavy but I’m feeling great and in the zone.

I head back out and quickly pick up another snapper and a good size bream, I’m in my element and loving it Jesus I feel normal, like me.

Then it happens the water is alive with bait fish and I just hang suspended in the water column surrounded by a huge ball of baitfish as schools of snapper and bay trout flash by, it’s a fantastic moment I seem to hang there for minutes. I get back to action and take a shot it’s a hit as I dive to retrieve the fish the ray advances to be almost face to face with me, me must be 5-6 feet across I’m getting tired and I’m sick of him so I poke him in the face with the gun butt and he’s off into the distance. I call my son and we’re on our way in.

I hit the shore and people are wondering what they’ve been swimming with some want pictures and I’ll be a woman of about 40 is hitting on me, yeh this is more like it. Up come the wife and other kids they’ve had enough sun so we’re off home. I clean and cook the fish then head out the back for a quite beer, I’m looking up at the giant elms behind my house feeling the sea breeze in the trees and just like that smell of roses I feel like I’ve gone back in time 30 years and I’m sitting in the backyard at mum and dads after a dive.

It’s been a great day and I have high hopes I’ll feel good tomorrow too but the doubts are already creeping back, monsters from the Id telling me not to get to comfortable.

This was a great day last summer, my wife starts holidays in a few weeks and I’m hoping I get a dive. It’s funny but you don’t get many days like that even when you don’t have problems. This is part of what severe anxiety does over time you can’t distinguish between anticipatory anxiety, situational anxiety or abnormal anxiety. Plus you kid yourself that everyday was a good day which is frankly just fantasy most days are just ho hum.

I had another great day at my daughters engagement party at sails recently, I had been dreading it for weeks but it was fantastic the beach in the background looked fantastic and the weather turned it on. Everybody looked fantastic I didn’t think about feeling s**t at all, it was wonderful. About two days latter I had a panic attack walking 50 metres to a local market, that’s how it works you just don’t trust yourself and the world gets smaller as you stop doing things.

I ride the exercise bike a lot when I start to feel like s**t, it seems to get my breathing back in order plus mentally I think it reassures me that hey you’re riding pretty hard and feeling better so you must be ok.

I hope I haven’t gone on too much but I’m trying to give posters a glimpse of how this s**t has unmanned me over the years. Oh just to make it more difficult to understand generally over the past twenty odd years if I’m confronted or physically threatened I feel pretty good, clear headed and ready to go, I’ve been in a couple of fights when people have had a go at me. I was going through a peace out don’t get angry Yawkey phase, needless to say it seemed to embolden people but that’s another story. I generally suffer from panic attacks in situations that aren’t confronting to most people at all, like lying on a bed reading a book.

Also when I say drugs haven’t helped I mean antidepressants that sometimes work for anxiety, I take about 5 mls of Valium daily.

Thank god for bigfooty if anybody ever needs a chat feel free.
 
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VDS66

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So many variations, so many solutions.

So much courage to open up because unless you've lived you, you cannot understand the silent suffering.

If this thread makes a difference to just one person then it will be deemed as a success.

I'd like to encourage you all to share what steps have worked for you so that we can all learn, inspire and grow.

I have a longish post coming so I'll save it for later as I want to write it correctly.
 

St Muir

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So many variations, so many solutions.

So much courage to open up because unless you've lived you, you cannot understand the silent suffering.

If this thread makes a difference to just one person then it will be deemed as a success.

I'd like to encourage you all to share what steps have worked for you so that we can all learn, inspire and grow.

I have a longish post coming so I'll save it for later as I want to write it correctly.
Really looking forward to it VDS66! When Sab kicked this off and BT picked it up & ran with it, I felt compelled to respond. To see all these moving contributions since, is very inspiring. People are talking about the very essence of humanity with their stories and I feel very privileged to have read them. I've never seen anything like this before, it's quite incredible that it's on a footy blog!
 
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This is a good point! Even for those of us who have been affected with battling their demons it doesnt necessarily translate to being allknowing or helpful
to others in the same situation!
Today is the 10th anniversary of my best mates death! And it still haunts me every day. We were incredibly close, our mothers were sisters but still
i have plenty of cousins but none i shared so much with! In and out of each others pockets from 4 years old we were as they say 2 peas in a pod!

We pretty much shared every possible experience in life, right from the young days playing sport, going to the footy and just generally clowning around
To our adolescent years, meeting girls, taking up smoking. wagging school with the girls getting ourselves pissed like naughty boys!
Remember once when we were only about 11 or 12 years old wanting to go to Luna Park. Knowing we had to catch the train to StKilda and we
Would have to go down Fitzroy st to get there, we convinced ourselves that we needed to stuff socks down our pants in order to negotiate
the tough scene at the time so we looked like Pimps! lol....Can only just imagine what the locals must have thought seeing these young punks with
Bulges bigger than Johnny Holmes strutting down the boardwalk!

As our teenage years were ending and we started becoming young men. Our harmless curiosity started turning a little more sinister and we began
then our initial dabbling with drugs and more and more drink, constantly partying for what seemed an eternity!
Together we both became hooked on the s**t and for many years it was a constant battle to not destroy ourselves especially in
the Music scene as we were back in the day....But still no matter what we were always there for each other and helped each other out numerous
times when it came to having the other ones back!
As the years rolled on and i got married, he of course was my Best man, i began to pull back from the life that i knew even then was killing me
So when my first Son arrived i had well and truly quit the drugs and tried making a fist of being a responsible working father!

My mate sadly fell deeper and deeper into the abyss of the Drug culture to the point it was now compromising who he was in every way
Still we never went more than 2 to 3 days without checking in on each other! Even when my marriage and world fell apart he was unbelievably
kind and helpful to me, taking me in all the while still taking drugs like a Mofo!
Eventually i got myself sorted again but he continued down the path of self mutilation! Anyways after numerous attempts to get him help with
Rehab and other forms of support he was still sinking faster and further!

Then one day when i had my boys over for the weekend he popped over as usual, only problem was he was completely shitfaced on
copius amounts of Heroin, looking absolutely dreadful in front of the boys who used to idolise him. I was most concerned about the impact this was
having so nervously tried making small talk with him about what he was up to for the day, when he replied loudly that he was planning on taking a
s**t load of drugs and then stealing a car i cracked and showed him the door! For the first time ever i had kicked him out. Even still as i was walking
him to the car explaining that i just cant have him talking like that in front of the boys there was still no bad blood, just sadness on my part!

So when he then proceeded to tell me how he was going to kill himself for what seemed like the 150th time i scoffed at him and told him to
Grow the **** up! As he was leaving he said he was so sorry and that he loved me! Twas the last time i saw him!
We then went 2 months without contact till one night i got this horrible feeling in the pit of my stomach and frantically was trying to reach him
Only days earlier his mother my auntie was about to travel to Greece with my folks when she made me promise to her at the airport that i Must
look after her boy! Your the only one that has ever reached him she said....My boy is in trouble, please help him! I agreed but secretly was at the
end of my patience with him.....Suffice to say in my desperate search for him that last night i went to his sisters where he had been staying for a few days
Missed him by half an hour. She was very worried repeating the same calls for Suicide from him and pleading with him to go to my place as i would as always
Help him! His last words to her were tell Steve i'm sorry man, thanks for all you've done but i'm too far gone sis this is it!

Next morning i got the dreaded call! To this very day it haunts me in a way i cannot shake! I had abandoned him and cast him out, promised his mother
i would take care of him only to walk away from a desperate man! Tried to justify it to myself that i had taken his threats seriously the first 100 times
and was tired and had enough dramas in my own life that i didnt need this s**t! Now he was Dead and i have had to live with the overwhelming
shame and guilt that i let him down so horribly when i was needed the most!
Even though family and friends have tried being supportive to me over my overwhelming grief and guilt including his mother whom i never
could look directly in the eye ever again till she passed just recently! To be honest i have never truly recovered from losing my soul mate and brother
due to feeling so bloody horribly guilty about it all! Its still a real grind to find happiness again after the personal trauma of feeling responsible!

Still miss him so much! And wish with everything i have that i could go back and change it all! No matter what anyone says i just cannot forgive myself!
So Gringo know you did the right thing brother and you should be very proud even after being personally attacked and hated for it at the time
that you stood up to be counted man!
I hope one day you can somehow realise that you did absolutely wrong and you were an amazing friend.
I'm not a religious man at all but if there is indeed an after life I'm 100% certain your old mate is looking down on you and glad your life took a different turn than his.

Thanks for sharing your story.
 
Aaaaand I just found out my company has now partnered with RU OK?


If you don't mind having all your data mined and identity stolen, OK.ru is a very good place to watch free movies. They have some really good obscure stuff too. For a minute that's what I thought you were talking about.
 

Yawkey way

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Has anyone tried probiotics like kimchi etc, there is quite a bit of evidence that it can help your mental health.

I had several relatives who needed bowel surgery and I noticed a marked change post opp in their personalities and behaviour plus I went down after a prolonged period on antibiotics so I was interested in what I read about the benefits of good gut health and mental health. I didn’t have a clue for example that about 90% of your serotonin is actually produced in the gut.

I have been experimenting with kimchi etc and I must say I feel better physically and mentally, plus bizarrely enough it’s great for indigestion. It’s obviously not a cure all but I quite like the taste and it’s not doing any harm so give it a try if you feel so inclined.

I’d be interested in hearing your feed back.
 

mightymalaka

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Has anyone tried probiotics like kimchi etc, there is quite a bit of evidence that it can help your mental health.

I had several relatives who needed bowel surgery and I noticed a marked change post opp in their personalities and behaviour plus I went down after a prolonged period on antibiotics so I was interested in what I read about the benefits of good gut health and mental health. I didn’t have a clue for example that about 90% of your serotonin is actually produced in the gut.

I have been experimenting with kimchi etc and I must say I feel better physically and mentally, plus bizarrely enough it’s great for indigestion. It’s obviously not a cure all but I quite like the taste and it’s not doing any harm so give it a try if you feel so inclined.

I’d be interested in hearing your feed back.
No, but i'll be sure to check that out!
Did not know any of that and my guts are as dodgy as f*ck!
Quite the revelation about serotonin!
Glad to hear your doing better man...Thanks for the tip! :thumbsu:
 

VDS66

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Has anyone tried probiotics like kimchi etc, there is quite a bit of evidence that it can help your mental health.

I had several relatives who needed bowel surgery and I noticed a marked change post opp in their personalities and behaviour plus I went down after a prolonged period on antibiotics so I was interested in what I read about the benefits of good gut health and mental health. I didn’t have a clue for example that about 90% of your serotonin is actually produced in the gut.

I have been experimenting with kimchi etc and I must say I feel better physically and mentally, plus bizarrely enough it’s great for indigestion. It’s obviously not a cure all but I quite like the taste and it’s not doing any harm so give it a try if you feel so inclined.

I’d be interested in hearing your feed back.
Yes yes and yes.

Gut health is huge. My wife has been onto it for ages.

Anything fermented is good. Sauerkraut, kimchi etc

I used to use probiotics I think called healthy life. The chemist keeps them.in a fridge.

Stay away from.products like Yakukt because of the sugar.

Omega 3 also helps. But you need the actual oil.

Cheers.
 

VDS66

Brownlow Medallist
Oct 4, 2011
21,166
55,141
AFL Club
St Kilda
If you don't mind having all your data mined and identity stolen, OK.ru is a very good place to watch free movies. They have some really good obscure stuff too. For a minute that's what I thought you were talking about.
This forum.isnt big enough for two class clown. Jog on...
 
Has anyone tried probiotics like kimchi etc, there is quite a bit of evidence that it can help your mental health.

I had several relatives who needed bowel surgery and I noticed a marked change post opp in their personalities and behaviour plus I went down after a prolonged period on antibiotics so I was interested in what I read about the benefits of good gut health and mental health. I didn’t have a clue for example that about 90% of your serotonin is actually produced in the gut.

I have been experimenting with kimchi etc and I must say I feel better physically and mentally, plus bizarrely enough it’s great for indigestion. It’s obviously not a cure all but I quite like the taste and it’s not doing any harm so give it a try if you feel so inclined.

I’d be interested in hearing your feed back.


That's interesting, there is lots of stuff coming out around gut flora and a range of health concerns, some think things like schizophrenia, allergies, autism etc might be increasing due to imbalances due to hyper-sterilised western houses and antibiotic over prescription. A specialist recently suggested that they will soon be able to make a yoghurt like drink with bacteria in it that will help prevent childhood lymphoma. I can't find the article but this looks similar.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-44199844

What you are saying makes sense.
 
Apr 24, 2014
2,516
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Really looking forward to it VDS66! When Sab kicked this off and BT picked it up & ran with it, I felt compelled to respond. To see all these moving contributions since, is very inspiring. People are talking about the very essence of humanity with their stories and I feel very privileged to have read them. I've never seen anything like this before, it's quite incredible that it's on a footy blog!

I couldn't agree more. One of the reasons it took me so long to seek help for my depression was the voice in my head telling me I was the only one and if I told anyone they'd think I was a freak. Opening up has been the best thing I could have done. Some people at work who I hardly had anything to do with have become my closest friends that I feel comfortable sharing anything with.
There was a good point made earlier about everyone being affected differently. I've been through three Psychologists, been on and off different anti depressents, tried meditating, read a pile of books. I've got to the point where I've developed a routine that generally works for me but I wouldn't begin to tell anyone else what they shoukd do. Our experiences are all different and everyone needs to find what works for them.
Coming on to a forum like this and sharing experiences is a great way to start. Hang in there everyone. Sounds like everyone is doing the best they can and that's all you can ask of yourself.
 

Yawkey way

Norm Smith Medallist
May 8, 2017
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That's interesting, there is lots of stuff coming out around gut flora and a range of health concerns, some think things like schizophrenia, allergies, autism etc might be increasing due to imbalances due to hyper-sterilised western houses and antibiotic over prescription. A specialist recently suggested that they will soon be able to make a yoghurt like drink with bacteria in it that will help prevent childhood lymphoma. I can't find the article but this looks similar.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-44199844

What you are saying makes sense.

We seem to have gone too far with the antibiotics and antibacterial hand washes etc, it’s great we have them but overuse seems to be causing unforeseen problems.

It’s strange but I’ve seen two young blokes close to me diagnosed with crohn’s, both got very emotional and nervy beforehand. My dad who came through 3 quadruple bypasses pretty well had a minor bowel operation and was 6 - 12 months coming good. He was in hospital longer than the bypasses and a week latter punched my brother in the face and kept insisting that the nurses at linacre were running a prostitution ring offering services to the patients.

I had a colonoscopy and gastroscopy while I was wandering around feeling like I was on my last legs before the zoonoses diagnosis. My gut was really playing up and I guess that the multiple doses of antibiotics didn’t help, then of course the treatment was a six month course of more antibiotics.

I have seen some great shows recently on the gut and it’s fascinating stuff, one woman who was a keen amateur cyclist had her gut health restored after a long illness. They used a capsule with material taken from someone else’s stool basically. The donor turned out to be an elite cyclist, she went on to become a competitive cyclist herself, every measure improved after getting this donor gut flora by chance. She went from being pretty ordinary to quite competitive.

Many people see it as a new frontier in treating all sorts of problems, at any rate it’s pretty easy to get some kimchi or sauerkraut. They sell a decent one at leaf in Ormond road and the local markets lately seem to always have a stall selling some.

https://www.smh.com.au/lifestyle/gi...gut-really-thinks-of-you-20170222-guic36.html

There are a lot of articles and doco pieces I had a quick look for the cyclist and couldn’t find it but this was interesting enough I thought.
 
We seem to have gone too far with the antibiotics and antibacterial hand washes etc, it’s great we have them but overuse seems to be causing unforeseen problems.

It’s strange but I’ve seen two young blokes close to me diagnosed with crohn’s, both got very emotional and nervy beforehand. My dad who came through 3 quadruple bypasses pretty well had a minor bowel operation and was 6 - 12 months coming good. He was in hospital longer than the bypasses and a week latter punched my brother in the face and kept insisting that the nurses at linacre were running a prostitution ring offering services to the patients.

I had a colonoscopy and gastroscopy while I was wandering around feeling like I was on my last legs before the zoonoses diagnosis. My gut was really playing up and I guess that the multiple doses of antibiotics didn’t help, then of course the treatment was a six month course of more antibiotics.

I have seen some great shows recently on the gut and it’s fascinating stuff, one woman who was a keen amateur cyclist had her gut health restored after a long illness. They used a capsule with material taken from someone else’s stool basically. The donor turned out to be an elite cyclist, she went on to become a competitive cyclist herself, every measure improved after getting this donor gut flora by chance. She went from being pretty ordinary to quite competitive.

Many people see it as a new frontier in treating all sorts of problems, at any rate it’s pretty easy to get some kimchi or sauerkraut. They sell a decent one at leaf in Ormond road and the local markets lately seem to always have a stall selling some.

https://www.smh.com.au/lifestyle/gi...gut-really-thinks-of-you-20170222-guic36.html

There are a lot of articles and doco pieces I had a quick look for the cyclist and couldn’t find it but this was interesting enough I thought.

Speaking of gastroscopies and colonoscopies (not mental health I know) but I heard on the radio recently that just 14% of the population actually use the free bowel screening kits sent out by the government.

Now of course they are not 100% accurate, but why wouldn’t you do it? It’s not a big deal and could save your life. Breast screening too.

Don’t be stupid, people...just do it!
 

VDS66

Brownlow Medallist
Oct 4, 2011
21,166
55,141
AFL Club
St Kilda
We seem to have gone too far with the antibiotics and antibacterial hand washes etc, it’s great we have them but overuse seems to be causing unforeseen problems.

It’s strange but I’ve seen two young blokes close to me diagnosed with crohn’s, both got very emotional and nervy beforehand. My dad who came through 3 quadruple bypasses pretty well had a minor bowel operation and was 6 - 12 months coming good. He was in hospital longer than the bypasses and a week latter punched my brother in the face and kept insisting that the nurses at linacre were running a prostitution ring offering services to the patients.

I had a colonoscopy and gastroscopy while I was wandering around feeling like I was on my last legs before the zoonoses diagnosis. My gut was really playing up and I guess that the multiple doses of antibiotics didn’t help, then of course the treatment was a six month course of more antibiotics.

I have seen some great shows recently on the gut and it’s fascinating stuff, one woman who was a keen amateur cyclist had her gut health restored after a long illness. They used a capsule with material taken from someone else’s stool basically. The donor turned out to be an elite cyclist, she went on to become a competitive cyclist herself, every measure improved after getting this donor gut flora by chance. She went from being pretty ordinary to quite competitive.

Many people see it as a new frontier in treating all sorts of problems, at any rate it’s pretty easy to get some kimchi or sauerkraut. They sell a decent one at leaf in Ormond road and the local markets lately seem to always have a stall selling some.

https://www.smh.com.au/lifestyle/gi...gut-really-thinks-of-you-20170222-guic36.html

There are a lot of articles and doco pieces I had a quick look for the cyclist and couldn’t find it but this was interesting enough I thought.

Unfortunately it's the work of slick marketing mate.

People are more motivated by fear, therefore the marketers have asked up the fear of germs etc. So people are s**t scared into using these products and chemical cleaners.

Sadly if you put your skin under a microscope you'll see all sorts of parasites living on your body.

I can't remember exactly what it was but I do recall a doco where the people who invented mouth wash gargle(?) I think it was, openly created an awareness of bad breath campaign... Create the prom, sell them a solution.
 

VDS66

Brownlow Medallist
Oct 4, 2011
21,166
55,141
AFL Club
St Kilda
I couldn't agree more. One of the reasons it took me so long to seek help for my depression was the voice in my head telling me I was the only one and if I told anyone they'd think I was a freak. Opening up has been the best thing I could have done. Some people at work who I hardly had anything to do with have become my closest friends that I feel comfortable sharing anything with.
There was a good point made earlier about everyone being affected differently. I've been through three Psychologists, been on and off different anti depressents, tried meditating, read a pile of books. I've got to the point where I've developed a routine that generally works for me but I wouldn't begin to tell anyone else what they shoukd do. Our experiences are all different and everyone needs to find what works for them.
Coming on to a forum like this and sharing experiences is a great way to start. Hang in there everyone. Sounds like everyone is doing the best they can and that's all you can ask of yourself.
Welcome to the thread and thanks for sharing.

Was lucky to meet Barry Du Bois and chat to him about his issues. His book is a great read.
 
Another one of my mates does the deed in a most horrible fashion.
Loved that dude.

Jeez, that’s awful Saintos. Hope you’ve got someone you can talk to.
So sorry.
 
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