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Therapy uncertainty 🤔 NEED ADVICE PLEASE

WARNING: This post is not short!!

So I finally had my intake appointment with a therapist that was recommended to me for help dealing with all the difficulties in my life. I have never went to a therapist before, but am very familiar with the way things are typically done since both my daughters have been seeing therapists for pretty much their whole lives. I wasn’t sure what to expect, but was hoping for the best because I really need someone that will provide me with support. However, by the time I left (two hours after arriving) I felt like I was in some type of shock. I drove to an area trail that I pass to get home and pulled into a parking space. Then I got out and started aimlessly walking down the trail trying to somehow process the things the therapist had said in an attempt to decide if it was logical and right or if it was not. After I was asked many questions about myself, my kids, my soon to be ex-husband and provided a bunch of life history and background info and part of mine and my kids health problems history (yet still only covering a portion of all that stuff that I am sure is relevant), she asked me how on earth with all that I have been impacted by and affected by have I managed to stay afloat and keep functioning. She then started telling me that it is very important at this time that I have a willingness to push my kids to the background and focus on myself. She said that if I don’t I won’t be alive for long to be here for my kids. She told me that she would recommend that I force my daughters to start becoming more independent and focus on myself and my youngest son who is only 13. She suggested me to see about a group home for my 19 year old (even though she is very high functioning and currently works at the same place I do and helps me to pay our apartments bills) or to have both of them move out and be roommates somewhere else. To give a bit of insight, my daughters are 18 & 19. My 19 year old has Aspergers, BPD, ADD, PTSD, OCD, depression, anxiety, and a host of physical health problems that include AMPS, Ehlers Danlos, EoE, food allergies, thyroid problems with a possible tumor on her pituitary, and vitamin deficiencies. She also can’t drive (from PTSD from a car wreck). My 18 year old has recently tried to commit suicide and spent a week in a mental health hospital because of severe recurrent major depressive disorder and anxiety caused from her being sexually assaulted twice in the past year and an array of chronic health issues that include CFS, Dysautonomia, EoE, malnutrition and disordered eating. She also can’t drive yet because due to her frequently passing out from her Dysautonomia her doctors won’t allow her to learn even though she already passed the test to get her permit. I was also told that since my stepson is technically my husband’s responsibility since he has full custody, that I shouldn’t continue to worry about him and just let dad handle everything for him. My stepson has been in my life since he was eight months old (now 17) and his biological mom has never been able to play much of a role in his life because of her severe mental health issues, so I am the only mom he has and knows. The therapist did have some good information about resources that may actually be helpful to me and my daughters, but I’m feeling uneasy about moving forward with her. I know my girls are old enough to be stepping out on their own, but they do not seem to me to be ready yet to take that kind of plunge with all their health difficulties. They lack knowledge of how to survive on their own and they lack in maturity also. Due to all the health issues they have never gotten to act or experience things like other healthy kids and teenagers have. What should I think about all this? Is the therapist giving good advice and I just don’t want to hear it, or is it bad advice and I should not go back? Any thoughts on this would be appreciated.
Sorry the post was so long, but thanks for reading if you made it this far!! #Fibromyalgia #MyalgicEncephalomyelitis #Dysautonomia #EosinophilicEsophagitis #BorderlinePersonalityDisorder #HypothyroidismUnderactiveThyroidDisease #Migraine #Aspergers #amps #Abuse

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Difficulties After #ECT #MentalHealth #amps #Grief #copingskills #Survivor

There’s a giant hole in mental healthcare. We all know that, there’s many. There are holes when you go for treatment but get no follow up care. When you need your meds but can’t get them for whatever reason, pharmacy/doctor miscommunication, #Insurance is always an issue.

I’m stuck.

I’m stuck in a hole but it’s not like the typical ones.

You don’t really know what’s going to happen when #ElectroconvulsiveTherapy is the option you’re given in the hospital. All you do know is that you aren’t able to keep yourself alive anymore without intervention. So if #ECT is the option, you have nothing else, you’ve tried everything else already. You go with it, you do what they say.

The hole I’m in is in regards to the aftercare for #ECT . I haven’t gotten any care specific to ECT or have been even able to talk about the ECT with professionals.

Every professional I talk to hasn’t dealt with people who have gone through ECT. They can’t answer any of my questions and they all give me the same look. The look of shock (ironic) that I actually was treated with ECT. The professionals also don’t have any referrals to other professionals who have dealt with ECT.

So when you notice changes, you can’t really talk about them. You say them out loud but it’s like talking into a void, no answers come back.

I can’t write the same as I used to. Writing became a coping skill only a year before I received my treatment.

It was easy. It all flowed right out of my mind, through my fingers, onto this app. It came together in my head really well before. I was beginning to love writing. I grew up thinking I was too stupid to write and have anyone care.

Then one of my stories got a good amount of peoples attentions. I was able to communicate with other people with similar stories. It felt amazing.

Now however, it is all different. It doesn’t flow like it did. I can’t think like I used to. The stories aren’t churning.

There are blanks now. I imagine just white in my brain. Before I could go through the stories and have images that helped.

It’s gone.

I’m relearning and I’m alone in it. I’m relearning and grasping at straws.

One thing I know for certain, is you don’t send an electrical current through someone’s brain causing seizures, and release them with no aftercare.

There are so many unanswered questions.

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Prayers are being answered!!🙏🏻 One step closer to freedom!! 🥳

Just wanted to give an update. By the grace of God, my daughter and myself have both been offered positions at the company we were hoping to get hired by! The best part is that we will be able to work the same shift and the job itself is within our range of physical ability!!! With employment just around the corner, I am one step closer to being able to leave my current, bad situation!
Thanks to everyone that “❤️” my previous post to show support. I really appreciate it! #Fibromyalgia #MyalgicEncephalomyelitis #Migraine #EosinophilicEsophagitis #IrritableBowelSyndromeIBS #Dysautonomia #BorderlinePersonalityDisorder #ic #hypermobileehlers-DanlosSyndrome(hEDS) #DegenerativeDiscDisease #amps #FoodAllergies #fragranceallergies #NarcissisticAbuse #Hope #freedom

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I want to be free

Since realizing the situation I am in and finally seeing and accepting that my husband is not who I first thought him to be 15 years ago, I have concluded I have to find a way to leave. However, it isn’t possible if I don’t have an income to financially sustain me and my kids. Myself and my oldest teenage daughter have been searching endlessly for jobs and have turned in several applications. We even went for interviews and were told we were hired by one of them, but due to the need for us to work the same shift because of only one vehicle, they said they would need to figure out our scheduling and would email us with further information. That was over a week ago and we haven’t heard anything. So, I’m not real sure we actually did get the jobs. Without a job I can’t leave, because I couldn’t pay for somewhere else for us to live. I have managed to locate a few rental options in my tiny rural area, but that information is useless without income. I am feeling really trapped and hopeless. I don’t want to have to keep waking up day after day to a man that treats me and my kids (daughters especially) like we are dirt and valueless. Listening to the hateful things he says and walking on eggshells in the hopes of not setting off a nasty remark or angry outburst. I want to leave and yet my circumstances of being a stay-at-home mom with no income is now kicking me in the butt and forcing me into having to stay where I know I don’t need to be. The stress is badly affecting my symptoms and the symptoms of both my daughters (we are all three chronically ill). It also doesn’t help that my husband is now unemployed also (he has quit two different jobs in the past two weeks) so my current household is quickly running out of the little bit of money that we had and me and the kids are not sure what is going to happen. I think I must be living in a form of HELL, but for the life of me I can’t figure out what me and the kids did to deserve it! #Fibromyalgia #MyalgicEncephalomyelitis #amps #hypermobileehlers-DanlosSyndrome(hEDS) #EosinophilicEsophagitis #Dysautonomia #Migraine #BorderlinePersonalityDisorder #Depression #IrritableBowelSyndromeIBS #InterstitialCystitis #DegenerativeDiscDisease #FoodAllergies #fragranceallergies #Environmental Allergies #sleepingdisorder

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Trapped

I have, after almost 15 years of marriage and an escalation of issues, realized that my husbands bad attitude, mean words, and refusal to communicate or be concerned about feelings (mine and our 4 kids), is due to him being narcissistic. I have come to the determination that I would be better off not being in this marriage any longer. However, I am currently trapped. I have been a stay-at-home parent throughout the entirety of the marriage, therefore I have no income of my own that I could rely on to support myself and my kids if I left. I am looking into getting a job (even though he doesn’t know that yet), but I am really worried because I have Fibromyalgia and CFS, along with a laundry list of other health difficulties, so I am very worried that even if I can get hired somewhere that won’t be too strenuous on me, my bad symptom days could cause serious problems for me to wake up and get to my job everyday. I am working on obtaining my Bachelors in Community Health through an online program, but I am still a few years away from completing it due to me taking only one class at a time. I also have to worry about my two daughters. One is 19 the other will be 18 in a couple months and both still live at home and have a long list of chronic health problems themselves that I have to help them manage. The 19 year old even has Aspergers and was recently diagnosed with BPD to go along with the EoE, Ehlers Danlos, and AMPS that she has. The soon to be 18 year old has CFS, depression, EoE, and Dysautonomia. My oldest son is 16 and is actually my stepson, but to me he is just my child since I have been his mom since he was 8 months old. However, I know if I leave my husband, I won’t be able to take him with me since my husband is his legal guardian. My youngest son is 13, has ADHD and still has several years of school left. So, even though I feel it would be better for me to leave, I have to consider my kids and their needs. I don’t have family to turn to for help, nor friends either. The couple of friends I have are actually joint friends to both me and my husband, not just mine, and are struggling financially themselves so are not in a position of helping me even if I asked. I simply don’t know what to do. I am horribly unhappy and tired of being emotionally neglected and abused. I need a game plan, but am not sure what steps to take to create one. Any words of advice or simply understanding would be very appreciated right now. Thanks for reading! Sorry for the lengthy post! #narcissism #Fibromyalgia #MyalgicEncephalomyelitis #EmotionalAbuse #amps #EosinophilicEsophagitis #ADHD #Support #Dysautonomia #Aspergers #Feelingtrapped

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Question about pain management

As an orthodox Jew, I observe Shabbat and the Jewish holidays. I want to know, how do people deal with their pain when they can't use a heating pad or TENS? I have AMPS from hypermobility, so meds don't help and the cold makes it worse. What have people tried when they had no access to electronic devices/heat?

#AmplifiedMusculoskeletalPainSyndrome #ChronicPain #PainManagement #amps

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New as of 9/22/2021

Hi all, I would love to introduce myself! I have AMPS due to hypermobility and flat feet. I've had this my whole life to some degree. In eighth grade, I started my diagnosis journey in which I got my AMPS diagnosis in tenth grade. Along with my AMPS, I also experience GI problems which I am starting to get looked at very soon; and severe period pain which I am still trying to find out the cause. I am so happy to be on The Mighty! The feeling of community is so amazing!

#amps

#ChronicPain

#ChronicIllness

4 comments
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New as of 9/22/2021

Hi all, I would love to introduce myself! I have AMPS due to hypermobility and flat feet. I've had this my whole life to some degree. In eighth grade, I started my diagnosis journey in which I got my AMPS diagnosis in tenth grade. Along with my AMPS, I also experience GI problems which I am starting to get looked at very soon; and severe period pain which I am still trying to find out the cause. I am so happy to be on The Mighty! The feeling of community is so amazing!

#amps

#ChronicPain

#ChronicIllness

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Never Broken

I am whole

I’m not broken

Just because something is wrong with me

It doesn’t mean that I’m not worthy

I might use braces to help me stay together better

But I’m still not broken

Sure a part of me is screaming

In pain

For pain

Amplifying signals that it receives

That doesn’t make me any less valid

That doesn’t change my worth

My chronic illness

Or what others might just call chronic pain

It’s not me

It’s a part of me

I am still the same me

Except

I’m stronger and becoming even more so

I’m braver and that will just continue

I’m more resilient

Because each time

A treatment doesn’t work

I’m told that there’s nothing wrong

Or someone says something ignorant

I need to bounce back

There just isn’t another option

I am not broken

But yes I have things that I need to fix

Why does needing to improve mean broken

Is the last generation of the iPhone broken because a new one came out

No, it was just improved

Things improve

People are constantly improving

I’m not broken

I’m whole

I’m even more whole than before

But guess what

I was never broken

#Poetry

#ChronicIllness

#ChronicPain #amps

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How to cope with nausea

Hey friends. Wanted to find out some of your fave tips n tricks on how to cope with nausea. #Fibromyalgia #amps

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