I'm Afraid

[VeniteAdoremus]

[quote name='Lilllabettt' post='1734649' date='Dec 24 2008, 07:16 AM']Yes, I feel as though the good Lord dropped a bucketful of grace on my head ... and then the bucket. (Couldn't resist )


I hope that your learning was in some other vein than the "what not to wear," section of fashion magazines. Those did teach me some about dressing, since they gave a close up of other people's faux pas. In my memory I made a mess of things; maybe I'll have to go back and read that thread someday and see if there's anything to take away.

Merry Christmas![/quote]

No, it certainly wasn't "what not to wear". What I mainly remember is you defending your sisters. Which I thought was pretty big.

I keep telling everyone that, even though I'm sure I'm meant to be entering next year, I might discern after a year or so in the convent that this was the time I was meant to spend there, and now I am to go somewhere else. But that's [i]talk[/i]. On some level I know it works that way, but I really don't know what I'd do if it actually happened.

So. Yeah. Thanks for that.

I wish I could help you with the fog... but I know that it's endless until the point where you suddenly reach the sun.

[Norseman82]

Lilllabettt,

The only thing I would add is this: check with your doctor to see if the medication you need to take has side effects and that could be affecting your emotions.

Edited December 24, 2008 by Norseman82

[Lilllabettt]

[quote name='Norseman82' post='1734814' date='Dec 24 2008, 01:33 PM']check with your doctor to see if the medication you need to take has side effects and that could be affecting your emotions.[/quote]


This is SO important for people who are physically ill. Many times emotional trouble is looked over, or if the patient does bring it up with their physician, they are stuffed full of anti depressants without consideration for what the possible cause is, and if that is treatable, instead of just the symptoms.

On the other end, there is the tendency of the medical profession to assign anything they don't understand or can't explain to mental illness ... spinal paralysis, types of cancer, fibromyalgia, and my own condition were once thought to be "hysterical" afflictions ... which can be very frustrating for a patient who is dismissed with a wave of the hand and a bottle of tranquilizers.

My particular medications cause hair loss, nausea, bruising, cell mutations and cancer. But even if a patient is taking a medication without known emotional side effects, that doesn't mean they are "safe." Long term or chronic illness can pack a wallop emotionally, regardless of how or if they are treated.

The people I've consulted have been unanimous in their opposition to "medicating grief," that is, they think the process should be allowed to play out organically as much as possible, until "depth or duration," become unusual. A good barometer for the lay man is "interference;" how much is sadness/anxiety/depression interfering with your ability to live your life?