It’s the early hours of the morning and I’m not sleeping again. I’m wondering if councilling could help for several reasons.
I have always been a pretty level headed person, but I noticed that I’ve become more sensative even before diagnosis earlier this year. I completely get that feeling so ill, being in constant pain and worried about your health would make anyone more sensative than usual, but I was also dealing with a number of other issues.
In the last year I’ve lost a close friend, very unexpectedly, had a home invation, financial difficulties of my own and my mothers cancer diagosis just to name a few of the issues. This led to me not speaking out when I got ill. Might not have been the smartest move, but the major attack that led to me first seeing my doctor and eventually getting diagnosed was at the same time as mum announcing her cancer and needing support through her treatment so I really didn’t feel I could say anything until I had to, months later. Not everyone took the news well and I had to deal with some pretty nasty verbal abuse from my darling brother and mother dearest. Who is making a full recovery, by the way. Everyone else has been really supportive, but I’m finding it difficult to reconcile with mum and bro, despite their efforts. They’ve always been hard work and this was a step too far.
So my questions are:
As I work in the same building as my GP, how do I seek councilling from people I don’t work with? I have a greT GP so don’t want to move.
Where can I get help from people who understand a new MS diagnosis and general stresses of life?
How do I get a grip on which emotions are caused by MS and which are caused by my crazy life?
I really hope someone out there can help me nip this in the bud.
Hi, It is totally understandable your not sleeping, as you will tell by the time of my reply I’m not sleeping well at moment. I would recommend counselling my only frustration is you only get 6 sessions slots even though you can be referred for more support.I am awaiting further support. It helped me being able to discuss my frustrations of the diagnosis. The sessions might not necessarily be in the same place as where you see your GP, as you say you have a good GP I would discuss this with them and express your concerns about being in the same building. You can also ring the helpline that is on this site is another option. This forum is a good place to discuss your MS and it’s symptoms if you are finding other people don’t understand the complexity of this disease. Hope you are asleep now, I’m starting to feel more sleepy so will try again. Take care Barney
Counselling would be an excellent idea, particularly cognitive behaviour therapy. Take a look on www.patient.co.uk for a description, if you’ve not heard of it before.
Like Barney has mentioned, see your gp in the first instance, remember it will be confidential.
Counselling can really help a person to find her/his way through a tangle of difficulties. It has certainly helped me. I wish I had done it sooner (although I wasn’t really ready to - you sound much more open to the idea rather earlier than I was, and hurrah for that.) It isn’t a quick fix, and it doesn’t solve any of the external problems, but it is amazing how it can help to give yourself a different perspective on things.
Your GP practice will probably have a tame counsellor whom they recommend. But you can find a suitably-qualified one yourself without going anywhere near the GP if you prefer. Here is a link to the BACP (the professional body for properly trained counsellors in the UK) and there is a directory and lots of advice on how to choose someone to suit you.
Do please make sure that it’s a BACP accredited person that you go to. Any old person can legally advertise herself as a ‘counsellor’ - no law against it - on the basis of nothing more than a cycling proficiency test and a knack for tilting her head to one side while looking sympathetic. So make sure that you go for someone properly-qualified.
All very useful. I’m going to follow your advice and speak to my GP first about councelling. Frustrated is a greatdescription of how I’ve been feeling. Frustrated with my family, body and ability to put things in order in the time frame I would like. I’m used to being prepared for all eventualities so I’m feeling quite vulnerable right now. Even when being spontaneous, I like to have things in place. Not so easy to do these days.
It was my birthday last week and I pulled out of drink with members of my organisation because I just felt too tired. I made an excuse but a week later, members are still moaning about their disappointment. I ended up snapping at a couple today. It was my birthday so my choice what I do and as it was a social event, they should be going to network with other members not just to see me.
I was quite proud that I stood my ground and having already seen your messages gave me the strength to telk them to shut up and back off.
Go for it and embrace it, I was going to ask if you had an MS Centre in your area, but I see you have made arrangements
Counselling is one of the biggest, yet healthiest steps I have taken since diagnosis, it takes a while to build up trust and a relationship with a counsellor but with big life events affectsing my MS and my MS affecting my life, they help to reset and clear things though.
Sorry but i feel like crap at the moment had a drip last week don’t know if it’s make me feel better (BUT I DON’T) feel like crying all the time got .I have got my husband to talk to but he does not understand , need sombody else to talk to somebody how knows how i feel
do you mean you had a steroid drip last week or was it a typo and you meant a dip?
if it was steroids - it is a common side effect to feel low and weepy afterwards. I can remember bawling like a baby because my then husband was 5 minutes late picking me up from hospital after 5 days on methyl prednisolone. I felt as though the bottom had dropped out of my world.
I note that you have tagged onto an old thread about counselling- perhaps you are thinking along those lines. I can highly recommend it as a way to help get things in perspective.
Counselling is a bit like dating - you might not click with everyone you try. Don’t write off the whole concept if you feel you don’t have a rapport with the first one you get. Give it a reasonable trial period, but if you feel it’s a waste of time, don’t be afraid to look elsewhere. There are lots of counsellors, and it’s important to find one that’s right for you - not all of them will be.