My One Year Anniversary
Living with depression
21st September 2021, I experienced a catastrophic headache. I couldn’t walk. I was halfway to work and I started to panic.
I’m having a stroke, a heart attack, I’m going to die.
One of the precursors to a heart attack is a feeling of dread or impending doom. I was feeling nothing but dread. Except, thankfully, I wasn’t having a heart attack; but the dread was real nonetheless.
The migraine was blindingly painful. I eventually doubled back and reached my car. After a little while I drove home.
That day I reached out to my GP (family doctor) and I broke down. I became upset and I vented. It was a phone call that changed the course of my life.
I can’t recall if I was diagnosed with depression during that call, or if it was days later during a check-up phone call. Either way, that migraine was my brain smashing the ‘break glass in case of fire’ window and hitting the emergency button.
I have never taken care of my mental health. After 12 years of nursing my luck ran out and my brain broke down.
That was one year ago.
Today, 21st September 2022, I am a different person.
