Saturday 4 December 2021

#postyourpill

This week’s tenuous psychology-related news: 

I started to come down with something, perhaps a bug, definitely not covid, on Thursday. I had my tea that night but I’ve eaten nothing since. As a result, I’ve missed out on a ton of social events. 

The Saddleworth Santa Dash was today, a 5k charge through the hills of Oldham featuring 500 Father Christmases. I was in training for it for a couple of months, eating clean, getting in a circuit that was probably the same distance, and running at the gym. 

The time for the circuit I managed to bring down from 52:12 to 40:31. 

I also worked on my oldest gym record. Back in 2013 I could run for 10 mins at 14km ph. Then I went to Ibiza, came back, and I’ve never been able to hit it since. Make of that what you will. So, on the treadmill, I’ve been running at that speed for as long as possible, starting at 2 mins in the middle of September, and managing 4:45 around a month ago. 

So, yeah, I was getting somewhere with the running only to fall ill and miss the event for which I was training in the first place. Shit. 

Tonight, men’s support group Andy’s Man Club Manchester are going out for food- sadly I’ve had to miss it. Going out when I’ve eaten nothing for 2 days, in the December rain, wouldn’t bode well for my recovery. Gutted as Mowgli looks superb. If you fancy joining us on future outings, and fancy getting anything off your chest in the meantime, join us Mondays, 7pm, 86 Princess St

Dr Alex George, NHS A&E doctor and star of Love Island S4 and now Youth Mental Health Ambassador, recently began the #postyourpill campaign.

 

Ending medication stigma is something that is important to me. As conversations about mental health become more commonplace, medication will always pop up in such discussions. 

4 years ago, when I started on Sertraline, I asked people on Facebook to inbox me if they’d ever been on it. I was surprised with the number and the range of people who responded- people who I wouldn’t have thought were dealing with depression. Such is the nature of the condition: we mask it.

Perhaps, thanks in part to Dr Alex’s campaign, soon we won’t have to.

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