YOU ARE NOT ALONE - A companion online community discussion board for The Mental Illness Happy Hour podcast with Paul Gilmartin

Hi friends!

Tomorrow I have an appointment with my dietician.

Bookend 1 of 2

She is great, but I have to reason to have my anxiety at an 8 on a scale of 10.

Food, obesity, and chronic diseases like sleep apnea are complex and difficult in the best of times, and 2023 is not my best of times.

My anxieties:

1. I scheduled an important work meeting for 15 minutes before, so I need to extricate myself at ten minutes.
2. I completely did not do any of the good behaviors we discussed last appointment.
3. My sleep apnea is back, to late 2021 levels (eg not as bad as 2020, but even "moderate" sleep apnea is a personal disaster).
4. Having lost weight, I've been sexually harassed.

Said another way: something as simple as "CICO" quickly gets complex, and tangled with many other traumas.

My goals:

1. Make a list of everything I want to say during the appointment.
2. Get it all out.
3. Listen to what she has to say.
4. Collaborate with her to plan for a better future.

Thanks for listening, friends!

take us in your pocket please and updates needed!

How the appointment itself went
Next steps
My confession: first to dietician, now to everyone here

Mental Fairy wrote: ↑July 25th, 2023, 7:16 pm take us in your pocket please and updates needed!

Mental Fairy: here is your update!

How the appointment itself went

The appointment with my dietician went great.

Difficult and serious as many of the topics were (my increased sleep apnea, chilling lessons from the film The Whale), we faced them forthrightly, shirking none of them, and came up with a preliminary plan for the next six weeks.

Next steps

1. Modest, scaled-back goals.
2. My participation in a men's obesity research study.
3. Considering why I do all this: not only to avoid The Whale-like outcomes (some of which I'm already experiencing), but to go towards a better future.

My confession: first to dietician, now to everyone here

Here is my confession, a reason to live that came to me July 4, that I shared with my dietician this morning as a reason to change, and now with you, my MIHH friends:

I'm in love with someone.

If I am to win someone like this person, then, as good as a person as I am, I will need to be just a little better in specific areas. And obesity and sleep apnea will hold me back in all of these important areas (physical fitness, professional/financial accomplishment).

Said another way: I am facing sleep apnea wholly for myself.

Yet, I need all the motivation I can get, and what better motivation than love?

Hi Oak

Strong emotions you hold dear, i thank you for telling us.

Emotions drive us to do some amazing things, it gets us up in the mornings or it keeps us under the bed covers. It makes even a basic meal amazing with the emotion behind it being the secret ingredient. The power of emotions can also get us over finish lines, as well as the start line. Your Oak are holding a powerful emotion. I hope this drives your momentum forward to help combat the insecurities you hold and find little wins with getting of top of this sleep concern.

Mental Fairy wrote: ↑July 26th, 2023, 12:42 pm Emotions drive us to do some amazing things, it gets us up in the mornings or it keeps us under the bed covers.

Word, Mental Fairy. Well said.

Thank you for your encouragement.

These are difficult issues I discussed with the dietitian today. I can honestly say throat I didn’t shirk anything.