Counseling Today

I wanted to write to tell you how my counseling went today. There a couple of friends who read my blog that will be wondering how it went and it was easier to do it this way than to tell each individually.

I went to a counselor that I had seen a few years ago. She is really nice. She was very sympathetic. She had me schedule an appointment with a psychiatrist to see about getting on some medication. Unfortunately, they didn't have any appointments available until December 10. Knowing how it takes some time to get anti-depressants into your system, I'm not sure this will help me for the Christmas season, which will obviously be tough for obvious reasons (obvious to some) and the exhaustion of my holiday work schedule and the lack of sunlight, which I have noticed is affecting me. And I will not see my counselor again until December 1, with Thanksgiving coming up.

She mostly took down notes and listened to me. She wants me to make sure that I eat a balanced meal. I told her that I had been barely eating. She said to force myself to eat several small meals. She wants me to cut out the caffeine. I knew this was coming, but it still stinks because I love pop and the caffeine keeps my migraines away. And it keeps me awake at work. She said to drink plenty of water and exercise to help with the migraines and to only drink a pop if I feel a migraine coming. She thinks they are stress-related and hopes I can eventually eliminate them altogether. She wants me to limit my sugar intake because she said that will make my moods spike and then crash. She wants me to continue to exercise and to get plenty of sunlight and get out and do some things. I mentioned that I wanted to volunteer in the nursery at church and at a place affiliated with the church that gives household goods to people in need. She said she thought that would be an excellent thing to do and was sure it would help me a lot. She recommended a book, "A Joy I'd Never Known" by Jan Dravecky. She also said that my not getting enough sleep was not helping, so if I can get Billy down for a nap, it would help for me to take a nap during the day. I don't know where I will fit that in and Billy is so resistant to naps.

Wasn't much more said. There's a lot to fit into just one hour. It's a start, though.