Thanks for sharing your experience. Can I ask why you went to a doctor and not a therapist? Wouldn't they have been able to lead you down that path too?
I think so. And the reason I phrased my original comment so sharply is because it took me almost getting fired for sleep issues to get me to focus on anything resembling “that path”.
People often need some event to snap them out of whatever rut they’re in. At the time, I was too far gone and too strong headed to think “A therapist? Help me? Yes, I think that’s reasonable.”
In hindsight, it was obviously reasonable. But there’s a certain stigma with even talking about any of this, let alone acting on it. I did eventually get fired solely for the sleep issues, since narcolepsy is incurable. Attempting to hide it and not going to any doctor would have been in my financial interest. And the exact opposite of my long-term interest, as I am quite happy in every way now.
So when you say “go see a therapist,” I completely agree. And I also think that 20-something young professionals are unlikely to actually go do that. Males in particular. Testosterone has a funny way of making you feel that you know better than domain experts.
In hindsight, what happened was, the sleep issue was becoming more and more of a problem. I volunteered to go get a CPAP machine from a sleep clinic, since I remembered hearing a coworker from my first job in 2008 go on and on about how miraculous it was. So I showed up expecting my quick fix miracle, was informed “actually, you have incurable narcolepsy,” was kicked to the curb by Employer, and my sleep clinic sessions ended up becoming de facto therapy.
Lucky for me. Also idiot me for not just going to <domain expert> years ago.
Part of it was also that my mom snuck me antidepressants when I was 17 or so. I was really upset when I found out. I’m not sure what she was thinking. Maybe it was the only way she could get me to try it. But I rebelled as soon as I found out, and ended up filing it all in the “mumbo jumbo ignore this crap” bucket in my head until forced to partake in 2016.
Glad I got course corrected. Hoping that lots of people here learn to take care of themselves sooner. I don’t dwell on it, but it’s probably true to say that I would have had more friends and more happier years if I did it when I was 21 instead of 28. Good luck convincing a 21yo male to go talk honestly about his feelings with a therapist though.
I just hope that in a few decades, someone comes across this comment and thinks “gosh, how anachronistic,” the same way we feel about comments from the 70s about women. The era of men feeling they should hide their pain and “man up” needs to end.
People often need some event to snap them out of whatever rut they’re in. At the time, I was too far gone and too strong headed to think “A therapist? Help me? Yes, I think that’s reasonable.”
In hindsight, it was obviously reasonable. But there’s a certain stigma with even talking about any of this, let alone acting on it. I did eventually get fired solely for the sleep issues, since narcolepsy is incurable. Attempting to hide it and not going to any doctor would have been in my financial interest. And the exact opposite of my long-term interest, as I am quite happy in every way now.
So when you say “go see a therapist,” I completely agree. And I also think that 20-something young professionals are unlikely to actually go do that. Males in particular. Testosterone has a funny way of making you feel that you know better than domain experts.
In hindsight, what happened was, the sleep issue was becoming more and more of a problem. I volunteered to go get a CPAP machine from a sleep clinic, since I remembered hearing a coworker from my first job in 2008 go on and on about how miraculous it was. So I showed up expecting my quick fix miracle, was informed “actually, you have incurable narcolepsy,” was kicked to the curb by Employer, and my sleep clinic sessions ended up becoming de facto therapy.
Lucky for me. Also idiot me for not just going to <domain expert> years ago.
Part of it was also that my mom snuck me antidepressants when I was 17 or so. I was really upset when I found out. I’m not sure what she was thinking. Maybe it was the only way she could get me to try it. But I rebelled as soon as I found out, and ended up filing it all in the “mumbo jumbo ignore this crap” bucket in my head until forced to partake in 2016.
Glad I got course corrected. Hoping that lots of people here learn to take care of themselves sooner. I don’t dwell on it, but it’s probably true to say that I would have had more friends and more happier years if I did it when I was 21 instead of 28. Good luck convincing a 21yo male to go talk honestly about his feelings with a therapist though.
I just hope that in a few decades, someone comes across this comment and thinks “gosh, how anachronistic,” the same way we feel about comments from the 70s about women. The era of men feeling they should hide their pain and “man up” needs to end.