Suicide Thoughts and Opinions?

[queenofnines]

You can't stop someone from doing it if they really want to, and that's fine. You can try to be there and add the joy that they're missing, though.

[truemonica]

I lost my brother at age 19, 5 days befor his 20th birthday, by jumping off the local grocery store. My step father hung his self. It is real. If people reach out help if you can.I have lived with this since 1989. It never goes away it just gets different. They both had their reasons but they were alone when they took their life and a piece of mine. If they are set to do it....it will be done....We can only leave the door to communication and compassion open. Bless us all we are the survivors.

[skrogman]

To Phx0808 I just wanted to say thank you.  And I am so sorry for the losses you all have expressed.  That does have to be so hard. 

[camellia0]

It sounds like they need support or counseling. We all get mad, depressed because we don't have a job or trouble with bills, a break up, etc. But they need support. It's terrible to see people taking their life, when we have friends/family dying from an illness and they would do anything to live.

[shelly927]

the only one that can help anyone thinking that way is God,  if they are thinking evil thoughts then that is the devil.  they need prayer fast.

[bjthoms1020]

Other options sound great in theory, but try to put yourself in this situation:

You feel every minute like you are about to die.  You are so anxious that words cannot describe your level of fear.  You feel absolutely terrified.  It never stops.  People keep telling you to get a hold of yourself.  They get disgusted because they don't understand why you have fear when there is nothing to fear.  You call a psychiatrist for an appointment.  After being told that it will cost $250 for a new patient and they don't take insurance, you agree to find a way to pay the fee, because you are so sick you have not been able to work in a few months.  This makes people around you act like you are lazy.  The receptionist then says that the doctor will be able to see you in six weeks.  You pray with all your might that you can hang on that long.

You make it the six weeks and the doctor tells you that he is going to try a drug that might help, might not help or could actually make you worse.  There are all kinds of nasty side effects.  Then he tells you that if you are going to notice an improvement it will take 4-6 weeks because most psychiatric meds take a long time to work.  You ask for a tranquilizer to help you sleep or make it until the medicine starts to work.  The doctor denies your request because he says that he would not want to get you hooked on drugs. 

Now six weeks later, the meds don't work, in fact you feel that you are worse.  You pray that you would die.  No one understands how horrible you feel and your friends and family won't even speak to you anymore because they are tired of you hiding out in your house and not being able to re arrange your negative thinking.  You go back to the doctor and he says that now we will try a new medication and again it will take 4-5 weeks to see if it is going to help.

I went through pretty much this scenario for years.  I mean like 5 years!  Now you can make two choices when you can't take it anymore.  You can self-medicate with alcohol or illegal drugs, or you can kill yourself.  Those who make it out of this situation will tell you that you would not wish this on even your worst enemy.   Mental illness is a lonely place to be.  I am so sorry for those of you with family members that chose to take their lives, but please try to understand the level of pain, terror and confusion.

you just summed up my life. I know every thing you are talking about. I have bi polar and the side effects from my meds had gotten so bad that i was physically sick everyday. I went to my Dr. to switch my meds or lower the dosage and she just gives me yet another meds than just puts me to sleep. Keep in mind im already sleeping 14 hrs. a day because of my meds. I had 3 yr, old daughter i couldn't take care of cause i was sleeping or sick. all of this during the biggest nightmare of my life. i had just lost my 3 months baby girl. It nice to see someone understands how i felt even a little bit.

[shanise48]

Everyone in there life has thought about suicide maybe once or twice I made it through but I also had a ve ry strong support system life gets hard some people can't handel it like others we all have our ups and downs some of us make it through some of us don't

[lynnc35]

Being a person who has contemplated it many times in my life and unsuccessfully attempted it a few years ago, I was very depressed in a wheelchair after being hit by a car, and tried to overdose, but I read the bottle of pills wrong and took the wrong ones, I would of been dead, because oxycotton would of killed me. But I believe God intervened, just like He did when I was hit by the car and left for dead on the side of the road, I shouldn't be alive but He has  kept me here. I have been through alot in my life, homeless and you name it, the likes, been there..done that..but God entered and lets just say took me out of a life of drinking and all of that..we want to end it because we see nothing else, we only see what is right in front of us and think it can never get any better, just last year at this very time, I wanted to again, but wow has everything changed,,,I mean I was sleeping behind an apartment building...but God intervened again, He keeps telling me that isn't what He has planned, and I don't believe He has suicide planned for any of us, no I think you got to trust in Him to turn you around..to turn things around and let Him show you your real purpose, sometimes we may be looking in the wrong places for our purpose and that is why we keep hitting brick walls, cuz we aint supposed to be in them places...and then we think there is no where else to go but suicide because all we see is that brick wall, but if you just turn the corner and change some of your thinking and look at the bigger picture..God will show you which way to turn, no suicide isn't the answer, I mean God let me see pictures of what hell would be like because I was that ready to throw in the towel, seriously every where I looked He put things in front of me. Seven months later I am in a house and in my fourth class in college, making good grades, and on my way to something, I am forty years old and its a little late to go back, but I am not going to argue after seeing what the alternative was. Life has bad things that is what makes us strong, but you got to plow through it and know you aren't the only one standing there, I know I didn't believe at one time, until He stepped in and showed me that I was on the wrong path...did He ever!!

 
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[lynnc35]

I will also add my dad killed himself when I was 13 which led to my heavy drinking at the same time. What it does to your family is unimaginable. You got to pray and look to God because only He has answers for you. Suicide is not one of them, this world is rough, it bites sometimes, I mean really, but you got to hang in there. There is always something better to come when you trust and believe.

[samrhett2]

Other options sound great in theory, but try to put yourself in this situation:

You feel every minute like you are about to die.  You are so anxious that words cannot describe your level of fear.  You feel absolutely terrified.  It never stops.  People keep telling you to get a hold of yourself.  They get disgusted because they don't understand why you have fear when there is nothing to fear.  You call a psychiatrist for an appointment.  After being told that it will cost $250 for a new patient and they don't take insurance, you agree to find a way to pay the fee, because you are so sick you have not been able to work in a few months.  This makes people around you act like you are lazy.  The receptionist then says that the doctor will be able to see you in six weeks.  You pray with all your might that you can hang on that long.

You make it the six weeks and the doctor tells you that he is going to try a drug that might help, might not help or could actually make you worse.  There are all kinds of nasty side effects.  Then he tells you that if you are going to notice an improvement it will take 4-6 weeks because most psychiatric meds take a long time to work.  You ask for a tranquilizer to help you sleep or make it until the medicine starts to work.  The doctor denies your request because he says that he would not want to get you hooked on drugs. 

Now six weeks later, the meds don't work, in fact you feel that you are worse.  You pray that you would die.  No one understands how horrible you feel and your friends and family won't even speak to you anymore because they are tired of you hiding out in your house and not being able to re arrange your negative thinking.  You go back to the doctor and he says that now we will try a new medication and again it will take 4-5 weeks to see if it is going to help.

I went through pretty much this scenario for years.  I mean like 5 years!  Now you can make two choices when you can't take it anymore.  You can self-medicate with alcohol or illegal drugs, or you can kill yourself.  Those who make it out of this situation will tell you that you would not wish this on even your worst enemy.   Mental illness is a lonely place to be.  I am so sorry for those of you with family members that chose to take their lives, but please try to understand the level of pain, terror and confusion.

you just summed up my life. I know every thing you are talking about. I have bi polar and the side effects from my meds had gotten so bad that i was physically sick everyday. I went to my Dr. to switch my meds or lower the dosage and she just gives me yet another meds than just puts me to sleep. Keep in mind im already sleeping 14 hrs. a day because of my meds. I had 3 yr, old daughter i couldn't take care of cause i was sleeping or sick. all of this during the biggest nightmare of my life. i had just lost my 3 months baby girl. It nice to see someone understands how i felt even a little bit.

Bj, I really do.  It is horrible.  For the last two months my son has gone through this same thing.  It is so heartbreaking to try to find help for him.  We are on the 4th med and 2nd psychiatrist.  The first one wanted me to admit him to a psych ward against his will.  He is a gentle sweet kid that is so anxious he can't eat or sleep and the doctor wanted me to slap him in a psych ward.

I, too, have bi-polar.  I often wonder if I was given this road to travel so that I could reach out and try to help others.  If I was not a sufferer I am not sure I would be quite as persistent and insistent on getting help for my son. 

Take care, I am so sorry for what you are going through.

[bjthoms1020]

@ samrhett2,

      Thank you. i weened myself off my meds two years ago cause i couldnt take the side effects. and ive been able to figure out what my triggers are, i make sure i get sleeep, cause when i dont i am a basket case. and then a husband who stands behind me and takes my BS when i get in those fits. and one of the worlds best daughter. that's my angle in the pic with me. I hope you find the right help for you and your son. 

[bigfoot951]

I would personally like to see statistics from suicides both attempts and successes showing what drugs the individuals were on both legal prescriptions and street drugs.  I bet there would be a direct connection.

[samrhett2]

Bigfoot, I have talked to several psychiatrists about that and their answer rings true to me.  Of course most people who commit suicide will be on some sort of psychiatric medication because most of the time they were trying to get help.  Why else would someone be on psychiatric medication?  Lots of people feel that psychiatric meds contribute to suicide, but you must understand that everyone who is on them already has mental illness tendencies.  So to say that these medications cause people to kill themselves would be like saying that chemotherapy was the cause of death for a cancer patient.

The illness is what causes the state of mind.  I hear what you are saying.  In some cases I think they can make people feel worse, but it is really dangerous for people to start thinking that the medications are cause.  The reason why is that they have saves the lives of millions of people.  People like me.  If they start banning these drugs, people who suffer have no hope.  As a reminder, they are supposed to be used under the direction of a physician, preferably a psychiatrist because in my experience most doctors do not know much more than I do about how they work.

[Tresbn00]

I vote for leaving them alone, or offering them alternatives, and hoping that they won't do it. With each passing day a free person's circumstances are bound to change. Meeting someone that inspres them to live, a raise at work, reveling in the accomplishments of loved ones...anything has a chance of bringing a person out of suicidal thoughts.  I used to volunteer at a crisis line and our prime objective, in keeping someone from committing suicide, was to get them to verbally contract not to do it for three days. So much can happen in three days to redirect one's course of thought. Locking someone up for suicidal thoughts will only stigmatize someone and make their life worse when they are let go.

[sherryinutah]

I see suicide as an option for those who are mentally ill...even if the mental illness...is deep depression.  I experienced post partum suicidal depression after my first child was born and that phase lasted for 2 years.  I was motivated to survive to take care of my child so I did everything within my power to rise above that situation.

It's like being an alcoholic.  The person considering suicide needs to seek help, be willing to pray and so on.....

If they officially give up and take their own life....

The only thing their loved ones can do is to grieve the loss.  Just because people are invited to this party doesn't mean they are required to stay for the duration.