<p>If you’ve ever experienced chronic pain, you know that it does begin to color your attitude and the way you look at the world. Back in the days before I finally gave in and had my neck surgery, I visited a chronic pain forum. There are many people on that forum who say that they’ve definitely considered suicide. </p>
<p>Trigeminal neuralgia is one of the most painful disorders, and before treatments improved, it did have a moderately high suicide rate associate with it. </p>
<p>But when I think of giving a family member permission to “let go”, I envision them being on the brink of death. I see that as different from giving a family member permission to suicide. Maybe I am misunderstanding the analogy.</p>
<p>I think it’s not a matter of giving permission, but more about understanding why somebody might do it. Sometimes when a suicide occurs, the survivors are perplexed–they didn’t see it coming, and can’t understand why the person would have done it. For somebody living with chronic pain, that’s less likely to be the case. Perhaps we will now begin to understand the impact of chronic depression a bit better as well.</p>
<p>My sister has trigeminal neuralgia. She has been stuggling with it for years. Her latest treatments have made the pain tolerable at times.</p>
<p>Not really permission, but understanding. Understanding that heaps of love or money or success or admiration cannot take away the pain.</p>
<p>I think that understanding MAY also lessen the guilt, abandonment and anger that loved ones of a person who committed suicide feel, wondering what they could and should have done differently. There is a lot of healing that has to occur among the survivors.</p>
<p>I had trigeminal neuralgia. It was horrible. Horrible. But, one of the horrible things about it was that it was unpredictable (when the nerves fired/zapped) as well as painful. Depression is more unrelenting. And more underground due to being MI rather than personal injury/illness. And those certainly present their own burdens. </p>
<p>TempeMom, you dont have tri neu anymore?</p>
<p>OT/</p>
<p>Nope. I was treated for several months (neurontin and oxy prob some others early on) when I weaned off the drugs it was gone. Thankfully.</p>
<p>Wow!!! Nice!</p>
<p>My sister’s has no cure. Well maybe they can cut the nerves. </p>
<p>Robin Williams had said that " he used to think the worst thing in the world was to end up all alone. Its not.
The worst thing is ending up with people who make you feel all alone".</p>
<p>People don’t want to hear about others problems, especially when they perceive they may be expected to do something. They don’t feel obligated to find a cure for cancer, but they will go on a walk a thon, or contribute a hot dish, because those things are clear & finite.
But to support someone with mental illness, is amorphous. They don’t know what to do, they don’t see any end in sight, they fear that if they become a support system, they will actually be contributing to the illness.</p>
<p>You build a wall around yourself, because it helps you stand up, and you attract people who will not attempt to breach the wall. Even if you eventually, long to have a real connection, your intense attempts to do so are often met with anger and fear, because people like what is familiar, and intensity is overwhelming.
You resolve to build a better, stronger wall and it works, except for those days when you turn a corner and run smack dab into a mirror, and you realize your wall not only keeps others out, but keeps you trapped</p>
<p>Another wrinkle in his death…Parkinson’s:
<a href=“http://www.cnn.com/2014/08/14/showbiz/robin-williams-parkinsons-disease/index.html?hpt=hp_t1”>http://www.cnn.com/2014/08/14/showbiz/robin-williams-parkinsons-disease/index.html?hpt=hp_t1</a>
Robin Williams’ widow has disclosed the late superstar was suffering from Parkinson’s Disease when he took his own life earlier this week.</p>
<p>Susan Schneider’s first public words after the sudden death of her 63-year-old actor husband came in a shocking Thursday statement, which confirmed he was still sober, but also made the previously unknown disclosure.</p>
<p>‘Robin’s sobriety was intact and he was brave as he struggled with his own battles of depression, anxiety, as well as early stages of Parkinson’s Disease, which he was not yet ready to share publicly.’</p>
<p>Schneider’s words sent shockwaves around the world as people were stunned to learn of the possible motivation Williams may have had for hanging himself Monday. They were first reported by The Wrap’s Jordan Zakarin. </p>
<p>Many people said Robin had a hard time with people one on one, he liked groups, which you could understand, although children, more non-threatening seemed different.
I agree with that quote about being alone very much, its much worse to feel alone.</p>
<p>As we have noted, no one, but no one, knows what he was dealing with. We now know one “more” thing. Parkinson’s. </p>
<p>^^^Very sad. If he felt the only time he could escape his depression was while performing, the possibility of losing the ability to do that might have seemed pretty horrific. Combined with any other number of other factors, known and unknown, I can see how he might have felt he was done. </p>
<p>As the pieces come out…</p>
<p>The meds used to treat parkinsons , such as L-Dopa, affect mood.</p>
<p>I watched something I think on CNN and Dr. Drew said that he thought that we would find that Robin Williams had an undisclosed medical ailment. </p>
<p>I had goosebumps when they said he had Parkinson’s. Dr. Drew thought that this medical ailment is what was a trigger point in his decision to commit suicide. </p>
<p>Parkinson’s was a brutal diagnosis.</p>
<p>The meds are tough… You lose your physical abilities… My father in law is depressed and he can no longer walk … </p>
<p>I can see how the Parkinson diagnosis hit Robin Williams hard. </p>
<p>Just hearing this news about the Parkinson’s for the first time. So, so sad. I know someone, in his very early 60s, who has bipolar disease, and was just diagnosed with Parkinson’s in the last few months. I do worry about him. </p>
<p>Wow. I was suspecting that maybe he got the news of some incurable illness that made him go over the edge. So sad.</p>
<p>To quote Jack Nicholson’s character as he sits in the psychiatrist’s waiting room, “What if this is as good as it gets?”</p>