October 26, 2011
So I’m no expert on what all being bipolar is, but being in an education class, I just want to know what are the big 3 things that people need to know about a bipolar person? Going into teaching, this is always a possibility to have a student who is bipolar, so apart from swinging moods, what’s important to know? Hi! Thank you for asking and being sensitive to those who you may run into that have Bipolar Disorder. I am going to tell you what I think are the three most important things to know about a person with this disease. Remember, this is my opinion and somebody else may have another one. I am not always right but I believe these three to be the most important. The Bipolar person needs compassion and understanding. Too many times we are judged and labeled things that we are not. The [...]
October 25, 2011
I’ve heard that there are manic depression cycles. How long are the cycles? Or does that depend on the person? Is someone who is bipolar out of the cycle for any amount of time? The information you heard is correct. We do go through cycles. HOWEVER, it is also true that the length of the cycle and severity of the cycle does vary for each individual. When I try to describe what it feels like to have bipolar disorder, I usually compare it to being on a roller coaster. Depending on the type of bipolar that you have, that determines how high the highs will be, or how tall the top of the hill is on the roller coaster. If you are what is called a “rapid-cycler” then that describes how fast the highs and lows come, or how fast you are going up and down the hills of the roller coaster. [...]
October 24, 2011
I live in Houston,TX. I have been put on short term disability twice in the last two years. I have had several medication changes. I have missed a LOT of work. So much in fact I am behind on my mortgage. Every morning waking up I literally get sad,super sad. For the last 3 years my life has been a mess. The medication helps only when there is little or no stress. At work or at home. Doesn’t matter. Can I request time off for therapy and a general break from my life for a few months? 90 days or so? I want to begin by saying first of all, I do not live in Texas and I do not know if the rules are different there. However making an educated guess I would wager that the rules for this are more based on the employer’s rules than the states. [...]
October 20, 2011
I just wanted to know about the average length of hypomania, and what are the signs to look for in term sof it coming to am end/how long recover from it is in terms of someone being able to think straight/have times of clarity. I feel that my ex partner may have bipolar type 2, and that she is a slow cycler. She developed depressive symptoms in Feb/March of this year – however about a month ago her mood seemed to change over night – it was initially elevated but mixed with one period of hostility (towards me) and more recently irritability and her asking me to leave her alone/no contact this past week. I am not a GP but I have undertaken a vast amount of research in the aim of making sense what was happening. It seems that she has endured 5/6 months of depression followed by onset [...]
October 19, 2011
When an anorexic is under a 5150 involuntary psychiatric hold, what happens if the anorexic doesn’t eat? (In many parts of the U.S., I think a 5150 is known as the Baker Act) Is solid food ever shoved down the anorexic’s throat, or is that unheard of? I hope no anorexic ever has solid food shoved down their throat. Are anorexics force fed some other way? (i.e. feeding tube, IV) I want to be reassured that no one will ever shove solid food down my throat. Wow. You know, it had never even crossed my mind that someone would try to force feed me with solid food. I struggled with anorexia and bulimia for many years and my biggest fear was always the feeding tube. I had read so many books, watched movies and heard stories of people receiving the feeding tube when they would refuse to eat while being [...]
October 18, 2011
How Did You Discover That You Have Bipolar Disorder? I have been diagnosed with bipolar II, adhd, and generalized anxiety disorder. I was just recently diagnosed with bipolar II in January 2011 at the age of 47 yrs. Before that I was initially treated for dysthymia, a low grade chronic type of depression. I was on Paxil for quite a few years after that diagnosis. However throughout the years I continued to struggle and knew there had to be something else that was contributing to my being unwell. Eventually my family doctor referred me to a psychiatrist and I was then diagnosed as having adhd and had a trial of Dexedrine and then was eventually put on Concerta. At first my mind seemed crystal clear; it was as though the fog had finally lifted. Unfortunately the Concerta ended up making things worse in the end as I then went into [...]
October 17, 2011
What’s the funniest thing you have done or heard of someone doing when they were manic? We recruited multiple answers for this one. I’ll keep them anonymous as not to embarrass anyone, but here they are … After my last son was born, I grew my hair out to about the middle of my back (for six years). I was really set on having very long hair. One day, in a manic fit, I went into the barber shop where my kids got their hair cut and said “cut 6 inches off.” They said, “Are you sure?” I said yes. They cut off 6 inches and I went home and cried in the shower for about an hour over the stupid impulse that had undone at least two years of growth. After I had it cut to about shoulder length, I decided it would be fun (and a way to [...]
October 16, 2011
I have had Bipolar Disorder since I was twenty years old. I was diagnosed then after some very radical behaviors and being put in the hospital against my will. At the time I was involved in the church and that was my life. However, that quickly changed when the Pastor got ‘wind’ of my illness. The Pastor was quick to say I was a bitter woman and that’s why I had what was wrong with me. I wasn’t spiritually right with God. Mental illness is from the devil. I think you can get the picture here. The Pastor obviously was not educated about mental illnesses and refused to be educated. The types of churches I was involved in at the time were very right wing and very close-minded. I quickly decided that I had something wrong with me spiritually. I was also crushed that my own Pastor wouldn’t support me [...]
I decided to write about workplace bullying because I know what it is like to be bullied at work. It has had a profound effect on my life and is a subject that is difficult for me to think about let alone write about it. However I know that writing about a traumatic experience and sharing it with others can often be therapeutic. At the very least it will help bring awareness to others and hopefully help people who have been victims of bullying whether it has occurred at school or in the workplace. I would like to begin by providing a definition that will hopefully be helpful with regards to explaining what workplace bullying actually consists of. The Workplace Bullying Institute has defined it as: “Workplace bullying is repeated, health-harming mistreatment of one or more persons (the targets) by one or more perpetrator/s that takes one or more of [...]
I don’t understand the fear of death. I think when a persons usefulness is over and they know it and want out then why not let them. I know I look forward to my final day and final breath. Why go on when you are no longer needed or wanted? What I hear from you here is that maybe you are feeling hopeless. Many people feel they are no longer needed or wanted when that is the case. I am also going to go out on a limb and maybe suggest that you have thought about suicide and maybe these thoughts have crossed your mind. To tell you the truth many people fear death of possibly not going to heaven. Now, I know many people do not believe in a heaven or a hell and that is fine. I am just stating what my experiences have been as a person [...]
Sometimes in the world of psychiatry the hospital is a dreaded word. I know that to be true of myself, too. I have been in the hospital four different times this year. One of those stays just being in the last two weeks. When I hear that word come out of my psychiatrist’s mouth I feel despair, but relief at the same time. There is nothing wrong with going to the hospital for treatment. It’s a way to keep ourselves safe when we feel out of control or we have thoughts of harming ourselves or other people around us. I think the reason the hospital word is dreaded is because it has a stigma. If you are in a psych unit then you are crazy, insane, or nuts. Nothing could be further from the truth. If you need the hospital then you need it. That’s what it’s there for. Our [...]
October 15, 2011
Finally coming off my Patty Duke high … but it made me think a bit. This was kinda a huge deal for me. I’d always wanted to meet her. Her, and Carrie Fisher. (Well, and Sylvia Plath … but I’m gonna have to wait till I get to heaven for that one!) But Patty Duke and Carrie Fisher are the two bipolar celebrities that I think really started something for all other celebrities not to mention for bringing awareness about Bipolar Disorder. I mean maybe there were others that I don’t remember learning about. But those were the two names I always associated with Famous People who Have Bipolar. Of course NOW there’s a TON of celebrities coming out of the Bipolar Closet. So today … my question for you is … If you could meet ANY celebrity who suffers from Mental Illness, who would you choose? Do you have [...]
October 14, 2011
Wednesday afternoon, Christi and I (along with my awesomesauce mother) were given the greatest opportunity to listen to the amazing Patty Duke speak. Her story was similar to all of ours … sleeping for hours on end, suicide attempts, hospitalizations, misdiagnoses … and of course, no real diagnosis until that illusive manic episode tipped the scale. Oh yeah, and then there’s that little thing that made her story a bit different than ours; she suffered from this illness in front of the Hollywood Spotlight. I don’t know about you guys, but I find it difficult enough just trying to put on that mask in front of family, friends, and coworkers. I can’t even imagine keeping up the image of a mentally healthy woman in front of millions of fans and Hollywood Critics. The thought sends butterflies into my stomach. Still, this amazing woman got it done. She got help and [...]
October 13, 2011
My boyfriend is 42 & bipolar. (he knows what the problem is but denies it) When we met he was ”normal”, sleeping (I heard him snoring) good sex drive. He did have dreams which he thought were real and grandiosity. He was still thinking rational. Then 2 traumatic things happened, I saw a bit anger and later he had ECT. Before the ETC it now seems that he had high, mixed and a bit low state, but without extreme anger. New year: After ECT he had low sex drive, not sleeping, more memory loss and more then normal anger.Starting to think less rational. He was still taking his meds. Then something might have happened because suddenly he was ”the devil” ,he was not taking his meds, the anger hit the roof, extreme emotional withdrawal, childlike behavior, obsessions, sleeping bad, low sex drive and if there was sex it was without [...]
October 12, 2011
I think that the emotion love is upsetting his balance, is this possible and what do I do apart from being patient? Let me begin by saying your question isn’t as simple as a cut and dry yes or no. I feel that it takes some explaining. And even with the explaining, no two people are alike. So, without knowing him I can’t say yes or no. But I will give you some guidance. How much do you know about Bipolar. Are you aware that no matter what the emotion we tend to feel it on a much different scale? I mean yes we can just be mad or sad or happy, but when a true emotion hits us, something powerful, something with real feeling behind it, we feel it on a much different end of the spectrum than most people. We are quite emotional people. That is part of [...]
October 8, 2011
When I was in high school, my friends and I used to play this game called “Have You Ever?” We sat around and would ask each other questions to pry out the truth and unveil the answers to the questions that we must have the answer to. In high school it was imperative that we know who had gone past 1st, 2nd and 3rd bases and with whom because we wanted to either confirm or quash the rumors we heard, or were trying to gauge our own behaviors compared to our peers. Whatever the motive, we sat and played and found out many amazing things about each other. Today, I thought it would be interesting to pose a “Have you ever” question to all of you guys out there. I think that so many of us who have been diagnosed with bipolar believe that our behaviors and thoughts while [...]
October 6, 2011
My best friend who is bipolar recently moved away. Before she left, she thanked me for helping get her through a difficult year, and both of us were pretty choked up and sad that we wouldn’t get to see each other for several months. I have known her for about a year and a half and periodically, she would push me away, coming up with various reasons why we couldn’t be friends. I would call her out on it, and we would resolve things, but I was always uneasy knowing that it would happen again. She asked me to keep her in check by making sure she was taking her meds and keeping out of trouble in general (her doctors told her not to drink, and that became a point of frustration for her). She asked me to call her out on her bad behavior, but when I did, she [...]
I was diagnosed with bipolar nearly six years ago. My recovery has been a long one but is still getting better. I still wonder if I am on the right medication because of how I feel. It’s almost like I have been on an upward hill of recovery but have kind of leveled out and still need to go higher ( if you can understand that). My question is that my brain seems to work very slow, I have a hard time connecting the dots up there. It is very hard for me to carry on a conversation with people because I can’t put into words the thoughts I want to convey. Some days are better than others but on my worst everything is so hazy up there. What is this? and what if anything can I do or is it permanent brain loss. Thank you. I won’t say I [...]
October 5, 2011
Happy Mental Health Awareness Week!!!! Hmmm. Mental Health Awareness Week. Mental Health Awareness. What constitutes mental health awareness? I mean, if the goal of this week is raise mental health awareness, we need to have an idea of what it is we are trying to achieve, right? What is it that we want them to know and who is them? Are we trying to educate ourselves more? Is the general public the target? How do we go about getting this important information to the people we want it to go to? That’s a whole lot to think about when we are trying to do our part as advocates by participating in this week long event. As I thought about all those things, I realized that there are so many ways to interpret the goals of this week and even more ways to accomplish them. Lets take the topic [...]
October 4, 2011
I have lots of respect for everybody that has bipolar AND is in treatment. I have read (in how to handle someone with bipolar) to ”give space”. Also on other websites I read it. Based on stories people posted online …. it has been that whenever space was given the person would cheat…. and later would pretend like nothing happened. This is what I do not understand, because if people need space.. then I assume you would take it to focus on yourself…..and not to go out and cheat… and later come back and pretend that nothing happened and all is the same… Further (I have been reading on bipolar for the past 3 years) I do feel sad when I read stories how non bp partner/family are treated by their bp partner/family, run away and are willing to do everything they can to get things back to normal…Even putting [...]
October 3, 2011
one of my friend is having this disorder but she stops medicines so frequently and becomes manic after few days she resumes and becomes normal within few days, and admits that she will never stop medicine. but with surprize of everybody she quits it again and again. How one can help her to continue her medicine… with medicine she behaves like normal person, One of the biggest issues in mental health treatment has been non-compliance with medication. Many people with psychiatric disorders more often than not require medication to help manage their symptoms. So if this is the case why do some people stop taking their medication? Well before we can try and answer this question we need to know what non-compliance or non-adherence to medication actually entails. Typically non-compliance to medication includes things like, failing to get a prescription and/or getting it filled, failing to take the medication, taking [...]
October 1, 2011
She’s old today … make sure to make her feel better about that guys. We love you Christi!!! Do you have a question that needs answering? Click here to submit… Tweet186b9ed445fd1528d5f5132971cab8b1Link to this post!
