December 30, 2011
How did I solve the mystery of what in world was wrong with me? Well, it sure wasn’t easy and it sure took a long time, I’m not going to lie. Sometimes it can seem hard to believe that the ones answering all of your questions on this page have struggled, and STILL struggle at times, with the very same illness. My bio describes a little bit of my journey toward a diagnosis, but in this video, I tell my story to you. You may find some similarities, you may not. We all have our own unique journey which brought us to where we are today, but the one thing that is certain is you are not alone, and here at Ask A Bipolar, we understand. We may not have gone down the exact same path, but we have experienced the highs and lows and in betweens that eventually led to [...]
December 25, 2011
Well if you’re like me that’s a tough question to answer. I get pulled in so many different directions at the holidays already why not add a few more right? I have two daughters from two separate marriages, one from each marriage. My second Ex (we’ll start there because it is the less complicated) it is all cut and dried. We had a vicious divorce where the only thing we fought over was custody but once that got settled everything is right there in black and white and there is no deviating from the plan. And that works for us. We have a very strained but (now) stable relationship and we just go by what is laid out in writing and sometimes it hurts to be without my baby girl during the holidays but I know sometimes it hurts him to be without her during the holidays too. I have [...]
December 21, 2011
I am BP I (officially diagnosed 10 years ago). Like many BP’s, I have a bit of trouble holding onto a job for a long time. What I am wondering is there a type or kind of job that is most accommodating to being BP? I guess I am looking for career success stories and what keeps a BP person at a job for a long time. I haven’t been able to figure out what would work for me. I have been told “anything you want to do” is good, but not everything is a good fit for BP I feel. I am in college and have changed my major about 5 times as well. This has been a puzzling problem for many years for me. Ahhhh. The days of college. I changed my own major many times as well and while in college, I had not been diagnosed with bipolar yet. I [...]
December 17, 2011
My lovely (and adorable) husband recently gave up on trying to cure one of his least favorite OCD tendencies of mine. I’ve been deemed incurable … an addict … hopelessly and ridiculously obsessed. With what you might ask? TV Series. Namely previously unwatched TV series. I start watching these TV series that are like already 5 (or *cough* 9 *cough*) seasons in and I have to watch until I’ve watched EVERY single episode. I simply can’t focus on anything else until I do. And what’s even worse? The are ridiculous TV shows … Two years ago, it wasn’t so bad. Six seasons of Bones and five seasons of House later … I was hooked. At least four episodes a day. Then I slipped a notch in the coolness factor. I watched six seasons straight of The Secret Life of the American Teenager. And then it was Greek. And now … [...]
December 15, 2011
I work at a post-secondary school for acting students. Inevitably I meet and work with students that might struggle with a variety of emotional, mental or physical struggles. I need help understanding what our individual rights are to help both the student and the school. While it may be an uncomfortable conversation, is it legal for me to ask openly if a student has been diagnosed with bipolar, depression, eating disorders, etc.? I want to make sure they are successful in my program but if I don’t know there is an issue, I can’t help them. OR, the opposite, I know there is a problem but no one has ever helped them identify it and helped them get assistance. Can I just ask them or is it infringing on some rights I am not aware of? I realize you aren’t professionals but maybe you can help point me to getting [...]
December 14, 2011
3 weeks ago I was diagnosed with Bipolar 2. I still am having a hard time accepting it. My question is how come I cannot make a decision for anything. When it comes to my life and making a decision about my career or schooling, I cannot make a decision, I just can’t do it. I have struggled with this my entire life too. Now it just seems worse. I have been out of school for a year trying to figure out what I wanted to do with my life, and I have just gone back and forth not able to pick something and stick with it. What do I do? I was diagnosed with Bipolar II in January 2011 and it has been a slow process with regards to being able to accept that I have it. I think that for most people, finding out that one has bipolar [...]
December 13, 2011
I was put on my medication, about two years ago, but have upped the dosage myself when I felt bad. I have just increased it again without telling my doctor. does your body get used to medication, so you keep needing more? Even with the extra tablet I still have really bad days. I feel like I’m on a merry go round. I cant keep taking more tablets, for the first 6 months 1 100g seriquell was enough, now I’m taking 300g, and for the most time it’s great, but I keep having really bad days. Let me just say, it really worries me that you are upping your medication without telling your doctor. Unless this was some prearranged thing that you and He had discussed in the event that you needed it, then you should never alter your medication without consulting your doctor. There are many risk factors that [...]
December 12, 2011
I’ve been overly obsessing about what’s going to happen to my children if something happens to me, if I am incapacitated or worse yet, if I die. I’ve been worried about this for the last two years. I just woke up one day and realized, as a single mother, they depend on me daily for most of their needs and although I have raised both my daughters to be very strong independent young girls they are still only 9 & 6 years old. So naturally I worry. It has become an obsession, as I said. I’m not afraid of dying. We all have our own beliefs about what happens next and I do believe in an afterlife and I am saved by the grace of God and so I do believe my soul will journey to heaven. What I fear most is leaving my children alone and me being unable [...]
December 11, 2011
I recently had the pleasure to interview Author and Speaker, Andy Behrman. It was great fun partially due to the fact that he wanted it to be a “different” set of interview questions than those that he’s answered before. I took it as a challenge granted his wishes with my fantastic creativity (and/or craziness). Sit back and get comfortable as “Electroboy” answers my list of absolutely absurd (yet mostly relevant) questions. 1. Electroboy, eh? I’ve compared mania to many things, but never electricity. What made you choose it? Before I answer any of these questions, I want to tell your readers that I’ve done tons of interviews, but nobody has asked me questions exactly like these before: not in print, not on the radio and not on television wherever I’ve traveled. But I’m just going to go with it and give you the answers that come to mind first. There [...]
December 9, 2011
I am a 45-year old woman with bi-polar disorder. I have been very sick lately I also have anxiety. I am taking a lot of medication. and I don’t like having to do it. I started taking 300 mg. of Seroquel and have gained 15 lbs. My life is pretty miserable, my symptoms are bad, I also work part-time as a peer support facilitator, which has become stressful for me, any suggestions? It sounds like you are having a very difficult time. I’m sorry for your distress. The most important thing to remember is your first priority is taking care of yourself first and everything else second. If you have been sick for a while you should try to focus on getting better because the healthier you are physically the more balanced you will feel. If your anxiety is becoming an issue I can give you the only advice I [...]
December 8, 2011
Its hard being the only bipolar person I know. I just heard about a group that meets in my area that is supposed to be made up of bipolar people & depressives. I’m kind of scared to go. When I went to a similar meeting as a teenager (nearly 30 now), everyone else was depressive. It hurt because I was going for support but everyone said the manic made up for it. It doesn’t. I don’t know if I should put myself out again even though it’s a different group in a different place. Any advice? It is so hard to go into any new environment, but to go into a new environment with bad experience haunting you makes it almost impossible. It was so wrong for those people in that earlier group to make critical remarks. You may have been there with different illnesses, but you were all there [...]
December 7, 2011
I am the spouse of a bipolar, the last year has been very stressful for us and he has come to the conclusion that he wants out of our relationship of 21 years because he doesn’t know what he wants in life. His daughters(18 and 16)and I are seeing a pattern from his last major episode 14 years ago. His meds have not been changed in that time frame and his symptoms or episodes are becoming clearer and clearer. He refuses to see it that way and will not go to a doctor. Any ideas on how to make him see what is going on? As with most question, this is difficult to answer. When one is at the beginning of an episode, it’s hard to see and/or admit things are going downhill. If we’ve been stable for a long period of time, it’s easier to believe we are still [...]
December 6, 2011
Last year I was dating a guy who is bipolar with mainly depressive episodes. He is on medication and has a new Dr. who he is very happy with. I have known him as a friend for a long time, so I have known about him having bipolar, plus he is very open about it with me. Things were going very well and then he disappeared. I know for a fact that things were going on with his company, so I attributed the disappearance to this. I did try contacting him and got no where. I know that withdrawing from friends and family is something he tends to do for many months at a time. Eight months went by and we recently saw each other at a mutual friend’s party and had a very lengthy and great discussion about what happened and how we still felt about each other. We [...]
December 5, 2011
As with Alcoholics, children of Bipolar parents are at a great risk. The children are not exposed to a consistent emotional environment. There is also a greater risk of blaming the children for the disorder, putting the children into a guilt trip. We tend to be over-protective and yet at the same time unable to bond with them. For a parent it can be brutal as we distant ourselves from the child and at the same time know we are doing it. Being a BP parent, we may fail at providing an example of good parenting so as the child becomes an adult, he/she doesn’t have the tools to be a good parent themselves. All of this negative affect is generally only when the parent is not in treatment. If in recovery for Bipolar disorder and responding well to treatment, the parent can be a good parent. If the bipolar [...]
December 4, 2011
It’s a game right? Kinda like peek-a-boo … One minute you’re there, one minute your not. Magicians call it a vanishing act. Magicians also try to cut their lusty assistants in half. Magicians are not nearly as cool as Wizards. Just saying … Last year … I was “here” … I was making huge decisions and feeling all powerful and She-Ra Princess of Power-like. I was proud of myself. I was visible. Everyone saw me roar. And the funny part was, life sucked, BUT I had control. I controlled who saw me. I controlled who loved me. I controlled who talked to me, looked at me, deserved me …. I could see me. Right now, I’m nowhere. I’m camouflaged with by the facade of a busy girl with lots of shit going for her and a wonderful family and yada yada yada. Life in all technicality is good, right? Wrong. [...]
December 3, 2011
What are the chances of getting ssi if your are a mhmr patient with a bi polar 1 disorder? Short answer: yes, it’s possible, and with MHMR and a competent attorney on your side your chances of success are very good. Social Security will be looking at a few things– your diagnosis, what treatments you have tried, whether they have been successful, and whether or not you are able to work. They use a five step process. Are you working? “Working” means that you earn more than $1000 a month as an employee. If you are able to work, you will likely be turned down. Is your bipolar disorder serious enough, with treatment, that you are unable to perform basic work activities? These activities range from physical (sitting, walking, standing, lifting), basic activities of life (breathing, seeing) and things that we bipolars have trouble with- adjusting to changes in the [...]
December 2, 2011
What is one of the most comfortable settings in a classroom for someone with bipolar? I have thought long and hard about how to answer this question. So I decided that I will go with the setting of high school. I did not know that I had Bipolar disorder in high school. I knew I had something wrong with me, but I couldn’t tell you what it was at the time. I found out that I have Bipolar disorder in my twenties. One thing that mattered to me is where I sat. I sat in the front of the room where I could pay attention without distraction. I was able to block noises from other students behind me and focus better on my schoolwork. A couple of the teachers I had were very compassionate about this, but some others were not. In my senior year I had more teachers that [...]
December 1, 2011
How do you keep from getting overly magnified or obsessed,with one particular thing-? with me being bipolar type I, I find its a hard thing for me to balance things that I want to give me all to, i tend to take things to to the extreme,in one area,then it tumbles over. I have had this illness for 11yrs,and normally I steer clear of things that I know will end up in a mess,but just wondered how you personally keep things on an even keel,when you want to do something without overdoing it so that things don’t end up haywire (if you have that issue too ?) Ahh, monomania. Much like our illness, it’s a blessing and a curse. The trick is finding that delicate balance between “this is the best thing ever!” and “this was all like this when I got here”. In college, I found myself hell-bent to [...]
