Inspired by whatshouldwecallme and howdoiputthisgently, here are some gifs for the bipolar folks out there.
WHEN I’M DEPRESSED AND JUST WANT TO EAT |
|
WHEN I REALIZE I FORGOT TO TAKE MY MEDS  |
|
WHEN I’M SO MANIC I DON’T KNOW WHAT TO DO WITH MYSELF  |
|
WHEN DEPRESSION HITS  |
So since I last wrote about my meds and how they were working (lithium sucked!), I’ve come to find a combination that’s going pretty well for me.
After getting off Depakote and Lithium, which didn’t work for me at all (and caused me to gain weight and be hypothyroid), I’ve been on Lamictal (an anticonvulsant) for a year now. It hasn’t caused me any weight gain and is said to have a relatively low chance of negative side effects, which is lovely. It was doing relatively well on its own, but not completely getting the job done. I was still struggling with depression, even at 500mg.
So this past January we added Saphris, which is an anti-psychotic approved for bipolar use in 2009. My doc said we have to watch out for possible effects on my cholesterol and blood sugar, so I’m getting tested for that regularly. But otherwise, I’m side effect free. What’s weird about Saphris is that it’s a dissolvable tablet that you put under your tongue. It’s a little menthol-y and makes your tongue a bit numb, but all in all not too terrible.
Also, a huge bonus for me is that it makes me sleep! I’ve had disordered sleep since the beginning of time and was taking ambien every night for years. But Saphris knocks me out in about 20 minutes and I sleep wonderfully. It’s a beautiful thing.
Something that I don’t think any meds can fix is the ramifications of being a woman. I definitely get depressed not just before my period but when I ovulate. No joke. After reading up on it, I guess the ovulation thing isn’t too uncommon. Who knew! What another fun experience to add to the joy ride that is being female. But the depression usually isn’t too terrible and only lasts up to a few days, so I suppose if I can be balanced the rest of the time I can deal with that.
Yes, balanced. I can’t believe I’m finally at a point where I can say that I’m balanced the majority of the time. I just had to find the right mix of meds to make it happen, so I hope this information might help someone trying to figure out their own treatment and evaluate different drugs. (Of course everyone has different reactions to different things, but this is just what’s working for me).
Best of luck out there in the medication jungle.
A woman’s relationship with her body and food is often tumultuous. I never thought mine was until recently. It all started when I took depakote and lithium, which made me gain weight.
My whole life it had been easy for me to maintain a good figure. I certainly didn’t have to try in high school and most of college. Hot dogs and calzones were the norm. In my early 20s I did karate, which definitely kept any weight at bay. But when I started putting on the pounds because of meds it only added onto my crushing depression. I didn’t realize how much my self esteem was tied to my body. I might have known it on some level, but it all the sudden became very clear.
Once the depression lifted enough for me to start doing something about the weight I started counting calories. This is definitely an effective way to eat better and avoid overeating, but it also makes you hyper-focused on everything you eat. Like my iphone, entering calories and exercise into my app is now basically an addiction. I’m constantly thinking about what I’m going to eat next, how many calories it is, and how that will impact what I can eat for the rest of the day.
Of course what’s tricky about food is that we have to eat it…and it’s enjoyable. But I find that I’m constantly battling between restricting everything I eat and wanting to eat higher calorie more yummy foods. And I’ve come to realize that food consumes a lot of my thoughts each day. Not just how to keep my calories down but the things I wish I could eat—the things that I love and crave the most. As I write this I’m eating lemon yogurt instead of one of the lemon cupcakes on the work kitchen counter.
Many people eat to self soothe and comfort themselves. I realized recently that I’ve always done this. Perhaps it’s a product of experiencing the depression and anxiety that bipolar disorder can bring. But I think I’m letting food consume way too many of my thoughts. And this is something that’s hard to admit. No one wants to seem like a food-crazed glutton who only thinks about food. But I can’t seem to help it.
I know that there must be a balance between avoiding unhealthy food and indulging once and a while so that you don’t go completely crazy. People who don’t find that balance are usually doomed to fail whatever diet they’re trying to keep.
But whenever I think the weight is creeping up on me or I’m just not pleased with what I see in the mirror that day, I’ll usually start restricting myself again. But I can only keep that up so long before I just need to have pizza or fries or a sub or anything with cheese.
I’m not sure how to break this thought pattern. How do I become less focused on food? I don’t want to have to give up counting my calories, but do I need to? I’m scared to put on weight but I don’t want to be a slave to a crazy diet and these recurring thoughts my whole life. Any advice from the peanut gallery?
Just like my idea of listing the things I’m proud of myself for each day, I thought it might also be good to remind myself what I’m grateful for. It can be so easy, especially with depression, to get mired down in everything that’s going wrong and all the things you want but don’t have. 
Negative thought patterns suck.
So, I am grateful for:
Just like being proud of myself each day, I think I’ll try to remind myself of these things—even when I’m not depressed.
It seems, at least to me, that personality disorders are less talked about than other mental health issues. I certainly didn’t know much about them until a very earth shattering moment when I found out my ex has all 4 cluster B personality disorders.
As soon as he told me I went online and did research faster than I ever have. Just reading the descriptions put tears in my eyes. Holy shit. This explains so much.
All at once things came into focus and I started crying at my desk. I realized quickly that this wouldn’t stop and left work as quickly as I could. Why the visceral reaction? In short, this explained so much. He had shattered my heart into pieces more times than I can count throughout our 7 year relationship. He lied. He cheated. He wasn’t at all who I (and I think he) thought he was. At the end of the day, it feels like the whole thing was one big lie.
And now knowing what the cluster B personality disorders are, it makes more sense than it ever has. On the surface, he was the golden boy. Charismatic, funny, sensitive, confident, and loving, he appeared to be happy most of the time. He seemed secure with who he was and was confident in every facet of himself.
But underneath that façade lies a dangerously insecure and self-loathing person. He constantly over exaggerated how awesome he was to counteract how he really felt about himself. It was like he was constantly trying to convince himself that he was talented, had worth, and was happy. The Narcissism is to blame for this.
This also bleeds a little bit into the Histrionic part of him. Histrionic folks are described as lively, dramatic, and always needing to be the center of attention. That’s him to a tee. He would also engage in sexually seductive or provocative behavior to draw attention to himself.
Which leads me to his promiscuity. Upon breaking up with him I found out that he had cheated on me pretty much throughout our whole relationship. I wouldn’t describe him as a complete sociopath, but he lied and cheated without ever feeling remorse (he told me this) – the antisocial part of these disorders.
I think his cheating was part of how he self soothed and coped with his inner turmoil. He also used drugs and alcohol to get by. This is common with Borderline personality disorder.
So after many years of sorting through the baggage and emotions from this relationship, I’ve come to realize that his suffering is much more severe than mine ever was. I can only imagine the turmoil he experiences on a daily basis. While his reckless and selfish behavior hurt so many around him, he suffers deeply every day.
Someone once told me that while this explains his behavior, it does not excuse it. These words definitely ring true. But knowing some of the causes behind what we experienced for those 7 years has helped me heal and even forgive. Now if only personality disorders (and all mental health issues, for that matter) were a priority to educate people about. If only we could have found this all out sooner.
I just read this inspiring story about a mother and daughter’s journey through mental illness from Debbie Humberstone BLOG.
Mental health: My daughter begged me to let her die.
My favorite quote is:
If someone has cancer and fights it, they’re given a pat on the back. But people who are fighting mental health problems and going through hell aren’t given the same support.
How often do those of us with bipolar pat ourselves on the back or give ourselves praise? For me, this can be especially difficult when staring depression in the face.
But I recently stumbled upon a nice thought pattern that gave me a little pick me up. I started listing things in my head that I was proud of myself for that day. I was proud of myself for sticking to my high protein diet when all I wanted to do was make some damn pasta. I was proud of myself for asking a potential employer for more money. I was proud that I went to the gym even though I wasn’t really feeling it.
As I started my mental list I found that more and more things came to me. It felt quite nice and gave me an instant boost of self worth and confidence. Rock it out, me.
I think I’ll try and do this every day. Depression or not, I think we all deserve to tell ourselves how awesome we are for doing even the simplest of things.
The quote that inspired my blog title is from Kelly Clarkson’s song Sober:
“Picked all my weeds but kept the flowers.”
I’ve come to find that in coping with bipolar disorder it’s not only important to add positive and helpful things to your life, but to also get rid of the things that only exacerbate your symptoms.
Stress is definitely something that is a trigger for me, and I think this is pretty common. Being hypomanic, I would sometimes dive into more activities than I could handle. Several years ago I was feeling particularly motivated and was really aching to get back into singing. I decided to join a choir at a Unitarian church. I went to several rehearsals and sang in a Sunday service or two. But I quickly came to realize that I bit off more than I could chew. It’s sad to think that committing to one rehearsal a week and a service on Sunday is too much, but I’m sure ya’ll can identify with even that kind of commitment becoming overwhelming.
I also used to do Shotokan karate. I started in college because of my boyfriend at the time and then continued on to get my black belt after we broke up. I really enjoyed it. However, this brought certain pressures into my life. Practicing karate is something that requires deep dedication, which means training at least 2-3 times a week. People would often make you feel guilty if you started missing classes regularly. (Which is something that happens when you’re depressed). Also, being one of few women black belts, there was always pressure to compete in tournaments. While these are fun, I didn’t always have the time or feel like attending. So eventually I decided I needed to take a break. I was burnt out and it was becoming a stressor I didn’t need in my life.
And sadly, sometimes picking the weeds can involve cutting a person out of your life. I had to do this last year and it definitely sucked. But my friend has a host of her own mental health problems that she wasn’t at all seeking treatment for. I know that the topic of leaving someone with a mental illness is a whole other – and very important – issue. But after years of feeling like her therapist and the one who literally had to scrape her off her closet floor, I finally realized it was more than I could handle. How could I serve as someone else’s crutch when I could barely keep my own mental health under control?
I’ve also left jobs when they (unfortunately) became a toxic environment that brought a crazy amount of stress. I’ve found that work-life balance is super important for me to literally keep myself balanced.
So there you have it. Cutting things out of your life can be hard, but I’ve found it to be very worth it. Cutting out daily stressors can almost be more difficult, but I do that as best I can.
Have you ever had to cut anything/anyone out of your life to reduce the stress/anxiety in your life?
Depression is a parasite. It will settle in and suck you dry. I’m not sure if anyone has come up with a way to fight it off once it’s started. If they have, I’d love to know how.
But just because we can’t totally get rid of it doesn’t mean there aren’t things we can do to at least help us along the way. Here are some things that I try and do to cope with depression:
Of course trying to distract yourself or cope with depression isn’t easy, and sometimes even the easiest activities that you know will help seem impossible. But at least having an arsenal of things to turn to can help.
If you have them, what are your ways of coping with/distracting yourself from depression?
Here is Maru – he is fantastic.
Have you ever had a friend that disappointed you? Maybe they just didn’t try to keep in touch or always flaked out on you. Or maybe your family member has bad habits like smoking/drinking/eating poorly. These things can be frustrating and easy to get upset about.
But have you ever stepped back and asked yourself where this behavior might be coming from? Maybe your friend is just really busy or flaky or has other priorities they rank above you. And maybe they just like to eat. But what’s beneath that? Are there deeper reasons for this behavior? I’ve come to realize that things are rarely as simple as we might make them out to be.
We all know our own baggage and issues that are always churning inside of us. Of course in our heads, we know the explanation for all of our behavior on some level. But maybe other people don’t. Say you freak out at someone for lying to you about something little. You know your reaction is stemming from the fact that your ex lied to you for years. But is that something they even know or would realize? Maybe not.
As the years go by, I’ve come to look at people’s shortcomings in a different light. Maybe coming to terms with my own inner demons and mental health has caused my eyes to open. I’m realizing, hey – if I have baggage and anxiety and depression, maybe other people do too. And that probably drives some of the behavior that I’m upset about.
Maybe my friend has trouble keeping in touch with friends because she herself is depressed because she lost her father. And I think my family member who overeats does it to self-soothe because he’s still dealing with the baggage of his life—Vietnam, being fired, family feuds—as well as his own anxiety and depression.
So I’ve realized that there have been times I’ve expected too much from these people. Just like me, they’re fighting their own battles and should be forgiven for their reactions and coping mechanisms. I’m going to try and apply this idea to more people in my life and lay down some straight up understanding.
PS: The post title is a quote from a song I enjoy: 3 Libras by A Perfect Circle.
kept the flowers 