What are Your Symptoms?

OMH- You have just described me perfectly. I'm forgetful beyond normal, I'm easily irritated and it takes me forever to calm back down. I get started on something and remember something else I need to do, so I go start it and totally forget about what I was doing before. All I want to do is sit in my comfy chair, in my comfy pajamas. Lately, I've been cancelling appointments and rescheduling them for another day because I don't want to leave the house.

You are not alone. I'm completely there with you. Hang in and let's hope for all our sakes and sanity that things get better!

LOL - Thanks for the laugh guys, debrbg496 you described a lot of us apparently including me  When I read your post I thought, Ohhh I so have to get my boyfriend to read this so he can see it's not just me!  You actually made me feel much better because I beat myself up (not literally) a lot of the time because of the way I am now (post major BP1 Episode - 1st & hopefully only ).  I'm learning to accept & cope with my new self & I thought I'd share with you some of the things I do (or try to do when I'm not totally unmotivated) to help with I guess what you could call some symptoms of BP since we all seem to have them in common.

Memory issues - I make myself lists (& yes have to check it twice sometimes 3 x's if it's just one of those days ;). I use the calendar in my yahoo email a lot because it emails me reminders which is really helpful and that way if I have a busy week I can split up my to do list by day.  When someone tells you something you gotta remember, write it down right away!  I have sticky note pads all over my house & I got one of those magnetic marker white-board note thingys you can wipe off & stuck it on my fridge, that's where I write my notes reminding me to take out the meat (lol - & my bf writes on it almost every morning before work if it's not still there "Did you remember to feed the dog?" I tend to forget sometimes poor thing.  As a back-up I sometimes ask my boyfriend to remind me of things because for some reason when I ask someone to remind me I remember myself (weird how the brain works that way sometimes). 

Easily irritated - Lets just say I bite my boyfriends head off from time to time completely out of the blue & usually for no good reason.  Luckily he doesn't take me on because he knows I'm just having a BP moment but because he doesn't react I snap out of it pretty fast & start sucking up because I feel bad and then he just teases me about how irrational I am sometimes but in a way that makes me laugh at the whole situation.  I compare myself to the girl in the exorcist a lot (when her head spins around & she looks as crazy as can be like she just might bite your head off at any given moment LOL).  Maybe if you talk to your family about the things you mentioned in your initial post they can help support you in different ways.  (ie. when they see you snap give you space, some quite time, don't take it personally, & depending on what your relationships are like with your family you could ask them to lighten the mood when you get like that & joke around with you or come right up to you as your screaming and plant a big wet kiss on ya & give you a big hug (catch ya off guard - lol might irritate you more but hey it's worth a shot).

Motivation - Now this one is tricky.  Sometimes it just depends on the day, you can push yourself to do more & other days your feet are two big cement blocks and there ain't a thing you can do about it!  I don't think taking breaks is a bad thing but it is true it is hard to get started again once you've stopped (schedule breaks around fav. tv shows & as soon as the show is done turn the tv off & look at what is next to do on your list & make yourself go do it).  Planning helps me which includes my to do lists & breaks.  Everything is tentative though because you just never know whats going to come up or how your going to feel.  Don't sweat it if you don't get everything done, it'll be there for you tomorrow to do.  But don't be afraid to ask for help either, just because you don't work as much doesn't make you Miss Molly Maid.  As I said before, if you discuss with your family how you feel & what you go through on a daily basis they will better understand the support you need and how to support you.  I've noticed for myself there is a point every month usually for about 3 or 4 days that I have extremely low energy (sometimes the week before that time of the month sometimes after).  I don't even have to tell my boyfriend that the low energy wave has hit me because you can tell by just looking at me (& well the mess around me since I usually don't move all day and hibernate on the couch).  Since he knows all about how I'm feeling during that time instead of me taking care of him when he gets home from work he takes care of me because he's just a great guy like that (God love him, I really am lucky).  I've talked to my shrink about this low period and he suggested I try to make sure I take my multi-vitamins at that time (although I should be taking them daily I usually forget).  I guess there are a lot of other things (alt. medicine wise) you could take for energy but I'm scared it will make me feel anxious.  Anywho moving on....

Last but not least - Easily distracted -  I say who cares, if your up and about doing things.  If you have a to do list the important things will get done and the things that catch your eye will get done as well.  May slow you down but it's not the end of the world.  I think once you begin using organizational techniques that will keep you on task the more you'll notice you're not as easily distracted.   

Well hope my rambling on helped in some way, take care & keep on keepin on ;)

ForTheWorst