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Posted 7/30/2012 3:09 AM (GMT 0)
Hello all,
I'm new to this entire world of understanding what could be giving me the stress I deal with everyday and how I treat it. I have a lot of thoughts up in my head, but I'd like to air a couple and see if you guys can share some of your experiences with me. I'm a 23-year-old that graduated two Decembers ago, and I was recently diagnosed bipolar II by my pdoc (that's the right slang, isn't it? :) ) It made a lot of sense. I wanted to know if any of you folks in my situation could tell me if you feel similarly so that I don't feel quite so neurotic. I don't remember the last time I felt rested. I am continuously stressed and have no ability to really chill out. Ever. I've let my room, car, and physical appearance become messy, and yet I'm very successful at the job I'm at (Retail for now, yay economy) and I constantly make good impressions at work and socially. So while I'm slovenly, I am still succeeding in my current state in public. No one would pin me as having these issues, as far as I'm aware. I have trouble really zoning in and working at something as it seems futile quickly and I feel like I'm constantly behind and it makes me hate working on cleaning and progressing in general. I just started the 200 dose of Lamictal today and I honestly haven't noticed a difference and that freaks me out. It sounds like such a good tool to work on this mess, and I wanted to know if anyone else had taken longer than 100s to notice something. In general, I'm just kind of freaked out and feel somewhat paralyzed. My mom and I were talking tonight (because I live at home. Yay economy :) ) and she talked about how I seemed paralyzed and I need to force myself to do things, like clean up things daily and exercise and such and it feels like such a HUGE obstacle to me to do those things. Any thoughts? I appreciate feedback because I feel kind of alone in this and don't really understand how I'm feeling. It gets worse over time and I'm mostly afraid of losing myself to this confusion of low feelings, constant static, and pressure on myself. Is this immature? Thanks for your time all. I appreciate you.
Posted 7/30/2012 3:17 PM (GMT 0)
 

 Hi and welcome, i love the post title, very imagintive.

  Yep, those things happen to us also. If you stick around here for a while and post specific questions you will get more indepth answers.

  Medicines can help alot, but so can training your mind to cope with what you deal with. Just as you wouldnt go out and run a marathon tommrrow with no training, the same can be said of living with BP. Im four years along and live without medications, but i still suffer from BP, its just that my suffering is managable now.

  To give you an example that i think applies to you. Take one thing you want to do every day. Say doing the dishes. I will not go to bed unless every dish is done correctly and put away. Its a small way to claim some part of my life over BP. By making sure one thing i want to get done gets done every day, i then can add another, and another, and so on and so on. Think Crawl, Walk, Run.

  Also i feel excersise is a huge boost to our minds. If you have worked out and feel good, it normally makes the rest of the day feel better. I have been off my work out routine this last two weeks cause of moving and i can definetly feel the difference. Move is over tommrrow so i can get on my bike and pedal away. LOL LOL LOL

  Again welcome, and look forward to seeing more.

 Bill

Posted 8/5/2012 5:06 AM (GMT 0)
Hello I agree with what Bill said. Set a goal and stick to it. I can remember back in my twenty's (oh boy) at 23 I also was with MOM, after deciding to take time off college, big mistake. For me the key was what I learned in some stays in hospitals was the big 3 stay the program of Meds, Nutrition and sleep. Make sure to take the dose the doc. prescribed, eat a well balanced diet and make sure u are sleeping at least seven hours a night.

Good luck, as you get older things will hopefully get easier for you to manage BP.
Posted 8/5/2012 11:29 AM (GMT 0)
Hi, I can totally relate, of course when I was 23 the diagnoses was called "manic-depressive" and i was also treated for "postpartim" depression 2X. I spent many years on the pill train and while they do help if you have a doc who is already starting you on doses that high, pls get another doc! You should be starting at 25mg and working up to the theraputic dose or whatever works for you. Also look into counseling, specifically a counselor who practices cognitive behavioral therapy, this did Wonders for me with the procrastination and the social and interpersonal skills. I know they have support groups for Bi-Polars, I've never been to one, I have a different support system, but it could be a good way to "network" about meds, docs, symtoms, etc. Learning to be your own advocate is the best thing you can do, in my opinion. Stay in Hope.
Posted 8/6/2012 7:41 PM (GMT 0)
Something that helps me on bad days is remembering that I can feel bad and do nothing, or I can feel bad and clean. Either way I will feel bad, but one gives hope for a better tomorrow.

(((hugs)))
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