2008 November « Straight Talk on Managing Bipolar Disorder

Unhappy people watch more tv! I know that used to be me~

I just read the following article on Yahoo.

Unhappy People Watch Lots More TV by Jeanna Bryner

Unhappy people glue themselves to the television 30 percent more than happy people.

The finding, announced on Thursday, comes from a survey of nearly 30,000 American adults conducted between 1975 and 2006 as part of the General Social Survey. While happy people reported watching an average of 19 hours of television per week, unhappy people reported 25 hours a week. The results held even after taking into account education, income, age and marital status.

In addition, happy individuals were more socially active, attended more religious services, voted more and read a newspaper more often than their less-chipper counterparts.

The researchers are not sure, though, whether unhappiness leads to more television-watching or more viewing leads to unhappiness.

I can actually answer the last question- depression leads to more television watching which then leads to guilt [ Read More ]

It’s 9:30 PM on a Friday night and I’m…..

HOME! I am practicing what I preach these days. Early to bed and early to rise- it makes such a difference when I have a lot of work to do. I have to send in a manuscript on Tuesday for a book I don’t really want to write. In the past, this would have made me stressed and ill- these days I know that I have to modify my life in order to keep moving forward so that I can meet my deadline.

I went out with my family tonight to a spiritual event based on Shaman teachings from Mexico. It’s always great to hear different ways of thinking!

In the past, I would have gone to karaoke afterwards- but not tonight.. NO. I am managing the illness instead of letting it manage me! I know that going out late is a trigger, especially with all of the hypomania I’ve been going through. I want [ Read More ]

Newsletter: Terrible Bipolar Rapid Cycling.. it’s just awful!!!!!

I just went through two weeks of constant rapid cycling. It sure was tough! I had five distinct mood swings in one day last week. Three were hypomanic, one was mild depression and the other was a severe crying suicidal depression. They all lasted a few hours. I’m doing a lot better today, but I’m tired.

I wrote other blogs about how I handled the mood swings and was able to keep working and do my regular routines. Then I had about three days of terrible OCD. I told my therapist it was a bipolar perfect storm. I had a tight work deadline, my mom went out of town, a guy at a party started flirting with me and that freaked me out ( I keep away from flirting these days!), my brother forgot about a concert we were supposed to go to – the tickets were not cheap!- and then I got some [ Read More ]

Hope for people with what seems like never ending depression!

I receive a lot of email asking how I manage this illness. I always tell them it’s the Health Cards (my treatment plan) and that’s true. Medications help as well- but my main technique is being able to remind myself over and over again when I’m super ill- that it’s an illness.

Depression is so physical- it can literally feel like it’s in every cell of our body- and maybe it is. But then so is diabetes or MS or any other chronic illness. I’ve learned what bipolar really feels like as compared to the real me- and when I get depressed, as I was for most of the day- I spend all day getting better.

I have a plan in place to do this- but it’s still incredibly hard. I am writing this to send out support to anyone who is depressed and reading this blog. Thousands of people come here each month- we [ Read More ]

Bipolar disorder triggers: Don’t do the things that make you feel bad….

Over the past few years, I’ve worked daily to free myself from the triggers that make me ill. I found myself in one of those triggers last week- and it wasn’t really my fault- but I did walk into something that has made me sick in the past. My therapist was smart- she said, “Julie, think of the consequences of your choices, not just want you feel you should do in the moment.”

It’s hard to have bipolar disorder. I want to be someone who can do things like other people! I want to be able to do something and then walk away from it without going into bipolar symptoms.

Here is what happened. An important person from my past became very ill about six months ago. When I offered my help, he basically went into his typical behavior and told me I was overreacting. There is no question I was not overacting. It’s [ Read More ]

Bipolar Hypomania- a few weeks ago….

It’s 11:45 in the morning and I’m at the library writing my latest book. When I woke up this morning I called my friend Janea and told her what I’ve been doing. She said, “Julie, are you in a mood?” I said, “Oh yes, the mania is dogging me. That’s for sure. But I have it under control. I just can’t figure out where it’s coming from.” This conversation is amazing for two reasons- it’s the first time that Janea has specifically noticed that I’m up and said something about it. I’ve been teaching her about bipolar disorder for three years. It really can take that long for people to understand that being manic is very, very different from being happy or amped up on caffeine.

Secondly, it’s amazing because I admitted that I was slightly manic and even thought I felt embarrassed that [ Read More ]