Straight Talk on Managing Bipolar Disorder

Bipolar Disorder and Work – reader question

bipolarhappens.com reader question

Julie,

When you say you have trouble finding a comfortable place to work, do you mean creating good physical surroundings? Finding an appropriate setting? Balancing solitude with working with people? Just curious.

Hi!

It’s all of those things. I guess my main problem is brain fog when it comes to focusing on thing I have to do in order. For example, I have a ton of deadlines in the next week. A book chapter is due. I have to get ready for my DBSA (Depression Bipolar Support Alliance) presentation for the September conference and I have to get copy ready for a class I’m teaching. If I have one project- I can complete it very easily. Having five or six projects jumbles my mind. I make a lot of charts! Another problem is that a lot of my work brings money in months and months later- such as writing a book. So I have to work on what is financially viable first, but sometimes that is not what has to get done!

I like working in crowds while I listen to my ipod. So that is not a problem.

I often find chairs and the height of tables a problem. I never work at home as I get too distracted! It’s for all of these ridiculous roadblocks is why I wrote Get it Done When You’re Depressed. The reason I WILL meet all of my deadlines is because of the tips in that book.

I’m excited that I can work again. It’s a miracle. But no one told me the scheduling would be so hard. My brain just stops and if I’m not really careful the depression comes back pretty strongly!

Julie

It’s 2 AM!!!!!!

It’s two am!!! I had caffeine today and this is my punishment. If I didn’t have bipolar disorder, it would not be a big deal. I’d just sleep more the next day or make up for it the next night.

That is not how it works for me. Because I have pretty severe rapid cycling, I can’t risk the highs of caffeine simply because they mess up my sleep so badly! I’ve only had regular coffee a few times this year – I usually drink decaf. But the iced coffee today when it was ninety degress just looked and tasted so good. It sent me way up and I thought I was going into an up swing.

It took me until one am tonight to realize what was happening. Now I have to take my Ativan to sleep and my day will be screwed up tomorrow. I have enough mood swings as it is.

Caffeine is a serious problem for people who have bipolar disorder. The iced coffee tasted so good! But I’ve learned that bipolar management is all about tradeoffs. 15 minutes of pleasure for a sleepless night is not a good deal.

No more caffeine!

Julie

bipolar disorder depression tips

Bipolar Depression Symptoms

Make a list of your top five depression symptoms:

Write out this list and put it in your wallet. When the depression starts take it out and read it. Then say to yourself, “If I’m going through something on this list, it has to be depression. This means I have to treat the depression first.”

Depression behavior rarely changes. When you learn your symptoms, you can differentiate them from the real you.
If you care about someone with depression, make a list of their top five depression symptoms. Memorize them. This helps you know what you’re up against when their behavior is confusing. You can say to yourself, “I remember this! He always talks like this when he’s depressed! We have to focus on treating the depression instead of talking endlessly about what is wrong.”

This prevents the Bipolar Conversation. I write about the Bipolar Conversation in all of my books!

Julie

A few of my bipolar disorder depression symptoms:

I Think: I will never find a partner.
I Hear a voice: What is the point of working?
I Believe: Things will never get better.
I Cry easily.
I Eat everything I don’t need to be eating!

My depression never changes. My management skills have just gotten so much better that I can overcome the depression more easily than I used to.

Julie

Bipolar Brain Weirdness – while watching movies!

When I’m slightly depressed and psychotic, it’s hard for me to watch movies. Something odd really happens- I have a voice in my head that makes comments such as

– This is not real, these people are acting
– Look at the makeup he’s wearing. I can only see his eyeliner
– They are just reading from a script. This is not real
– This is no good. This whole thing is fake
– That was an odd movement in his face. I call tell he’s not really this character

Now, it’s normal to think about this stuff in a bad movie, but the whole point of a good movie is to suspend disbelief and when I’m depressed, I can’t get lost in a film like I normally do.

When I get the commenting voice, it’s different than thinking- ‘this movie isn’t very good!’ It’s an odd technical thing where my brain breaks down the action on the screen in a way that makes it impossible to get into the movie. There is no flow.

I try to ignore it! I’m always amazed and what my brain does when I’m depressed. It’s a different brain than a well brain, that’s for sure.

Does this even make sense!

Julie

bipolarhappens.com Who is Julie Fast?

www.bipolarhappens.com ??

If you came to this blog through a search engine- you may wonder, who the heck is Julie Fast! Well, I’m a writer who has bipolar disorder. My official diagnosis is Ultra Rapid Cycling Bipolar II. This means I have hypomania instead of the full blown mania found in Bipolar I. I was diagnosed in 1995 at age 31. I experience a lot of depression and tend to get psychotic under pressure!

I started my writing career with a website called www.bipolarhappens.com I sell my Health Cards Treatment Plan for Bipolar Disorder from this site. The Health Cards are what I use to stay well enough to write professionally. I then wrote Loving Someone with Bipolar Disorder, Take Charge of Bipolar Disorder and Get it Done When You’re Depressed. I taught myself to write even when I’m depressed- it’s still a struggle.

So, have a look around the blog- visit bipolarhappens.com to read more about the Health Cards and make sure to visit www.juliefast.com for more information on my work.

I need to get this info at the top of this blog!

Julie

Family Support Groups

Hi Julie,

I wonder if there is a way to find out if other people have started support groups for teens or families who have a loved one with BP?

People rave about the NAMI (National Alliance on Mental Illness) family to family program. People also get a lot of help from DBSA (Depression Bipolar Support Alliance). You can find more info on the web.

I just corresponded with a reader from Australia- you can look up her organization: Association for Relatives and Friends of the Emotionally and Mentally Ill.

Feel free to leave a comment if you have other suggestions!

Julie