In a little over two weeks, I will celebrate what I call my bipolar birthday. August 22, 2011 was my first day of mania, followed soon by a psychotic break. Ah! Such fond memories (not). I cannot believe it’s been nine years! For nine years, I’ve taken Geodon and Lamictal every night (except a few …
Mental illness is not a sign of weakness, neither is taking medicine
Since my bipolar diagnosis when I was 19, I have read several books by people who are also bipolar. Often, the memoirs are filled with tragic and scary stories. One of the books I’ve read is called Life is Like a Line. I cannot remember much about the book. I do know that it has …
Continue reading "Mental illness is not a sign of weakness, neither is taking medicine"
Exercise, the free antipsychotic
When I was three, I received a Fisher Price tee ball set for my birthday. The tee sat on a plastic home plate. You could detach the tee and set the ball directly on the base. There was this pump that was attached to the base, and when you stepped on it, the ball shot …
Music and neurochemistry
I took piano when I was eight until I was ten, and I was terrible. I didn’t learn how to read music in those two years. When my teacher assigned me a piece of music, I would go home and write the corresponding letter next to each note. I had the keys on the piano …
Mixed-state beware
The hallmarks of bipolar disorder are mania and depression. The illness used to be called manic-depressive disorder until someone decided calling it bipolar disorder is more PC. The semantics do not matter a whole lot to me, but calling it manic-depressive is more descriptive and informative. The word bipolar lends itself to word play, so …
To be, or not to be?
In 2011, after going 85 hours without sleep and the ensuing psychotic break, my parents started taking me to a mental health facility during the day. I did not like it. At all. My mind was fried, and I thought I was seeing things that didn’t exist. I couldn’t tell the patients from the therapists …
How a CPA changed my life
I arrived at Baylor for my freshman year of college on a Thursday. Just a week later, I had to unenroll over the phone on my way back to Dallas (my dad came and got me). I’d gone 85 hours without sleep and experienced that wonderful hell known as mania. Always the overachiever, I also …
The joys of being moody
Yay. Another night where I can’t sleep. Fun stuff, let me tell you. Sometimes I feel like I have my sleep figured out; other times, like tonight, all my usual “tricks” don’t work. Oh, well. I probably take sleep for granted, so this keeps me honest. Still sucks, though, cause tomorrow morning will be a …
Good qualities
Well, I can’t sleep, so it looks like I might get two posts in tonight. Not sure why I’m not tired; oh, well. I’ve neglected my blog for a few weeks, so it’s nice to have some time to write, even if it is past my bedtime. Like I mentioned in my last post, a …
How fiction makes me better
A friend gave me a deck of 100 writing prompts for my birthday, and I am really excited about using the cards because I often have writer’s block and have no idea what to write about. The past two weeks have been rather heavy, so I’m going to write about something on the light side. …
Between Two Poles 