Day 80 "What I Need"

Today it has been 80 days since I've started medication for my bipolar disorder.  Some days I feel Like I've made great strides and other days I feel like I did the first day.  Today I had a therapy session and we talked about the different consequences I face when do or act out certain behaviors.  My therapist used a car as an example saying that there would be consequences if I put too much gas, the wrong kind of gas, or used diesel fuel in a gas engine.  So my assignment for next visit is to look at some of the behaviors I exhibit when I'm manic and depressed and list the consequences each behavior has keeping in mind the automobile example.  In any event I couldn't answer my therapist today when  she was asking me about the consequences of my actions.  I felt stupid!

Again today I was feeling a lot of anxiety about my Mom, not having an income, having no hope for the future, not getting enough sleep, and having to take all the medication I do.  My speech was very slow because of the higher dose of Seroquel but I also felt hypomanic.  So if I'm correct I was possibly having a mixed episode because I was having highs and lows at the same time.  Right now I feel OK but I'm still worried about everything.  The biggest thing I'm worried about right now is whether applying for disability is the right thing for me verses finding a full time job somewhere.However, I don't think anyone will hire me because of all the gaps in my employment.

Truthfully what I need is to fight to get disability.  Then I need to concentrate on diet and exercise.  It would be nice to lose about 150 pounds.  After I get my disability approved and get working on my weight I need to come up with and work on coping strategies to combat my hypersexuality, bulimia, and OCD (Obsessive Compulsive Disorder).  I have a long journey ahead of me to fight but I need some time.  I would love to have a full time job but I know from past experience that I'll end up failing    .  

Day 79 "Maybe I'm Not Doing As Good As I Thought"

Yesterday I was feeling better and not so depressed.  I felt like I was becoming more stable.  I was handling things that needed to be done and feeling better about myself.  I actually was in public around people and didn't feel as if I was going to have an anxiety attack.

Well, today is totally different in terms of my mood, anxiety, and general outlook on everything.  My mood is really low, my anxiety is off the chart, and I have no hope for my future or my Mom's.  She is very depressed and feeling really sorry for herself.  I've been making her food, making sure she takes her pills which is a chore all in itself, and helping her to get in bed at night.  I've been trying to help her as much as I can.  However, my daily dose of Seroquel was raised last week from 300mg XR to 600mg XR.  It has done me a lot of good but I'm still getting used to it and all I want to do is sleep and my vision is a little blurry with it.  I figure that in a few weeks the side effects I'm having will go away.  I just feel like I'm burning the candle at both ends.  I'm taking all my medications as directed but I can't get to bed at night and only end up with like four or five hours of sleep.  I feel like I'm going to have hypomanic episode if something doesn't change.

I feel like I've been abandoned by my two brothers where my Mom's concerned.  The car crash was a week ago this past Saturday.  My little brother has called her maybe three times and my older brother hasn't called at all.  However, his wife did bring over some soup about a week ago.  My Mom has had a few visits from the neighbors and her brother.  The only person that has been coming over whenever she can is my cousin but she has a busy schedule just like everyone else.

I guess I'm just angry because everybody takes me for granted.  Everyone in my family thinks I should be out looking for a job and really can't grasp the fact that I'm bipolar.  So, since I'm not working it's OK for me to handle everything.  I love me Mom even though we get on each other's nerves a lot but I could use a break.  I have been working so hard to change things for myself  and that has been like a full time job.  My cousin has a cabin booked near Hocking Hills in late October and invited me to go along as her guest.  We have actually been to this cabin before and it's wonderful and very private.  Well, she informed me that she's not going to cancel the reservation if my Mom's not well enough to take care of herself and is going alone.  The reservation was made in February and I've been looking forward to this little get away so much.  Anyway, I'm not trying to complain I just feel like I'm in between a rock and a hard place.

Day 78 "Another Pretty Good Day, I Actually Cooked"

Early this morning I tried to view the Perseid Meteor Shower because this morning was the peak.  Two meteorologists and a number of web sites predicted that if the sky was clear and dark it would be possible to see between 50 and 100 per hour in the pre dawn hours.  Well, at 3 in the morning I drove about thirty miles south of my house into the country and found a really dark place, pulled off along side of the road, got out of the car, and looked up in the northeast sky for two hours.  I saw one really good shooting star that had a long tale and four or five others that were faint.  Needless to say I was a bit disappointed.

 

Today has been a pretty good day for me.  I don’t feel on top of the world and I’m still really worried about my Mom but I’ve been able to function pretty good.  I cleaned the kitchen without any help and did a good job.  My Mom actually told me how nice it looked.  She’s pretty critical about cleaning and especially her kitchen.  I also did some banking and grocery shopping for her this afternoon and didn’t have any anxiety over being with the general public.  It’s odd, I seem to do better when I’m in control.  When someone else is in control whether it be work or just any old task such as sweeping the sidewalk I tend to have a lot of anxiety and end up doing something wrong or just not doing it at all.  I never really thought about this until now but does this mean that I can’t take authority?  No, I think that I just function better when I manage myself.  Maybe this is the reason I’ve always wanted to own my own business.

 

I have decided that to control my bipolar I need to do something that I enjoy doing each day. I enjoy cooking and since my Mom can’t really do it I thought that today I would cook something.  I’m of Romanian descent and thought I would make a Romanian dish especially since my Mom is full blooded Romanian.  As a child and teenager my Grandmother taught me how to make some of the dishes she grew up on as well as my Mom.  My Grandmother and Mom both came from poor families but always had food on the table.  One of the dishes that my Grandmother taught me how to make was Mamaliga and Cheese (brick cheese is the best) which is basically Mush.  It was cheap to make and very hearty.  Here is the recipe that I made.

 

Mamaliga And Cheese

 

Ingrediants:

• 2 cups yellow cormeal
• 5 cups water
• 2 teaspoons salt
• ½ stick butter
• 1 pound brick cheese

Directions:

• Let the water boil, then cut the fire to low.
• Put corn meal in the center of the pan to form a peak like a pyramid.
• Put in salt and let it cook gently for 20 minutes.
• After 20 minutes take off the heat.
• Pour some of the water into another pan without letting any of the cornmeal out of the pan.
• Use a wooden spoon and start mixing the cornmeal, If it needs more water you can use some of the   water you poured out earlier.
• Add the butter in to the mixture as your stirring it.
• Get a casserole dish and spread a layer of the mixture on the bottom.
• Grate the brick cheese and place a large amount over the cornmeal mixture.
• Place another layer of the cornmeal mixture in the casserole dish.
• Top that layer with a large amount of the brick cheese.
• Depending on the size of the casserole you may have more layers but the last layer should be cheese.
• Bake in a 400 degree oven for 15 to 20 minutes.

Here is an old Romanian recipe I found that my recipe is a variation of.

 

Click the picture to enlarge.

Day 77 "Depression Is Lifting Again"

Today has been a little better for me in terms of depression.  I haven’t felt so overwhelmed today like I have this past week.  I finally feel like my nurse practitioner made the right choice in raising my Seroquel 300mg XR dosage to 600mg XR.  The new dosage isn’t masking reality for me but helping to lift my depression.  The reality is easier to deal with when the depression isn’t there.  I’m extremely worried about my Mother’s health and have to be strong for her to recover.  Because my depression is lifting I’m able to be stronger for her.

Last week my aunt who is a registered nurse with over 45 years experience asked me if I would let her know what my bipolar treatment plan was.   I made her copies of my weekly tracker, listed all my medications and the times I take them, and wrote her a letter.  Today she called and first spoke to my Mom about her injuries then she wanted to speak to me.  She told me that she was impressed with the detail that I put in to my weekly tracker and said that I should share that with my therapist and nurse practitioner.  She said that my treatment plan looks really solid and that if I follow it I could possibly get off of some of the medication down the road.

Well, in an effort to do something I enjoy that will hopefully make me feel good I’m going to try and watch the Perseids MeteorShower in the early morning hours of Monday August 12, 2013.  They say this should be a great year for them because a fat crescent Moon should be setting just when the shower is revving up.  I read that if the sky is dark enough I could possibly see 50 to 100 shooting stars an hour.

Day 76 "Depressed And Worried About My Mom"

Today my mood has been really low.  I slept just about all day.  I was just depressed and upset about my Mom.  She sustained a broken pelvis in the car accident she was in last Saturday and I worry she’s never going to be right again.  The doctor told her that it would take about six to eight weeks to heal but that’s just an estimate.  Mom and I don’t always see eye to eye on things and sometimes argue about the dumbest things but we both love each other a lot and I just want her to get better.

I read that a broken pelvis is one of the most serious conditions a victim of a vehicle accident can endure.  The pelvis is the ring-like structure of bones at the lower end of the trunk which cradle and protect the lower digestive tract.  Even a small fracture from an accident can cause the victim unbearable pain.  More severe breaks do not only affect the bone, but can damage the delicate internal organs shielded and protected by the pelvis.   The pelvis takes a great deal of time to heal, and during that time eating, moving, and sleeping often become sources of agony.  The healing time for a broken pelvis is anywhere from 6 to 12 weeks depending on the overall health and age of the person affected.

Facts about a broken pelvis

• Almost 60% of all broken pelvises are caused by high impact vehicle accidents.
• Victims of fractured pelvises usually have peripheral injuries such as head, chest, abdomen, and genitourinary trauma.
• Multiple organ damage is also a common aspect of broken pelvises, and 40% of people die of hemorrhaging.
• Overall, the fatality rate for pelvic fractures is estimated to be as high as 55%.
• Surgery generally follows broken pelvises between 24 to 72 hours after the accident.

Treating a broken pelvis is a very expensive regimen of rehabilitation and medication.  Many X-rays are needed, and depending on the condition of the victim and the severity of the injury, surgery is often a requirement to repair the damage.  Screws, bolts and metal plates facilitate the healing of the bones, but do not make the recuperating process any easier for the victim.

Treatments for fractured pelvises

• Bed rest.
• Pain control management of symptoms.
• Isolation of potential complications such as deep vein thrombosis, pulmonary embolism, pneumonia, constipation, and infection.
• Proper nutrition rehabilitation.

So from what I've read my Mom has a long road a head of her to recovery.  As hard as it is for me to take care of myself I need to help my Mom by doing the grocery shopping, cleaning the house, doing her laundry, making sure she eats, and takes her medications.  I hope that Guardian Angel that was with her the day of the accident is sticking around for a while. 




Normal pelvis. Click to enlarge.



Broken pelvis. Click to enlarge.

Day 75 "Hypomania All Day Today"

Today has been a hypomanic day for me.  Due to my Mom being pretty much helpless I haven’t been sleeping very well.  I have been sleeping with an eye and ear open in case something bad would happen.  I’ve noticed that the decrease in sleep is causing me to be a little manic.  There just doesn’t seem to be enough time in the day to get everything done.  Today I mowed the grass, cleaned two bathrooms, cleaned the kitchen, swept the floors, and did two loads of laundry.  That was all for my Mom and I have yet to do my laundry.  Thank goodness I can do all mine in one load.  Anyway, I have been  hypomanic today and I would say that lack of sleep is the reason for it.  On average I sleep ten hours a night and when I get below the eight hour mark I tend to become hypomanic or have a mixed state.

Had I not had to do all those things for my Mom today the hypomania might have not been so good.  When I’m hypomanic I need to do something which results in some sort of release.  If I have a plan to do a bunch of activities, yes I may be hypomanic but I get a bunch of things done or get to do a bunch of activities.  The release for me is that I feel great that I got so much accomplished.

Had I nothing to do today and only slept six hours that would be a red flag for me that I may be in for some hypersexual behavior.  Before I was medicated I would most likely look at porn on the computer and place personals on Craigslist looking for sex.  This activity would take place whenever I had less sleep.  I would spend hours placing ads and waiting for replies.  There were times when I would look for sex up to ten hours.  The release for me was when I would meet someone.  However, a lot of times I would spend all night looking and come up with nothing which would make me very angry.

There are a lot of times when I've have mixed states.  I tend to be down on myself, depressed, have no hope for my future, isolate myself, and feel a lot of anger.  With that said I can be hypomanic, hypersexual, and depressed all at the same time which makes it ten times worse when I can’t get that release I need.  I end up getting a little psychotic sometimes.

Since starting Lithium 900mg per day the severe mania I was having pretty much stopped.  I have had a few instances of being hypersexual since starting Lithium but I have been able to stay away from Internet porn and haven’t wanted to place ads looking for sex.  However, on Lithium alone I became deeply depressed.  I was then prescribed with Seroquel 300mg XR and that started helping me feel less depressed.  After about a month my dose was raised to 2 300mg XR tablets and its making me feel even less depressed. 

In therapy we have been talking about what triggers certain behaviors I do.  For the most part I can tell you what the main triggers are that cause me to do certain things but I want to dig a little and find those secondary triggers.  Mania in its minor forms includes heightened feelings of well-being, increased alertness, drive, inflated self-esteem, and extensive sociability.  In addition to a general elevation of mood, instability is typical.  Irritability may easily be evoked and other mood states such as anxiety or sadness, fleetingly but intensely expressed, may become apparent.  In mixed states pronounced symptoms of both depression and mania either coexist or alternate during different periods of the day.  As mania deepens over activity and over talkativeness become more obvious.

Day 74 "Stable Day, Back On Diet"

Today has been an over all pretty good day.  I wasn't happy nor was I very sad.  I have followed my diet for three days in a row and that has made me feel a little bit better about myself.  I had started losing weight in February and up to being diagnosed bipolar 1 in May I had lost 33 pounds.  I have always been heavy and losing this weight was and is a big deal for me.

After I was diagnosed as bipolar 1 and started taking medications my weight began to fluctuate which caused me a lot of concern.  I was so upset that I might gain all the weight back that I almost didn't go through with my treatment.  I've always wanted to be skinnier and I was finally on my way there and then bipolar happened.  Well, if I don't follow a treatment plan my life is over.  I definitely won't be able to hold a job and I'll never be able to get approved for SSDI.  So the only choice for me is to learn how to deal with it.

My diet isn't perfect but it's better than no diet at all.  I don't drink any kind of soft drinks and drink about a gallon of water a day.  This is good for weight loss plus it helps keep my body from becoming dehydrated which could cause Lithium toxicity.  I'm not a big fan of vegetables so I drink a can of low sodium V8 juice every day which counts for two servings of vegetables.  I also have tried  both low sodium corn and kidney beans from a can and like them as well.  I also eat a lot chicken, turkey, and tuna fish.  Once in a while I'll buy red meat but I make sure it's very lean. 

I may never be skinny and I may never be cured of my bipolar but I'm going to do whatever I can to control both.  If I don't control them I'm setting myself up for failure.