Change of Meds

I have been on Espiride for a few months now, which worked very well for anxiety attacks and to calm my "running thoughts'. However, I started to have side effects (it was causing acne) and I have had to come off it. I have been put on Fluanxol  instead. I havent started taking it yet as I thankfully haven't had any panic attacks.

I have also been put on Seroquel as I have been in the hypo-manic stage for a while and cant seem to switch off and have been sleeping very badly. I started them last night, and for the first time in ages, I had a wonderful sleep. I really felt refreshed this morning. However, from 2pm, I have been extremely tired and super ratty and I admit that I have been most unpleasant to be around. I am wondering if this is a side effect, as it says the most common side effect is tiredness.  When I am tired, boy oh boy, do I get ratty!

I will take the Seroquel for the next few days and see how I feel. If by Monday the tiredness hasnt gone away then I will re-assess the med's.

Let you know how it goes.

Being mindful of your mood shifts

I have had a rough week. Back still sore and poor quality sleep meant that my mood has been getting progressively worse. But, even in this, its been good to know that I have been practicing being mindful. Going for walks, singing, praising and thanking God and being grateful. Came across this excellent website. You must check it out.


http://www.mcmanweb.com/

Reduce speed now

One of my biggest challenges is that it is incredibly hard for me to "switch my brain off" and relax. I am constantly on the "go", and its really unhealthy for one's body to have a constant demand on your adrenal glands (which produce adrenaline). Basically, I am an energizer bunny from dawn til dusk.

Knowing this, it doesn't means I automatically then slow down, but its sooo hard to "reduce speed now".
Here is a typical example. I eat breakfast standing up and walking around my kitchen. Bit impossible with egg on toast, but cereal, no sweat! I drink coffee and tea standing up and walking around too. You will find coffee cups in the oddest of places in my home. The only time you will find a coffee cup on my desk is during work time.

I think too fast. And when I think way too fast,  I then talk and mix up what I am saying, or, go into a mind fog because I am already thinking about the next thing.

Last week I was advised to start yoga again. Now that season is almost over, I will have the time to do this. I should actually be doing yoga 3x a week during season, but please!! Try running a company and having kids. That leaves very little time to "pop over" to the yoga centre.
I was also told that I need to start meditating again. My form of meditation is a mixture of contemptation prayer and centering. I did blog about that long ago, but will post that blog again as its so worth it!

So, if you have some nice yoga music,please send it to me as I will be needing it as soon as my shoulder comes right. Its still damn sore!

Cheers!

Being Bipolar can be really fun

If you have recently been diagnosed with being Bipolar type 2, don't despair. Once you get over the fact that what you have been experiencing, now has a name to it, even though its sounds scary, its really not that bad. Its from this point onwards you can start moving in a positive direction in your life, and you may even get to the stage where you can look back at yourself and have a jolly good chuckle at the impulsive things you did in your hypomanic stages or on your way to being manic.

Here is a classic example of how I become. My brain doesn't want to switch off and I need to suddenly "DO STUFF". Most of the time its incredible positive and beneficial stuff, other times it lands me in the dog box. One day my husband came home and to his shock and horror, my little trimming and pruning of the garden had turned into a full scale assault. My neighbour had irritated me that his house was so dark because of the pine trees outside our shared fence. So I decided to trim the branches, and while I did so the idea of "lets really give this guy some light", took hold and I removed ALL of the side branches, leaving our two properties so exposed and now letting us see directly into his kitchen. Peek a boo! ( Dog box for me!)
Then I got the urge to paint the house. This is a common and happens quiet a bit and I race around choosing very interesting colours that later perhaps weren't the right shade for the room. The first time that happened, I had forgotten to mention to Rob that I was painting that day and he arrived home to an interesting shade of peach for the dining room. I thought it looked superb. Rob took a deep breath and opened a beer. ( Dog box for me!)
A good one is when I get the gardening overdrive urge, I go full tilt, and garden to my hearts content. I really like gardening, but not as much when I am a bit manic. The down side to gardening is that its REALLY expensive and I like to spend money when I am happy. Manic me =Happy me. Happy me= spend money. Life is always very good when your like this, and the week ends are always go go go. The kids think I am such fun. The other day I bought them body boards, wet suits and we all took to the surf. They spend a lot of time in the water so at least when I had come down to earth it was a good buy after all.

But seriously, if you are bi-polar and want to chat, please message me.I can really be useful in showing you how to manage it with your diet, and other tools, not just meds. It can be very  hard living with this, and often people have no clue as from their perspective you seem pretty normal.