A Few Tips That Help Me

Over the years, I learned a few things to cope with my bipolar disorder. In the beginning, Nick and I made a sheet that we put on the fridge. I believe it had symptoms to look for when I was going manic or depressed, therapists and psychiatrists with their numbers, and hospitals with their numbers. (It's been a number of years, but I believe that's what was on it.) We were feeling out what worked for us, and that's when the hospital stays were really starting to vamp up and it was really necessary to know who to call in an emergency. We were always hesitant to call 911, because in those early years, the police weren't trained in mental health crises, and they weren't understanding. They just put you in cuffs and hauled you off in a not-caring manner. It was terrifying for me.

As the hospital stays became more frequent and the medications I was trying grew to be more and more, I started to keep a list. For hospital stays, I kept the name of the hospital, the city and state it was in, and the dates I was there. For the medications, I would put which category the fell under (anti-psychotic, mood stabilizer, anti-depressant, etc), and what the medication was. Then I would highlight in red which medication I was currently taking. If I had thought about it, I should have put if I had an adverse reaction to the medication or why it didn't work. That would've been extremely helpful because I've had to change psychiatrists/psychiatric nurses so many times over the past 25 1/2 years.

Sadly, the hospital list and medication list got wiped when Matthew wiped all of my USBs. And I didn't have any paper copies that I can find. So now I have to go through and try to figure out all those dates again. I don't even know where to start with the meds. Some of my psychiatrists are out of business, so I can't go through and request records. I can go on memory, but my memory isn't always that great. I could go through a list of meds on MedLine or something like that and say, Oh, I remember taking that! I suppose that would work. And, of course, I always know what I'm taking now.

Some people recommend writing down a list of your major symptoms and your triggers of what sets them off. This really helps some people; I've found it doesn't help me very much. Maybe it did in the beginning. But I've found that after working a dedicated Cognitive Behavioral Therapy program and Dialectical Behavioral Therapy program, besides regular therapy, I don't have to have these things written down. I know my triggers pretty well. People who don't listen to me will trigger my anger. Fighting will shut me down and initiate my flee instinct. People who smile will set me up for a good day. Open communication makes me feel valued and makes me willing to open up more.

It's very important to have open communication with the person who handles your medications. I tend to have low blood pressure. One of my medications can be a cause to this. She has lowered this medication, and has talked of lowering it further. I told her that I'm unwilling for her to lower it further, as it eases the tremors that I have, especially in my hands. So she made me a referral for the neurologist. And she has me check my blood pressure right before taking this medication and an hour after. I hadn't been having problems in months, but I am now having problems again. Not to the point where she's going to have to decrease the dose; I should be able to hold out until I see the neurologist, but it's a little worrisome. I know sometimes opening up to the person who handles your meds can lead to results that you don't want to hear. In this case I think you don't have the right person. Maybe your options are limited on who you can get, but if you can, find a new provider. My two cents right there.

I hope this has been somewhat helpful. It's unsolicited advice; you can take what you like and leave the rest. Have a great week! Here's a picture of the daffodils I got for Mother's Day from my mother-in-law that she picked. Just had to throw in a picture!

 Until next week's dirt...