November 20th, 2009
Actually, depression never says knocks. It’s not that polite. It actually just comes in without knocking. When I was first diagnosed with bipolar disorder I tried to draw pictures of what it felt like to have this illness. I drew a picture of a hotel- naturally called the Julie Hotel! There was a door to the hotel and outside I drew a huge monster with big teeth- it was much larger than the hotel itself. The caption was..
When bipolar comes knocking- don’t let it in!
Maybe that was a bit naïve. You don’t have to even open the door sometimes. It comes in anyway. Most of my books are about prevention- including recognizing triggers, keeping your relationships stable, knowing your first signs of mania, limiting the alcohol and partying, etc. etc. But I also write a lot about how you can keep going even when you’re depressed.
It’s true that no matter how diligent you may be, the illness just shows up anyway. It’s often hard to know what to do. The answer is…. You just keep going with your treatment plan and try to shut the door as much as possible. When I get depressed, I remind myself that I’ve been here before and I will be here again. What matters is how I manage it in the moment.
1. Keep working on whatever you need to do. You don’t have to feel good in order to work.
2. Keep moving forward when the depression makes you feel stuck to your chair.
3. Put your body and face into an expression of healthy instead of depression. ie, the slumping, crying, sagging, turned inward feeling of depression can at least be changed outwardly.
4. Remind yourself it’s an illness and it goes away. Bipolar is episodic. There are periods of stability- and they get longer and longer the more you work at treating this illness.
Bipolar! You can’t come in my hotel!
Julie
Tags: bipolar depression, bipolar depression treatment, depression treatment
Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »
November 15th, 2009
We apologize for the generic design and the delay in approving comments. We are having technical issues with the blog and will be back to normal shortly. Thank you for your patience.
Julie Fast technical support
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November 10th, 2009
Finding a Purpose
Purpose gives you a schedule. When you have passion about something- you will make plans to do it on a regular basis.
Purpose helps you manage bipolar disorder because you have something to live for. I don’t take this lightly as I had ZERO purpose for many years. Bipolar disorder took it from me. Then one day, I realized that my purpose in life is to be alive for my seven year old nephew. That changed my life as I could remind myself of this, even when I got really sick.
Now I find great purpose in helping people who love someone with bipolar disorder. When I help someone who is in crisis just like I was in crisis 15 years ago when I thought my partner would die from this illness, I feel that I have found my purpose in life. It took me over 20 years- but it sure helps life to have a reason to get up in the morning.
What is your purpose? It can be a child, art, helping others, travel, writing, building a car engine, anything. It doesn’t have to be altruistic. It just has to help you stay alive.
Julie
Tags: bipolar purpose
Posted in About Julie, Uncategorized | 1 Comment »
November 9th, 2009
As you can see, I went awhile without posting. My goal is to post every few days- but the past week was a tough one work wise. I am now working full time for the first time in my life. It’s a true dream come true. If you go to the categories list to the right and click on the work tab, you can read all about my struggles.
Time management is now my focus. In the past, I had to spend so much time managing the illness- now I have more time to manage work! I know that there are many people in the world who wish they never had to work again- my dream for life is to work as much as I want.
Thus, I got behind on my blogs. I love work. I have not been able to say that in over 15 years- working daily to manage this illness pays off- it just takes a darn long time to see the result you want! I gave up a lot- and still give up a lot to be able to work- but for now, it’s worth it.
How are you work wise? Can you work the amount you want to work?
Julie
Tags: bipolar blog, bipolar work
Posted in Work | 6 Comments »
November 9th, 2009
Hi to all!
You have probably seen my bipolarhappens.com website where I sell my Health Cards System for Bipolar Disorder. In the past, it was the sales site with little general information on bipolar disorder. It has really changed and is now one of the most comprehensive bipolar disorder websites on the Internet. There are tips for parents, partners and those with bipolar. It covers bipolar medications, teenagers, triggers and symptoms. It was so exciting to work with my web master Emanuel.
If you know the old site, you will be amazed with this web site! Please look it over and let me know what you think. We are open to new content ideas and want the site to grow as we hear more of what readers are looking for. The site very much follows what is in my books. This information is so importnat, you can never read it too many times!
Click here to visit bipolarhappens.com and definiitely let me know your comments. You can reply to this blog.
Julie
Tags: bipolar info, bipolar symptoms, bipolar website, bipolarhappens.com, teen bipolar
Posted in Bipolar Treatment Tips | 2 Comments »
October 29th, 2009
I just received the following comment from Laura regarding my article on psychosis for healthyplace.com. She raises an imporant point- how do you know the difference between the diagnosis of bipolar disorder and schizo-affective disorder?
Hi Julie,
Your article was very helpful for me. It not only educated me but gave me hope which I desperately need right now. My 19 year old son is currently hospitalized after a suicide attempt. They have diagnosed with as BP type 1 but possibly schizoidaffective.
After reading about the psychosis differences between the two, I am hopeful – he seems to display the BP type of psychosis instead of schizphrenic type.
Hi Laura,
I am so glad the blog helped. Schizoaffective disorder is actually easy to understand in terms of a diagnosis- If the psychosis comes with an obvious mood swing- such a psychotic mania- ie, a person could be euphoric with high energy, zero desire to sleep with no tiredness the next day and the belief they are the reincarnation of a famous figure, that is bipolar disorder. If the person has mood swings without psychosis such as a suicidal depression, that is bipolar disorder as well. If a person has psychosis with NO mood swing at the time- in other words they hear voices and feel the police have bugged the house- that would be a diagnosis of schizoaffective disorder.
Bipolar disorder psychosis can mimic schizophrenia psychosis, as it did with my partner Ivan who was in a three month manic/psychotic episode, but for others, it does fit the pattern I talk about in my psychosis article.
I hope your son is doing better. Please remind him that suicide and suicidal attempts are a normal part of bipolar disorder. He can learn to manage the illness so this doesn’t happen again. He went into the hospital- so he is a strong guy who can get better. It just takes a plan. Julie
Tags: bipolar psychosis, schizo affective disorder, schizoaffective disorder
Posted in schizoaffective | 4 Comments »
October 24th, 2009
It’s often hard for people with bipolar disorder to know what is reasonable and what is unacceptable. If you’re born with a certain kind of brain- it makes you say and do things that are normal to you. For example, people with bipolar disorder get stressed a lot more easily than the general population. They get more angry- cry more- try to kill themselves more- and definitely get higher than anyone without the illness when it comes to mania.
But that is natural behavior for us! It’s not ok and it’s certainly not a very productive way to live- but it’s what our brains do. So it makes sense that we will all have to learn what is reasonable and acceptable.
How can you stop behavior that is unacceptable and non productive? I have found an answer that took me a long time to master, but I’ve kept at it for 10 years and it’s working.
Here is the answer: I regularly examine how my behavior is affecting all of the people in my life. Do they want to be around me? Do I have friends who actually think I’m a cool person? Do people avoid me? Am I able to listen to someone without talking about my troubles all of the time? And most importantly, so people keep telling me that what I do is not ok and that they want me to stop?
Bipolar disorder is sneaky- you would think that the above would be rather easy- you simply have to look and listen to the people in your life and change your behavior, right? Wrong- our brains are fighting reasonable self reflection. Bipolar depression and bipolar mania lie to us and make it difficult to answer the above questions. But it can be done! How would you answer the questions today? And if you love someone with bipolar disorder, how would they answer the questions?
Julie
Tags: bipolar friends, bipolar relationships, bipolar symptoms management, Bipolar Treatment Tips
Posted in Bipolar Treatment Tips, Relationships | 7 Comments »
