I just received a great email from a reader who has been on the bipolarhappens.com mailing list for years.

I once wrote a newsletter for family members that started out with a conversation my mother and I had about cabbage. I told the story to show how family members have to be educated as to why those of us with bipolar disorder can be so WEIRD! Here is his letter- the cabbage story follows.

Hi Julie:

This really isn’t a question but rather a comment regarding a piece you wrote about fixing dinner with your mother one night.  You were making a salad and your mom suggested adding cabbage.  As I recall you said it was just too difficult to get it out of the refrigerator and cut it, etc.  Your mother said something like “what’s so hard about that?” and you said, I think, “I have bi polar.”  Enough said!!

Ever since then every time I find it difficult (impossible???) to do something as “easy” (oh sure!) as preparing a meal or responding to an e-mail, etc, etc I always think of it as a “Bi Polar Cabbage Moment.”

I cannot begin to tell you how much this helps me!  I won’t be able to listen to your radio broadcast so let just say thanks so much for all you do. 

(Horace) Bruce Deal
New York, NY  
**
A Conversation about Cabbage

Mom: Why don’t you put some cabbage on your salad?

Julie: I want to have cabbage on my salad but it is just too hard to do it.

Mom: Julie! It’s too hard to have cabbage? What is your problem?

Julie: It’s not just cabbage, Mom!  It’s getting it out of the fridge. Taking off the old leaves, finding a place to cut it, making sure the knife is clean, slicing it, putting it on the salad and then cleaning up the cutting board. It is too much right now.

Mom: It really is just cabbage, Julie. Why does everything have to be so hard for you?

Julie: Mom. It is not a *normal* thing!  It is not a cabbage thing. It is *bipolar* thing. It is an overwhelmed thing. It has nothing to do with cabbage. Things are hard for me because I have bipolar disorder.

Mom: Ok. I understand it a bit better when you put it that way. Would you like me to do the cabbage for you?

================================

After eight years of daily bipolar disorder management- I’m really seeing the results. I never thought this day would happen. I’m going to sound like a broken record on this, but it’s true. You can get better. I can’t give you a time frame, but it can happen.

By better I mean that I can work. It’s interesting that I would measure my success on this level,but I do. I have worked for years on my friendships and they are going well. THey are always challenging,but I feel I have the skills to deal with what comes up- especially in terms of my jealousy and paranoia when I get depressed. I have a good relationship with my family. I can see a lot of good things in my life.

But really being able to work without getting sick has eluded me until last year. It happened because I use my system and found Lamictal- it’s a combination of things.

Believe me, if I’m 44 and am working well for the first time in my life there is hope for everyone.

Julie

I recently asked the mailing list for questions they would like my mom to answer on my Julie Fast Radio Show.

I received 200+ questions in less than 24 hours.

I’m not kidding.

I have read them all and will reply to those whose questions I used on the air.

There are answers to these questions and I will answer as many as I can on the blog. Unfortunately, I will not be able to reply individually. But I sure do send out a big thank you for all of the kind comments!

julie

The show has been great- but my anxiety levels are very high. I’m taking care of this through really structured sleep, hanging out with VERY calm people, saying no, going home early, keeping away from anything having to do with the opposite sex, eating more frozen blueberries instead of ice cream, reminding myself that things will calm down and making sure I get my daily dose of Donald Trump books!

Donald Trump, love him or hate him, is an excellent role model for keeping your head up and focused while under extreme work pressure. He is a man who was once 900 MILLION dollars in debt and worked his way back to the top. I highly recommend his books.

I will write more about work during the week as working when you’re well enough to work is a challenge as you have to know when to stop- otherwise you will go back into mood swings.

julie

Hello All,
I’m doing a very special interview with my mother this week on the Julie Fast Radio Show. If you would like to ask her a question, please send me an email and I will try to answer it on the air. I can’t guarantee it will be on, but I will get to all that I can. 

I have to say that my mother is an expert on helping a child who has bipolar disorder. We have worked together to manage this illness for eight years. We have some good tips that can work for all families.

My mother and I will talk at length about the Health Cards and how they literally saved our relationship. (If you’re new to this blog, the Health Cards are the treatment system I talk about on my site bipolarhappens.com)

You can go to www.juliefast.com/radio to send an email. You can also listen to the archived shows from the past two  months. I especially recommend the show with Don Moore- a friend of mine whose daughter has schizophrenia. 

 
I never thought I would be well enough to work again- but it’s happening. I just want to remind you to never give up- just over a year ago I was too ill to work full time, but today I can. I’ve made a lot of scarifies to get here, but it’s worth it. Working is wonderful and I don’t take it for granted!

Julie