Hi there,

 As a reminder, I’m having a call in radio show for the first time today! If you scroll down, there is a blog entry with all of the details. You can read all about the radio guests and today’s show at www.juliefast.com/radio

I’m having my typical pre show anxiety. It has been quite awful for months now! No matter how much I prepare or how well the shows go, I have the anxiety every time. It’s a physical thing.

In celebration of this anxiety, I’m going to offer my anxiety treatment tips throughout the show today. I have to laugh at it and make the changes needed.  The show must go on!

I hope you can call. Julie

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HI All, I just received this from my radio station- it has a good explanation of my mental health radio show.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

AM 910 KTRO WELCOMES THE JULIE FAST SHOW TO ITS WEEKEND LINEUP

(Portland) – May 9, 2008 – AM 910 KTRO welcomes The Julie Fast Show to its weekend lineup.

AM 910 KTRO is please to announce the addition of The Julie Fast Show to its weekend lineup! The Julie Fast Show which airs on Sunday’s from 3pm-4pm PST, offers straight talk on mental illness through education, inspiration and lively conversation. Guests include health care professionals, writers and people who are affected by mental illness in general. Host Julie Fast, shares her experience as a person with chronic bipolar disorder and gives her audience insight into ways to manage all mental illnesses more effectively.

Topics include depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, multiple personality disorder, PTSD and war, borderline personality disorder, child and adolescent psychiatric disorders, romantic relationships, friendships, mental health memoir writing and more. The Julie Fast Radio Show openly talks about the reality of mental illness, from the struggling stories to the triumphant.

Julie Fast is the bestselling author of Loving Someone with Bipolar Disorder, Take Charge of Bipolar Disorder and Get it Done When You’re Depressed. She is the recipient of the Eli Lilly Achievement Award and the Mental Health America Journalism Award.

Justin Mansfield, Programming Director for AM 910 KTRO states “We are thrilled to make to our programming lineup! I really think that Julie’s knowledge and experience will benefit many people in the Portland area.”

**

If you click on the radio tab to the right, you can hear a few of the shows from this blog. They will be on Itunes soon! I keep saying that, but it will happen!

Julie

After much request, I am finally doing a listener call in show this Sunday. I willl answer any and all mental health questions.

The show is from 3-4 PM PST on Sunday, June 1st.

 I will post the call in phone number closer to the date.

 People outside the US can email questions that I can answer on the air.

 Julie

I’ve received so many kind and supportive letters about my new radio show. I wish I could answer more of them! I just received a nice letter from a radio listener.  She asked why there was not a show posted the past few weeks. Well… I had NO idea how much work the show would be. It has been one of the greatest experiences of my working life- but easily the most stressful endeavor of my working life. It’s definitely more stressful than writing books. I’m learning what real stress feels like. It’s hard to deal with, but not impossible. It’s nothing like the stress that comes from being sick with bipolar disorder.
I was a bit scared when I took on the show that I would have a lot of mood swings. I’m so used to getting sick when I work too much. In the past, too much was part time. 
I know what stage fright – I should say radio fright- feels like now! I spoke to over 200 people for an event a few months ago. I had no stress and loved giving the talk. But the first few weeks of the radio show were so bad that I couldn’t go out at night on the weekends at all. I sometimes doubled over with a stomach ache. I felt anxious and downright panicked. It was odd. I knew I could do the show. I never thought it would be easy. But I honestly had no idea what it would feel like to go on air and be so nervous I could hardly talk. If you listen to the first shows, it may be hard to tell, but I was so nervous I felt like I was going to throw up. I could hardly breathe and the show felt like I was under water.
It’s getting better. My fabulous cohost Avi has made such a difference. Have you heard his voice? Believe it or not, he had never been on the radio and just turned out to be a natural.
This is longer than I intended! What I wanted to say is that I have a new show that should be up within the next day. It’s on child and adolescent psychiatric disorders and I’m very proud of it.
I can do this. Taking a risk is the only way to reap big rewards.

Your support means so much to me.
Julie

Hello! If you haven’t had a chance to listen to my new radio show- this is a great place to start. I interviewed best selling author Andy Behrman about his book Electroboy and his amazing life in general.  What a story!  I’ve never heard a better description of mania- you will be amazed.

Click on the link below to stream/download the show.

Electroboy on the Julie Fast Radio Show

 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

Hi,

I’m very excited about my radio show today as my guest is my coauthor Dr. John Preston!

We’re going to talk about medications.

I promise that you will learn more than you ever thought possible in just one hour about antidepressants such as Prozac, Zoloft, Wellbutrin and Effexor- antipsychotics such as Abilify, Zyprexa, Risperdal and Seroquel and mood stabilizers/anti convulsants such as Tegretol, Depakote and my drug Lamictal. We will talk about antianxiety meds such as Ativan, Klonopin and Valium and then touch on how these medications are used to treat specific illnesses.

All in one hour!

You can listen live - go to www.juliefast.com/radio and click on the link for the KTRO radio station web site. There will be a listen live button on the KTRO home page:

The show is on today (Sunday, April 20th) at 3 PM PST here in the US.
If you can’t listen live, the show will be posted on the juliefast.com site two days after the broadcast.

I remember when I was first diagnosed- the meds were so overwhelming- I wish I had been able to access a show like this one!
Julie

I think you will get a lot out of this radio interview. You can play this right through your computer speakers or download it to your computer or iPod or MP3 player and listen to it later.   Just push the arrow to activate the audio.

 

 Get It Done When You're Depressed - KINK Radio Interview [27:44m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download