Uncategorized « Straight Talk on Managing Bipolar Disorder

Are You Living the Life You Want?

Are your actions and choices in harmony with where you want to be in the next few years? Would it be easier to be a calm, loving and kind partner if your bipolar disorder were better managed? Is there a person in your life who is leading to mood swings, but you can’t seem to let that person go? Would you like help with using substances such as weed to deal with mood swings, but are not sure what to do next? I’m interested in how bipolar disorder affects your life. Write your questions in a journal. What can you do next to answer your own questions? Choose three things as next steps. I’m also interested in helping people figure out the difference between the real you and the bipolar you. [ Read More ]

Three Ways out of a Bipolar Disorder Jam: Julie writes for Bp Magazine

I love writing for Bp Magazine for Bipolar Disorder. Here is a blog on the topic of getting out of a mess created by bipolar disorder.

Getting yourself out of a bind created by bipolar disorder symptoms is a good place to start if you need to rebuild your life.

Ok. It happened. You got sick and did something stupid. Maybe you broke up with someone you actually love. Possibly you said something out of line to a friend or came on to a married co-worker at an office party. For many people, a long, long line of out of character behaviors often leads to a much-needed bipolar disorder diagnosis. For others, ineffective management leads to continual mistakes that lead to trouble in relationships and life in general. We can find ourselves [ Read More ]

Bipolar Disorder Check-in Quiz: How is your mood right now?

The following quiz was created by Julie A. Fast for people with bipolar disorder to check their current mood. Please answer the quiz using your stable mood behavior as a base. One (1) means that you are stable relating to the question, two (2) you have mild symptoms, three (3) means you are moving towards illness, four (4) means you are not doing well but can still deal with things on your own and with help of others, five (5) means that you are not doing well at all and are worried about your behavior and need immediate help.

This quiz tells you how you [ Read More ]

Suicide is NOT a Dirty Word

The following is a long form article on the topic of suicide and bipolar disorder by Julie A. Fast

I have a very different view of suicide. For many people it’s something shameful and scary. For me, it’s a side effect of an illness. I won’t mince words here. Bipolar disorder has a 10-20% death rate. People with bipolar disorder kill themselves because suicide is a part of the illness. I have had suicidal thoughts for all of my adult life. I have them because I have bipolar disorder. I don’t have them because something is wrong with my life.

If you have suicidal thoughts – you have them because you have an illness. There is nothing wrong with you.

You have an illness that has suicidal thoughts as a symptom. If you [ Read More ]

Why Do People With Bipolar Disorder Drink and Use Substances?

Here is my latest blog for Bp Magazine for Bipolar Disorder….

by Julie A. Fast

If you care about someone with bipolar disorder, you may wonder why we choose so may behaviors that make us so much worse. The answer might surprise you. I can assure you from many years of boozing it up and smoking weed and hash myself, I was NOT doing it to get drunk or just to get high. Here is why I used substances heavily for many years:

Unbelievable panic attacks from being around men. Who on earth gets sick from going on a date? I do. So I drank beer and then drank more beer. I later found out that the hops in beer are calming. I drank like a [ Read More ]

What Does Bipolar Stability Look Like for You?

I have a normal or stable Health Card (my treatment system) that reminds me what stability looks, sounds and feels like.

I can’t do this on my own. I am not a reliable source. I need to write my symptoms down to remind myself that bipolar disorder often takes over my life and tells me that what I’m experiencing is real.

My Stable Health Card looks like this.

Able to focus. I can clearly think of what needs to get done and come up with a reasonable plan to execute a simple to do list. I do not cry during the day for work or relationships reasons. My mind is clear. I’m not hearing snippets of songs, conversions or counting. My brain works in a linear way. I see something, think about it and then [ Read More ]