Category Archives: manic
Lithium: Help for the Afflicted
Lithium (brand names Eskalith, Lithobid, Lithonate, and Lithotabs) is the most widely used and studied medication for treating bipolar disorder. Lithium helps reduce the severity and frequency of mania. It may also help relieve bipolar depression. Studies show that lithium can significantly reduce suicide risk. Lithium also helps prevent future manic episodes. As a [...]
Lifelong Bipolar
Bipolar disorder is a lifelong condition Bipolar disorder is a lifelong condition that can impact many important areas of your life. It can affect both how you feel and how you act, as well as the lives of the people closest to you. While most people begin to notice symptoms when they are in their [...]
English Pigeons, and Other Scintillating Mysteries
In April 2002, I sitting in this cavernous waiting room at King’s Cross in London, England. I was waiting for a bus to Cambridge, UK. I sat all alone, and stared at the tiled floor at my feet. The doctors had warned me not to travel alone, but I had disregarded their restrictions. I was [...]
Peanut Butter, Hot Lunch and Dreams
Warning: Rambling post, very tedious. Don’t operate heavy equipment for two hours after reading this post. I grew up in a big, brick house in Northern Wisconsin. Our beautiful home hid our desperate poverty, and it was quite difficult. My father and mother scraped by enough each week to feed and clothe us. But just barely. Mom would [...]
Tigger Goes to a Therapist
A Therapists Consultation: TIGGER (Winnie the Pooh’s Irrepressible Friend.) Diagnosis: Attention deficit hyperactive disorder (ADHD): Tigger’s continual bouncing, hyperactivity and irresponsible attitude cause problems for him and those with whom he lives, as well as those he interacts with in the wider community. Physical presentation: Rarely sits still. He’s always running, climbing, or fidgeting. Diet: [...]
How to Relapse, W/O Being a Moron
A Bumpy Road: Dealing with Relapse There may not ever be a last episode, but there are ways to fend off and mitigate the next one. By Jodi Helmer Doctors never talked to Elly L. about RELAPSE. Although she was hospitalized during a manic episode and diagnosed with bipolar disorder, doctors never mentioned that [...]
The Meat Grinder
I feel like I am going through a meat grinder. Pushed against my will (and desire) I’m finding myself in a place I’d rather not be. My therapist confirmed today that I’m in a “mixed state” where bipolar mania and depression come together. I compare it to two massive ocean currents smashing into each other. (please Google, “mixed state“). [...]
Churches Respond to Mental Illness
by Ken Camp, Associated Baptist Press — Living with depression — or any other form of mental illness — is like viewing life “through a glass darkly,” according to Jessy Grondin, a student in Vanderbilt University’s Divinity School. “It distorts how you see things.” Like one in four Americans, Grondin wrestles with mental illness, having [...]
Becoming Manic: What You Can Do
Top tips for coping These are a list of things that people who have difficulties when they become high or manic have found helpful: Try to get some sleep. Going without sleep has been shown to cause manic states and make them last longer. Eat well. Don’t go without food or eat high energy [...]