Bipolar Disorder

I've been going through hell because of this disorder for the past few days, pretty much just staying in my room and slipping in and out of depressive states. I've been losing sleep, talking to myself, and trying to drown out my thoughts with music. I think there's another personal issue lying there that I'm trying to get figured out, but being in a depressive state makes me a lot more vulnerable to that. I'm being very counter productive, resuming old habits that I thought I had moved past and just losing focus altogether.

On a whole other level, there's the boredom. I need a goal to work towards, and the IP seems pointless and impossible. I really don't want to sit here and spend time with myself any longer than I have. I also don't want to read or play games, I want to work on something real.

Do any of you have similar problems? Any advice?

Presumably you're on medication for bipolar? If it's not doing enough for you then go back and see your doctor. I don't have bipolar but I have had depression and if what you're on isn't cutting it, don't just accept the medication you've got, get it changed.

I'd check my medication with my doctor, like Edan says, if you're medicated. If not, I'd discuss the matter with a professional to see if perhaps medication is right for you. Until then, I'd either catch up on sleep (and remember to eat often), and find something you love to fill your time as best you can.

Try doing this if you're feeling rotten.

http://philome.la/jace_harr/you-feel-like-shit-an-interactive-self-care-guide/play

First thing in the morning is also a good time to do it.

Doctors attempted to "properly diagnose" me at the age of 12 by placing me on a plethora of drugs, none of which I accepted into my body, for reasons ill not mention here. I deal with it on a daily level, I believe everyone has it to some degree. I also believe it has been misslabeled, and treatment has been miserably fouled since its discovery. Factors for its existence is not merely mental, and I dont wish to make this post on why it exists as doing so would risk derailing. I'm available if you ever feel the need to chew...

What do you mean "real"? Do you mean "physical", "tangible"?

Also, as others have suggested, speak to your doctor and tell them what you are feeling. Depression sucks so hardcore, but no one can help you unless you let them know what's going on. What you have bfonr y posting here is a good first step. Now I encourage you to take a few more Good luck man

See a doctor. Now... if It were me and it's not*smiley face... I despise pills. Here in America we have pills for pills. Think about that. Keeping an a Idol heart and mind is difficult. Not impossible, just time consuming. There are many different styles and results meditation can offer. Plenty of things to keep and active Mind active. You can build anything you want. Mentally and spiritually as well. My space if similar in that I need moments to take things apart or put them to gear her in my mind. Knots, bits of rope do it for me. Complex puzzles... working puzzles.There's a meditation called galaxy in the palm. It's for a very active mind. There are thousands of ways to keep a busy brain occupied. Healthy ways. Hope this is some kind of help Ryder. The more I study the more I find that the smarter people are the more they have to focus extra to accomplish things... the more it takes to have fun... the more it takes to relex and the more it takes to keep content. Nothing wrong with that at all. More brain activity the better. If u do find a few ways let me know. I'm right there with you some days Ryder. I find boredom is when I have ample time to myself. Just me, or I can't get any one to join in on group activities. Either way. I have an old saying... it's the old bartender in me but my saying is this... I'm never bored cuz I'm never boring. I'm not a complainer cuz I never complain. Yet... no matter how much life or zeal, some days I'm sitting at the window trying to organize my time and see what's up with the what's up.
What would you rather be doing that in your room? Do it...take the action, take the initiative. BE the change in you , take it! Be well Ryder. Your not alone friend

Yes. Go to a doctor. Get stable. Then later on, Maintain stability. And eat right, exercise, get plenty of sleep. It may seem insurmountable now, but take it day by day.

You can do this. We are here to help.

Source: diagnosed as bipolar in 2008.

Desolous wrote: Yes. Go to a doctor. Get stable. Then later on, Maintain stability. And eat right, exercise, get plenty of sleep. It may seem insurmountable now, but take it day by day.

You can do this. We are here to help.

Source: diagnosed as bipolar in 2008.

this

Ryder wrote: I need a goal to work towards, and the IP seems pointless and impossible. I really don't want to sit here and spend time with myself any longer than I have. I also don't want to read or play games, I want to work on something real.

Do any of you have similar problems? Any advice?

there is nothing more real than your health

commit to a work-out plan

my suggestion would be to start with setting goals for running and body-weight exercises like push ups and pull ups

getting out of the house is important but sometimes i cant bear to be seen by people, so if thats the case with you right now then at least acquire a jump rope to begin with and work towards being able to do ten sets of three minutes

its hard lol - thats gonna take you a while

also get a hold of some push up handles and one of those pull up bars that you can mount on a door frame - you can get all this at wal-mart or target or play it-again-sports or amazon - theyre out there and theyre not that expensive

but a jump rope you can probably make from any number of things youve already got in your home and running and doing push-ups require no gear at all (better with handles but they arent strictly necessary)

and you can start today - right now

the best kinds of goals to have are the kind that make you a better person simply by attempting them

i like myself better when i stay on an exercise program, and thats what i would advise

whatever you do, good luck

Hey folks! Just thought I'd weigh in on this topic. First my cred. I'm a student of Traditional Chinese Medicine in my last year of schooling in California. I was officially diagnosed with type 2 bipolar disorder just a few years ago, but I've been experiencing it for at least 20 years.

Bipolar disorder is usually characterized as a swing between a manic phase and a depressive phase, however, that's not how mine manifested, which is what made it difficult to isolate to a particular disorder. Instead, my shifting was between depression and feeling overwhelmed. Fun, right?

Bipolar disorder is described as a chemical imbalance. This is different from depression, which is usually considered to be a deficiency in serotonin, and thus treated with drugs that assist in the absorption of serotonin. According to the western word, depression can be treated to a point of resolution, because it has deficiency as its root. However, Bipolar is not a deficiency, but an imbalance of chemicals, and so it is considered incurable because we don't know how to balance those chemicals ourselves. So bipolar disorder can only be treated with drugs that happen to be rather pricy if one does not have insurance (US). That is a summary of the picture of bipolar disorder. Kinda, bleak, right?

Well fear not. I'd like to present some alternatives to the group for consideration. First, I am not a licensed practitioner. My advice here is not a replacement for medical advice from a western doctor. Nor would I suggest that you completely avoid western medical in any capacity. I would, instead, inspire you to learn where western medicine fits within the vast array of treatment options.

Next, it's important to make sure that you've actually been diagnosed for bipolar disorder by a western practitioner. Suspecting that you have bipolar disorder does not count as an official diagnosis. When I was told that I had bipolar disorder, I had originally gone to my doctor to get tested for ADHD, because of concentration issues in school. After a lengthy process, it was determined that I had type 2 bipolar disorder, the symptoms of which are often confused for ADHD. If he had put me on medication for ADHD, it could possibly trigger a manic swing. So that was kind of a bummer visit, but important, too. So make sure you're officially diagnosed by a qualified professional. And if you're still unsure, get a second opinion. Plenty of doctors out there.

Now that we're officially diagnosed, let's go to treatment. The traditional treatment for bipolar disorder has been a form of lithium. Early forms of lithium have been shown to be problematic for thyroid regulation, and many people (my mom included) have developed Hashimoto's thyroid disorder due to the way lithium affected the thyroid over a period of years (decades). Plus, at least in the US, prescription lithium is expensive. In fact, my doctor flat out told me that he didn't recommend it for me because he knew I couldn't afford it (which was true). Fortunately, there are newer, friendlier forms of lithium that do not have these affects on the thyroid (it wasn't the lithium, but what it was paired with for absorbability). Lithium Oxide and Lithium Orotate do not have these same complications. The latter is available over the counter, which makes it significantly cheaper.

Obviously, hearing this news did not make my day. It was hard to hear that I had a disorder that I could never overcome. So, being me, I jumped on the internet and looked for natural alternatives to treat bipolar disorder. One of the pages that came up had an interesting theory and solution which caught my attention.

The website claimed that all mood disorders were actually an underlying mineral deficiency, bipolar disorder included. It suggested a correlation between the increased loss of minerals in our soil, over the decades, and the increase in mental disorders. This has not been scientifically proven nor verified. It is an unconfirmed hypothesis connecting mood disorders with diet. But nevertheless, I found the theory fascinating, and not without a reasonability.

So with the cause of bipolar disorder explored as a mineral deficiency, the solution was to eat 3-4 ounces of sea food a day. This could be in a fish form or a sea veggie form. The explanation is that, although the land has been stripped of its mineral content, the ocean still has plenty of minerals for the taking through marine food sources. The protocol for the replenishing your body's mineral reserves was to eat 3-4 ounces of seafood every day for 4-6 months. A bit extreme, if not unrealistic. But the reasoning is sound. You're essentially saturating your body with minerals, which can then do their job at doing whatever it is they do to regulate mood (this is still theory, now), and then after the 4-6 month timeframe, once your mood has stabilized, you can then back off to a more moderate dose for maintenance.

I thought this was fascinating, but even though I live on the coast, the fish here are super expensive AND there's the issue of contamination and radiation. I wasn't too thrilled with the idea with eating seafood all day. I'm not a fan of sea veggies either. Gross!

But then I had an epiphany. What is it that contains all the trace minerals that we use? Sea salt! In fact, if you look at many of the mineral supplements in the US, they mostly come from the Great Salt Lake in Utah. Why? Because that form of salt is packed with minerals.

Up to this point, I barely used any salt. So I started using sea salt with my food. Eventually I started putting a generous pinch of salt into my water. It made the water a little salty, but I learned later that putting salt in your water is actually really important, because your body is always trying to get to a place of homeostasis, where every inch of your body would have the same nutrients delivered. Sodium is important for the working of our motor and sensory nerves, and when we drink a bunch of water that lacks the salt, your body has to use time and resources to make the new water salty and balanced with the rest of your body. One of the reasons why Gatorade is used by sports and fitness enthusiasts is because the sodium content helps replenish spent nerves and gives them an extra reserve to push further.

So all that said, I started putting salt in my water (and drinking more water). I'll be honest with you. It took a long time. Way longer than 4-6 months. But after a year or two of consistently using sea salt, but on my food and in my water, I noticed that I hadn't had a swing in a really long time. In fact now I can't remember the last time I got stuck in a bipolar swing. I haven't tried the newer forms of over-the-counter lithium because I haven't felt I've needed it. I feel emotionally stable... consistently.

And I'll say this... I've sure had some turbulence in my life over the last few years. And I've had my moments of stress and worry. But I didn't swing. I know what that feels like and what the behavioral patterns look like and I just haven't felt or seen any of that stuff come up. So maybe there's some truth to this mineral deficiency thing. It seems to be working for me anyway. So far...

Okay, so now that I've said all that, I need to specify that the behavioral symptoms for the type 2 form of bipolar disorder are not as prominently displayed as type 1 bipolar, the symptoms of which are way more obvious. Type 2 bipolar symptoms are actually very similar to those for ADHD, which is why the doctor knew to start testing me on bipolar disorder to rule that out, (which it didn't). So that said, I've struggled with my emotions for a long time, but it was never to the point of threat to my safety or wellbeing. It just sucked and I hated my life. So I don't know if any of this would be good for others struggling with bipolar disorder. Although it's important to at least get an initial diagnosis from an MD, it's also important to learn about yourself in this way. Practice becoming familiar with the severity of your emotional situation. That'll help you at least see where you are.

The reason I decided to write out all this was the comment someone made about the Initiate Programme being overwhelming. Although Joseph Campbell is very intense and is a treasure trove of brain-bending insanity, there may be a connection with the manifestation of your disorder, and your overwhelm with the IP. Once I was able to see how my overwhelm and depressive states were defining themselves, they became easier to spot and track. It also pulled me out of identifying with the thoughts and feelings around the disorder, since I could simply observe, even while I was freaking out.

So there are the alternative options. Lithium Oxide, lithium Orotate, and putting sea salt (I recommend either grey sea salt or himalayan salt) in your water and on food. One more time I'll remind everyone that there is always risk when attempting new and unorthodox approaches to taking control of your health. Discernment is key. If you have sodium issues already, the salt option is not for you. Etc. Don't stop paying attention. Ever. And if it's not working, move on and try something else.

If you're finding yourself caught up in the midst of an emotional swing, then the first step is to stabilize. There's no way you're going to make rational decisions while in either end of your swing, so the most important thing is to stabilize. Don't focus on the nonsense. Focus on stabilizing.

It took me a long time to get control over this thing, but each time I'd get caught up in a swing, I get faster at seeing it for what it was and getting myself out of it. The first time it was 3 months. Then 1 month. Then a couple weeks. Then one week. Then a couple days. Then an afternoon. And here we are.

And maybe it's not over. Maybe someday I'll find myself in another swing again. But now I know what it looks like and there are plenty of options to move me through it.

I hope that's helpful for everyone struggling with this miserable disorder. You're not doomed. There are some options for you. Feel free to PM me if you have any further questions or comments.

May the Force be with you.