by: christian.156 - So many people pan Domino's--I find them quite good--like I said, spent way too much money! The last of it was spent on an Oxford American Writer's Thesaurus (a must own). It is gloomy, looks like rain.
by: Phyllis - yay! snow has stopped. 5 - 8 inches fell in greene county alone!
by: paz - Sun,rain,sun,rain... wish the weather would make a decision & stick with it!
by: christian.156 - Thinking, 'Oh no!" i spent way too much money yesterday, all I can afford is another Coke and that's it, baby!
by: christian.156 - Back at Sugar Shack, actually I can get wi fi at Peet's down the street but it is very iffy getting a place to sit.
by: goosemuffin - House is clean, kids are happy, hubs at work, I am bored. Come on weekend!
by: Phyllis - another day, another battle. maybe today i will win!
by: christian.156 - I'm sitting in the Sugar Shack on the internet, only place I can get it, reading up on AVG. first time in a long time there are any people in here!
by: paz - soft veggie tacos in homemade flour tortillas and spaten optimator...dinner is going to be good!
by: goosemuffin - Bored. I just discovered twitter..gonna go figure it out.
at what point do you know that things arent right and you need help......or is what you are feeling just normal for a medicated bipolar and you just need to ride the storm........i hide so much away from the people i know so in the end it is down to me and as you know bipolars dont always have good judgement on themselves.......so again i say how do you
self loathing....whats that all about and how long is it going to go on. i really have a big problem with me i detest what i see on the outside and hate who i am on the inside.i dont want to leave the house for fear of others hating me,staring at me at this hideous monster.im finding myself hiding in the biggest clothes i can find and eating as a comfort to myself...i have gained half a stone just about from doing this,but i guess comfort eating is another issue.........im just not happy at all,i can put up a mask for those closest to me but i cant look them in the eye.....i am dirty,nasty and disgusting inside my personality needs to be wiped away...renewed with something good........i so wish i didnt feel this way....a monsterous being...i hate myself disgust myself want me to go away and a fresher cleaner more acceptable me to appear in its place.....i scratch my skin in the hope i can peel it off so that something better and new can grow in its place............i dont know where i am going with this other than i hate me and needed to get it out of my head ......
I was watching the Today Show, they had a man having brain surgery who had a tremor disorder. It was quite amazing watching his hand tremor disappear right on camera. At the end of the segment the Dr mentioned how this will change things such as depression....made me wonder. I would do it absolutely! Technology has advanced to this point and honestly the complications would be far less (for me) than the possible positive outcome.
After serving more than 20 years in the Marine Corps, two of my retired friends from the Corps were recently diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder stemming from the Vietnam War.
However, it was heartbreaking to read the story about young Isaiah Schaffer ["After three tours in Iraq, vet fights a battle within," Jan. 24].
PTSD is a devastating illness that will affect 20 percent to 35 percent of Marines serving in Iraq and Afghanistan. Veterans Affairs will be overwhelmed dealing with the number of vets affected with this illness.
Isaiah's parents will suffer with their son the rest of their lives. His mother said, "If he were bipolar--any other mental illness--there's a pill for it that will alter the progression."
For those patients and families dealing with bipolar disorder, this is not really accurate and requires clarification.
How simple it would be to take a pill and have all of your problems mitigated or disappear.
It is quite common for a person suffering with bipolar disorder to experience symptoms such as anxiety, depression, hearing voices, spending binges, delusions of grandeur, reckless behavior, fear of crowds, aloofness, and in some cases--such as with Riverbend High School student Carol Anne Brown--commit suicide.
It can take up to three years or longer, depending on the patient and the psychiatrist, to finally have the patient on the right medications. In some cases, the patient may never be on the right medication to live his life.
After a period of time, it is quite common for that patient to build up a tolerance to those medications, and the doctor will have to experiment and prescribe a new set of medications to achieve the desired results.
In almost all cases, the patient is on these medications for the rest of his life. It is quite common for patients to experience relapses when these medications cease being effective.
No one would wish mental illness on their worst enemy.
Throughout his life, the artist showed signs of mental instability. Various biographies describe him as suffering from epilepsy, depression, psychotic attacks, delusions, and bipolar disorder. In December 1888, he experienced a psychotic episode in which he threatened the life of Gauguin, his fellow artist and a personal friend, and cut off a piece of his own left ear before offering it as a gift to a prostitute.
Sylvia Plath
The poet handled very painful and intense subjects such as suicide, self-loathing, shock treatment and dysfunctional relationships. Since the day she died – by thrusting her head into a gas oven – readers and scholars have tried to unlock the enigma of her suicide. Her unabridged journals lend credence to the theory that she suffered from mental illness (probably bipolar disorder).
Stephen Fry
Fry spoke about his disorder in the BBC 2 documentary The Secret Life of the Manic Depressive. "It's infuriating I know, but I do get a huge buzz out of the manic side. I rely on it to give my life a sense of adventure, and I think most of the good about me has developed as a result of my mood swings. It's tormented me all my life with the deepest of depressions, while giving me the energy and creativity that perhaps has made my career."
Sting
In a May 1996 interview with Live! magazine, Sting was quoted as saying: "During that period with The Police, I was suicidal. My first marriage and my relationship with the other members of the band was collapsing. I was manic-depressive... I was out to lunch." However, it is unclear whether he was genuinely bipolar or using the term manic depressive as a figure of speech.
Virginia Woolf
After finishing her first novel, The Voyage Out, in 1913, she suffered a severe breakdown. "I married, and then my brains went up in a shower of fireworks. As an experience, madness is terrific... and not to be sniffed at, and in its lava I still find most of the things I write about. It shoots out of one, everything shaped, final, not in mere driblets as sanity does."
Study reveals that high-achievers are far more likely to be manic depressives
By Jeremy Laurance, Health Editor
Scientists have for the first time found powerful evidence that genius may be linked with madness.
Speculation that the two may be related dates back millennia, and can be found in the writings of Aristotle, Plato and Socrates. Aristotle once claimed that "there is no great genius without a mixture of madness", but the scientific evidence for an association has been weak – until now.
A study of more than 700,000 adults showed that those who scored top grades at school were four times more likely to develop bipolar disorder than those with average grades.
The link was strongest among those who studied music or literature, the two disciplines in which genius and madness are most often linked in historical records. The study was conducted by researchers from the Institute of Psychiatry, King's College London, with colleagues from the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, Sweden.
Bipolar disorder, also known as manic depression, affects about 1 per cent of the population and is characterised by swings in mood from elation (mania) to depression. During the manic phase there can be feelings of inflated self-esteem, verging on grandiosity, racing thoughts, restlessness and insomnia.
The 19th-century author Edgar Allen Poe, who is thought to have suffered from manic depression, once wrote: "Men have called me mad, but the question is not yet settled whether madness is or is not the loftiest intelligence..."
In recent years psychoanalysts, psychiatrists and psychologists have argued that genius and madness are linked to underlying degenerative neurological disorders. The problem has been that both genius and severe mental illness are rare, and high intelligence or achievement is subjectively defined. Claims about the link have been based on historical studies of creative individuals which are highly selective, subject to bias and rely on retrospective assessments of their mental state.
The study, led by James MacCabe, a senior lecturer in psychiatric epidemiology at the Institute of Psychiatry, compared the final school exam grades of all Swedish pupils aged 15-16 from 1988 to 1997, with hospital records showing admissions for bipolar disorder up to age 31. The fourfold increased risk of the condition for pupils with excellent exam results remained after researchers controlled for parental education or income. The findings are published in the British Journal of Psychiatry. They suggest that mania may improve intellectual and academic performance, accounting for the link with "genius". People with mild mania are often witty and inventive, appearing to have "enhanced access to vocabulary, memory and other cognitive resources". They tend to have exaggerated emotional responses which may "facilitate their talent in art, literature or music". In a manic state individuals have "extraordinary levels of stamina and a tireless capacity for sustained concentration".
Dr MacCabe said: "We found that achieving an A-grade is associated with increased risk for bipolar disorder, particularly in humanities and, to a lesser extent, in science subjects. A-grades in Swedish and music had particularly strong associations, supporting the literature which consistently finds associations between linguistic and musical creativity and bipolar disorder."
School pupils with low exam grades also had an increased risk of developing bipolar disorder later in life. The researchers suggest there may be two distinct groups of people with the condition – high achievers, in whom mania raises their game – and low achievers, especially those with low scores in sport and handicrafts indicating poor motor skills, who may have "subtle neurodevelopmental abnormalities".
The link was stronger in men than in women, but the difference was not statistically significant, Dr MacCabe said: "Although having A-grades increases your chance of bipolar disorder in later life, we should remember that the majority of people with A-grades enjoy good mental health."
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Taking fish oil may help prevent full-blown psychotic illness in at-risk adolescents and young adults, a study released today hints.
Health
These at-risk individuals may have weak or transient psychotic symptoms, and already show schizophrenia-like brain changes, Dr. G. Paul Amminger of The University of Melbourne in Australia, a researcher on the study, told Reuters Health. But while psychiatrists now know how to identify these individuals, he added, they don't know what to do with them. "At the moment there's no state-of-the-art guideline (on) how to treat those people."
Prescribing antipsychotic medications may be helpful, Amminger added, but these medications have serious side effects, and can also be stigmatizing. "For young people they don't want to commit themselves to a treatment which they might need to take for the next five to ten years," he said. Furthermore, only about a third of people at high risk for psychotic disorders will go on to develop full-fledged mental illness in a given year.
There's considerable evidence that abnormal fatty acid metabolism may contribute to the development of schizophrenia, Amminger and his team note in the Archives of General Psychiatry. To investigate whether omega-3 fatty acids might help prevent psychotic illness, they randomly assigned 81 at-risk individuals, 13 to 25 years old, to take 1.2 grams a day of omega-3s in fish oil capsule form or a placebo for 12 weeks and then followed them for another 40 weeks.
The researchers included people who met at least one of the following three criteria: having low-level psychotic symptoms; having transient psychotic symptoms; or having a schizophrenia-like personality disorder or a close relative with schizophrenia, along with a sharp decline in mental function within the past year.
Seventy-six of the 81 study participants, or 94 percent, completed the trial, Amminger noted, which underscores the safety and tolerability of fish oil.
At one year, 5 percent of the study participants taking omega-3s had developed a psychotic disorder (2 of 41 people), compared to 28 percent of those on placebo (11 of 40). People taking fish oil also showed significant reductions in their psychotic symptoms and improvements in function, while they were at no greater risk of adverse effects than people taking placebo capsules.
The effect of fish oil capsules, Amminger noted, was similar to that seen in two trials of antipsychotic drugs in at-risk individuals.
There are a number of mechanisms through which omega-3s could protect the brain, Amminger said; they are a major component of brain cells. They are also key to the proper function of two brain chemical signaling systems, dopamine and serotonin, which have been implicated in schizophrenia. Fish oil also boosts levels of glutathione, an antioxidant that protects the brain against oxidative stress.
Trials of medications for treating mental illness typically don't include people younger than 18, Amminger noted, while starting minors on these medications is "always very difficult, and always quite controversial."
But if future research bears out the current findings, he added, fish oil promises to offer a safe way to help prevent psychosis in at-risk people, and could also potentially be used to prevent or delay the onset of chronic depression, bipolar illness, and substance abuse disorder -- all of which are far more common than psychotic illness.
He and his colleagues are now planning a multicenter trial of fish oil for the prevention of psychotic illness in 320 at-risk people.
SOURCE: Archives of General Psychiatry, February 2010.
Is it bp, the meds (which I admit to not taking regularly but still have the same fog on them as off them) or am I just a freak of nature? My brain just flies...like ccrazy in the morning I wake and am on cloud nine most of the time...get a lot accomplished, and when I have am appointments I always make it to them without canceling and freaking out. By the time husband gets home around 6 I am a mess. Usually depressed and flighty, can't make any decisions and 9 out of 10 times will cancel any appointments that were made for the pm, whether it be a pdoc, tdoc, gp or even my kids appointments. Panic attacks out the wazoo..just a general spazz. I have a million things going on in my head right now and everything is so unorganized, don't know which is up or down white or black. So anyway I don't know why I just typed all that..see, what did I say? Spazz!!!
The idea of this post is tomorrow is my 60 days up to appeal ssi claim. I have an app from an attorney who said they will take my case on, but I am just a fraidy cat of having to appeal in front of a judge..what do you say? Am I really a nutt job? (A BIG DUH!!) Is this something anyone else has pesued annd won or not won? The biggest thing is, if I persue the appeal, I have to stay on the meds..make ll my tdoc and pdoc appotinments and it is very obvious I am an extremely unstable person..on or off the meds. So anyone else dealth with ssi, ssdi? Good? Bad? Ugly? I have to make the decision by tomorrow other wise just reapply. Oh btw I think a big reason I was denied in the foirst place is because I canceled on the ssi pdoc they had scheduled for me...I think I was feeling sane that week and did't think the pdoc would find me crazy..lol maybe I need to print out all my shit I post..then they will know for sure I am bipolar, crazy, fucked up..I don't think being effed up is in the big dx book, too bad!
I ask this because I have never been told by my pdoc to go. But I have learned from others through the years, that this is common practice (going and getting levels checked). I will be making an appointment soon with my GP to get a physical. I show signs of edema and I'm starting to wonder about diabetes. My mother has been worried for months now and has told me to go and get checked out, but I have had the mind "if it aint broke, don't fix it". But now for some reason I'm starting to get worried. Nothing has happened or anything, but it's just... I would like to excercise without swelling up like a big balloon. I learned this the hard way when we went to Disney... There was a day or two that I just couldn't make it all day at the parks because my feet, ankles, and hands were just too swollen. And my mom says I don't look fat, I look swollen... So... just wondering how many of you get checked out on a regular basis, and if so, how often?
We have made a few minor changes to the site, I'm sure a few of you have noticed. DJ & I were talking about making other changes, like changing the look of the site. The functionality will remain the same, but we may tweak the layout. I would like to change the colour of the site, so how about some input? What colours do some of you like?
The Parents' Curse: "I hope you have children just like you!"
There may be a scientific basis for that. If your child's temper tantrums and assorted fits are frazzling your last nerve, it could be because he or she is a sort of mini-you.
Reuters Health reports frequent tantrums can be an early sign of something more serious, such as attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) or oppositional defiant disorder, inherited as a result of a bipolar parent.
Bipolar disorder is characterized by severe mood swings from depression to mania.
A new study published in the latest issue of the American Journal of Psychiatry concludes that young children with a bipolar parent are eight times more likely than other children to develop ADHD and six times more likely to develop two or more mental disorders.
Researchers, led by Dr. Boris Birmaher of the Western Psychiatric Institute and Clinic in Pittsburgh, compared 121 children (ages 2 to 5) from 83 bipolar parents with 102 children of the same age from 65 parents with no bipolar symptoms. In the second group, they also excluded parents who had ever been diagnosed with other mental disorders. Children of bipolar parents had more significant manic and depressive symptoms than the other children.
Diagnosing preschoolers with bipolar disorder is controversial. However, Reuters Health reports, researchers cite previous studies where preschoolers were reliably diagnosed as young as age 2.
Researchers tell Reuters that parents with bipolar disorder may see behavior in their children that reminds them of their own. Their concern is justified, according to the study.
"The single largest risk factor for the development of bipolar disorder is a positive family history of the disorder," the study notes.
Early detection of mental disorders is important, Birmaher tells Reuters. Early intervention to help preschoolers regulate their moods has been effective in dealing with disruptive behavior and coping with later signs of mood disorders, he adds.
Effective treatment "may diminish the severity of and perhaps delay or prevent the new onset of" similar problems in preschoolers of bipolar parents, he tells the news service.
So I have finally decided to actually look at my bills. I have racked up thousands of dollars in credit card debt. Most of it from last summer when I lost touch with reality. Once reality and I met again I would have anxiety attacks when looking at bills. Not only do I have to deal with the credit cards but now I have a few thousand for my hospitalization. Not to mention the monthly cost of weekly counseling and monthly psych appts, and all the meds. So basically I have finally faced all this head on. Started another job, trying to refinance my house, cancelled my phone service and cut back to counseling once every 3 weeks. So I am not sure what else I can do but I feel totally powerless, irresponsible, inadequate as a person, unintelligent. I was supposed to smart enough to learn from other people's mistakes. I was supposed to be the successful one. I feel like I took a vacation and while I was gone my careless bipolar self went wild with my credit cards! When I got back there was just a big mess to clean up. How do I know this won't happen again? How am I even going to get out of this debt? I am suffocating and there is nothing I can do about except wait for each paycheck to come in. I have gone form working 36hours a week to working 48-52 hours a week. I still feel like I am not doing enough.
Graboid is what Paz and I use to download movies and TV from the internet. The free version, what we have, gives us just enough bandwidth to watch about five hours of TV and Movies a month. You need to download their software, but it's a safe program and really simple.
Is it bp, the meds (which I admit to not taking regularly but still have the same fog on them as off them) or am I just a freak of nature? My brain just flies...like ccrazy in the morning I wake and am on cloud nine most of the time...get a lot accomplished, and when I have am appointments I always make it to them without canceling and freaking out. By the time husband gets home around 6 I am a mess. Usually depressed and flighty, can't make any decisions and 9 out of 10 times will cancel any appointments that were made for the pm, whether it be a pdoc, tdoc, gp or even my kids appointments. Panic attacks out the wazoo..just a general spazz. I have a million things going on in my head right now and everything is so unorganized, don't know which is up or down white or black. So anyway I don't know why I just typed all that..see, what did I say? Spazz!!!