Re: wah - ot

[Guest guest]

Jacquie,

BP is such a struggle. I am so sorry that you are having such a hard time.

Needing your meds is just that. You need them. Like a diabetic needs insulin. It

stinks that people think there is something so awful about taking care of your

mental health! Did you get your Rx filled?

Jacquie H

wah - ot

every once in a while you have a moment when you realize that you ARE

mentally ill, and you NEED your meds to live and function, and ohmygod it is

heartbreaking and horrible.

i missed my last dr appt for some reason I dont' remember, and then realized

that i didn't have enough lithium to make it to the next one. so every oher

night i've been skipping 600mg of my 1200mg dose. i haven't wanted to call in

and ask them to phone in the script because it's $25 every time you do that, and

I thought i could dothis. my doc has no openings until my appt at the end of

the month.

i have to call in 15 minutes when the clinic reopens and get them to phone it

in. i'm just stting here crying.

I just can't tell you what it's like to have to face this all the time. face

that i AM mentally ill, that I'm NOT okay, that I never WILL BE okay. if any of

you watched CSI last night -- yup, that girl was me off my meds.

you can't help but think that something like bipolar could go away like

depression can go away; that someday in the future you'll be able to function

like anybody else and lose the stigma of being a joke in the movies and on tv

( " did he forget to take his lithium " ? hahahahahaha " as the audience laughs,

since EVERYBODY knows the oldest crazy joke out there) you just have this

unspoken belief that someday you won't need it anymore. but you do. you always

do, and you always will. you're a statistic now. you're on TV shows like CSI

as a stereotype that is all too true. You have this label that's going to

follow you around forever. you say 'lithium' and people cringe like it's not

safe to breathe your air.

the only friends I have in real life are a fellow bipolar and a psychiatric

nurse. what does THAT tell you?

oh, hell. again, ignore this. apparently i have a need to write this all out

for muself and I just odn't have the energy to journal it. typing is much

easier.

Jacquie

[Guest guest]

Jacquie,

BP is such a struggle. I am so sorry that you are having such a hard time.

Needing your meds is just that. You need them. Like a diabetic needs insulin. It

stinks that people think there is something so awful about taking care of your

mental health! Did you get your Rx filled?

Jacquie H

wah - ot

every once in a while you have a moment when you realize that you ARE

mentally ill, and you NEED your meds to live and function, and ohmygod it is

heartbreaking and horrible.

i missed my last dr appt for some reason I dont' remember, and then realized

that i didn't have enough lithium to make it to the next one. so every oher

night i've been skipping 600mg of my 1200mg dose. i haven't wanted to call in

and ask them to phone in the script because it's $25 every time you do that, and

I thought i could dothis. my doc has no openings until my appt at the end of

the month.

i have to call in 15 minutes when the clinic reopens and get them to phone it

in. i'm just stting here crying.

I just can't tell you what it's like to have to face this all the time. face

that i AM mentally ill, that I'm NOT okay, that I never WILL BE okay. if any of

you watched CSI last night -- yup, that girl was me off my meds.

you can't help but think that something like bipolar could go away like

depression can go away; that someday in the future you'll be able to function

like anybody else and lose the stigma of being a joke in the movies and on tv

( " did he forget to take his lithium " ? hahahahahaha " as the audience laughs,

since EVERYBODY knows the oldest crazy joke out there) you just have this

unspoken belief that someday you won't need it anymore. but you do. you always

do, and you always will. you're a statistic now. you're on TV shows like CSI

as a stereotype that is all too true. You have this label that's going to

follow you around forever. you say 'lithium' and people cringe like it's not

safe to breathe your air.

the only friends I have in real life are a fellow bipolar and a psychiatric

nurse. what does THAT tell you?

oh, hell. again, ignore this. apparently i have a need to write this all out

for muself and I just odn't have the energy to journal it. typing is much

easier.

Jacquie

[Guest guest]

Jacquie,

BP is such a struggle. I am so sorry that you are having such a hard time.

Needing your meds is just that. You need them. Like a diabetic needs insulin. It

stinks that people think there is something so awful about taking care of your

mental health! Did you get your Rx filled?

Jacquie H

wah - ot

every once in a while you have a moment when you realize that you ARE

mentally ill, and you NEED your meds to live and function, and ohmygod it is

heartbreaking and horrible.

i missed my last dr appt for some reason I dont' remember, and then realized

that i didn't have enough lithium to make it to the next one. so every oher

night i've been skipping 600mg of my 1200mg dose. i haven't wanted to call in

and ask them to phone in the script because it's $25 every time you do that, and

I thought i could dothis. my doc has no openings until my appt at the end of

the month.

i have to call in 15 minutes when the clinic reopens and get them to phone it

in. i'm just stting here crying.

I just can't tell you what it's like to have to face this all the time. face

that i AM mentally ill, that I'm NOT okay, that I never WILL BE okay. if any of

you watched CSI last night -- yup, that girl was me off my meds.

you can't help but think that something like bipolar could go away like

depression can go away; that someday in the future you'll be able to function

like anybody else and lose the stigma of being a joke in the movies and on tv

( " did he forget to take his lithium " ? hahahahahaha " as the audience laughs,

since EVERYBODY knows the oldest crazy joke out there) you just have this

unspoken belief that someday you won't need it anymore. but you do. you always

do, and you always will. you're a statistic now. you're on TV shows like CSI

as a stereotype that is all too true. You have this label that's going to

follow you around forever. you say 'lithium' and people cringe like it's not

safe to breathe your air.

the only friends I have in real life are a fellow bipolar and a psychiatric

nurse. what does THAT tell you?

oh, hell. again, ignore this. apparently i have a need to write this all out

for muself and I just odn't have the energy to journal it. typing is much

easier.

Jacquie

[Guest guest]

> Jacquie, this is exactly what I want my kids to be able to do. To

> recognize when challenges are building and to work on managment

> before they spiral out of control.

I wish I could tell you how to teach that to people so young. :-( I ws

well into my twenties before I knew myself very well at all. The problem is

that when you're so young, or even just unknowing about your challenges,

everything feels so VALID to you. Like, you know when you have PMS, and you

get really angry about something, and someone says, " It's because you have

PMS " and that's just so insulting because to YOU your feelings are very real

and can't be trivialized like that? Even if later you realize it WAS PMS

that made you react like that, you're still affronted about it? THAT'S what

having out-of-control behaviour pointed out to you is like if you think you

have it under control. But then after you've gone through PMS for so long,

you start to recognize that you ARE overreacting and that the PMS is why.

That's all that's needed, really - time to learn that you seem to react the

same way to the same thing.

They will learn.

Jacquie

[Guest guest]

> Jacquie, this is exactly what I want my kids to be able to do. To

> recognize when challenges are building and to work on managment

> before they spiral out of control.

I wish I could tell you how to teach that to people so young. :-( I ws

well into my twenties before I knew myself very well at all. The problem is

that when you're so young, or even just unknowing about your challenges,

everything feels so VALID to you. Like, you know when you have PMS, and you

get really angry about something, and someone says, " It's because you have

PMS " and that's just so insulting because to YOU your feelings are very real

and can't be trivialized like that? Even if later you realize it WAS PMS

that made you react like that, you're still affronted about it? THAT'S what

having out-of-control behaviour pointed out to you is like if you think you

have it under control. But then after you've gone through PMS for so long,

you start to recognize that you ARE overreacting and that the PMS is why.

That's all that's needed, really - time to learn that you seem to react the

same way to the same thing.

They will learn.

Jacquie

[Guest guest]

> Jacquie, this is exactly what I want my kids to be able to do. To

> recognize when challenges are building and to work on managment

> before they spiral out of control.

I wish I could tell you how to teach that to people so young. :-( I ws

well into my twenties before I knew myself very well at all. The problem is

that when you're so young, or even just unknowing about your challenges,

everything feels so VALID to you. Like, you know when you have PMS, and you

get really angry about something, and someone says, " It's because you have

PMS " and that's just so insulting because to YOU your feelings are very real

and can't be trivialized like that? Even if later you realize it WAS PMS

that made you react like that, you're still affronted about it? THAT'S what

having out-of-control behaviour pointed out to you is like if you think you

have it under control. But then after you've gone through PMS for so long,

you start to recognize that you ARE overreacting and that the PMS is why.

That's all that's needed, really - time to learn that you seem to react the

same way to the same thing.

They will learn.

Jacquie

[Guest guest]

> Makes sense, but how do I ward off the oppositonal, agressive, over

> reactive, raging type of behaviors? If you tell them, especially

> that he is over reacting, or that he HAS to do something, those

> are the behaviors you get. We have what I would say is not optimal,

> but reasonable medication managment for the time being which does

> greatly enhance his ability to moderate his reactions, but when he is

> out of control there really is no rationalizing.

>>How do you get these kids

> to realize the impact of their behaviors? How do you get it sink in

> and STICK?

See, for that I have no answer. For me, it was time. Only time. But in

your situation, you can't afford to wait for them to slowly grow to realize.

Is physically capable of journalling, be it by writing or typing it

out? I wonder if, when he is enraged, you could send him to write it out.

Just hand him paper and pen and say, " write out why you're so upset. " You

could put a timer up, and instruct him (or Gail) to write for that amount of

time, just keep writing down whatever comes into his head. As you collect

more and more of these, he (or you) may be able to really see what's going

on, and what's at the root of the anger or the overreaction. Once you know

that, you might be able to sit down together and discuss other methods of

dealing with those things by using his own words as a reference. His own

words may give you the key to how to help him head off a blowout.

I suggest this because i'm a big journaller, and that's helped me a lot --

so maybe if you could get him to write, it would help all of you, since he's

not old enough to really get the insights he's laying down on the page.

Free writing is an amazing view into what's REALLY going on.

Do you think this could work?

Jacquie

[Guest guest]

> Hugs

> PS I don't think the lithium joke was funny

But I'm sure you have heard it on TV and in movies. Sad, but all-too-true.

Jacquie

[Guest guest]

> i haven't wanted to call in and ask them to phone in the script because

it's $25 every time you do that, and I thought i could dothis. my doc has

no openings until my appt at the end of the month.

WHAT? What happened to FREE healthcare?

I have never been charged for this.

I think you Canadians are getting screwed by your healthcare system.

Sissi

[Guest guest]

> i haven't wanted to call in and ask them to phone in the script because

it's $25 every time you do that, and I thought i could dothis. my doc has

no openings until my appt at the end of the month.

WHAT? What happened to FREE healthcare?

I have never been charged for this.

I think you Canadians are getting screwed by your healthcare system.

Sissi

[Guest guest]

> i haven't wanted to call in and ask them to phone in the script because

it's $25 every time you do that, and I thought i could dothis. my doc has

no openings until my appt at the end of the month.

WHAT? What happened to FREE healthcare?

I have never been charged for this.

I think you Canadians are getting screwed by your healthcare system.

Sissi