Friday, February 9, 2007

Bipolar Blues

This is me today. In my world today it is dreary and gray and I am all alone inside myself. I hate sinking into these spells. It's been quite a while since I've slid this far back down into the rabbit hole. I snapped at hubman last night and today the realtor, who has been conspicuously absent lately, called with a client and I told her "No." What a stupid, stupid thing to do. And then the realtor lectures me. Fine. Tell them there's an open house Sunday. If they're interested, they'll come. I've never done this before. All of the times I've had this place spic and span only to have no one show up. Today, it's not spic and span and I don't have the energy to bother with it, let alone myself. Don't lay any guilt on me - I do enough of that all by myself.

I saw my MD Tuesday and all was well. Ever since Wednesday I've been on a downhill slide. I've always had the strength to put on my "happy" mask and march off to work or to dinner or whatever was required of me. I no longer have the strength required to slide that mask over my face and pretend that all's well. I can no longer carry out the acting skills necessary to waltz my way through an evening with friends and come home totally exhausted after hiding all of the junk I carry around with me, and hoping no one sees it. What I've done now is lay it all out on the table for everyone to see and nobody knows what to do. Another self-fulfilling prophecy...

Instead, I sit in a closed up house with one little light bulb on, feeling as if I could sleep 12 hours straight. I took my afternoon dose of meds like a good little patient even though there are times I wonder if they actually do any good or if they just line the pockets of Merck and friends. Maybe I'm taking placebos. That would be the ultimate joke. The other night I had a class of wine - one of the rare times I've taken a drink due to my bypass, which cases the sugars to dump straight into my blood stream for an instant high. I could get used to that...but I don't want to pile on another risk factor. I'm not supposed to mix alcohol with my meds.

One of the things I whine about to my doctor is having knowledge and not being able to change my circumstances. He has told me to view this as one would look at diabetes. Knowing you have diabetes and eating correctly is a good thing but there's not much one can do for depression/bipolar disorder except acknowledge it and work with it. Looking back into my family history, I can easily find 3-4 close relatives that I believe were also affected. But in my family, you didn't talk about things like that. I think that was typical in the '50's-'60's. If my brother knew I was keeping a blog and divulging so much of myself to total strangers he wouldn't "get it." But of course, he doesn't "get" my depression, either.

I've had a lot of loss in my life but others have, too. God has given me a husband that is sticking with me through thick and thin. So much different than the first time around! Thank you, God!
The guilt creeps in when I think about how much he has to put up with. I'm not a hoyden on a day-to-day basis but when the siren song calls me I can be a horrible person to live with. I am by nature a nurturer and when I draw up into a ball and become so self-centered I feel as if I lose contact with the best of me.

I have been having issues with both of my computers and when I cannot "fix" something (or someone) I absolutely go to pieces. I become fixated and will spend hours on a problem. I realized that I need to reload Windows 2003 on my laptop but everything is stored away. Can't find it - so, no clipboard and I can't perform a task I was looking forward to doing. My PC won't shut off and my windows program is frozen. I'm going to have to have someone come a fix it for me and that drives me crazy. So anger come riding in on a big black horse. I feel stupid, even though my background is not in IT, I should be able to read a few simple instructions. While I've been typing this, I've been crying and stuffing my mouth with Hershey's kisses. Stuffing that anger down again! I need to be out reading Miss Bee and Katie, Heart of Rachel and others who continuily uplift me and make me a better person.

But I will spend most of today brooding, wondering, and yes, HOPE that tomorrow will be better.


5 comments:

Katie said...

My family really doesn’t talk about it either. My Mom is on meds. My brother was just diagnosed with schizophrenia with other multiple things… but the schizo is the big one. The scariest one. I’m supposed to be taking meds but I don’t. I just don’t have the energy to take the pill. I can do that mask but not the pill. Why is that? That I can do one and not the other, when the pill would make it better?

waiting for it to get better. I hope it gets better Gracie!

whimsical brainpan said...

Hey,

I didn't see an e-mail address in your profile so I thought I'd write you here rather than at your other blog. This blog seems to be a more appropriate place. I very rarely respond to comments on my own blog (no idea why).

For my PTSD I have had EMDR and group thereapy. I've done Hypnotherapy sessions, and I practice Thought Feild Therapy (kind of like accupressure) for my anxiety. I did biofeedback for my panic attacks (which I have conquered) but it does not seem to work with my anxiety attacks.

I learned the hard way that there is a vast difference between the two. Generalized Anxiety Disorder is different from PTSD but they are close cousins. Apparently I have both and while my PTSD is under control it can trigger my anxiety which doesn't respond the same way as PTSD or panic attacks. It doesn't make much sense to me but I have felt the difference between panic and anxiety attacks and they are very different.

Am I even making sense?

Anyway, the Thought Feild Thereapy and the self hypnosis I've learned do help but not much, they just take the edge off. There are new tools and skills I need to learn to deal with my anxiety. Right now I am mainly relying on drugs. BTW, I have been practicing biofeedback since my physical therapy days. It's good stuff.

Thank you for the suggestion though and if you come across anything else please let me know. If you haven't tried hypnotherapy (I was very reluctant to try it but am glad I did) or EMDR and have questions feel free to ask. My current therapist taught me the Thought Feild Therapy and is open to new and different things not just talk.

ps Your comments can be as long as you want at my blog so no apologies needed. I want to hear what people have to say no matter how much they have to say. :-)

Constance said...

"One of the things I whine about to my doctor is having knowledge and not being able to change my circumstances."
Gracie, that is EXACTLY how I feel.

Thank goodness for your hubby to stand by your side through all of this...
Hope it gets better soon, Gracie...

Sometimes meds really do work. Natural progesterone saved my life....

Constance said...

You say alot of the things that I think... and I'm not bipolar... Thank God you made me feel I'm not alone in this...

careerstrategist said...

I don't think I have ever read someone's entire blog, but I did yours. You are a wonderful author...and I love your writing. Keep telling your stories....they inspire me and make me feel normal.