[CrunchyMonkey]

Hello guys, I'm Crunchy. It's nice to meet you all.

I'm a 28 year old, Bipolar II survivor. It's been a long and dark journey for me. I tried every method in the book to stabilize myself and my life.

After I broke up with my ex of two years, (the only person I came to know what loving another human being meant up to this point) I was able to focus on myself again.

It took a year of isolation from society, and even giving up on my Bipolar medication once again (Lamictal) to test out certain medications and vitamins. I hadn't had a stable job for more than a month up to then before I stopped working completely. A large part of was also due to developing carpal tunnel as a hair stylist.

Looking to cure my carpal tunnel, I got into Vitamin b6 (P-5-P variety) and b12 (2000 MCG at least once a day). After a few months my carpal tunnel had recovered 95%, and the pain no longer hindered me. What happened was that the B6 recovered new nerve endings into my failing arm and b12 strengthened it. At the same time, I was also becoming more consistently productive with my time. It gave me a sustaining energy, without throwing me into a manic phase, and focus where I needed. My guess is the synpases in my brain also developed new nerve endings that helped my bipolar symptoms.

Still there were more tweak I could do to help my Bipolar. I decided to go back on lamictal, and after a month, what a difference it was to be on Bipolar medication his time around. It felt like I had an entire upgrade to my nervous system. I became passionate and goal-oriented about life in a organized fashion. Every plan and thought I had carried through. I was making a small income selling, and buying online and a had lot of fun with the experience.

One day, I received a letter from a clinical study for bipolar. They wanted to experiment with the effects of improved sleep on bipolar patients. I got a sleeping aid pack that honestly changed my life. The sleep I get from it was very natural and waking up, I light as a feather. For the first time in my life, I knew what a good nights of rest meant. Sleep consistency is a big problem for bpiolars. Since then I had been sleeping consistently each night and waking up at 5:30 consistently in the morning, giving a lot of room for exercise and cleaning up the house.

Then one day, I found the courage again to finally find a a job. The job I found was a dream job come true for me. It pays well and I never have to worry about starving here as long as I work hard. And I've been working here for 7 months now and my boss loves me. I've never missed around work without emergency reasons and I've only been late twice to work due to laziness in the morning. In that 7 months, my credit score has been nothing short of amazing. I finally bought a new car and I'm financing it right now, something that I couldn't dream of in the past. I'm pay off all my bells and never allow myself to wallow in debt like I used to.

My life is extremely organized, from my scheduling to my house work, everything is being taken care of right now.

Lately, I was worried I was falling back into my mood swings. I had started getting lonely for a companion and have gone out to the bars to find women to talk to. Mind you, I had quit drinking and smoking up to 10 months at that point. I've been a bit addicted to the scene lately because of the amount of females. I even found myself a nice girlfriend right now.

I talked to my psych in concern and after evaluating me, he told the nurse that there was nothing to worry about with me. I'm as normal as any young man my age is right now - we all have our vices. He thinks I'm doing very well in life right now, and encourages me to continue doing what I'm doing.

I'm already on the verge of quitting drinking and smoking again because I'm already getting bored of the shallow rewards I'm getting from it.


I look forward to many more years of success and a stable life. I worked very hard for this life that I never envisioned having some day. I struggled through a lot of dark allies, and few understanding people to struggle through it with me. I remember when I was struggling in life and asked my sister for advice, my sister told me to, "Man up" and it was the most frustrating thing to hear. I don't think she'll very see the struggles I went through and I believe the invisible war I fought was more manly than anything she's seen if she saw. Well now that she's passed away, I hope she can look in heaven and be proud of me now.

It's been over a year now and I don't feel much different since I've felt stabilized. Still going strong.

[Crazy Hitch]

(((CrunchyMonkey)))

Thank you for sharing your success story with us



[Footnote: I think I personally prefer the term "stabile" as opposed to normal.

[kaliope]

thanks for sharing so much about yourself. welcome to psych central. you will find we have several forums where you can post about your concerns and receive feedback from other members. you will get a lot of support here. again, welcome

[chameleon_jogirl]

What a wonderful story. Thanks for sharing on here. It's heartwarming to see others becoming healthier with renewed vigor for life. Bipolar is no easy thing to manage as it takes very courageous men and women to fight their inner war. I'm sorry that your sister couldn't understand.

[enjoyyourlife]

Good to hear!!
How much Lamictal did you take and how big was the impact of the Med on your life changes?

[Upsidedownandinside]

Thanks for the post,
Glad to see there is hope

[veron]

Hi there and well done.
You could have gone down the route of substance abuse or worse when things were really hard for you but instead you chose to remain pre-active and take your vitimans etc.

I'm really glad you went back on Lamictal as except in very rare cases we all do need medication to help us through the episodes.

I would like to hear more about the Sleep Program you were a part of, who ran it and will there be other studies. It sounds very interesting. Yes sleep is very important for those with bipolar disorder.

Again well done on your stability. I wish you many more successful days like this one.