[Yoda]

My son mentioned that I have been sleeping more in the past few months. That is a big change because for the past five or six years my insomnia has made it difficult for me to sleep longer than four hours. My meds are pretty much the same except I have run out of a couple of my sleep meds. But still I just want to go back to bed. Sold my used car but too tired to drive into town to get title, too tired to go to grocer, too tired to buy horse feed. I have also been gaining weight for several months. My kitchen sink has been stopped up since summer 2009 so we eat fast food or things we can cook in microwave.

I have lots of things I need to do but no energy. If I don't pick up the rubbish in my front yard I am going to be fined. I am going to ask my son to help with that. I MUST get my 2007 taxes filed before they tote me off to federal prison for tax evasion. Where is the energy?

I have an appt with Pdoc tomorrow. I hope he has a new idea.

[Ascension]

I'm sorry to hear you are feeling overwhelmed and under motivated. I too am in that place at the moment. Maybe pick the most critical task and do it and only it. Or the easiest one to accomplish so that it doesn't take too much energy but yields some positive momentum. I need to do that myself. I am going to go and finish hanging the drywall in the second room. I'm not going to tape and mud the seams but I am going to hang the drywall.... At least I hope I can make myself.

[Yoda]

I am not even certain what the most important task is. I have become negligent at feeding my horse daily and that is just not like me. I have been able to put his feed in a bucket though and my son carries it to him.

If I don't clean the yard I will have to pay a fine.

If I don't file taxes... I don't know what they will do.

If I don't pay my electric bill they will cut off my power. To do that I need to put some cash in the bank so I can pay with my debit card.

I heard we are supposed to get snow at the end of the week so I should buy more food for my horse, cats and kids.

I do good to get a shower once a week. I have only one clean pair of jeans and my dryer is not working so I need to go to my mom's house to do laundry but where's the energy?

I didn't used to be this way. I don't like being this way. My head makes plans that my body won't follow.

[dj586858]

I go through bouts of sleeping a lot. I get up but move to the couch and go back to sleep. I don't know how I can sleep basically all day and then at night too but I do. I was just talking to my sister about my lack of motivation to get things done. I just do the least amount possible around the house and I don't even want to talk about the yard. Hopefully your doc can help. Let us know what works for you.

[Typo]

(((((((((Yoda)))))))))))

I too struggle with motivation and get into funks, for me I've found the biggest help is talking to myself (sounds odd I know)

I sit down and I start making a list in my mind or write it down, then saying it out loud and I keep telling myself that I can accomplish it, and I give myself time slots in which to do those things like: "okay I'm going to get up and start the laundary in the next ten minutes, I can do it, I'll feel better after I do it..etc etc" sort of slowly build myself up to the task, and then after I accomplish it I feel better and get more movtivated to complete other tasks.

I hope that helps, always here for you, feel free to pm anytime, and let us all know how the pdoc appointment went hun.

many hugs and lots of love
Typo

[Anneinside]

I do something like Typo. I make prioritized lists of things I need to do. I set a time and an alarm for when I will get up and do it. It usually works for me.

[Yoda]

I went to town to have my CBC drawn for my clozapine. While I was downtown I went to Elder Beerman to buy some socks because the used Ariat shoes I got from ebay are a tad big. So while I was there I found a pretty shawl with teal, purple and gold threads that would look nice with a purple shirt I got for Christmas. I stopped by Estee Lauder and bought some new nail polish to match the shawl. So I looked pretty good when I went to my appt better than I do on the average day but then again on the average day the only ones who see me are my son, horse and sometimes people in fast food drive throughs. So my point is that how I looked to my Pdoc for my appt was not really representative of how I have been since our last appt three months ago.

I walked into his office and he said, you smell nice; I had put some Light Blue lotion on while waiting, a very "soft" scent. He then asked, so have you killed anybody lately? No, not lately, but I'm working on it. He knows my sarcasm well and we often have conversations that border on bizarre but we share an odd sense of humor.

I told him my sleep was erratic and I had slept from 7am to 10am that day and was feeling decent. I told him I have been sleeping longer intervals but some days I sleep less and said I think I am in mixed now. He laughs and says, ya think? You have bipolar? I told him I was still not completing some important things like filing my federal taxes and procrastinating everything. But that is pretty typical; the reason I found Psychcentral was I wanted help for procrastination. He asks about my son and my horse. I told him my son was sometimes feeding him because I have no energy but think I may have SAD and hope spring will help.

So pretty much we left all meds the same. Not surprising because I don't think there is a pill for being in a funk or procrastination. I am not terribly depressed or manic at the moment. Just not very productive.

[Ascension]

Thanks for the check in. Being in a bit of a funk is understandable. I personally am looking for the the extended forecast saying we should see the mid forties in the next 4-5 days. I keep saying just one more month and I am seeing the light at the end of the tunnel. Shalom.

[Nudyinae]

My funks are always associated with depression.

I don't have real weather issues here though.... a couple days of rain a few days of sun in the winter time, then sunny for the most part the rest of the year.

My pdoc just upped my lamictal dosage which has helped.

I know how you feel being in a funk and not being able to do anything. It's not fun and the longer you're in the funk the worse you feel.

((((hug))))

[Yoda]

I have several choices for sleep meds that he prescribed for me in Dec 2009. I am trying to find which drugs and which doses will get me to sleep but not sedate me too much. It is really difficult because with my bipolar my insomnia varies day to day. So some days I sleep three or four hours and other days I sleep ten. No matter how much sleep I get I am always tired and I have been using that as an excuse to procrastinate for several years. When I feel better I will clean the house, when I feel better I will do the laundry, et cetera. But I never feel better. So I sometimes try to force myself to complete a task thinking I am going to feel tired irregardless so I may as well feel tired while getting some things done. Only I tend to procrastinate more than push myself.

Mental illness is exhausting. Walking helps me when I do it. The key for me is doing something. Matters little what, as long as I do something everyday. Most often, the doing leads to more doing.

First you write down your goal; your second job is to break down your goal into a series of steps, beginning with steps which are absurdly easy. ~Fitzhugh Dodson

[Yoda]

I do well writing down goals. I make daily goals, short term and long term goals. It is the doing part where I fail. Some days I accomplish not even a single step. I like that you say doing leads to more doing. My son asked me to clear the clutter that blocks access to the back door so he can help clear clutter and carry the trash bags out the back door.