[EBD8]

54 year old male, disabled now since Feb. of this year and I thought I would be happier now that I have some money and a place of my own, but I'm not. I have no patience with myself. My daughter is my payee and yeah she threatens me at times and yes I deserve it at times. I have been trying for 2 days to get my medicine filled. I have to call the pharmacy, tell them to fill the prescriptions, send her a text message to call the pharmacy and pay for them. Then I find out I have another script I need to get filled at another pharmacy, call the new pharmacy back, ask them to call the old one, text my daughter back to let her know what I have done and then she asks me to text her back when they are filled. I did that over 2 hours ago. I have to take a bus just to get the meds and that is a 2 hour ordeal. Now it looks like it's gonna run into tomorrow before I get my meds filled. I'm getting so pissed because I feel like a helpless child. Thanks for letting me vent and can anyone relate to this?

I can understand completely. Being disabled is in itself enough to have to deal with, but
to try to manage all the frustrations in addition to that can be overwhelming. I'd start
making lists of what I was going to need three days in advance; that ought to speed
things up for you!

You sound perfectly competent to me. I'd invent ways to get things done, such as
making schedules, lists of things to be done in advance; organize your life having
to contact others as little as you can for help. When you're as mentally alert as you
are, you can get a lot of things done with ease.

Wouldn't it be nice if you could order all your prescriptions from one pharmacy which
also has a grocery? You could put all your medications on automatic refill, asking
that they call your daughter when one is ready. If it's a grocery/pharmacy you're
dealing with, you could order your groceries in a similar manner and request that they
contact your daughter for payment, then deliver the items.

Centralizing things helps to organize them. That's really all you might need to do.
There's a little paperback published by Hazeldon Foundation called "Keep It Simple".
I rely on that often when I get frustrated.

Here's hoping you'll like your independence and home much better after you get
the snags cleared away.

Good wishes.

[EBD8]

Thanks so much for your reply. I will try to start doing it the way you mentioned. Another problem that I have is much worse since my DX. with BP is procrastination. It was bad before and it is way worse now because my mind races so fast whether im depressed or hypo manic. I guess that's why I have much trouble sleeping even when im depressed. I seem to stay in a mixed state all the time unless I go off the charts.

I feel sure you're on medications; it takes often as many as three changes along the way
to getting a satisfactory "cocktail" of medications that work well for us. I would suggest
that you see your psychiatrist and request a review of your medications since you're
having too much rapid thought and bouts of depression alternating rapidly.

In the meantime, you might wish to try something that I call the "Lemon Thing" which
is posted on page 3 (or 4) of the Depression Forum. It's called "The Lemon Thing and
Why It Works for Some of Us". You might find that helpful in slowing down the
thoughts and relieving some of the depression.

If you are willing to stop drinking coffee, tea, and chocolate, you might find great
relief from not having those in your diet, particularly if you are sensitive to caffeine,
as some of us are. Drink purified water (with electrolytes added if you can get it)
rather than tap water. So many chemicals are added to tap water that I think it
bothers those of us who have a sensitivity to chemicals.

The one characteristic I would say that it almost universal for bipolar patients is that
many, many of us have a strong sensitivity, not only in feelings, but in reactions to
medications, processed foods, added chemicals to foods, etc. The main object is
to keep it simple...lots of fresh green salads, fish, fresh vegetables, and water. That
can be inconvenient momentarily, but reducing red meat ingestion to about 4 times
per week, and eating more baked chicken, turkey, etc., which are more easily
digested may be helpful. It's certainly easier on the digestive system.

It helps to add an Omega 3 fatty acid capsule to our diets because the essential
fatty acids have been proven now in research to help in bipolar illness.

Anything legal improve our feeling tone, in my view; take care.