[Sunnycupcake]

Hi everyone, I am semi-new to this forum as I have been lurking for a couple of weeks and finally decided to introduce myself and ask a question. First of all I am 30, married to a wonderful man for the past 9 years, work full time, and have been living Overseas for the past 3 years due to Military orders. I was diagnosed with BP type 1 in January (after a long road of ignoring my symptoms and then being diagnosed with just depression and thrown on medication that made me manic, hospitalized, then off my meds, then full blown mania, suicidal so on and so forth) and have been going to therapy and taking my meds like a good girl

Anyway, my husband has been my biggest supporter, and shoulder to lean/cry on and he has recently left for a deployment. This is the first time in my life I have ever lived alone (always parent/roommates/husband) and while I think I am doing fairly well on my own, I am worried about slipping into hypomania/mania while he is gone. It is easy for me to tell I am getting depressed (not getting out of bed, no hunger, no desire to do anything etc etc) but it is far harder for me to tell when I am slipping into that feeling of feeling REALLY GOOD . It's usually too late for me to tell I was even like that until I'm becoming depressed afterwards, and the damage has been done.

So my question is, how do you manage your symptoms when you live alone? My therapist told me to get a mood tracker app to use everyday but all the ones I've found are just..meh. Any advice?

[BastetsMuse]

Originally Posted by Sunnycupcake

So my question is, how do you manage your symptoms when you live alone? My therapist told me to get a mood tracker app to use everyday but all the ones I've found are just..meh. Any advice?

I keep a mood chart and pay close attention to it. That helps me pay attention to how I'm doing and when I need to take the mood charts to my doctor and ask for help. Having a good pdoc or therapist is also important to living alone.

[zepchic]

The more episodes you have, the more familiar you become with how mania/hypomania manifests for you. But risky behavior is a big one...I always get the urge to use drugs or smoke cigarettes (I don't smoke). My driving also becomes erratic and I turn the music up all the way. These are the things that are easiest for me to notice in myself. Other people get hypersexual, that would probably be pretty easy to spot too. Is there a support group near you?

[gina_re]

Welcome to PC!!
I currently live on my own and have done so off and on since 2005. It's not always easy to recognize your symptoms at first. I'm only now starting to understand what is going on in the past couple of years. Sometimes other people see the changes before I do, so now I tell close friends and family members to let me know if they see or hear something out of the ordinary with me (my dad lives in California and recognized I was a little hyper in our conversations, which I found out after the fact). Recently I did download a mood tracker app. I don't think it's that great, but the good thing is that it helps me to reflect on how my moods may be changing because I have to think about what was going on that day (e.g. anxious irritable, etc.).
I think working with a therapist is also beneficial, so keep that momentum. If you every have any "living alone" questions, please feel free to pm me.