Questions Bipolar Version 3

no.

question:

do you believe their was a time you didn't have mental illness, or are you of the belief that you had it all along?

I think puberty set it off.
Q: Are you wealthy, poor, or in the middle?

I don't know how to answer that....compared to others I am different things. For sure I don't have a lot of money but I have enough to have food, clothes, gasoline and needs. I don't have much extra but I'm ok.

Have you had an unusual winter weather-wise? I'm starting to get cabin fever from cold and snow.

the weather forcaster said it would be colder than average, but actually it hasn't. it's been regular.

we had a few storms come in, but nothing major (no more than usual)

Q: how did you spend this weekend?

alone in my room and depressed about it all

question: if you could create any national holiday, what holiday would you create?

National Pet Love Day.

What did your psychiatrist or therapist say or do for you that made a very positive difference?

Right after my diagnosis, my therapist read off the symptoms of mania and I started to cry. I told her I thought I had just become a bad person with no moral compass. Knowing there were meds out there to bring me back to normal filled me with joy.
Q: Are you an introvert or an extrovert?

Best thing from my psychiatrist: last Dec “there are still treatment options left to try. So don’t lose hope.”

I’m a loud mouthed chatty introvert. I’m energised by being left in my own space.

Q. Can you still use chopsticks even with a tremor?

I'm an introvert, 100%.

I would think it would be difficult to use chopsticks with a tremor, but that's just my thoughts.

Q. Do you open up to your friends about having Bipolar?

I don't really have any friends. But I'm an open book when it comes to my family.
Q: Do your meds give you side effects? If so, what are they?

Lamotrigine - my hair is thinning which is freaking me out. I’m also wondering if it’s affecting the veins in my hands, legs feet (posted a separate thread for that)

Q. Do you look forward to each new year or dread it. (I dread it and what’s to come).

dread it.

I hate new year so much.

question:

are you happy with where you live?, or would you want to move given the option

I love my state in the US. My town is very nice and offers very many wonderful things. It's close to the town my family lives in. The problem is that it's expensive in my town and my family's town. My husband and I don't know if we'll be able to retire here because of my years on disability. That saddens me.

Q: What were the happiest ages of your life?

That is such a funny question because even though I was the skinniest and most beautiful in my life, and had an AMAZING career for a 20 year old, I was so damn miserable. From where I am now, I think to myself, why the hell couldn't I be happy???!!! I would kill for that life now!! (I know that's not the question you asked, but I feel like I SHOULD have been really happy at that time in my life).

Q: How does being bipolar affect your day to day life?

I usually stay home. Anxiety is why i stay away from crowds.
Q: Have you ever experienced psychosis ?

I can say Ive never experiences psychosis. Though i watched my soon to be ex wife experience it. It very scary and so so stressfull for everyone involved.

Have you wver danced in the rain?

Yes. When I lived in Hawaii the rain was really warm. And we would get down pours. My brother would stand under the rain gutter and have a shower with shampoo and soap.
Q:Whats the nicest thing someone said to you.

I bet living in hawaii was lovely!.

aloha!.

the nicest thing someone said to me was that someone liked one of my poems.

question: can you also see the blessings to having bipolar as well as the downsides?, or do you just see it as a bad situation

Great question! To be honest, I beat myself up a long time for being bipolar, and just drank myself into oblivion while I was heavily medicated. Just bad, to bad, to worse. Then, as I got older, tried a different medication, (and also a different doctor), I realized the gift of creativity and imagination that being bipolar gives me. Could I be just as inventive without bipolar? Probably not, well at least I think so.

Question: Do you get along with others who have a mental illness? Or do they make you uncomfortable?

I feel very comfortable with the mentally ill. I worked as a job coach with some of them and I've made short term friends while ip. They were all pretty crazy, but I fit right in.
Q: How many people are part of your support system?

Besides those here on PC, I have my family, my best friend, and a love interest. I am pretty lucky in that sense. However, I lost contact with a friend of mine from the UK who has bipolar. I feel lost without him sometimes because we related to each other so well. But people move on, I just have to come to terms with it.

Question: How many meds are you on right now?

I am on 6 psych meds and various others for high blood pressure and diabetes.
How long have you been diagnosed bipolar

roughly 15 years (give or take a few)

question:

how many diffrent pdocs have you seen?

Just one, and I love him.
Q:why did you join PC?

Guiness187055, where did you get your signature from?.

to the question, I joined because I was tired of family/ people my family knew putting me down, and I needed somewhere to be myself without judgement

finding this forum was like a dream come true.
question:

if you knew psychcentral had an email chat list (like this, but on email), would you join it?