Bipolar Check-in #40

I love to make friends/family homemade chicken soup when they are ill.

I have used the shawls/blankets made my "Grandpa's Gardens" for at least the past 15 years. Everyone I know who has tried them love them.

Feel better!

I don't recall for sure, did you start on Ambien again?

If so, just wanted to share my experience with you. I was struggling in my sleep, as though I was in some kind of a physical struggle. I was up in the night, sleepwalking. I also felt like I was sleepwalking during the day. I did not dare to drive during the day. When I had stopped taking it, it took me 2-3 full days to get rid of the side effects.

I hope you find better sleep and sweeter dreams soon!

Hi everyone

I’ve been taking more benzos recently for sleep

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Thanks for the tip! I looked up the Grandpa's Gardens shawls and they look great. I added on to my Amazon wish list for hubby to consider.

Thank you!

I hope a tweak in meds help me with my irritability. So far, I have not found much help with that. I find that keeping myself distracted with something else helps but there's only so long that I can keep myself distracted. I see my pdoc this Friday, so I don't think I need to call to get them adjusted before then. They wouldn't do much in the first few days anyways.

By the way, I never heard the term pdoc before. At least not before coming to this site and I used to be a Psychology student in college and I've been seeing psychiatrists since I was a teen.

Happy Birthday, Miss Denim! I'm glad to see you!

Fuzzybear, I'm sorry you've needed the benzos for sleep. Please let your psychiatrist know if you find yourself needing more and more. That wouldn't be good.

Hi Jennifer.

I had responded earlier and lost my post.

Most hospitals will not accept admissions, even when primary care doctors want their patient admitted these days. In addition, insurers also deny admission.

Regardless of the situation, as long as not immediately critical, age is a factor. So even though your brother sounds like he is in rough shape, an elderly person with the exact same medical picture will more likely be admitted, when someone younger is not as likely to be admitted.

(I have been told this by my own doctors. I have also dealt with this myself one year when I had to go to the ER 12 times, 6 times by ambulance.Severe difficulties with asthma after having had the flu. My PCP had wanted me admitted in order to get things under control. The hospital told him "no." If I was older, they would have admitted me.)

When anyone has a home and family to care for them, it is less likely s/he will be admitted..

Sometimes it can help to let the doctor know if family is getting tired or otherwise cannot fulfill the role of caretaker.

If your brother cannot care fro himself, it is possible he might be accepted/admitted to a psych unit. I don't know if this is appropriate or not.

I am sorry there is not a better system in place.

I am concerned about you. I hope your visit with your therapist has been helpful.

I am here for you. You know where to find me.

Much Lo0ve

Hi Fuzzy!

I am sorry you have needed this type of med. Yet, i can be very helpful when needed.

I am thrilled you are joining in and sharing with us!

I called my psychiatrist this morning, and told him that I'm a walking cold virus factory. I gave him the choice of seeing me, as scheduled, tomorrow, or rescheduling me. He gave me an appointment next Monday at 9:30 am. I think that's for the best. I'm a pretty sad sight! Last time I saw him, he rescheduled me to 9:30 am and told me he used to not be able to offer that. He's sort of semi-retired. I don't think he usually even sees patients at 9:30 am. He's a good egg!

Thanks for your message. That makes sense to me and alleviates many of my fears. I have a third appointment Friday in another hospital system and fingers crossed...he won’t need it. At least it’s in place in case he does.

It’s downright shameful that you were denied admission with your complications of asthma and the flu. I’m sorry you went through that.

My therapist helped a great deal in teaching me methods to keep from shutting down and how to recover when I do (and also how to deal with mom). I was most grateful. I’m functioning again for now.

Thanks again. I really appreciate your concern and support.

Thanks WC.

Yes I lost someone else a week before this friend.

Thanks for following my posts. I'll see what my pdoc does.

I went to my drop-in today and had such a nice time chatting with the women there that i am feeling lonesome now. But i can go back tomorrow. There's just the rest of this evening and tomorrow morning to get thru. I took the new route there which includes a hop on our new subway and it went super.

Happy Birthday !

Yes taking a biologic is a hard decision to make because of possible side effects. But we are stuck in a lousy situation.. do we just let things continue to cause actual physical damage which will cause more pain or try something?

With Humira I was just unlucky because I got a rather rare dude effect.

Maybe we both will sleep tonight ??? Will you take a whole pill at bedtime ?

I hope you brother will start to feel better .. he was put on antibiotics the other day ??? Hope they kick in soon his oxygen level is good tho so that’s a good sign. If he’s not eating or drinking his blood pressure will be low. Does he live alone ? Maybe calling him numerous times a day to remind him to eat and drink ?

Unless a person is very very ill it’s impossible to get admitted.

I hope your T session went well

Yes beautiful weather !!!

I took one and a half last night. Before I was on two and they weren't working that well but the doc only ordered 1 per night now. So I started with one but was still awake 2 1/2 hours later so I took a half more. It takes dragon drugs to knock me out when insomnia hits me.

I’m sorry you got hit with such a nasty cold

Push fluids as much as possible and rest and certainly sleep all you can

My favorite author drops the next book in the series the 6th so I am busy rereading the series for probably the 8th time. I just fall into them , those characters are truly my friends lol

No improvement breathing wise , I just have to really pace myself. Even walking my dogs out to the pasture is difficult. But at least I’m no worse! So I’m grateful for that.

I see my T tomorrow thankfully I have a few things I really need help sorting out in my head.

Hugs and cookies to all ~

@BirdDancer

Might you have strep throat? My son presented a couple of times with just a headache and sore throat, no fever. I don’t know if that’s more common in children though. I do think you should see your pcp though. I know there’s not much they can do for a cold but maybe they can prescribe a med to make you more comfortable while I’m you ride it out? I mean unless it’s going to cost too much money to go.

So from reading that book. I have agoraphobia and a safe person. Idk, how I feel about that treatment is SSRI's.

Thanks for sharing about that, wildflowerchild! I know very little about strep throat. I'll read up on it a bit. I do have nasal congestion, too. I was feeling slightly better during the daytime, but somehow at night I feel much worse.

My pcp (in my town) is so hard to get an appointment with. I have known him for more than 20 years, yet both my husband and I have been referred to different doctors the last several times. It's frustrating. We even started going to an urgent care center in another town, recently. The copay is higher, but they see you as a walk-in, and quickly.

I had a breakdown at my job. Luckily, I wasn't in front of anyone. I went out to my car and took my PRN medication. Things are getting so bad to the point where I am considering short-term disability. I've been really trying, but it's like I wake up, and everything just resets again. Can't seem to make it stop. I just took a break from work due to my mental health using almost all of my days, and it still wasn't enough. I just don't want to feel this way anymore. I see my pdoc next week and plan to go back to therapy, since I had taken a break from therapy previously. I can't go back to my one therapist, because she only takes 1 type of insurance, and sliding scale is too much. So I started making phone calls and emails to find a T. I'm hoping therapy will be the answer, because I want to be able to continue to work. I can't tell if my increase in meds is doing anything or not. It does make me tired. I am afraid of all my meds being changed around again. Maybe it's too early to tell.

Which book ?

The last “ cold” I had was probably 4 years ago I had a really nasty sore throat, I did go see my GP they ran the rapid test and it was negative thankfully .. She told me they were flooded with colds that included having terrible sore throats. So she said go old school and gargle salt water 6-8 times a day. It did offer relief... it lasted over 10 days tho !!