Bipolar Check-in #86

Started the Thorazine increase today

@Blue_Bird I hope the Thorazine helps you. Is it supposed to help with stress or anxiety or other issues of bipolar? I'm unfamiliar with that med.

@Blitter Welcome back! I also still want to think of this site as Psych Central though it hasn't been that in quite awhile. I too was off for many years and nearly couldn't find it again afterwards.

I slept well last night, but yesterday my carpal tunnel was really acting up which it hasn't done for ages. According to the neurologist I have mild carpal tunnel. If this feels when mild carpal tunnel flares up, I'd sure hate to have it worse! I guess mine is mild in the sense in that I often don't even notice it and when it becomes bothersome, sleeping in splints usually helps it out. I wore the splints last night for the first time in years, boy did that finally give me some relief! I'm doing much better today but think I will use the splints another few nights or so.

I'm doing pretty good today though the day has just flown by. Probably because I had to go to Walmart for just a few things and I had manufacturer's official mailed coupons for 2 cans of free cat food and a free cat treats. These were clear manufacturer's coupons with the gold embossing and all and the Walmart worker looked at me all suspicious and I'm thinking if I wanted to steal cat products, I definitely wouldn't be stealing a total of $4 worth of products! Geez! Woman had to get the supervisor who was off helping some other cashier. Ugh, if I was certain my grocery store carried those products, I'd definitely have gone there, but my local grocery store doesn't have a large cat food and treat section.

I read a long time today, used the SAD lamp. Drew 2 pictures and the outline for a 3rd I'll shade tomorrow (all in the Creative Corner Forum). Now, I'm baking banana bread.

Slept brilliantly and had a low key day. Mostly just watching tv and trying to read.

A hot shower followed by hot peppermint tea with raw local honey helps me

It’s an antipsychotic , it’s supposed to help with paranoia and some other stuff I’ve been dealing with. I have schizoaffective disorder bipolar type

Your drawings look really good!

Had a good day today, my sponsor came to visit, and I got all dressed up for a meeting and lunch with friends. I feel a lot better about things even though it's been a huge struggle these past couple of weeks. I am starting to understand that I am not the wreckage from this illness, this illness is. I have to stop beating myself up so much. Moving forward and getting stronger!!

I hope it helps you. I unfortunately couldnt tolerate it. my old pdoc put me on it while IP for my first bout of psychosis. i got the thorazine shuffle from it and jsut felt disconnected all the time.

Thanks! It’s been a good med for me. I’ve been on it several years now. He just tweaked the dose a bit

Caleb and I went out to eat then to the hot tub gardens. Hour and a half! It was too hot at first so I asked them to turn down the temperature and they did. We came back to my place and watched Gabriel Iglesias’ new special- 1 1/2 hours too! Now it’s bed time. I’m tired.

I'm kinda anxious right now. I had mostly rice cakes to eat and I took mucinex which is causing me to feel a bit weird.

@Blueberrybook - Sorry to hear the carpel tunnel is getting so painful, awesome that the splints gave a bit of relief which carried through the day. Fantastic job getting out, how did your cats enjoy the food? After all the bother, I hope they liked the product! Not that I've ever known cats to be fussy.....

@LadyShadow - You're absolutely right, if being hard on ourselves was going to work, it would have worked by now. It's tough to remember that we are not the sum of our actions or our thoughts. Rather, its our highest intentions and values that define us. Its a wonderful thing to ponder, as bipolar cannot change our best intentions or values, they remain the core of us. Doing our best with the mental, emotional and physical rescources we have at any time is our best. Good on you and well done for showing yourself some love by getting dressed up and having some social time!

@Nammu - Yes for the low key days after a great sleep. How do you go with comprehension and retension with reading? I find it somewhat bothersome if I don't read a book continiously. Its actually quite halarious - have you ever needed to go back a bit and re read to work out what happened last? I swear I can read a book so far and then keep going back each time I pick it up. Pretty sure I could read all the way back to the start - lol. What are you reading?

@victoriasmum Please take care.

To everyone I've not mentioned - you're all sensational human beings, all doing your best, continuing to eek out the best life you can for you and those around you. Sucess is in the trying. Yay for you all

As for me, an early morning walk in the bush with Treacle, then work for a couple of hours before returning home and spending the day enjoying the air conditioner whilst the temps outside elevated into the uncomfortable (and kept going). Sitting with a drink now reading through the bipolar check-ins of some fabulous people!

Hello, slept well. Did some cleaning today. Just waiting on a load of laundry to finish so I can put it in the dryer.

Might practice violin today. We’ll see if I can motivate myself enough

Decided to go to church this morning after Caleb left. I wanted to hear N3 sing tenor in the choir. I sang along with the hymns and go up to a D! Had lots of fun singing in the congregation. Saw N3 and his dad who also sings tenor in the choir after. That was nice. I sang alto in the congregation during the hymns and was surprised I could hit a D! Talked with the director who has known me for 20 years and told her maybe I could sing alto in the choir! She said it would be great to have me back. I love singing in choirs! It's part of who I am. Just like it is for N3 and his dad. All in all I'd say this morning was a blessing.

Caleb and I had a great time this weekend too. Had lunch then drove straight to the hot tub gardens called The Oasis. The water was too hot so I asked if they could turn it down via the phone by the tub and they did!

Tomorrow I see my psych nurse practitioner! Finally! It's been two months! Hopefully they will schedule my biopsy tomorrow too. And maybe the rest of my allergy tests will come back.

@LadyShadow I love your picture! You are beautiful!

I had a great morning. One of those days when everything goes so well you just wonder when the other shoe is going to drop. My mood is great; I slept well. I went for a power walk and even though rain was forecast, it only drizzled a little and then stopped. I read with the SAD lamp, fantastic concentration, finished my book. I had grocery pickup, hit every traffic light green there & on the way back. At curbside, I parked, and my groceries were brought out less than a minute later. Usually I wait 10-15 minutes at curbside, which still isn't bad, but it was super fast this morning! I had to go to Walmart to return a dress my daughter didn't like, and no one was at customer service, and I got a speedy worker, I was out of there in 2 minutes flat!

I did a load of laundry when I got home then I drew and drew and drew! Lots of fun drawing today (pics in the Creative Corner Forum). It's raining now, and after lunch I plan to start a new mystery book, perfect weather for reading a mystery

HUGS to everyone going through stuff; I hope you all enjoy your Sunday!

Oh reading has been a teeter totter. Some days I’ve got it and can breeze along, others days it’s slow hard work and I find myself staring at the wall or out the. Window. Because now I’m on 6th floor my view is the sky. I did manage to finish my Martha Grimes book. Blueberry and I are re-reading them from beginning to end. The author has a new one coming out in June one juoly. The Red Queen. That makes 26 books in the series. And I’m reading other books too. One while I’m up, and one in bed. The one in bed I often have to re-read what I read so it takes me awhile.

I’m going to a birthday party today. It’s Betty’s 95fth birthday. It’s kind of bitter sweet as mum died just a week before her 95fth birthday. But Betty is a firecracker! Still drives and everything. She reminds me of those woman from WWII who went to work.

I'm doing good today. I think I finally have a full pantry and fridge of stuff I can eat. Not much is going on. My laundry is done and my shopping is done so I'm just watching TV. My anxiety is pretty good for taking Mucinex yesterday. My moods are fine. I slept good. I'm being careful with the news. Can't find an effing job though.

My daughter got her report card for the first semester and she got four A's, one B, and two C's. Proud momma here. ❤️ The C's were in science and math and both those subjects she struggles in, so C's are good. We walked to the store and I let her buy a bag of chips and a Reeses. I'm just SO happy with those grades! 😊

Right now I'm just kind of chilling until 3PM when I plan on doing some novel planning and some work on the ezine. End of the month panic mode has officially set in! I don't know why I always panic. I get each issue up at least a day early. I think it's because these authors are depending on me and I can't let them down. I know how it feels to be in their shoes! I can't be some flaky editor.

So I got the result of my liver function test, and it looks like one of my levels is high, above the normal range. So I guess I'm reacting to Lamictal again.

Not good, I might have to stop it which means I might have to withdraw from the psilocybin trial (they require participants to be on Lamictal).

Still feeling pretty low, but that's pretty standard for me.

My pdoc mentioned that stopping my meds is an option and I think I'm going to try it. She'll supervise me so I didn't think things could go terribly wrong.

Welcome to my world. I have to have a liver biopsy next month because of my liver enzymes being high for too long. They’re over 100!

According to google….

Symptoms of elevated liver enzymes can include:
Jaundice: Yellowing of the skin and eyes
Pain: Abdominal pain, especially in the right lower quadrant
Itching: Itching all over the body
Fatigue: Feeling tired
Nausea and vomiting: Feeling sick to your stomach and throwing up
Loss of appetite: Not feeling hungry
Dark urine: Urine that is dark or tea-colored
Light-colored stools: Stools that are lighter than normal
Swelling: Swelling in the abdomen, arms, legs, or ankles
Fever: Unexplained fever or mild fever
Rash: Unusual or unexplained rash

I have the itchiness and off and on abdominal pain

I've had most of that stuff for awhile. I'm waiting to hear back from my kidney doctor about my results. Things have improved a lot though this month.

@Moose72 Hopefully you can get your biopsy done and it will turn out to be nothing too much. Have you had high ALT before this last test or only this one test? I had bad ALT and AST one time, and my gastroentrologist did some imaging checking for non-alcoholic fatty liver disease since I don't drink. That came back fine, and a month or 2 later, he rechecked the enzymes, and they were back in normal range. I've never had bad ALT or AST since. He told me a signficant percentage of people with elevated liver levels will have normal levels within a month or 2. And of course, medications can cause high alt. I can't remember, did you have a CT of your liver done?

Hey @Scooter9, sorry to hear the Lactimal isn't working out for you as its a great medication with few effects that are unwanted. I'd suggest taking your time coming off if the liver can tolerate it, really slow titrate. I've tried for several years to get off it without success, each time returning to the previous dosage.

@Moose72 and @Scooter 9 - My LFT on Lactimal returned high levels on and off for probably the first 12 months, each time we were able to get it back to high but acceptable through dropping the dose a little and diet changes. After that they stayed reasonably stable and we upped the dosage. I'm currently on 450mg

@Nammu - I can so relate to the staring at the wall! It sounds like a series of novels that is well worth looking into, what are they about, how did you get into them?

Just popped in to say hi, back later. What a sensational group of achievers you are, celebrate the small things cause they aint small!

Hey there @Blueberrybook thanks so much for the compliment! Getting all dressed up and taking care of myself is what really keeps me going. So glad you've been having so many good days lately, that's amazing!

Congratulations @raspberrytorte for your daughter's report card, that's quite the achievement!

I am sorry that you guys have had issues with your liver due to medication, I am worried about my kidneys with being on Lithium again.

I have trouble with reading too @Nammu - but I am so glad you have some good scenery in which to read!

Thank you so much @Blitter2014 for understanding what I am going through. It is truly a pleasure to see you back here again and posting, and I hope to see more of you soon! But yes, doing the best we can despite our bipolar illness is the best way to manage and live somewhat of a normal life, always remembering to put our best foot forward. Great advice indeed!

Today has been tough as usual. Getting up is extremely hard, and I missed church again this morning and I am so upset about it. Tomorrow, I have to get up really early for a doctor's appointment, and I am dreading it but I am going to push forward. I have to stop living in fear and just live my life!

Hope you guys are having a great Sunday!

Don’t think I’ve had a liver CT. Insurance won’t pay for an MRI. My ALT liver enzymes are always elevated but like 60 or 80. This last test was well over 100. I have NAFLD.