Unknown Anxiety

I’m sitting on the couch, rocking back and forth. My arms and legs are curling me into a ball. Parts of me shake as I rock back and forth; it’s usually my right leg that shakes uncontrollably. Normally, I know the reasons for my anxiety attacks. In fact, I think that this is the first time that I don’t know what’s happening.

The only thing I can think of is that my husband and I both have appointments at Discount Tire tomorrow morning. I need two new tires and he needs a new one because he got a flat last night. New things normally cause me to have anxiety, but this shouldn’t be a problem because my husband will be with me. He always makes me feel safe.

I have a lot to do around the house. Maybe cleaning will keep my mind occupied and reduce my anxiety. Plus, my house could use some cleaning. I think it’s been over a week since I did a good cleaning. If cleaning doesn’t work, then maybe I’ll take a Valium, but I only like to take those when absolutely necessary. I could also try meditation once I’m able to stop rocking and shaking.

UPDATE: I started cleaning my house and my anxiety got better. I like seeing a clean house, it makes me feel relaxed. It’s nice to know that there are people in all parts of my life that are willing to help me though anything. Thanks for the suggestions and support.

Meditation Can Help Physical and Emotional Pain

I’ve never been a person that likes meditation. Over the years, I’ve been told by many people that meditation will help me in many ways, physically, mentally, and emotionally. I was still against it for a few reasons, but the biggest reason is because it’s too difficult for me. My mind is always running a million miles an hour. How am I supposed to actually slow my brain down and think/focus on one thing? Also, I can never sit still for longer than a couple of minutes. Once I’m told to sit still, I start getting all fidgety. When I was in rehab, in 2004, we had to go to yoga class a couple of times a week. At the end of the class, there was a short meditation time that we were required to participate in. I always had such a hard time with it; plus, I never like to do something I’m told I have to do.

Last week, I received a package from my aunt containing a few CDs. Two of them were guided imagery to enhance healing for women with interstitial cystitis (a painful bladder disorder) and the other CD was called healing trauma, a guided imagery for PTSD. My first thought was that I didn’t want to use these CDs, but then I thought I would do some research. I found out that using guided meditation can actually help with the physical pain for interstitial cystitis. Suddenly, I became excited; there was a possibility to reduce my physical pain from the interstitial cystitis. I couldn’t believe that my aunt found these for me. She sent them to me with no pressure to use them. All she wanted was for me to have them in case I decided to try it.

I ended up trying the guided meditation CDs for interstitial cystitis the same day I received them. I decided to use the CDs every day for at least a month. I told my doctor about it and she agreed that it is very likely to be beneficial for my physical pain and for my emotional health. The guided meditation is getting a little easier every time. Even if I can slow my mind for just a few minutes, it would be better than nothing. At some point, I’ll try the CDs for PTSD, but right now, my bigger issue is my bladder disorder.

I have gone from being completely against meditation, to trying it every day for a month. I will let everyone know how effective it is for me. This has taught me to try to remain open to any possibilities in regards to improving my health. I’m grateful that my aunt is always looking out for me.

Side Effects or Underlying Issues?

I have so many different struggles that it makes me wonder which difficulties have been there all along, and which ones are side effects of medication or ECT. Something has to change. Whatever it is, I really need to see some improvement. Hopefully I don’t have to wait too long. The three biggest struggles that come to my mind are memory loss, trouble finding the right words when talking (aphasia), and trouble making decisions. I mentioned these issues to my psychiatrist the other day. He told me that the aphasia is most likely caused by the Lithium. High levels of Lithium can cause aphasia in some individuals. Even though my Lithium level is low, it can still cause aphasia. I chose not to make any changes to my Lithium because we are already making a couple big changes such as increasing my Clozapine dose and stopping ECT treatments. It’s not a good idea to make too many changes at once. If something does happen (positive or negative), I wouldn’t know which medication change caused the new effect.

The memory loss is definitely from ECT. Since I have decided to stop doing ECT treatments, I’m wondering if my memory will get better and how long it will take for it to improve. Part of me is curious if my memory will get back to what it used to be; I’ve done 33 treatments and I’m not sure if there are any long-term side effects. Some of my medications, such as Lithium and Tegretol, can also cause memory loss. There is a possibility that some of my memory issues are from the medications, which means it’s possible that my memory won’t return to what it used to be. I guess I just have to wait and see about this issue. I hate waiting.

Problems making decisions is another issue I’m dealing with at this time. This is known to be a difficulty with depression. The only problem is that I still have the same issue when I’m manic or even hypomanic. The problem isn’t going away. I have difficulty making small and large decisions. Sometimes I can’t even figure out what to eat when I’m in my own house. My husband will ask if I want to go do something, like go bowling. I don’t know what I want to do, so I just tell him that I’ll do whatever he wants to do. I think that’s frustrating for him, at least I imagine it would be frustrating. Sometimes, he will ask me if I want something. For example, he will ask if I want ice cream. I respond to him by saying that I don’t need any. Then he tells me that he didn’t ask if I needed any, he asked if I want any. I don’t know how to answer that because I don’t know what I want. I wish this was less difficult to deal with, maybe one day it will get easier.

Excited About A New Blogging Opportunity

I have so many things I need to get done today, but I’m having a hard time doing them. I’m not being lazy; I’m just overwhelmed with things to do. I have already gotten my blood work done, went to the gym to workout, went bowling with my husband, played cards with my mother-in-law, and did a bit of blogging (not in that order). However, there’s so much more to do. I still need to shower, cancel my upcoming ECT appointment, meditate, clean/organize the house a bit, and contact a couple of friends. I just don’t know where to start; probably with the shower.

A couple of months ago I applied to be a blogger for the International Bipolar Foundation. Yesterday, I received a response from them. They said I can choose to be either a guest blogger or monthly blogger. I’m so excited. I need to get started on this as well. I feel honored that the IBPF organization wants me to write for them. Getting started on this is more important to me than cleaning and organizing my house. I think I will shower and then meditate. Hopefully, that will relax me enough to keep writing today.

Standing By My Decision – I Actually Did It!

I was very nervous about my psych appointment yesterday; I was so nervous that I even had an anxiety attack. I’m not used to telling anyone what I want, especially when it’s different from others want. Standing up for my own desires is nerve-wracking for me. I prepared for my psych appointment yesterday by writing down exactly what I wanted to say. I told my psychiatrist that I wanted to stop ECT because it has become too hard on my body and my mind. I’ve been doing ECT for close to a year and a half, and I just can’t take it anymore. I explained my reasons and to my surprise, he was okay with my choice. He explained that he respects my choice; I couldn’t ask for more than that. I’m very happy with the outcome of that appointment.

He gave me several options about what we could do moving forward. He told me I probably wouldn’t like a couple of the options, but he was going to mention them anyway. I’m glad he did mention them (without any pressure). It was nice to see all of my options at once, even though I didn’t like most of them. Together, we decided to slowly increase my Clozapine up to 400mg a night. We will increase the dose by 25mg each week until we reach our target goal of 400mg. We are increasing slowly to hopefully avoid some negative side effects such as dizziness, fevers, and drowsiness. It will take two months to reach our goal. I will see him in three months. This gives me time to get to the target dose and then allow my body to adjust to the dose for a while. I’m really hoping that this change will help. The Clozapine has helped quite a bit so far, I have a feeling that it will continue to help.

My husband pointed out to me that this is the first time that I made my own decision regarding my mental health, and stuck by it. He was proud of me. To be honest, I’m proud of myself. I know it sounds a little ridiculous to be so happy about this decision, but it’s a huge step for me.

Do You Have Negative Thoughts Like I Do?

I always do everything I’m told, and I think it’s catching up with me. I don’t want to cause any problems, but I feel like I need a vacation from my life, from myself, from my health. Just out of curiosity, I’m wondering how many people have had the same thoughts as the following:

I’m always compliant with my medications and my treatments. Sometimes I just want to say screw it all and not take my meds. I wonder how much they’re really helping anyway. What’s the point of taking all these meds without knowing that they are definitely working?
I’m an insomniac. The Clozapine has been helping me sleep for the most part lately, but I still wake up several times throughout the night. Why do I keep forcing myself to fall asleep? For some reason, I’m always hungry when I wake up. Maybe I should try to see if I get tired on my own. I’m an insomniac; I have problems sleeping, not getting tired.
Sometimes, I’m get tired of doing the reasonable or rational thing. On occasion, I just want to do whatever I feel like doing without people saying it’s because of my mental health.

These are just a few of the things that have been going on in my mind lately. I think I’m just a bit frustrated with everything, and I’m wondering if other people have similar thoughts as I do. If others do have these thinking issues, what do you do to get through them?

Overanalyzing Everything

I wish I knew how to control my thinking. Everything can be going just fine, and then one thing happens, like someone gives me an attitude, and I automatically start going through all of the possible reasons they could be mad at me. How self-centered am I to think that just because someone has an attitude it has something to do with me? There could be a thousand different reasons for that individual to have an attitude. I really need to get over myself. I always think that I’m doing something or everything wrong. I even tend to do the same thing when someone is giving me a compliment. I think that instead of actually giving me a compliment, that person is pointing out that I finally figured something out.

Yesterday, when I was with my granddaughter, I heard a couple of people say, ‘Wow, you’re getting really good with her.’ Instead of hearing a compliment, I hear them saying how bad I used to be with her. Then I start getting frustrated; it’s not like I had children of my own, this is my first time dealing with an infant. I really down that people are giving backhanded compliments. People are probably saying how they really think and feel, and I’m just overanalyzing everything. I’m actually mentally exhausted from always over-thinking everything for no real reason.

Trying to cut myself some slack is a lot easier said than done. I really do think that almost everything I say or do is wrong in one way or another. No matter how hard I try, it’s impossible to please everyone. Maybe I should just work at doing things that will make me and my husband happy. The only problem with that is that I don’t even know where to start.

Psychiatry Appointment

Late tomorrow afternoon, I have an appointment with my psychiatrist. I’m really nervous about this appointment. He is going to go over my Clozapine blood level with me and change my dose. I’ not really worried about that, but I have just decided that I don’t want to do ECT anymore. I’ve been thinking about this for a while now, but I finally made my decision (I think). Right now I’m going every four weeks. So at the very least, I could just start by taking an extra month off and seeing how that goes. If it’s a disaster, then I can think about going back on it.

I wrote down on paper what I want to say to him because I don’t normally stand up for my opinions.I don’t like any type of disagreements. Since I wrote it down, then I know I will be able to say exactly what I want to say. I’m going to tell him, ‘I am no longer willing to do ETC treatments. The stress on my body, the memory loss, and the loss of words in conversations is too much for me. It has been this way for a while. I tried putting it off, but I can’t wait any longer. I’m not willing to do the Ketamine treatments at this time.’ Hopefully I can stick by what I say. There’s a better chance of that happening since I wrote down what to say.’ I’ll let you all know how it goes.

Celebrating My Husband’s Birthday

Today is my husband’s birthday. We’re going to celebrate at his mom’s house with anywhere from 5 to 19 people. I wish I knew how many people to expect. However, I should be used to this by now. This is how it usually ends up going for every birthday and holiday. I’m looking forward to seeing my step-kids and my granddaughter. I have a good relationship with my step-kids; it’s always nice to see them and be a part of their lives. I get along with everyone in his family; I just sruggle with not knowing what I’m walking into. I also struggle with crowded spaces, but it will be fine. I’m grateful to get together with his family.

I plan on taking today off from working out. My husband and I have been enjoying great workouts. Yesterday we ended up just doing cardio, but it was a good workout. I’m hoping to lose some weight; I’ve gained a lot of weight during this depression that I’ve been going through. To be exact, I’ve gained 39 pounds. That’s way too much; it’s time that I turn this around. And it’s so much easier working on losing weight with my husband. I’m happy to have the support and encouragement; we are there to help each other reach our goals.

My Side of the Pole

Bipolar – Mental Health

Month: June 2016