Hi,
How are you?
I’ve got to tell you this.
The other day my elbow really hurt.
I mean, REALLY hurt.
Know why?
Because I don’t.
I have no idea. Absolutely no idea.
I didn’t fall on it. I didn’t hit it. I seriously have no idea why my elbow hurt so much, but it really did.
BUT…
In the morning I got up, and guess what?
It stopped hurting.
Know why?
I have no idea why.
Honesty. I have absolutely no idea why one day my elbow hurt SO bad, and the next day it just stopped hurting!
I didn’t take anything for it, didn’t put ice on it. I didn’t do anything at all for it…
But it DID stop hurting. Just like that!
I just don’t understand it.
Anyway, I got to thinking about bipolar disorder and how sometimes you will never know why some things happen the way they do, what works and doesn’t work and why.
Like, for my mom, listening to calming music at night helps her bipolar disorder.
For another person, playing little puzzles helps her bipolar disorder.
For another guy, sleeping on the right side versus the left side helps his bipolar disorder.
None of these people know why.
It’s just like my elbow. I don’t know why.
There will be many parts of bipolar disorder you simply can’t figure out.
Like medications.
Medications confuse me just like my arm did, only worse!
What works for one person, doesn’t work for another person.
One medication might work for one person for awhile, but then stop working.
The same medication might work great for awhile for a person, but then the dose has to change.
Or the doctor has to mix and match medications like a quilt with unmatched pieces to it, but put together right, it works!
Who knows what works, and why? I sure don’t.
But like my arm, who am I to question?
I just know that it works.
Like my mom with her doctor.
I tell her to trust her doctor, because her doctor knows what she’s doing.
Why? I don’t know, I’m not a doctor.
But my mom’s doctor is a good doctor. And you have to have a good doctor that you can trust, who does what’s best for you with your medication, because that’s absolutely crucial to your stability with bipolar disorder.
I talk about that in my courses/systems below:
SUPPORTING AN ADULT WITH BIPOLAR DISORDER?
Visit:
http://www.bipolarsupporter.com/report11
SUPPORTING A CHILD/TEEN WITH BIPOLAR DISORDER?
Visit:
http://www.bipolarparenting.com
HAVE BIPOLAR DISORDER?
Visit:
http://www.survivebipolar.net
So why does my mom’s relationship work with her doctor?
Well, I do know 2 things: One is that my mom’s doctor is a good doctor, and the other is that my mom communicates with her. Other than that, I don’t know.
What I mean by that is that, I don’t know if my mom’s doctor would be a good doctor for your loved one.
Or if your loved one’s doctor would be a good doctor for my mom.
I don’t know why things are the way they are sometimes with bipolar disorder, or why things work the way they do. They just do!
One person might need 10 hours of sleep a night.
Another person might only need 8 hours.
What’s the difference if they are both stable?
Different things are different for different people (boy, that was a lot of “different”s there, huh?) lol
The point I’m trying to make here is that YOU do what works for YOU. See what I mean?
FIND OUT WHAT PEOPLE ARE SAYING ABOUT ME
Visit: http://www.bipolarcentral.com/testimonials
David Oliver is the author of the shocking guide “Bipolar Disorder—The REAL Silent Killer.” Click Here to get FREE Information sent via email on how and why bipolar disorder kills.
Post response below.
Kerrie: Are you ok?
Good morning Dave, I am wondering how to proceed in finding a doctor that can help me with my bipolar disorder. I have had it all my life but have only one piece of actual documentation which is an emergency room diagnosis from 2007 when I was having a MAJOR episode. I have tried to discuss it with my general physician but he simply stated “You do not have that and you do not want that. If you are diagnosed with BP then you will have to be on medication for the rest of your life.” I have only been seeing this doctor since 2007 when I was “fired” by my old doctor of 16 years. I am currently taking zoloft for my depression but I am concerned that the same thing will happen as in 2007. I was having an episode and I was on zoloft and got fired by my doctor (general physician) and he immediately cut me off all my med including my zoloft and everything else I was taking and told me to go get myself a new doctor but at the time I was way to sick to get another doctor. I was manac for about six months and then in the aftermath of being forclosed on the home where I had lived for sixteen years, huge legal trouble, and total personal and financial disaster was extremely depressed for about a year and a half. I spent 50% of my time thinking about suicide and the other 50% sleeping because it was the only “escape” that would not cause myself or my family permanent irreverisble damamge. I am currently on Medicaid and don’t want to get help for my head from some government doctor. I do not trust the government as when I was six, I was sexually abused by my father and when my mother and I tried to report it to the local police (in 1976) they stated that they couldn’t do anything about it and would never ever take the word of a 6 year old over that of an adult. I do not like the government because they want to know exactly what is going on ( so they can maintain control) but they have no desire to actually help anyone who actually needs help. If you need help thhey treat you like a criminal or lepar…
So my doc tor will not refer me to a counselor or other professional and I do not know what to do. It is very hard for me to trust people and I do not have a supporter like you are for your mom. I mean I have a great family buut they think when I act crazy that I am on drugs. They do not believe me when I say that I am mentally ill. Please help, I know it is alot to ask, afterall you do for me, with the emails everyday. Thank you for trying to help us and screw the people that says bad stuff on the blog, you can’t please everybody and some people can’t handle hearing the truth, it sometimes hurts. I am not running for mayor either! Thanks Deb
Dave Oliver: I am very conerned about your elbow hurting. Eleven years ago my elbow hurt for no reason. It turned out that I had blockage in my arteries goimg to my heart. I emded up having a quadruple heart by-pass operation. Do you have high cholesterol? I believe you should have it checked out. Good luck and as always keep up the good work. Chuch L.
Hi David and frieds,
You are absolutely right about how some things may work or not depending of the situation, and/or the individual. Besides, somebody already said: “There is not illness, but ill persons…” I am always grateful for your support.
Carlos
Hello Dave,
I am not a professional but I think the reson why things are the way they are is because everyone is different with there bipolar disorder. Bipolar is really like a type of depression that some people can over come but unfortinatly others can’t because it is to advanced. Meaning they did not catch the symptoms at the earliest time. Also for your mom sleep with calm music, the girl playing with puzzels and, the guy sleeping on his right side versus the left well this all works for them becasue like you mentioned every one has differnt symptom for different things. There minds are all differnt and they take things differently. Well I hope this might help you or your loved one understand the disorder better.
Hi Dave, Uncle Arthur may be visiting your elbow. =)Arthritis does attack certain jionts then disappears again. Tends to jump around in the body. But your point is well taken.
What I really hear you saying is that Bipolar hits some people and we have no idea why. Sometimes they are fine and the next time they are not. We have been dealing with a son for years with these ups & downs and were in denial that he might have a mental illness that won’t go away.
It’s very scary and very expensive to treat this illness. Thank you Dave for helping us come to grips with our denial and finally accept this and help our son and family get the help they need regardless of the stigma attached to it and the cost.
Until we are willing to face the elephant in the room and call it what it really is we can’t help support them and his wife and children need to understand and accept it too.
I feel maybe we are on the right track but still have so very far to go. Thanks again.
..and the path for one is not the same for another. I have another story. I took responsibility for my Bi-polar and found other techniques and means to over come the symptoms without having to continue to take meds, and yes, I have what “they” consider a severe condition. Well… I first had to STOP being a victim to bi-polar and the system! (and I’m damn poor financially) The medication side effects were as bad if not worse than the bi polar side effects. What kind of life is one where your still not yourself because of meds?(after almost 10 years of the “med-go-round”, I think I’ve tried them all) I decided I would either live or die, because a life of mood/mind altering medications that are physically damaging is not a life to me, and my supporters, loving as they do, could agree that if I were to continue to suffer, what would be anyone’s gain? Sentence me to suffer so they could have an easier time dealing with me??? A medicated me ISN’T me.. even when the meds “worked” correctly. SO.. Lets make the supporters life’s easier by medicating ourselves into oblivion! Lets give up on hope for a better life for the sufferer! Our society is known for “free enterprising” peoples misery for their own benefit, and Lets start yet another dependency on outside sources for our stability. Lets remain victims? You are NOT powerless over this illness. There are other answers out there. NEVER stop looking unless your ok with being in a medicated state the rest of your life like some kind of drug addict, always at the mercy of the drug companies and the insurance corporations. this seems like yet another of those projects. I am NOT my disease, and my disease is NOT me. Matter of fact, with the superior energy stores and mental activity available to a bi polar / ADHD person, these can be turned into advantages, not something to scorn and medicate away. Dave, come up with some research and techniques on treatment WITHOUT medications, then you’ll be doing someone a favor with your information. Otherwise, as long as I’ve been getting your newsletter, you haven’t told me anything I didn’t already know or have access too. Your not empowering people, your enabling them to stay/become even more dependent on outside sources for relief. If you think we’re impossibly limited to the treatments you’ve outlined, you don’t know bi-polar or the human nature very well. Give a man a fish…or teach him to fish Dave? Will selling the bait be good enough or you want to supply the fish ??
Fortunately, the medical personnel are EXCELLENT at my Community Mental Health Clinic, or I would be homeless. I have been VERY lucky in the “choice” of psychiatrists/nurse practitioners, in that they really LISTEN to my concerns and adjust my meds accordingly. Also, I have known my psychotherapist for 39 years, to the point that she can ALMOST “read my mind” and with our talk therapy, allow me to make my own decisions as to how to handle crises and relationships.
You are SO right when you say ALL bipolars are “different” in the quality of their treatment. My shrink had me on Lithium for nearly 20 years, and I developed neuropathy in both legs (something I can live with, although it’s disconcerting when my legs fall “asleep” on me when I get up from sitting too long), and they switched me to Depakote.
When I heard that Zyprexa had a lawsuit against it, I asked my shrink to put me on Seroquel – BIG mistake. I nearly DIED on it, so she put me back on the Zyprexa. Now, I’m doing exceptionally well with the “cocktail” I’m on, and feel “stable” for the first time in nearly 40 years!
All I can say to the bipolar survivors is – don’t resist treatment when your pDoc puts you on another medication. The medication delivery is NOT an exact science, and needs tweaks and trial-and-error before the right “combination of ingredients” is found. DON’T EVER GIVE UP. There IS hope for each and every ONE of us. Faith in one’s doctor is essential; they have the degree, honey, and although it feels like they are “experimenting” with us, they DO have our best interests at heart.
BIG HUGS to all bipolar survivors and those who love us. May God bless you real good. I pray for my country.
Hi Sarge,
Good points you make. I agree that treatment without meds would be the preferred treatment. I have looked for alternatives and know that lifestyle, diet, vitamins, sleep,routines, relaxed environment, less stress, etc. are important factors. But I have yet to find a silver bullet that obviates meds, although i think it may exist.
You mention that you have found other techniques and means to overcome the symptoms without having to continue to take meds. It would be interesting to hear more about your experience in this regard.
Thanks.
All the best,
Randall
SARGE, LOVE what you wrote and would be very interested in how you manage…… Please do tell.
I have search for other ways to deal with bp and cant find it, also I dont want to be on meds. I am at the moment taking st johns wort for the depression. they did work in the beginning but the depression has got a lot worst.
I am at me wits ends with it. The want for sleep all the time and if not that the want to be dead. I feel I have no escape from it all.
I dont believe in the labeling you have bp you have adhd its just so they can medicate you so you cant answer back or question what they do.
Help Me
God Bless Amanda
Hi Dave,
Gerald Burns here–Hope your elbow does not return to the hurt ,but like you say what caused it to come and go is the mystery—- I have been reading your comments about your mom land all—-My concern is with our son and I am at wits end as to what to do–He doesn’t take the meds he is suppose to now–and if he has to go to a Dr and wait for any time at all his patients run out and it’s out the door—His wife or children ,Me or his mother can not reason with him—-He is always right and if you question this he becomes verbally abusive–All the signs are there, but we are lost as to where to go with this—At first I thought he was on Drugs, but this never fit the pattern as you may be doing fine with him and suggest something and he just goes off the deep end and uses his favorite expression “I Just Don’t want to talk about It”. I use to play golf with our vet. and he would be fine and all of a sudden make a bad shot and at that point just loose it –He thought he should be Tiger Woods and all his shots should be perfect—I found out from his ex-wife he was bipolar and tried to understand him–He was an excellent vet—but could not work with any people who were not perfect–Fired his staff and all–Finally lost his business –His house and everything –Don’t know what happened to him–and now I can see the same pattern with our son—-Hate to cry on your shoulder,but good to write this down and hopefully I can come to some decision as to what our family can do to help.—Thanks Gerald Burns
hello daivd im not doing to well i wish i could hide from the world and never come back im at my lowest iv ever been i cant even breath
So Dave Troy here;
SO YOU DO AGREE WITH ME,Dr.s are DETREMENTAL to Health. Thus you choose also to LIVE!
THE DRUGS ARE WORSE THAN THE DISEASE! Hence you did not go to a dr,did not use drugs, just let it be. Perhaps excercise, minipulation… Proper treatment.
If you have influenza & go to the Dr. he will give “medicine” you will be better in 2 Weeks. If you don’t go, you will be better in a Fortnight.(2 Weeks).
Same with your elbow & BP.
However in chosing no meds, you have NO terrible side effects. No other illness Brain Damage or Death caused by polypharmacy, purly iatrogenic.
Wise move, anti-inflamatories = impotence. They are theirfore highly destructive…
However I am not allowed to refuse meds. Mr Dr. & Nurse shield me from a CTO. In “hospital” well you take what ever is PUSHED, or you get BASHED and Injected with a whole lot more.
It is NOT Medicine, NOR is it Science..
None can assess the chemical ballence of a living Brain, NO Test proves Disorder. Cannot be seeen on MRI. Cannot be found in Cadaver…
Your Elbow however they could scan somehow…
FEELINGS COME & GO, like a sore Elbow IT’S NORMAL.
As with MOODS, SORE elbows also have a CAUSE, perhaps you over trained, or trained whilst tired thus you had poor technique…
If you address THE CAUSE, TREAT the CAUSE. It may not happen again. Drugs R NOT the answer & YOU AGREE YIPPI!
STUDIES WORLD WIDE PROVE NO DRUGS GIVE FAR SUPERIOR RESULTS with “mental illness” & FAR FEWER READMITIONS, THAN DRUG TREATMENT. Proper TREATMENT, Not a Band aid.
WHY THEN R THE DRUGS PUSHED? MONEY MONEY MONEY! ABBA.
You take Drugs to hide from the Pain,or thought. You are causing FURTHER damage, DAMAGE which may be Massive & Irrepairable.
In my case Decerribation. (removal of the Brain). In yours,further Tendon dammage, Rhumitism…
One must resolve feelings & issues in order to move on.
DRUGS R NOT THE ANSWER, THEY ONLY REMOVE YOUR MIND, THE CAUSE OF YOUR ISSUES IS STILL TO BE DELT WITH. NOW YOU HAVE BRAIN DAMMAGE ON TOP. Makes it harder to ovoid issues in the future…
Takes out the Higher Functions first… GREAT, then reasioning, so you get closer & closer to a “Mentaly Ill” person. They are mostly manufactured.
Prof. could find: “NO DRUG VIRGINS.” He wanted to study their Brains to PROVE as he Knows the Drugs CAUSE the Brain Atrophy. Found none to test.
I for 1 was Drugged into a COMA for a Weeek then “Diagnosed” BP. I seen it twice, 10 Minutes all up…
If you took anti-inflematories, or Pain Killlers. Well impotence, relience on the meds….
You will be able to keep destroying that Joint, & not know OR feel it. How is that Good?
Just like how is Brain Damage helpful?
I HAVE NO FEELINGS SINCE “TREATMENT” No happiness, Goals Desire…
Yes, for Months (Upon 1st release) I cried watching Opra. Never B4 did I cry. WONDER WHY? NO LIFE, NO MIND!
Guess I was BROKEN. BEATEN BY THE WORST. psych & CO.
THE HUMAN MACHINE HEALS ITSELF. See a dr, it dosn’t.
They R the SICKNESS TRADE MY FRIEND. No money in a well Mind or Body.
Do you know psych. alone in the US get $2 Trillion per Year?
Thus doubling the cost of Health insurence, so Thousands with serious Disease. (NOT ficticious Disorders DSM Descriptions of Drug side effects passed in as Disorders). Cannot afford Treatment. Theirfore cannot work to Pay Taxes… Further Cost.
All this to feed these GREEDY Fraudsters,
You had a sore Elbow, yet did NOT see the quack (dr.) & did not take “medication.”
Theirfore you are a hippocrite. (Do NOT practice what you preach). A Dr.?
OR HAVE YOU SIMPLY CHANGED YOUR RELIGION?
You know as with BP the “medication” is WORSE than the disease. Same with ALL ‘cept Ghonnareah, & such as Penicillin does as they tell you.
“You need to get the right meds & ballence” (cocktail).
So you will not tell us either what we ALL know, ALL the “Antipsych.” Meds R the same. As my F.R.A…GP MD agrees.. He also is a Gino. & has a Fellowship…
Then their are anticonvulse, do the same,(Why take these, I was FORCED to take them to MASK tremmors of a Lithium OD.sTILL FORCE FED THE 2000MG LITHIUM DAILY, THE EPILLIUM I THINK IT WAS WAS MEARLY SO VISITORS DID NOT SEE THE WHOLE BODY SHAKES. I TOLD IT WHAT IT WANTED TO RECORD, GOT OUT GOT OFF THE BRAIN ROT, STOPPED SHAKING…
I told them I did not want Epilepsy so I would not take epilepsy Pills. I was forced to take them or be bashed & injected with more by Security.
Aparently it is illeagal for us to refuse Deceribration, & slow death.
psychiatrists never get it right, we tell them we “FEEL MUCH BETTER NOW…” SO AS TO HAVE THE GARBAGE LOWERED & TO NOT SEEE THEM! If 200mg has One good, why when One states “I’m Well” Is it lowered? Science?
TO GET OUT OF HOSPITAL YOU MUST STATE SO AS IT CAN BE RECORDED:
“I WAS VERY UNWELL…..I FEEL MUCH BETTER NOW…THANK YOU.”
THAT IS THE ONLY WAY OUT, OTHER THAN DIEING.
TWICE AS MANY AMERICANS DIED IN PSYCH. WARDS THAN IN ALL WARS AMERICA HAS BEEN IN…
GOOD TO SEE YOU NOW SEE THE TRUTH.
YOU FORFIETED THE DEBATE. yOU JUST AGREED WITH ME.
I WILL KEEP WATCHING YOUR MAIL TO SEE YOU HAVN’T GONE BACK TO PREACHING.
To TROY: You have some valid points in your argument. I certainly do NOT feel I am the same person I was BEFORE medication for bipolar. I can’t even REMEMBER what I was like before…BUT, and here is where I disagree with you.
When I was so “high” and euphoric with the full-blown manic episodes (I had 3), I did some pretty abnormal and aberrant behaviors. I slept around indiscriminately (thus maybe getting an STD); I believed I was Jesus as a woman (preaching, etc.); I was psychic and could predict the future (something I have no ability for when I’m NOT manic); and I spent money like a drunken sailor.
NOW – can you tell me I was unstable at the time I was manic, and DIDN’T need medication? “Better living through chemistry.” I was on a destructive path, mowing down everything that got in the way. Once, I even tried running my brother down with my car! Good Heavens, man, do you SEE where your argument fails??
Without the meds, the ultimate “crash” after a manic episode results in suicide, either physically OR mentally. However, I DON’T believe my brain has been affected by the drugs to the extent you do. I have a high IQ, too, but haven’t been tested AFTER the drugs. I won’t BEGIN to debate with you, as you are MUCH smarter than I am, and would decimate me in any dual conversation. I just HOPE you will come around and accept your lot in life, as a person with a “mental illness.” There are worse things; my second, late husband, was OCD and bipolar, who, in a fit of pique with his then-wife, went into the bedroom and took a whole BOTTLE of Tylenol. They didn’t find him for 11 hours (he slipped between the bed and the wall), and had to have his leg amputated. Talk about a fate worse than death – he suffered with “phantom pain” the rest of his life, and became a morphine addict. That is what ultimately took his life.
Google “bipolar disorder” or better yet, read the DSM IV and understand that what we ALL suffer with is a DOCUMENTED illness, kept at bay by medications that help with the chemical imbalance in our brains. Nuff said.
Interesting reading this evening. Suzanne, you are bang on with your last entry! Good for you! I am a supporter and am dreading May when my son will be re-evaluated and his psychologist will decide whether he needs to remain on meds or not. This Dr. thinks that if his patients remain “episode free” for a year, they can try going off meds. What kind of crap is that???? Isn’t the reason they have been episode free is because of the medication??????? I am in Canada so maybe the thinking up here is a bit different?? I’m sure my son would like to be off his meds.. he’s experienced a big weight gain and is sleeping an awful lot, but at the same time he started college and is sitting at a 4.0 grade point average so can’t be too “muffled in the head” from the medication, I’m thinking! Being in a small town we don’t have a whole lot of choice of doctors and I was so impressed that this psychologist diagnosed him during his very first manic episode that I guess maybe I trust him too much. It just doesn’t make sense to me. How does one go about keeping their loved ones on meds if the Dr.’s don’t think they need them??? I know when my son was in his manic episode he stole from a store, drove his car into a ditch, thought he was michael jackson and was moon walking around the house, quoted Bible verses he’d never heard, thought we were related to Julius Caesar, played music way too loud out of every device in our home, etc, etc… The Dr. said this was a mild episode. Ok, what if he goes off his meds and has a MAJOR episode??? I don’t have it in me as a Mom to see my son go to jail or kill someone just because some Dr. thinks he “might be ok” if not taking meds!
Dave, I hope your elbow continues to be ok… sorry but I had to chuckle at your accounting of the mystery of the pain. I had that last week in my arm, thought I had a broken arm but hadn’t bumped it or anything. It was just above my wrist and was so painful I couldn’t even turn the knob on my stove to turn a burner on. After 2 days I woke up and it was back to normal. Weird.
Hi Dave,
your information sounds really good. However I feel really overwhelmed by how much information you are sending me and have had to unsubscribe. Part of the problem of my depression is feeling bombarded by too much information in our society, I don’t know how to cope with it.
I have been diagnosed with severe depression, I don’t know if I am bipolar or not, I don’t have hallucinations. I think I am prone to being manic, then getting overwhelmed by everything. It is hard to find a doctor who will treat me like an intelligent adult if I admit to my mental illness. I think my doctor sees me as being unco-operative”, the last drug she prescribed me, is one that really knocks me out. I don’t feel I can really trust her. They are not looking for a good outcome where I am happy with the treatment, they just want me to be complient and not cause them any problems.