Hi,
How’s it going?
Yesterday someone asked me on my blog, “why do you write all these stories before your daily emails?”
I do because I like toJ I really hate long and boring stuff. When I first started helping my mom, there wasn’t much good information. And of the stuff that did exist, it was sooooooooooooooooo boring.
Today it’s the same. Lots of boring information and things that are based on theory not reality.
Anyway, I have a funny story today.
The other day I was actually buying a new cell phone. My other cell phone was 8 years old.
It just wasn’t working right. So I went down to my favorite cell phone store.
SIDE NOTE-
Actually I didn’t have the same phone for 8 years. I had insurance and my phone was breaking like every other month so I always had a new old phone if you know what I mean.
When you do more than 10,000 minutes a month, your phone breaks a lot J I would always get my phone at this Nextel store because the people there were really funny. They had like an entertainment store.
They had TVs, a couch, lots of funny people. They had lots of customers and it was kind of like the trading floor of a stock market (you know what you see on TV when people are buying and selling stocks.) People were always yelling in the store.
-“Get me this.”
-“I need that. ”
-“John where’s are dog?”
“Christie, where’s your baby?”
So anyway, I was there last week getting my new phone. They said after the years they “knew me so well” this certain phone would be perfect for me.
Well it turns out the phone wasn’t perfect for me. It had one problem. You couldn’t talk on the phone while it was charging. A major problem for someone who uses can use over 10,000 cell phone minutes a month.
So I knew that I had 30 days to take the phone back and get a different one.
I went in there and told them the problem. They were all laughing and screaming at one another. They have to talk super loud because no one can hear. It’s really strange but funny.
So they asked how I liked the phone besides the fact that I couldn’t talk on it and charge it at the same time.
IMPORTANT BIPOLAR DISORDER LESSON COMING….
I said well, I did like it. They asked if I knew all the features and I said yes, I read the manually carefully.
The guy John was like, “You did what?” and I was like, “I read the manual from A to Z, the entire thing.”
He said, “You mean the cell phone manual?” and I said, “Yes.”
He then started laughing. And then he yelled, “Dave read the cell phone manual — the entire thing!”
Then everyone started looking at me, pointing and laughing.
When new people came into the store they were like, “See that kid? He reads cell phone manuals for a living.”
They were like (HA HA), “You read the manual?” No one reads the manual. Only Dave would read the manual.” HA HA HA!
So then they were like “Would you read the manual for a TV or DVD player?” And I said, “Absolutely.”
I read ALL the manuals I get very carefully.
I don’t know why, but they thought this was so funny. Seriously, everyone in the store was looking at me and laughing. They were suggesting that I was some kind of nerd or something.
I was like, “The only nerds in here are you guys because you guys look like nerds. I don’t, anytime you want to play any kind of sport any day let’s do it J.” They were like, “But we don’t sit home and study cell phone manuals.”
I was like “Oh yea, well you guys look nerdy because you just sit here in a small office and eat poorly and never work out.”
They were like, “But at least we don’t read cell phone manuals!”
Then I was like, “at least I didn’t get picked LAST everything there was a game in high school? J” We were going around and around (it sounded like high school!)
I was like, “You guys are clueless, you should read the manual so you know everything, if you’re going to be selling these things!” I said, “How in the world would you learn everything or know it all?” and one guy screamed laughing, “Duh, by trial and error.”
I said, “That’s dumb. That’s just like not reading the information you get when you get bipolar medications!”
They were like “Oh there he goes again talking over our heads talking bipolar on us.” NOTE-These guys know that I have this
organization. They think it’s really funny. They say all I ever talk about is bipolar. Actually one guy has a family member with it so he loves to hear new updates.
One guy says that he was going to put a warning on the store that said, “working hear can lead to you going crazy?”
So then they said “I bet you are going to tell your newsletter people about us in one of your daily things.” I said “Absolutely!”
So here I am. This entire story reminded me of a HUGELY important concept with bipolar disorder when it comes to medication.
You MUST read the literature that you get. You MUST find out the side effects that a medication can cause.
You can do this by going to the drug companies’ websites and also calling the toll free 800 number that each drug company has.
VERY few people read the literature they get when they get their prescription filled. VERY few people look at the drug company’s website and call the 800 numbers.
YOU MUST DO THIS.
I believe in reading the literature you get. Whether it’s a cell phone manual, DVD manual, vacuum cleaner manual, or bipolar medications information.
You MUST do this.
I remember this one time my mom was put on a new medication. She had a number of problems. I told her to visit the company’s website and call the 800 number. The 800 number was answered by someone at the drug company who was very knowledgeable. The person explained that the problems my mom was having went along with side effects of the medication.
She told her doctor and her medication was changed. You might think it’s the doctor’s job to do this, but it’s not. It’s YOUR job to do this. 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:
When you listen to the success interviews you hear from person after person how important this is.
Bipolar Disorder is a serious illness. It’s not a joke. The medications that you are talking are serious, too. You must know about them and be up on them.
You can do this all for F.REE by reading what you get when you get your prescription filled, visiting the drug company’s website
and calling their toll free 800 number to ask any questions.
Don’t be like so many people that don’t do any of this.
Hey, I have to run.
Oh one last thing. With my new phone, the manual comes on a CD. They were like “HA HA you can’t read this one unless you are going to glue yourself to your computer because it’s on a CD.”
I was like “Oh, yes I can. I will just print it off, have it bound (it’s 279 pages), and read it.”
They were like, “NERD!” and I was like, “You guys are lucky that I like you :)”
If you ever need a cell phone this store is the most fun phone cell phone selling place I have ever been to!
What do you think of this story?
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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 responses below
Dave, if you read the manual you would have known that you can’t talk on your cell phone while it’s charging.
Ha Ha Ha !
Don’t worry you aren’t the only person in the world who gets poked fun at because they read all the manuals. My husband often asks me how to do things with some of the everyday items we have around the house. My first question is always, “Did you check the manual?” That’s the way I find out how to do the thing he’s asking me about. My whole family laughs about the manual reader in the family.
My husband was to my opinion undiagnosed bipolar but with a very heavy workload and responsable job, he was able to hide the symptoms ?I recognised by reading medical literature cyclothymia,hypomania that worsened the last two years .He went at 58 for symptoms that might have been interpreted by him like depression,anxiety,lack of concentration to see first a G.P.?Classical mistake !.He was treated by Serotax but responded badly(side-effects).He quit “cold turkey” and was given 14 days later Xanax by a doctor (psy) who treated him again for depression with Cipralex, he did not take finally .I was absent for a job and his situation worsened with delusion,confusion ,acute mania which had never happened and with two underaged children present in the house,he fled away from a telephone call and jumped from the balcony, full of tics and was he was killed.People witnessed retrograde amnesia and extrapyramidal symptoms.I do not accept that he suicided.Don’t publish my last name .Thanks!
Dave,
Good yarn, but stick to the bi-polar stuff, rather than consider a career as a writer! It’s just, like, too many “I was like..”- LOL!!!!!
England and America – two countries separated by a common language….:)
I read the manuals AND I check out the website of the medications my husband is prescribed – immediately! I always ask him “did the doctor mention this?” “did the doctor mention that?”, etc. He would never think about it himself. I remember when he was on Lamictal and I had read about it affecting his eyesight. Several months later he is at the eye doctor being prescribed bi-focals. I laughed at him at first and then thought – wait a minute….I think it is your medication! He mentioned it to his doctor – she dismissed him, he mentioned it the next month, she dismissed him again. He decided to stop taking it on his own, his eyesight improved almost immediately. He called the doctor again and told her what was going on, she finally switched his medication. If I hadn’t read up on it his eyes would have gotten worse and worse even with the bi-focals. It is so important to know what may happen with every medication that enters your body!
I read manuals and directions too just so”I am not totally clueless”
Now that i have the web i read even more and i very happy to have your site to read. I am even learning some things about myself
People laugh at me, too, and call me a “medical groupie” because I read up on any illness that strikes anybody among our friends and family members. My sister even sent me a book about hypochondria, because she thinks I love disease, or like to play doctor!
I don’t love diseases, but do think doctors have an interesting job. I’m an artist, and don’t have the kind of brain doctors need to keep track of the small details; if I were a doctor, all my patients would die.
But because I read up on illnesses, a hospital said I saved the life of one family member, getting him some Benadryl, then getting him to a hospital when he was having an acute reaction to a medicine he was prescribed.
Even then, I had to force him to go.
You are SUCH a valuable support for bi-polar sufferers and supporters. I don’t know what we would do without you. Please live long and be well, and just laugh at those who laugh at you. Tell them to call me, I will tell them what you mean to us! By all means, KEEP READING AND LEARNING HOW THINGS WORK!
XO, Carolyn
Yes, they were making fun of you but mostly teasing you and you returned it to them in good fun. It’s their responsibility to be knowledgeable about the merchandise that they’re selling. I retain manuals and read them when I need assistance, but have never read one in its entirety.
I read regular every day manuals on a “must read to enable me do” method, but when it comes to a new medicine prescribed for any of my family I read the info the pharmacy prints out, but I also have and keep a fairly new Physician’s Desk Reference (PDR) and hit that up very thoroughly. I may not know what the chemical formulas mean but I do know everything that can be a side effect for that prescription and I keep the print out from the pharmacy and the PDR bookmarked and handy just in case. I typically get about 60 prescription refilled each month for my household, this is the reason I keep a fairly updated PDR around although they are very expensive, and I also use a drug interaction checker as well. So I may not know exactly how to use any electronic, but I know what the side effects are with any new med and I can often look at a pill, especially if it is a brand name, and tell you what it is and what it can be used for as well as common side effects. I have to stay on top of it to keep my family alive and well because I have called Doctors more than once on a new script known to have a bad reaction with a drug already being taken. They (the doctors) do not like me very much, but I do not care as long as my family is as safe as they can be with so many different meds being taken routinely.
So, did they ever settle down and get you a phone that you can use while it’s recharging? Or did they sell you a second phone just like the one you have, so you can always be using the one that’s not charging!? You don’t get the feeling that they use humor to distract you from their lack of knowing their stuff? (Just curious)
Your analogy is a good one. I just wish that all people writing instruction booklets would be careful to use words and phrases that are easily understood by the public with little or no background knowledge. I quit sewing in frustration because I just couldn’t follow the instructions on the patterns! (It’s not my level of intelligence that’s the problem. I have two master’s degrees. But maybe it’s the TYPE of intelligence that makes for a person who likes/finds it easy to read manuals and those who don’t, or would, but get frustrated trying to understand them.)
Reading a manual is like reading the DSM IV. Wish they’d put that stuff in English so that the ‘average’ person can understand. It is often written for people with a PhD or MD to comprehend, then I even have my doubts about that. I don’t think the people in their own professions can read their own text books.
Dave,
You are a nerd.
DAVE, you must be a speed reader, if with your busy life you have the time to read manuals from cover to cover. I’d rather read a good mystery story, but then some of those manuals are exactly that (lol). I love your funny stories as part of your good work – keep them going.
When my psychiatrists were first prescribing all the new meds (trying to find the RIGHT “cocktail”) I would read the “manual” and all the side effects that went along with them. My Mother (who sincerely believed I was NOT mentally ill), would tell me NOT to read “that stuff,” it only made it worse! But to me, it was important to know WHAT could possibly affect the meds, or what the meds could affect.
The only trouble I’m having now is, that I have been prescribed a VERY sedating pain medicine (Fentanyl patch), and – can’t read the manual! The print is sooo small, it would take a magnifying glass to read it at all! Now – I have tri-focals, and STILL can’t read it all. What I am looking for is how it affects the antipsychotic meds i’m on. The pain specialist who ordered it for me, only gave the basics – won’t feel any effects for first 12 hours; if you stop, it’s in your system for next 12 hours, etc. BUT – what I really want to know is – if I’m OVERLY sedated.
I had severe, strange side effects for the first week I was on it (last week) – horrible headaches, regurgitation, queasy stomach, fatigue. But – as I’ve just taken my third patch, it seems to be leveling off. I guess I just have to build up a tolerance for the opioid in my body.
Although I’m not a “manual reader,” my ex-boyfriend believed in them. And, if he couldn’t find the answer in the manual, he “Googled” it. “Knowledge is power” and the more knowledge you have about your medications – and how they react in your particular situation – the better off you will be.
I agree with Mike – “you ARE a nerd!”
Dave; I too read manuals and the way you describe this store is like you say, entertaining. Your story was cute and no it is not because you are trying to become a writer as Steve writes. Actually, yes you can talk on certain phones while the phone is being charged. My daughter does it all the time in the car and I do so when my battery is dying during a call. Besides all this, and the main reason you write is biolar news, I want to thank you. I truly read them even if I have never written in before. My daughters say I am looney(they do not mean it seriously) to enjoy so much medical stuff. I just enjoy learning. Again, your cell phone story was really cute to read.
You know Dave “Like I have to tell you, dude”this email caught my attention…we forget to laugh too after we haven’t read the medication pamplet for my illness I fondly refer to as “beautiful tides” or gigglinfire and last and my favorite “my poetic madness”…anyways what I’m trying to say is yes yes read read everything, everypage on the drugs you’re on (just don’t get spazed out when reading things like”can be fatal””Can cause constipation””diabetes” oh the list …. you know it)educate yourself about what’s going into your body and how it’s working or not working for you. Pay close attention to the newer drugs and updates I found site by mistake one day and ended up really liking it, go to: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pharmaceutical_company…I was on a tangit up there but didn’t loose the point in that #1 Read the med stuff especially if you really want to get to “your home safely” #2 Like I said up there, we forget to laugh, we forget because this is serious business no doubt..Put it to the side for a moment and endulge yourself in a good laugh at it all, life, our individual bipolar characters..It’s ok to laugh hard because maybe just maybe you’ll really get how lucky you became when you said “I’m brave and proud to say I’m defined by courage to take my stand against the madness of bipolarr disorder before It defined me” I’ve”sculpted me from a million tiny snapshots taken in a scary bottomless place I braved to find the top of…..so laugh at your ability to manage madness… and want to live to talk about it and yes laugh about the all the routes you took to go in circles …. Show me a “normal person” living normal in a world that is already mad than throw a little bipolar their way..just to have a glimpse of how much more strength, bravery and courage “normal” really has…now that wouldn’t be funny…just food for thought(Just a crazy comparison game I play out in my head durings those times when I’m not laughing at good ol ignorance the “normal person”mistook AGAIN for intelligence, compassion and selflessness) for much more strength, bravery and courage “normal” really has…now that wouldn’t be funny…food for thought…yes I know I changed subjects…Sideaffect sorry..Hee Hee Hee
I read manuals myself. I mentioned to a lady friend that I read a the instructions to something one time and she was like “”REALLY????”” “Does that mean you ask for directions too????” LOL… I was like, Well, YA!!! Why should I drive in circles if all I have to do is ask someone how to get where I am going? Now “Not” asking directions sounds Dumb to me! I think it is very risky to “Not” read the information that comes with the Rxs. I once started losing hair really bad, and the Depacote pamphlet said it can cause hair loss. I was losing it fast too. So I told my dr. we switched to Lamictal and wallaa, no more hair loss. Though it hasn’t really come back, at least I stopped it before it all came out. LOL…
But Reading up on medication, bipolar and checking for drug interactions is very, very, very important. You may get away with “trial and error” on a cell phone, but it could be “trial and “Fatal Error” when dealing with medications…
Bob
I thought it was very funny and true at a lot of retail store like somepaces that I went to as well I had a good laugh it made my day thanks ALAN
Hello Dave:
I enjoy your funny stories. You make the subject you are talking about pleasant and interesting. I always like “salt and pepper” in everything. It is more enjoyable. Since I come from another country, and, I have an accent; well, people make fun of me, and, I take that in a constructive way, if I do not detect. a sarcasm in their voice or the intention of making me feel bad. In that case, I consider that with an accent or not, I have an advantage over them. Keep up with your excellent work. Thanks for taking time to help other people. God bless you today an always. Isolina
Really cute story. you sound like a bunch of my teenagers friends. Nice place to do business. also, good point. don’t want to burst your bubble, but most people don’t read cell phone manuals. KUDOS FOR THE NOTE ABOUT THE MEDS THOUGH.
I JUST WANT TO SAY. THIS WAS THE BOMB. I HAVE A HUSBAND THAT NEVER READS THE MANUAL ON ANYTHING AND I HAVE LONG SUSPECTED HIM BEING BIPOLOAR AS I AM. THIS IS JUST ONE ON MANY TRAITS HE HAS. SO BIG UPS TO YOU FOR KEEPING IT REAL AND NOT CARING ABOUT WHAT THE NOT SO SMART PEOPLE HAVE TO SAY. I AM GUILTY OF THIS MYSELF. BUT IM GOING TO LOVE SHOWING HIM THE PRINT OUT AND POINTING OUT ONE MORE COMMON THING HE HAS WITH US. THE BIPOLARS
I always read the manual on everything. It’s interesting to me so i know what am putting in my body and any side affects. My daughter, who is bipolar, does the same thing. It’s funny, but my ex- never read anything which accounted for him having to do things twice over at least.
Interesting story and that store you go to. Seems like most customer service assts. are like that. They should figure out the more they read the more sales they get!!!!!! See ya later.