Hi, how’s it going? Hope you are doing well.

I know someone who has bipolar disorder who is pregnant right now. Obviously, she has to work on her problems on an immediate basis to keep them from affecting the baby. But recently, she found out about a new complication. She has gestational diabetes.

Of course, this only serves to make her bipolar disorder worse, as well. I can only imagine what ways blood sugar can impact mood swings. And even if she wasn’t having mood swings to begin with, a messed up blood sugar count could start one! I’m sure that her bipolar disorder wasn’t particularly good for her blood sugar, either. It almost seems like a big catch-22.

It reminds me of when a person who has bipolar disorder has a co-occurring drug abuse problem. One affects the other, and vice versa. The only way to treat either of them is to treat both of them at once.

The same thing with the bipolar and diabetes. In fact, the same thing with bipolar and any other problem! There’s a concept called total wellness. What this refers to is that a person cannot be only partially well. If they have two problems and only treat one of them then the other is going to continue to aggravate the one that “got treated.”

Have you ever stubbed your toe? You probably have. In that moment that you stubbed your toe, chances are it hurt badly and you had a hard time focusing on anything else for a few moments. All that, just for a simple stubbed toe.

But if anything is wrong with a person, it’s like everything is wrong. It’s so easy to get caught up in the immediate feeling of hurt, conflict, or confusion that it becomes harder and harder to see anything right about the situation.

We’ve seen just how true this is for bipolar disorder. But it’s true for everything else, as well. What does this mean to you? Well, it means that if you handle your bipolar disorder well but don’t take care of that toothache, it’s going to eat away at you.

Eventually that toothache might just lead to a relapse because of the stress it causes. Maybe this won’t happen with you, but I personally think it’s better to not find out the hard way. Especially considering that if you avoid finding out you can also take care of the toothache – or whatever it is in your situation.

I considered calling this “Bipolar Wellness.” But then I had to stop and think. It’s very difficult to have wellness from bipolar disorder without having wellness from other things as well. So instead I thought “Total Wellness” would be a better title. Don’t you agree?

Isn’t that a good aim? Total wellness. Sometimes it can be overwhelming to work towards it. But it’s important to break down your goals into steps and to-do lists that you can take care of easily. That will, in fact, contribute to your wellness also.

Today’s the day to start being well. What ways can you work to improve your overall wellness?

Well, I have to go!

Your Friend,

Dave