I am going to write an article on how to use a blog

Last night after I started my blog, I called someone who works with me and is SUPER smart.
I said “hey take a look at my blog.” She said, “What’s that? A blog?” I was surprised. I thought
everyone knew what a blog was. But I was wrong.

I got a lot of emails from people asking what a blog was. Then I realized, lots of people don’t know what they are. I am going to write up an article on what blogs are, how to use them, etc. This will be done in about 4 days.

Also, I have something on RSS which is even more confusing. That’s coming in about a week.

Well I have to run and go help my friend Rob out move some stuff around his new condo.

Dave

  1. I have Bi-Polar Disorder – I am in the early stages of treatment. I have mixed episodes – can’t even enjoy the fun stuff (mania – LOL)… anyway – my physicians and I are trying to come up with the correct chemical cocktail to get me back to an appropriate level of functioning. i was on Lamictal – and it was GREAT!!! It is the only Bi-polar drug that works for mixed episodes – that is it treats both poles – the mania and the depression – unfortunately I got the rash – which is one of the the very few and the only real serious side effect of the medication. So, now I am trying Topomax and hating it; I am groggy and can’t concentrate – all of the usual. Anyway – I wrote this to let anyone with mixed episodes who hasn’t heard of or tried Lamictal to discuss it with your physician and maybe give it a whirl. Side effects few and far between, it is fast acting, treats both poles – it was the best I had ever felt in 36 years… sadly it is gone – but I am still trying to chug forward.

  2. Yes, please give us some tips on using a blog. I thought I knew alot about computers but couldn’t figure out how to create a blog account last night. I am writing this here, so I finally figured it out.
    What I learned: User name has to be more than 5 letters. Display name can be different than user name. I couldn’t create a blog with MSN. It finally worked with Explorer.

  3. hi..um well..it would have been helpful to have known i was BP long before i wrecked some stuff..ah anyway i don’t use drugs..i don’t take medication…but i was thinking..maybe its easier if you just explain blog is short for web-log…and i got a BP drawing..if there is somewhere sensible i can put it..ta .

  4. i was diagnosed as bipolar at 19 (i’m 30 now). i go through VERY rapid cycles (almost to the point where i seem a tad schizoid…lol). i stopped taking medication years ago; everything i was given either drove my mania insane or it made me so tired i’d sleep 20 hours a day. i’d love to find something i could function on.

  5. I am Bipolar II…. no extreme highs but the lows are the pits… just go my diagnosis 2 weeks ago. My brain never goes to sleep and it’s difficult to focus.. I’m a bit silly/different if you will but I kinda like that… with BP explained… I now better understand me. Sleeping is tough.. awake every hour… Seroquel is helping some… Topamax is slowing thoughts and helping me focus… depression is still fairly low. Complication right now is that my 33 year old daughter is BP with anxiety, depression and agoraphobia and is in the middle of a BP crisis and a custody battle for her 3 kids. Ex is a real 2x###2! and now with me just learning about BP and dealing with my own I don’t know how to help her….. arggggggg!

  6. I am Bi-Polar II with borderline, anxiety and I suffer chronic pain and migraines. I’m currently taking Cymbalta for the depression and Topamax for the manic. I was diagnosed in the early 90’s but I was in denial, I told the shrinks all I needed was a divorce. I was diagnosed again last year but I’m no longer in denial. I don’t know how y’all are with stress, but I don’t handle stress at ALL.

    Gretchen, it took me a good month on Topamax for my concentration to get better. Try taking your Topamax at bedtime, that is what I do, that way I sleep through my grogginess and I wake up not being as groggy. My shrink said he would tell his patients to try the same thing to see if it helped them. Hope it helps you.

    Jenny, I too quit my meds for a number of years. In the long run it didn’t do me any good. I thought it did, I didn’t see how I was acting, I thought I was “just fine”. What I didn’t see was what I was doing to my family. I hope you are doing good without your meds, I hope you are a stronger person than I am. I couldn’t do it on my own.

    MaryJane, you and I have alot in common. I too have a child with Bipolar. However mine is a teenager. I’m almost 50 yrs old and just now out of denial of my bipolar and now trying to help my teenager out of her denial of her bipolar. My teenager will be moving back home with me in 2 weeks, she has been with her father but he can’t control her anymore and wants her back here with me and my husband.

  7. Hi, I am Biploar II diagnosed in 2000. I was on valproic, (blew me up like a balloon and I’m VERY hypomanic (almost ALL year then meaybe 1 bad 3 mnth depression, depending how long I ignore it for)seroquel ( didn’t make me sleep just mins awke but not ablr to speak or control my body. You name it; I’ve been guinea pigged -olanzapine, risperidone,paxil, Effexor conazepam, lorazepam, trazadone, finally thought we had something with lamotrigine (Lamictal) but ended up being sugar pill. I was diagnosed ADD kid, (DIDN’T get put on Ritalin only because my Mum’s a reg. nurse and knew it was bad) but I am crazy an annoying and untreatable. Even when I’m depressed I’m still super-hyper; I’m just suicidal.Like now. (almost succeeded in 2000; that’s how they diag. me) Too bad I didn’t.

  8. malecai, well I for one am glad you didn’t succeed. I didn’t succeed on any of my attempts either. When I’m really in a major depression I wonder why I didn’t succeed. I’m thankful now that I’m not in my dungeon much anymore. Sometimes I literally have to make myself get out of the house and go for a ride or do something that I normally like to do even if at the time I hate doing it. Listen to some music that makes you happy. I live in the country and I like just listening to the birds singing. Try to find something good that will lift your spirits for a few minutes, then hang on tight to those few minutes.

  9. I am having difficulty getting on to post to you, Dave. I have no clue if you will get this but I do not know what to put in my URL.

  10. Anita.. thanks for response… I’m 56 and was in denial for a long time because I don’t have extreme ups or hear voices or hallucinate, I do have extreme lows, I do have difficulty focusing, get distracted easily, go through periods of not needing sleep or not being able to sleep more than an hour at a time. My new psychiatrist explained BP II and after some research… yup.. that’s me!.. My daughter isn’t functioning… her kids are 14, 11 and 9. She should be in hospital now but because of custody battle and my own mental health right now combined with the exhusbands abusive nature…. well… he is NOT where these kids should be. I don’t do well with stress either…

    Malecai… I’m glad you didn’t succeed. Hang in there… it will get better. There IS hope. Let me share this with all of you. I have attempted suicide 4 times in my lifetime…. the last time I tried was 20 years ago. I had a psych. hospital worker sit down with me and describe to me what the body looks like as it goes through the stages of death…. every kind of death imaginable…. then she told me that people who attempt suicide usually change there mind at some point but often it is too late…. but the thing most important to me was that I would have no choice about who might find me….. it might be a child… MY child! Think about it! It gives me strength when I need it to NOT take that step when I’m at my lowest. I can’t be that selfish.

    Anita…. you are absolutely right, when we are the lowest… these are some of the things we can do to help ourselves. I’m in the pits now… I don’t want to go outside… but on the days that I force myself outdoors into the sunshine even if its cold… I feel better… even if it’s short lived. Music always seems to soothe my soul and I forget to even turn the radio on when I’m depressed. I don’t want to get out of bed… I don’t want to open the blinds.. get dressed…brush my hair… wash my face… brush my teeth… then when I do get up I go to feeling restless and yet I don’t feel like doing anything…. I have arthritis in my back that I take pain medication for (not as much or as often as I should for fear of becoming addicted) so when I do start to get energy to do something it isn’t long before I’m down again and in pain and then I’m depressed again… vicious cycle… going for a ride is my favorite thing to do but that’s becoming difficult with the price of gas these days…. I’m thinking that this blog is going to become a source of help if only as a source to vent and make good friends.

  11. maryjane, I too have uncle arthur in my back and in my neck. I go through radio frequency (killing the nerve endings) once a year so I don’t have to take the pain pills as often. I too have the fear of becoming addicted to pills. I’ve taken so many anti-inflamatories over the years that I can’t take them anymore because I have messed up my stomach.

    I think this blog site might just be the place for us to make some great friends!! Might even be good therapy for some of us too. I know we can vent here and all of us will understand, who knows better than someone who has been through it.

  12. I’m recently diagnosed bipolar. I was treated for depression for almost 2 years before we realized the diagnosis was wrong. There are so many things as I look back that I didn’t realize I was doing. But to the point of my post. I’m currently taking Depakote and Lexapro (we tried to do the Depakote alone, but I’m a mixed-state rapid cycler and it put me into a really bad 6-week depression). I feel a lot better now with the combo, but I can’t stay awake…the drowsiness is driving me crazy (no pun intended). Has anyone else ever encountered this?

  13. David, I believe we need a chat room, that way we don’t “bog down your blog” with our life stories.
    You know us BPs like to talk!

  14. Anita, wish I could go to the pain doc and say hey “lets try”… but unfortunately we’ve run out of all the ulternatives minus spinal fusion and neither the doc or I are willing to go there so I work with various therapies, Reiki, accupressure, Feldenkrais etc and take pain pills sparingly. I DO consider myself blessed though because the medical folks told my mom I’d be in a wheel chair by age 20 and I’m 36 years beyond and still walking… slowly and a bit painfully but walking. HA! I’m a fighter! The chronic pain can contribute to the depression however, and upon reflexion I realize that if I knew then what I know now my life might have been much easier or not… perhaps I would’ve chosen denial… who knows… all I do know for sure is that today… right now… I am not in denial and it feels good to admit that I have Bipolar II disorder because now I can finally begin to work toward getting better. I am a cup is half full person and being such I now can gain tools with which to make my life more functional… this is NOT going to control me… it is NOT going to ruin my life…. it is NOT going to define who I am. Did you know that there are many famous and functioning people who share our disorder? Jane Pauley is one. I don’t know about you but that gives me hope! 🙂

  15. maryjane,
    yep – you and I are definitely birds of a feather – Bi-polar II – me too, very bad – the lows, can’t enjoy the little highs… and I was treated for depression for 20 years before someone decided to get the dx right. I also have PTSD, GAD, chronic major depression and some prominent OCD features… gotta wonder how I live, eh? LOL
    Want to hear something even funnier? I am in the mental health business, was a supervisor at my last job – 24 hour tratment facility – am now 2 classes away from my Masters dgree – my husband just received his last week. Funny how you just can’t see it in yourself – I’d like to get the last 15 or so years back!
    And, for any who qualify – the lamictal was great! I hate the Topomax, hope it wears off – but I sure am taking it at bedtime but still sleep way too many hours a day – if I am not sleeping – I just lie around vegetable like – so what, really, is the difference? With a 2 and 3 year old running around it really isn’t acceptable and I have to get through these med shifts so i think straight and finish up grad work in Fall… I already bailed out of last semester in interest of trying to work through this – counselor must be well to counsel 🙂

  16. And yes David, I believe we might need a chatroom… LOL, your blog already seems to be bogged…
    maybe we could all figure something out – or we could set something up in MSN – I belong to a newsgroup there – something like that might work too… that way we can post and look and not actually have to be in the room at the same time to communicate, you know – different schedules, timezones, cycling, what have you…
    Maybe a mailing list thing – or we can just exchange e-mails if we all feel comfortable with that…

  17. And sooooo…. do we stop touching bases with other BP’s here on this Blog of yours David. It feels so good to finally be “meeting” others like me and feeling like I’m not alone… like there is hope! Like Gretchen has a strong personality that won’t allow her to quit no matter what… and in spite of the bad stuff that BP may cause or allow us to do… we are really a pretty great and wonderfully productive and talented bunch of folks. I’m not really that computer literate… not real familiar with the difference between a blog and a chat room or simply emailing… I like what’s happening here because I get to see what everyone is going through or experiencing and perhaps share or be a part of supporting another…. ya know?! So help us out here…. please!? I’m willing…. I know that upon reflection… looking back at life… life certainly could have been much easier had I know even the little bits that I know now. Help us out “oh master great thinker”….(giggles and grins).. by the way… I’m on Zoloft 100 mg bedtime, Topamax 25 mg am and 50 mg bedtime and Seroquel 50 mg bedtime. I’m back to not being able to getting a full nights sleep but when I am awake during the day I feel exhausted all of the time… when I eat everything makes me nauseated… even my favorite foods… The Seroquel is the drug that has been added since my BP diagnosis.
    Gretchen…. check my profile… I have no problem with you reaching me via my email….:)

  18. well, maryjane and other bp friends, since David is still silent on the subject; I will see what I can set up in the form of a newsroom or something and send you instrustions in the next week, in the meantime we will take advantage of David’s good will (if it makes you feel better David, I sent my husband your link and he said he is going to buy your full course!)
    maryjane – I tried to use your e-mail link in your profile but it didn’t work… so, i’ll try later – maybe the blog is just bogged down – it is a high traffic time…
    take care all, it is good to hear from all of you – gives some hope, sheds some light. And yes, whether I sleep at night or not, I am tired all day…. I am taking 100 mg of topomax a day and 60mg of prozac a day – plus some valium and ambien ‘as needed’ just for good measure 🙂 I have never taken so much medication in my life… I hope it all is worthwhile at some point and the right chemical cocktail comes around without years of waiting… I’d like my life, or semblance of it, back.
    And Malecai – you hang in there – it’s gotta get better, right? can’t get much worse… and now you have us, or at least me, can’t speak for anyone else.

  19. Gretchen, sorry about not getting my email off my profile… will check it as soon as I’m off here. Am going to try to get my daughter into hospital tomorrow. Her psych increased her clonapin to 2mg in am and 1 in afternoon and 1 at night to go along with 50mg Topamax 3x a day, 20mg of Lexapro in the morning and 15mg of Abilify at night and she’s getting worse… barely holding on. She walks like a zombie, has no apetite, is sleepy and sleeping all the time and when she’s awake her speech is affected. She has no energy. She manages barely to get her children up and to school and get their dinner and get them fed… often she gets them to bed but they get up after she’s fallen asleep so the oldest at 14 has to fight to get the youngest 2 to go to bed and often she calls me for back up. She’s so afraid of losing her kids if she goes in hosp. and she feels like she’s failing them now. I spoke with her family doctor after having him speak with her and he confirms that she needs to be there. I feel overwhelmed. I want to take care of my daughter and make sure that she’s okay and I need to make sure that my grandchildren are taken care of too. I don’t believe that their father (the 2 youngest) is a viable alternative either and is what keeps my daughter for seeking the help she so desperately needs. My counselor tells me I need to stay out of the legal aspects of this for my own sanity and let the “courts” take care of it but I see the damage that’s taking place on a daily basis to my daughter and my grandchildren. I’ve talked with the preventative services worker who comes into the kids home both at the moms and dads homes and expressed my concerns and nothing happens. I’m in the pits of depression myself and am holding on by a thread but fighting with whatever I can to try to see her taken care of and the kids too….. prayers please!
    Malecai…. hang in there!

  20. To Everyone About The Chat Room

    I am working on this but this is a really big project. I will however have a Bipolar Inner Circle coming within a few months. It will have a forum, expert articles and a whole lot of other stuff. You will be able to meet people and talk to one another.

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