Bipolar Moments – Weight Gain
Tag Archives: bipolar
Bipolar Moments – Showering
Poetry and Risperidone
These pills are like duct tape across
my mouth, silencing screams
clawing to get out.
Thoughts muted; rainbows
fade to greyscale;
playground ball deflated.
Pen suspended mid-air,
stutters at best. Spittle
on an anorexic page.
And already…
The End
like premature ejaculation.
I’m so sorry.
Smoking Cessation and Its Effects on Depression
I quit smoking seven weeks ago! Seven long weeks ago. It hasn’t been easy. Anyone who has ever kicked the nasty habit can tell you, it down right sucks at times! The physical withdrawals are, of course, at their worst the first week or two, and can play havoc with your moods, causing irritability and the like. But, what about the longer-term effects smoking cessation has on moods? Are there any?
Over at about.com’s Smoking Cessation Forum, members talk about the “Icky Threes” – the first being around day 3 of going through physical withdrawals. The second icky three is around week 3 where the psychological withdrawals begin and we have to “tackle the mental side of nicotine addiction.” Finally, comes the third icky three around 3 months of quitting where the newness of the quit wears off and we start to feel somewhat depressed.
My bipolar depression started a month after quitting, and became increasingly worse as the weeks went by. So, like a good mental health patient I visited my doctor and this is what he had to say:
“Quitting smoking affects the levels of dopamine in the brain, a neurotransmitter that is responsible for feelings of pleasure and well-being. Quitting smoking also affects how your body metabolizes medication, which could therefore, cause shifts in your mood.”
Makes sense to me.
He went on to say that eventually this tends to all work itself out in most people, but for those of us with mental illnesses, we may need our medication adjusted to make the transition from smoker to non-smoker a bit more tolerable. I agree.
On the other hand, according to a review of the literature done by Ragg, et al, there is almost no published research asserting that people with depression have an increase in symptoms or return of symptoms when they quit smoking. Moreover, they state that quitting smoking may even improve their mood in the long run. (Maybe they all just had their meds adjusted??? Huh? Did the researchers ever think of that?)
Quitting smoking – improving my mood? I will have to see it to believe it. Grrrr…. Stay tuned.
And in the meantime, any former smokers out there, feel free to lay some words of wisdom on me. I will treasure them!
Psychiatric Medication and Heat Illness
There are many medications that affect the way your body cools itself during extremely high temperatures that could put you at risk for developing heat-related illnesses. Beta-blockers and amphetamines are examples. Many of these medications are ones taken by psychiatric patients, yet rarely do we hear warnings on the news to check on this population along with the elderly and children during extreme heat like I think we should.
I am on propranolol (beta-blocker), Adderall (amphetamine), Cymbalta (antidepressant), Risperdal (antipsychotic), Ativan (antianxiety), and Topamax (anticonvulsant), all of which increase my sensitivity to heat.
So, when we were boating last weekend in the 95F degree weather and stopped for lunch to which the group “leader” thought it would be a great idea to sit outside and eat, I said, “Are you crazy?!”
I didn’t really say that, but I did ask if everyone would rather eat indoors, to which the leader responded, “No way!” and everyone else followed suit by sheepishly smiling. So, I got up, recruited my husband to walk with me into the restaurant and we sat in the air-conditioning until our food was served. By this time, I was cooled off and probably saved myself from the beginnings of some heat exhaustion.
Even though my friends know I am on psych meds, they don’t get the seriousness of the side effects. It’s up to me to be assertive enough to take care of myself, and that’s what I did.
The next morning we went on a hike, and while the morning temperatures were cooler, the steep hills got my heart pumping and pores sweating. We took a 15-minute rest break on a bench by the lake.
After our rest break, I noticed my friends’ faces were no longer perspiring or flushed. I, on the other hand, felt like I was running a fever and was feeling light-headed and nauseous. I decided it would be best to call my husband to come pick me up rather than continue on the rest of the hike with them, so that is what I did.
It bums me out that I can’t keep up with my friends in the heat, but without my medications I wouldn’t be able to do anything with them regardless of the weather.
Here’s a brochure by the Ohio Dept. of MH which includes a list of some of the medications that can impair the heat response, as well as what to look for and do in the case of heat exhaustion and heat stroke.
RxList is a comprehensive drug index that provides in-depth information on probably every drug you are on. Search the medications you are currently taking to see if they make you sensitive to the sun or heat, or ask your doctor or pharmacist.
Heat illness is very serious. Make sure you know if your medication is putting you at risk. Let’s keep summer safe!
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Weekend Mental Health Writing Prompt – Afraid To Fail
We are afraid to fail so instead we don’t try. How many things do you not try because you are afraid of failing?
Right now I am trying to stop smoking, and while a part of me feels like it is a lost cause because I have tried to quit several times in the past unsuccessfully, another part of me thinks, “But what if this is the time it works?”
Write about something you have tried and failed at, and then write about something you have tried and succeeded at, realizing that in life there are both failures and successes. The important thing is that we always try.
Make sure to link back to this post or comment below to share your response with others.
Weekend Mental Health Writing Prompt – Travel
Travel. Write about a memorable trip you took. How old were you, where did you go, who were you with, etc? How did this trip affect your mental health? What would be some of the ups and downs of this type of trip for someone with your type of mental illness symptoms?
I’ll be doing some traveling of my own this weekend and will tell you all about how it affected my mental health when I return.
In the meantime, link your response back to this post or reply in the comments below.
Happy Weekend, everyone!
Weekend Mental Health Writing Prompt – Friendships
Friendships. Write about what they mean to you. How do they play out in your life? How does your mental illness effect them, etc?
What qualities do you want in a friend? What qualities do you offer as a friend? How satisfied are you with your friendships? What changes could you make to better them?
What were your childhood friendships like?
Link your response back to this post or comment below. I hope you are having a wonderful weekend, my friends! 🙂
Bipolar Disorder and Migraine Link
There’s a new study out that suggests a link between bipolar disorder and migraines. More specifically, “six percent of the study’s healthy control group had migraines, compared with 31 percent of the 412 bipolar patients.”
As someone who has bipolar and who also suffers from chronic debilitating migraines, I found this study very validating to my situation.
Researchers found that those with bipolar disorder who experience migraines are “at risk for worse psycho-social functioning, more severe depression, and earlier onset of bipolar symptoms.”
This gives me all the more reason to keep working with my doctors to decrease the frequency of my migraines. There have been many times I have just wanted to give up, thinking that this is as good as it gets, but then I tell myself that I have to keep trying, keep fighting, keep searching – new meds, new doctors, new triggers, new ideas, just keep talking to people and researching.
Over the past three years my migraines have went from 3-4 per week to 1-2 per month! What a huge difference!!! It took a lot of trial and error and perseverance and patience to get to this point, but it was worth the relief from the horrific pain these migraines can bring.
Do you have bipolar and suffer from migraines too?
Weekend Mental Health Writing Prompt – Animal Me
If you could be any animal which would you choose to be? What does this animal represent to you? What advantages and disadvantages does it have over other animals? Is it possible or do you already emulate this animal’s positive qualities in your human life today? Why or why not?
Blog your response and link back to this post, or feel free to comment below. Hope everyone is having a nice weekend!
Write into the Light 