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Old 04-28-2008, 11:20 AM
  # 281 (permalink)  
Life the gift of recovery!
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Weather report

Weather report

Every day can be a beautiful day.
Just take a look around you
and think about all of the
wonderful things you have
to be thankful for...
the sunshine,
roses,
laughter,
close friends,
family,
music,
and beautiful dreams.
The storm is never
half as bad as it seems.
Don't let the rain ruin your day.
When the dark clouds move in
just smile,
because the good times
are on the way.


Just wanted each of you to know I am thinking of you today. I am hoping the roller coaster is where ever it needs to be for you to have a great day today.

Judith
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Old 04-29-2008, 06:32 AM
  # 282 (permalink)  
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hey everyone havent been doing well, my 2 week down spell peaked with a day long emotional raging episode and now I feel better 2 days out but hate that this keeps happening and that I cant seem to get control of myself
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Old 04-29-2008, 10:00 AM
  # 283 (permalink)  
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Originally Posted by SkyeHigh View Post
I'm running a few different thoughts/threads together as I give this sobreity thing another shot. I just started after a 5 year interlude, back onto some BP medication. Lamactin, Campral, and Invega currently as everything works to build up a TD. What seems to be happening though is that I drink, which initiates some sort manic/hypomanic episode---and then it's all on. The meds aren't even getting a chance before I start messing with them. 2 weeks ago I quite my job on a Tuesday, picked up my wife and drove to a Casino, then spent the next 48 hours glued to the tables. Since then other similar outbursts continue to happen about every 3-4 days. Questioning the fellow dual-diagnosis community, and recognizing I'm terrified at the prospect of going thru it once again, what are people's opinions on hospital committment to allow for a suficient chance to get the meds up. I hate the thought of being comitted again, but the prospect of not doing something rash in the meantime is appealling. Thanks for your thoughts!

-Skye
Have you talked to your doc?

How are you feeling today? Keep posting with us.
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Old 04-29-2008, 10:01 AM
  # 284 (permalink)  
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Originally Posted by least View Post
riding this roller coaster is making me sick but I can't get off of it. I want it to stop so I can get off but it only goes faster. I'm sick of this and just want it all to be over.
(((((((((((((((((((((((LEAST)))))))))))))))))))))) ))))

Hang in there friend.
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Old 04-29-2008, 10:02 AM
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Originally Posted by cinderellawkids View Post
hey everyone havent been doing well, my 2 week down spell peaked with a day long emotional raging episode and now I feel better 2 days out but hate that this keeps happening and that I cant seem to get control of myself
I understand you completely. I cannot stand when that evil demon decides to take control

(((HUGS))) to you:ghug3
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Old 04-29-2008, 11:19 AM
  # 286 (permalink)  
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Hi folks,

been losing the plot a bit again....but back on steady. I hate this rapidity, it is crazy. I see pdoc this week but I am not lookingn forward to it cos he wants me to change meds and I hate change.

Hi Skye. Sounds like you are going through a tough time. I am not US so please tell me....what does commited mean? Is that the same as our UK being 'sectioned' where you are put into a mental health hospital and you cannot leave until you are well?

Least, I can only offer sympathy and hugs:ghug2

Nadm, you made a point about your ptsd being worse on the weeks you have therapy, that makes sense to me. From my humble uneducated viewpoint hun, you have to go through that to get to the other side. I often leave therapy feeling bad. In fact, I never used to work after it as sometimes all I wanted to do was go to my bed. Now though, I do work after it and it is early days to see if it is therapeutic or not.

(((cinders))) if it is any consolation, I don't feel too well in control myself. Strangely enough though, my rages, which are apparently my mania, have gone, and I miss them. I feel I am not sorting things out as I am no longer angry, so hubs assumes I am happy.

(((mama)))how is that cherub of yours!?

Hippy
xxx
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Old 04-29-2008, 04:17 PM
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Hi everyone. Good to read through all your posts.

Went to my psych doc today to get med refills. Sometimes I wonder what in the world I am doing. I did not tell her about the attempt at reducing my meds. I just said that I had a low spot.....what a general way of putting something that was so much more than just a low spot in the road....don't know why I wasn't honest with her. Maybe I was afraid she would change my meds again. I did talk to her a little about the roller coaster only because my partner insisted I tell her about it. Ironically, again I down played it to her and made it sound like I was just telling her because my partner said I should and that I did not think there was much to it. So needless to say she said she felt like the mood swings were probably related to the seasonal stuff with the reduced sunlight etc... and she did not change any meds. She did discuss putting me back on Lithium. I hated being on that, I gained so much weight. I am struggling right now trying to just get down to a decent weight. I refuse to get any larger. I want to at least have my physical health if I can't have my mental health in good shape. I think that when she mentioned the Lithium I started downplaying everything and that is why she did not make any changes. So if I start swinging again I guess I am going to have to call her. At least she agreed not to take me off the Lamictal but rather to use the Lithium as an adjunct med with the Lamictal and Cymbalta. I guess I really need to work on being open and honest with my psych doc as I have had the same one for the past 5 years, there is no reason for me to suddenly start not telling her all she needs to know. I guess I am posting this because I know I should have been open with her about my mood swings rather than down play them. I don't see her again for another 3 months but I will call her if things get out of wack.
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Old 04-29-2008, 10:25 PM
  # 288 (permalink)  
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Hi everyone!!!

Only two days off this week. So I'm back already.

Had something personal in nature happen
that brought up what I can only call 'pre-ptsd' stuff ....
didn't have a full-blown 'episode'
(you know, over twenty years with this and I still resist being a person who has 'episodes')
but I *did* sit on the bed for most of the day with a book.

Escape is escape, I reckon.

So ...
I don't know how 'WELL' I handled anything ...
but I didn't drink to make it go away.
I didn't use.
I didn't turn to food
and I'm totally off meds for a good couple of months now.

BUT -
I *AM* noticably 'grouchy' , apparently.
I feel on 'edge'
my only strength right now is AWARENESS
of what is going on with me.

SO -
I'm just gonna go down and hang out with the goats maybe do some fishing.
Do some garden stuff.
Weeding.
Weeding is good.
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Old 04-30-2008, 01:25 AM
  # 289 (permalink)  
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Skye - I hope you'll give us an update soon!

(((NandM))) and (((hippy))) and (((least)))
looks like all four of us had our bumpy rides this weekend!

((((Guys)))) sorry I didn't greet everybody - see what I mean?
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Old 04-30-2008, 03:15 AM
  # 290 (permalink)  
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Barb,
My garden is the best therapy I know.
It takes me away for hours! It's mindless and it turns dirt into a thing of beauty and of bounty. It's an accomplishment of which I can feel really good about!

Judith,
I don't know why I can never be fully honest either...
With the new pnurse; or the old counselor...
Don't want them to know *how* nuts I am, I guess! :rof

Shalom!
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Old 04-30-2008, 10:56 AM
  # 291 (permalink)  
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Barb and Teach, yes the garden or any work in the yard is wonderful therapy. I think that is one of the reasons I agreed to keep up with a friends yard even though it doesn't pay a lot for the work involved. It has been nice to just get outside, in the fresh air (although around here sometimes fresh rain), feel the dirt on my hands, the softness of the grass under my feet, soak in the smell of the blooming trees and flowers, and enjoy all the wonders that nature presents. On Monday I spent the day transplanting some blooming ground cover into the little patch of ground on the other side of the sidewalk in front of my house. The ground cover I got a few years ago just hasn't filled in fast enough for me although it is pretty. I started it from about 10 less than 3" long starts of creeping phylox now they have nearly filled in a 3' x 12' space, but that still leaves the ends of the patch which needed something in it. The phylox has bloomed out this year with lots of color from white to bright pink. Next year or this fall I am planning on building a retaining wall for the grass in the front yard. It sits at such a slope that the nutrients and water run off it leaving it brown by mid summer no matter what I do. But that is going to be a lot of work so it won't be this spring. Plus when I do that I might as well put a sprinkler system in out there so that will be even more work plus some planning.

I found some pretty flower bed border I used at the friends house and had to get for my back yard flower beds. It is scalloped but comes in single pieces that fit together so it can do nice curves or straight lines. It is really easy to put in just need a rubber mallet. Today, if I have time after class I am going to use the chain saw to cut out a bush at my friends house. It is a sticker bush that really is not pretty. So once I get it out of the flower bed she can use the spot to plant a small veggie garden. It will give her 80 year old mother something to do while she is at work. Although the lady keeps pretty busy with her china painting. She does wonderful work, she has given me several pieces she has done.

Today it is fairly sunny with a few clouds. It is about 70 degrees outside so perfect weather for working in the yard.

Hope all of you have a nice day. I would say I will be thinking of you while I am out enjoying the air in the yard but I will probably just be relaxing and enjoying what I am doing rather than doing too much thinking about anyone or anything. Take care and have a good one.

Judith
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Old 04-30-2008, 02:03 PM
  # 292 (permalink)  
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Damn! If it isn't me screwing up and feeling crappy, it's something else. Or was I just so numb in the last year of drinking that I couldn't feel anything at all?? Sometimes I feel like I'm being 'tested' and I'm sure I'm found wanting. Too many 'things' are going wrong, and going wrong all at once. Things I can't control, things that need money to correct, things that have nothing to do with me.

Today has been AWFUL. Everything and anything that could go wrong, did go wrong. I spent the afternoon on the computer and had so much 'nervous energy' I could hardly sit still. The only things that kept me from drinking myself into a stupor were 1) having no money to buy any; 2) having no car to go get it anyway; and, 3) not wanting to mess up my 32 sober days! So I guess it's a good thing to have no money right now.

Daughter is mad at me cause I forgot to ask my mom if she can go with us to an important event tomorrow nite. My memory is really shot. The depressing thing about my depression is that a lot of it is just circumstantial, no meds can help it, like being unemployed, needing car repairs, etc. I'm having a hard time handling it. And there's not a damn thing i can do about it.

Thanks for letting me let off steam before I explode.


I HATE roller coasters!
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Old 04-30-2008, 04:56 PM
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((((least))))

I wish I could say something that would make it all change for the better right now but as all of us who ride this darn roller coaster no words are going to change the ride we just have to ride it out.

I can relate to where you are at though. There have been so many times in my life when I have felt like such a failure, I couldn't do anything right, the world thought I was incompetent, etc.... Today when those things are happening in my life such as the car breaking down, money issues, etc... I don't let it affect my self esteem normally. Here is one of the things that helped me throught those times and to learn how to see things in a different light. I hope you will take the time to read it and that it helps you as well. There is a book called "Change Your Mind and Your Life Will Follow" it is by Karen Casey author of "Each Day a New Beginning". If you find that you can not afford the book right now let me know and I will start a thread with excerpt from it as I don't mind the typing. Here is what the book jacket says about the book
"Most of us think that our lives are just too complex, too difficult, too unique to be bettered by simple changes," Karen Casey writes. Not true!

Nearly three decades ago Karen Casey wandered into a support group with the intention of figuring out how to change the behavior of someone in her life and heard, for the first time, that the only person she could change was herself. The result? Change so profound that Casey dedicated much of her life to teaching others about it.

Change Your Mind and Your Life Will Follow suggests that we have only two real choices in life. The first is to fall into despair, become numb, and let fear have its way with us. The second is to open our hearts to those around us, to heal ourselves and each other by changing how we respond in every interaction we have. We cannont change a person. We often cannot change a situation. We can change how we react. We can learn to act out of our own hearts rather than to react in hurt or anger. We can remember that we are not in control. When we stop focusing on problems, solutions tend to appear.

Organized around twelve very simple steps, this book gives us the tools we need to find within ourselves the positive, peaceful response to every curve life throws us.

Every encounter is a holy encounter---and we can all respond accordingly. One day, one step at a time, we can make small changes---that add up to big changes--- to the only person that any of us ever can change---ourselves.

"If I have learned anything through nearly three decades of sobriety it is that dramatic life changes happen by these small steps. I got into recovery in 1976 and wrote my first book, Each Day a New Beginning: Daily Meditations for Women in 1982. I have been writing ever since and this book is my seveteenth book. My recovery from alcoholism along with my commitment to helping others heal themselves and their relationships through my books, workshopes, and lectures are the activities that drive my life. I am lucky to have a wonderful husband and two grandkids who are great reminders of why anything is important."
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Old 04-30-2008, 05:03 PM
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Well got the yard work done. Shrub and its roots dug up. Changed the box on their porch that had a lid on it that was too big and bulky to lift up to have access to it, so that the lid doesn't have to be opened, I took the front off and made it into doors that open. It will make it much easier for them to get into the box. Had several little cloud bursts while I was working but they were nice and warm rain so I didn't mind.

I was actually supposed to be at class today. Had two of them that I should have attended. But the anxiety started in last night and was out of control by this morning so I didn't get to them. I felt guilty so I wound up going over to the friends house to do the work. I should have just taken a Klonopin last night when the anxiety started and then I would have probably made it to class. Really should have been in the marine biology lab today as we were supposed to do some discecting of squid. Guess I am paying for skipping class as my back pain is out of control now from the yard work. Have the TENS unit and ice on it and took an oxycodone, ibuprofen, and flexeril. I am hoping that they kick in soon so the pain will get under control. Need it to get under control as I have my home group meeting tonight.

Hope all of you are doing well.
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Old 04-30-2008, 05:10 PM
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Ok, one more thing then I will quit thread hogging. Here is a photo I took of my Beagles that might bring a smile to your face. No I am not asking for votes on my photo; I have to post it as a link as I can not upload photos in the threads for some reason. I have tried the resizing thing and several other things but some of my features are not working. Guess it is the gremlins in the program. Oh well, hope you enjoy this. I did as I won two amature photo contests with it.
Photographer's Choice...Rate My Photo

Judith
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Old 04-30-2008, 06:27 PM
  # 296 (permalink)  
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Hey, that's a great shot!
They look like good buddies! :rof

Shalom!
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Old 04-30-2008, 06:29 PM
  # 297 (permalink)  
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Originally Posted by historyteach View Post
Hey, that's a great shot!
They look like good buddies! :rof

Shalom!
When I first read this I thought it said "good butties" :rof :rof
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Old 04-30-2008, 06:35 PM
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That's true too!!! :rof

Shalom!
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Old 04-30-2008, 09:57 PM
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I love the pics - whats wrong with wanting to acknowledge our true friends?
(answer - nuttin)

Teach and NandM -
yes, nothing like ripping plants out of the ground to relieve stress. We've a plant here called leafy spurge that is a terrible pasture killer - I didn't know that's what it was called when I moved to Montana, or that it was considered a noxious weed - but by the end of the first summer I lived out on the ranch - I'd named it 'yankweed'.... and told all the renters (pasture horse owners) that if they saw that weed - to yank it.
Great therapy.

I miss that.

Well, I 'coped' today by ... NOT coping.
I slept all day.
Which is exactly what I'm supposed to do, considering I work all night.
It's just odd that I actually DID sleep all day.
I'm a 'down for three' up for two' kind of sleeper.

So got through today with no roller coaster.
Decided to let the court oriented stuff just rest while I get back in my center.
I'm not going to hurry about anything. Not going to procrastinate, not lay around in avoidance - just not going to let anyone or anything pressure me with the situation either.

And right now until friday night - my focus is work and getting through each shift.

For which I am ever so grateful to SR and my FRIENDS here...
who help me stay sober every single night.

Thank you everyone!!
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Old 05-01-2008, 07:14 AM
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this is my therapy. My little patio pond which is now home to my 5 aquatic turtles.

these guys
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