Living Bipolar by Landon Sessions Page A

me in the ass.
    In taking an active role with my medical care, I go to my doctor and explain this is what’s going on with me. Then he tells me his thoughts, and I will either say no or I will say yes to his suggestions. Whatever I feel is right for me. Sometimes I’ll just say, why don’t you give me the names of every medication you are thinking of putting me on, and I’ll do my own research , and I’ll get back in contact with the doctor, and we’ll decide where we will go from there.
    Remember, it’s not all about medications at all. It’s about taking care of yourself. You take care of yourself by 1. Listening to your body 2. By getting verbal with what’s going on with you 3. Not letting anyone run over you 4. Doing the right things which are not that hard to do.
    If I eat too much sugar I get hyper. When I get hyper I’m almost in mania. So the smart thing to do is to calm down on the sugar. When I work out a certain amount it feels good, but if I go over than I’m in a state again which is similar to mania. It’s like the mania is almost there. Too much sugar and too much working is very close to being in mania. Close. But I know if I do either of those things, I can make myself crazy. If I don’t sleep on a regular basis, I’m going to get a manic episode.
    It’s about staying even keel for me. You don’t hype yourself up too much, or get too sad. Take care of yourself. I eat properly, I exercise, I have healthy relationships with my husband and my friends, and I don’t overdo anything. That’s the most important thing that happens in my life: if I don’t take care of myself the Bipolar illness is just going to get worse .
    COMMUNICATING WITH YOUR DOCTOR
    I have a very close relationship with my parents. I have a close relationship with my therapist who doesn’t let me get away with anything, which is really good. I talk to my parents between one and four times a day. My husband and I talk constantly. So when something isn’t right with me, I can tell all of these people what is going on. I tell my therapist everything, and she helps me figure out what’s going on with me. Communication with my doctors starts with everybody around me . It’s probably not the right thing that, but my doctor is usually the last person on the totem pole. We have family talk constantly, with my cousins, my sister, we all talk and we love each other, and explain what’s going on. I talk with my husband and my parent’s everyday about my day. By communicating like this I’m able to know when my illness is off. I talk to Tristan (my husband) a couple of days ago, because all of a sudden I was feeling really emotional. And I cried, and I felt really, really emotional. I know that by him being like, hey what’s up? What’s going on with you?
    I have constant contact with everybody. It’s one of the bonuses of my life that I have such a great support group. I have lots of different friends. I have friends that I can talk to about Bipolar stuff, and I have friends who are really all about science and school. There are different roles friends take on. I’m blessed to have you in my life. There are very few friends who can understand something that I’m going through. And as much as Tristan and my parents are great to have, they are also my family and it’s important to have people outside of that circle.
    My family and Tristan have different feelings than other people. Mom and Dad grew up watching me struggle, from the time I was okay until the time I was not okay. So my parent’s point of view is going to be different than Tristan’s or anyone else’s. It’s nice having all the different kinds of people.
    I’ve become really uncomfortable around other people. I feel like I’m on display for other people. I’m not sure why I’m having a harder time around other people. I think after I had ECT’s done I got a lot more emotional. And I don’t know why. I think I did. I think I’ve had a lot more trouble