ScoobysTales

When I was not medicated properly and used alcohol, things got sorta crazy.  

I'm opening up in A.A. and had the opportunity to vent my frustrations to my real "family."

I went to Bank of America and asked to know the reason why they were refusing to reopen my account.  The manager said that I would have to talk to the administrative office.  I to...

For two days I have been talking with Suicide Prevention Services.  What a relief to talk to another person who had been in the Army and was bipolar as well. 

Funny, but I tried to call 4-1-1 on my cell and I did not have enough money in the account to qualify to use the service.  So I called 9-1-1 and asked them if they had the number of a crisis line!

The police pe...

Yes, be thankful you have have a job. That's been a major problem for me (I had to hock myguitar to get enough $ until my next SSI check comes in.

We are on the same page on Klonopin. I find adding Benadryl (cheap) with it gets me good sleep. I've been a paranoid state late...

Last night a dear friend passed away some 400 miles away from here.  I have been dealing with the feelings, and last night I visualized her and did the Serenity Prayer.  I've been quiet all day, not wanting to initiate a pity party, but I did attend 3 meetings.  I'm just holding it in and in my own way (I'm kind of abandoned and homeless right now)...and I think if I can...

may want to do a little homework on your own about your diagnosis.  There are online tests you can take that help you discover whether you have bipolar disorder.  Try http://www.healthyplace.com as well as http://www.dbsalliance.org.

You may be able to look at the results and see whether what you are experiencing falls under the category of "bipolar disorder." 

Each country is different, so it's hard for someone like me (in the U.S.) to venture an opinion about a doctor there in the U.K.

We do have sites available that might be of interest to you:  This one (I think is the best), http://www.dbsalliance.org; http://www.healthyplace.org; and Dr-Bob.org (check with your search engine).

What does seem to be in common for our economy (...

The thought occurs to me that his employer may have an employee assistance program that will help him address his addiction issues.  I would imagine the temptation is there for a lot of professionals(doctors as well), because access is so easy.

When I was an intern therapist, I had one client who worked for a hospital up towards San Jose, and he also had a problem with his addiction....

Part of the problem seems to be that you have a partner who is not being much help when you most need it! 

I'm a "groupie" in that I attend AA meetings and bipolar supportmeetings.  Often at the meetings we have couples attend, and at times a father and son attend.  I think it's important to have a partner be more aware of what you are dealing with. ...

And you are certainly a testimonial of what sobriety can do for someone.  Congratulations!  I, too, am finding my life has changed since I've had 6 months' sobriety.  If I can justwait it out until my next disability check comes in, I plan to file a Chapter 7.  All my student loans for my masters were forgiven because of my bipolar disorder, and I'm considering eith...

Hi Mark,

Well, it's been a great weekend here, but no "cold one" (not that I haven't considered it).  I'm in a holding pattern, spent all my money on a motel for a couple weeks, and I'm now down in Chinatown staying at a place called the Victory Mission.  (I think I reviewed it in my website http://www.streetsmartsalinas.com under "shelters."

Sounds like a situation where "tough love" may be what is called for.  Heroin addiction is deadly in several ways:  one, when you get some, the purity of the chemicals may be questionable(often it is "cut" with other materials to make it more profitable).  Two, in order to feed the habit, it takes money.

If you are an addict, money is something in scarce...

I've had 2 sleep studies and have Medicare, and during a sleep study they attach electrodes to your head and measure you in several different ways.  It might be helpful and produce some ideaof what is going on.

Actually, I think "narcolepsy" is when a person has more trouble staying awake.  What she may be experiencing is a biproduct of her bipolar challenge (I pre...

Sometimes it is part of what we go through on this journey.  When you can turn the corner and see your worth and that your essence is precious, it will be apparent to others as they will see youstarting to take care of yourself better, look better and give off vibes that will attract people to you.

Right now you are where you are.  If you can find a friend to sit with you throug...

Loving somebody with bipolar disorder is kind of like loving an athlete (sounds odd), but there are times when the bipolar athlete is at the top of his (or her) game and times when they are not. 

That you love him is certainly evident.  What may be difficult to accept is the rollercoastering that bipolar mood swings seem to cause, because they are predictable...up/down...and co...

A mother wrote a note of concern about not hearing from the SSI people, and this is what I said (based on my own experience with them):

The system is running short of money.  I had my bestsuccess straightening out my SSI by going out to the office, taking a good book, and waiting to talk face-to-face with a representative.  Any matters regarding SSI cannot be handled on the phon...

Dr. Murray Banks said, "Insanity Is HEREDITARY...we inherit it from our kids."

I read your post (and, wow, do you express yourself well), and I'm thinking what it must be like forthe lady that had octuplets! 

I think you are getting good feedback.  I'm curioius about "zen parenting."  I do know that my parents used the touogh love concept....

To the lady who finds people who eat fish disgusting

 

I took a philosophy course at a junior college and the teacher was a vegetarian.  He showed films of the way chickens areraised (with no room), and the worst was watching the slaughter of cattle (brutal).  He said that as the cattle know they are about to meet their maker, adrenadin courses through their system an...

I wrote this to a lady who was at her "wit's end" with drinking. 

 

When your addiction is severe, withdrawal from alcohol can produce what is called the "DTs" (delerium tremors) (I think).  Dr. Silkworth treated over 40,000 alcoholics, and the treatment consists of helping them through the God-awful withdrawals.

Now that I have 6 months...

...

Priceless!
out h
Did you hear about the proctologist and the psychiatrist that decided to share an office?  Well, they went out for a cup of joe and talked about er how they were goingto make up the sign for the front of the office.

After a cup of coffee, one said to the other, "How about nuts and butts?"

The other said, "We're doctors, we can't...

A friend of mine, a clinical psychologist, recommended a book called Listening to Prozac.  I think it may prove helpful to do some research about this drug and the reported side-effects.  Prozac is a selective seatonin inhibitor (called an SSRI).  I've worked on a suicide prevention hotline service for 7 years, and one caller was in trouble with her Prozac - and it was necess...

Well, my experience with Seroquel is not unlike yours, so I have gone with using Klonopin at night to sleep.  I have some Seroquel in reserve...in case I really get feeling wired, but my preferenceis not to use it.

As for sleep, I personally find after a wonderful extended session of love-making, I feel sleepy, and my partner and I would cuddle up and, imho, is a preferred way of sed...

Needs work

 

Love the joke...I intend to use it.

 

We have something in common - we both are driven by our bipolar motors that often work faster than others.

 

I retired an E-5 (Sp5) and my MOS was 91G20 (along with the clerk typist thing...I type very fast (got me out of a lot of KP LOL).  In Boston, I had a Secret Clearance as I typed up...

I think people who have healthy sex lives and have strong, healthy orgasms are healthier and they have a glow about them.  They take better care of their bodies and appearance in order to appear attractive.  Whether a person is a monk, homosexual (male or female), I think having a healthy sex drive and orgasmic release is a plus.  If it so happens one is solo, then perhaps they can...

Freaky...I think s/he brought you here to reach out. When you push a buttonon this site and share (even the icky stuff), our "buttons" push back and let you know we heard you and, importantly, can be there for you. Who knows, maybe you'll be able to pay it for...

Responding to a lady who wanted to be alone and her husband took the initiative and made that impossible, and she drank.

Relationships need to have boundaries, and we need to have agreements with our partners.  You needed alone time.  Maybe you did not make that clear to your partner, or maybe you did and he took the initiative and invited the folks over.

 

What...

Megan, I think you are so articulate; it's a pleasure reading what you wrote.  My bipolar stuff started when I was a teenager also, but it was not identified as "bipolar" until 1985.  My first medication was an antipsychotic also, and I think Geodon falls into that class of drugs.

My grandparents were like your dad, very anti-medication (they were Christian Scien...

Written to a 20 year old concerned about being hypersexual

We bipolar people have appetites - maybe you ought to consider that a blessing and not a curse!  

 

Joke:  A bipolar guy was panhandling out in front of a Starbucks.  A guy drove up in a flashy car and the bipolar guy thought this would be a good person to ask for money.  

 

He...

I stared at the Vicodin they prescribed for me because I had knee surgery, and I would fool the nurse and make her think I took them and then didn't. I stock-piled the Vicodin and had a supply that I could have sold on the streets of Salinas for plenty, but thanks to so...

I love sex and I guess I am an addict, but I'm also waiting for a particular type of person who can accept the fact that I'm a person with 66 years of experience and now six years of abstinence.  Like the song by Ricky Nelson, "if you can't please everyone, you've got to please yourself."  While I am turned on by ladies who are naturally pretty, it's the emo...

In Southen California, Forest Lawn Mortuaries give you free coffee on New Uear's Eve!  

I watched a friend of mine (alcoholic) give me a ride after having been in the hospital becauseof drinking, and he went right out and bought another bottle of vodka.  I think the guy is the greatest when he's sober, but when drunk, omg.

All I can do is pray for him. ...

I thought they were every 3 years, but I'm not sure.  You might want to visit the Social Security website and see if you can find it out that way, or call 800-772-1213.  

If yourdisability has changed (like improved), then you might want to consider letting SSDI go.  If you work, you pay more into the system and then draw out more when you are eligible for retirement....

Responding to a person who felt pressure from his friends to have a drink!

One of the things I did when I decided to get sober (July 3 will be 6 months) was to choose a new circle of friends, ones that did not drink.  The people who drink can really exert pressure on you to drink (they don't want to have you be the "odd man out." 

And another thing is to dev...

I think your answer may have been posed in your question.  Work off anxious energy (perhaps through exercise).  You may want to talk with your doctor about a mild tranquilizer (there is afamily called "benzodiazepenes" that work for me.  But be careful with some of them, because when you add alcohol to that class of drugs, it can make one or two drinks affect you like m...

Thanks for the reminder!  I'm from Manitoba and stay in touch with many people online in Canada.  Canada has a different medical care system than does the U.S. - and they take care ofyou right up to the very last days.  Health insurance is built-in to everybody's situtation regardless of income.

Michael Moore brought out some of the differences in his movie "Si...

My dad died of liver disease and it was a rough go for him.  Alcohol definitely does a number on the liver, and in some cases (like my dad's), it was irreversible.  What might be interestingto learn what can be done to improve the condition of the organ (stopping alcohol is No. 1), but to learn of ways to treat it with natural ways, perhaps homeopathic techniques, accupuncture and...

Today is the first day of Abifily.  I just did a recap of  my medications and now I'm doing 2 mood, 2 ad, 2 ap & extra  push from provigil if i want.    my apt is mess and i just let it be.  got 350 in bank and  bills paid, thank god.  have been fuzzy on money stuff.  need to get refund from  jealous, cancel intern license, cancel contractor's  license, get real.  eliminate  need...

When we have poor role models, if we choose based on what we saw then do (and/or misbehave), then we are, in a way, responding to a sort of "addiction" like people do to alcohol.

There are SLAA groups (support groups for people with sex and love addiction problems), and it night do you well to find one in your area.

Secondly, if you have been active (and you say you...

It's healthy to feel a sexual drive.  It's not wise to  have unprotected sex as many do these days.  Why?  Consider the consequences you might not think about in the heat ofthe moment:  STDs, unwanted pregnancies. ...

No, some scars seem the slowest to heal, but I think irishanel hit it right on the head, talking it through with the right people will be the way it most has a chance to heal.  My former fiance wasabused by her step-father and it left her with empty spots that were so hard for her to heal through.  She did, however, and I got an invitation to be friends with her and her husband...I'm...

Well, I think insofar as having a sponsor goes, when one chooses to be his own sponsor, it is not unlike the attorney who represents him (or herself), because in either case we have a "fool fora client."

 I've done a lot of soul-searching in the last couple of days, and I guess more than anything else, I'm thoroughly confused.  But it seems like perhaps the bes...

Pain is something that is so hard to live with, and it drives people to self-medicate (and so often with alcohol). 

I was burned in a suicide attempt in 1973.  In debriding (removingthe skin), they gave me acetamine (was like LSD), and then one pain medication after the other (Percoset, Darvocet and many more) while I healed (I had skin-grafting).  The strategy was to cont...

It is worth it to apply, but like others have mentioned, you really do need a diagnosis from a doctor (and having tests to go along with it would help).  When you submit your application, the date of its receipt is the date your claim officially begins.

While it may take more tests and visits to a doctor in order to really ascertain that you are indeed disabled and in real need of SS...

I have had several sponsors since 2006.  I'm kind of weird in that I have an ego that thinks to itself, "Well, I have had substance abuse training in school.  And I have worked fora year for Beacon House as a substance abuse counselor."

Right now I have a sponsor who I see in passing only.  I am homeless, out of money, and I need to leave 15 minutes early from...

I have had several sponsors since 2006.  I'm kind of weird in that I have an ego that thinks to itself, "Well, I have had substance abuse training in school.  And I have worked fora year for Beacon House as a substance abuse counselor."

Right now I have a sponsor who I see in passing only.  I am homeless, out of money, and I need to leave 15 minutes early from...

Shoplifting can be an expression of anger issues (at being "gipped, overcharged" and more.  If your friend can find a support group of other people who have been down the shoplifting road, that would be great.  I used to shoplift myself, even got good at it, but it always comes back to bite you on the behind...and that's what the person with the nimble fingers does not real...

Good to chat with you briefly...

Medications can get in the way - I know from my own experience with Zoloft, it was one that lessened sex drive. Another that did a whammy on me was Inderal (propanolol), a Beta blocker, that is used in conjunction with lithium to address the shakes.

Sweetie,

Hiya,

No, I respect your way of seeing Christianity and I do believe we are on very much the same page.  My particular interest is with adolescents (and ones in trouble...most often withalcohol, it seems).  I was a bad penny as a kid, ran away from home at age 15 and drove my mother nuts.  The guy who I traveled with was alcoholic and beat the tar out of me in Texas (he wan...

Hi,

I got long-winded yesterday and sent you a long reply, and the computer froze up in the midst of it (I have a used computer with limited memory...but then, so do I). 

At any rate, what I wanted to say was that my religious upbringing was sort of a potpourri, grandparents Christian Scientist, Material grandmother Protestant, I was baptized Presbyterian (and belong to the Fi...

Labels are interesting.  When I see Britney Spears, I guess I could say I feel "manic" or perhaps a bit, well, "shall we say 'extremely interested?'" 

Whatbothers me is the fact that labels can get in the way of really understanding emotional states.  When I'm "sadl" and it lasts for an extended time, it is called "depression....

It could be our disorder and symptoms have the effect of sorting the wheat from the chaf (we see who really can hang in there with us and who can't).  It's for that reason that I am carefulabout who I choose to be friends with.

My second dad, George, was incredible.  I took Tegretol in the 80's and there was some concern about it, so my pdoc wanted me to stop it.&nbs...

Having a thorough workup for the diagnosis is the best way to go, and with thorough testing and interviewing by a person who understands bipolar disorder is best.

I was fortunate to be referredto the Stanford Bipolar Disorder Clinic in Palo Alto and met with Dr. Terrence Ketter (psychiatrist and formerly with the National Institute of Mental Health).

My partner accompanied me and I...

Hi,

I believe in laughter as a healing force f,or us, so I do my best (despite mny ancient age of 66) to recall jokes.

My dad used to drink alot and when he did, he would tell some of the, well, most "off color" of jokes, and I think my folks divorced partially due to how he was when he was inebriated.  But, of course, he also was bipolar (as both my brother and I wer...