I am what I consider a true manic these days. For me, I teeter more towards mania than depression more often than I use too. It is still a constant balancing act and I still have rough days where I have depression. However, it is not the suicidal depression that once accompanied my bipolar disorder and that is thanks to medication.At one point...
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By: Tosha Maaks
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Exhausted Isn’t Bad Enough, Is It?
July 6, 2018
By: Carissa Martos
The first time I really contemplated suicide, I was a teenager, and there were two feelings, and only two feelings.The first was an inexorable exhaustion, one that had been dogging me for months, had finally grabbed hold of me, and I felt I couldn’t escape it. No amount of coffee, sleep, friendship, or excitement for the future could break into...
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Coping with Bipolar During Loud Holidays
July 4, 2018
By: Danielle Workman
If you’re anything like me, the mere thought of the 4th of July, Chinese New Year, or even smaller firework related holidays and events make your skin crawl. These holidays come with a wide range of emotions, and all of them royally mess up what little stability my already unstable mind has. As fireworks boom in the distance into the wee hours of...
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By: Julie A. Fast
People with bipolar disorder live on the edge of mood swings. This means that what we do in our every day lives affects how we wake up the next morning. The internet, constant access to binge watching on Netflix and other channels, 24 hour stores and a lifestyle that never seems to slow down affects our brains just as much as it affects our...
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PTSD & Bipolar Disorder
June 25, 2018
By: Laura Sanscartier
When I was 20, I was sexually assaulted. The details of such an incident are my own, and not anything of any use in a blog post, but they caused a condition called Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, or PTSD. PTSD is found in the DSM-V, and many who have lived a trauma are diagnosed with the condition.PTSD is confusing and distressing, as it feels as...
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Carissa Martos
June 22, 2018
Carissa is a teacher, mother, wife, and writer who lives in the Pacific Northwest. Now in her mid-thirties, she has lived with bipolar since she was a teen, as well as having a diagnosis of generalized anxiety disorder and C-PTSD. She also lives with blinding ocular migraines and Ankylosing Spondylitis (a genetic condition that causes back pain...
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You Say "Co-Morbid" Like It Is a Bad Thing
June 22, 2018
By: Carissa Martos
When multiple diagnoses exist in the same person, and impact each other, they are known as co-morbid conditions. My bipolar diagnosis came when I was 19, but I'd struggled with the cycles of manic function and depressed inability since puberty. My PTSD diagnosis wasn't made until I was in my 30s, and I’ve never been able to pin down whether...
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My Journey with Trauma and Dual Diagnosis
June 20, 2018
By: Liz Wilson
Trauma: An incident and its physiological and psychological effects on victims and/or witnesses to the event. The DSM describes 5 types of PTSD, the label most commonly associated with trauma. I want to talk about comorbid PTSD; a diagnosis given when other diagnoses exist. In my case, Bipolar Disorder and Substance Abuse Disorder.My first memory...
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By: Tosha Maaks
When my father became sick about three years ago, I started to wake up almost nightly with night terrors. I would begin to cry and scream in my sleep to the point that my husband would wake up from a sound sleep and hold me as I tried to regain my composure and find a way to go back to sleep. Most of the time I wouldn’t be able to go back to sleep...
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My Tears Fell Because I Knew They Did Not Have To
June 18, 2018
By: Jayson Blair
I woke up late in the morning. It was a little after 7 a.m. I have been sick for the past few days so I decided to not rush into work. I made a cup of coffee in my kitchen and then walked over to the living room. Standing between the couch and my glass coffee table, I tapped each remote and turned on CNN.The Breaking News headline, in those...
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