Have you ever gone to a restaurant and had a big meal only to feel hungry 2 hours later? Do you eat that 4th meal of the day at 3:00 am at night standing in the kitchen? Have you watched your clothes get tight and hope that it is because the dryer that has shrunk them? Well I have definitely experienced all of these. We know that bipolar meds...
You are here
Medication
October 21st: National Check Your Meds Day
October 21, 2019
By: Cassandra Stout
Medication interactions are serious business. You could take two medications which counteract each other, which could make you sick enough to end up in the emergency room, or even die. October 21st is National Check Your Meds Day in the US. Making sure that you're safely consuming the right combination of medications is important for everyone...
Share
My Catch-22 with Medication
May 14, 2019
By: Natalia Beiser
Most days I feel grateful and blessed. I have a good life. I have friends and people that love me. I am employed part time, even with chronic mental illness. I have a home, and even two great cats. My car is almost paid off. I have much of the American dream. However, other times, I feel that my life is some kind of...
Share
Finding the Correct Psychiatric Treatment
January 17, 2019
By: Carissa Martos
For the first time in a decade, I’m on a new mental-health medication.This is a huge event for me, as I have navigated most of my life as someone with anxiety, bipolar, PTSD, and chronic pain with…close to nothing, chemically. I’ve been on daily clonazepam, at the same .5 to 1mg dose, for 8 years, and aside from a brief stint on Cymbalta for nerve...
Share
Working Toward Mental Wellness
January 11, 2019
By: Tosha Maaks
Remaining balanced when you live life with bipolar disorder isn’t some magical trick and it isn’t some tricky formula that only those who have super powers have figured out. However, stability I can say is a magical place to be after years of living in the rat race of mood swing after mood swing. It took years of practice for me and I am just now...
Share
My Misadventures With Weight Gain and Bipolar
October 22, 2018
By: Conor Bezane
I used to be rail thin. Skinny jeans and all. Ironically, since getting sober seven years ago, I’ve developed what might be mistaken for a beer gut. It’s not drastic, but I have definitely changed from a small to a medium shirt thanks to my potbelly. At 5’7”, I weigh 174 pounds, which is considered overweight by body-mass-index standards. It was a...
Share
Check Your Meds Day
October 19, 2018
By: Danielle Workman
October 21st is Check Your Meds Day. This is one of those daily holidays that I actually feel is very helpful to anyone on medications at all, not just medications for mental health. Checking your medications throughout your treatment is something I learned very early on in my mental health journey.When I began to treat my mental health and began...
Share
The Parity Act is Important to Me
October 9, 2018
By: Andrienne Kennedy
Before I was diagnosed with bipolar disorder and generalized anxiety disorder, I was clueless. I was clueless about mental health and mental illness. My knowledge on the topic was non-existent. The reason why I did not know about mental health or mental illness was well, I never needed to know. Mental illness had never affected me or my loved ones...
Share
My Love/Hate Relationship With Medication
June 6, 2018
By: Natalia Beiser
I have been on medications for bipolar disorder my entire adult life. The prescriptions and I have an avid love/hate relationship. I need medications to function with the most amount of mental clarity. I resent my medications and am treatment resistant. Medication has allowed me to live a fulfilling life. Psychiatric drugs...
Share
Fear Of Taking Pills
November 10, 2017
By: Conor Bezane
Artificial happiness. That’s what I thought I’d be getting into if I went on antidepressants. I have to admit I was scared to even go there. Would I become a zombie? Would my emotions be flattened? What about apathy? Turns out these fears were, for me, irrational.But the circumstances were terrifying. My initial diagnosis of depression occurred in...
Share
A Step Back From The Edge
August 4, 2017
By: Nic Fleming
It has been almost 8 months since my last blog. It is hard to believe how much time has passed. I literally could not write- or read for that matter.So yes, I have been exceptionally unwell but I would like to share some aspects of my experience over the past 8 months or so and my ongoing recovery with you.As a sufferer of bipolar disorder and a...
Share
I moved overseas when I was manic
June 16, 2017
By Megan Shultz
I have Bipolar Disorder. At the end of January 2016 I finished a course of 15 ECT treatments for a severe episode of depression. A couple of weeks after I finished the ECT I started to become very angry and irritable. The mania was setting in. You see, mania isn’t always euphoria, sometimes it’s lashing out at my husband for no reason...
Share