Ten Years

Today, March 7, 2022, is the 10th anniversary of my bipolar diagnosis. In some ways it seems like it was only yesterday that I heard the words proclaiming the nature of my “nonconformity”, but in others I feel like I’ve lived the longer part of my life with it. As indeed I have; I was bipolar long before I ever got the label, and I suspected it a full decade before I sought help.

Well, I didn’t exactly seek help, I had it thrust upon me by my internist, who got tired of prescribing various antidepressants for a patient who had problems with all of them. He said I had something too serious for him to handle, so he insisted I visit someone who knew more about these things than he did. Of course, I was furious and almost refused to go once I realized he was sending me to an actual psychiatrist, not a therapist or counselor. But I did, and almost immediately formed a bond with the great Dr. Awesomesauce, who treated the whole patient and not just his or her illness.

I’ve been very lucky with psychiatrists over this past decade, too. I saw a psych nurse practitioner for a few months in between doctors, and she was kind and compassionate. I’d just lost my husband and she was a relatively new widow herself, so a lot of our time together was spent in grief work. Then there was Dr. Goodenough, who gave me a very firm bipolar 1 diagnosis which has since followed me like a lost dog. Now I have Dr. Young, who is a nerd like me who likes to research and analyze everything; we get along great and I feel she’s really invested in my care. I never thought I would want a female psychiatrist, but this gal is tops!

In other news, I finally got the chance to see the neuropsychologist last month, and the good news is, I DON’T have dementia. What I have is called mild neurocognitive impairment disorder, which is a fancy way of saying I’m not quite all there but able to manage in average, not fast-paced, situations. The main problem is my executive function, which doesn’t function very well, and that’s why I can’t multitask or pay attention to what I’m doing when I’m under stress.

But the real shocker was the recommendation that I should stop driving. Evidently I failed miserably on a test that strongly correlates with driving ability, and given my difficulties with depth perception and how I park a car all cattywampus in the stall, I can see why it might be a good idea. I’m not ready for this, though, because on top of it I recently broke my right ankle and am in a cast and using a front- wheeled walker to get around. And as much as I hate the prospect, I have also begun to think about making walker use a permanent thing.

I can’t believe how much safer I am with it. My balance is so poor that it takes only a few feet of uneven ground or getting up off the sofa when I’m sleepy to spin me off course. I’ve had more near-falls than I can count. This thing stabilizes me and gives me something to lean on when I’m standing, which is what I’ve been needing for awhile now. I did almost kill myself yesterday by going out to the garage with the walker and fetching a carton of buttermilk; I forgot about how heavy the door is when you come back in the house…how high the step up is…how awkward it is to carry something and hang onto the walker. Since I wasn’t using the equipment properly, I lost my balance and almost fell backwards, which would have been disastrous on a concrete floor. So I vowed never to do anything so reckless and foolish again.

Of course, all this makes me feel older than I already am. I’m not even 65 yet, but time is marching on and it’s marching right across my bad back. Everything hurts now, and the undignified process in which I fractured my ankle made my hips and knees ache ferociously for days afterwards. In fact, the knee and hip on the broken side hurt so bad the ER staff did X-rays on them too. Good Lord, what if it had been the knee or hip? So I promised myself and my nearest and dearest that I would never again put myself in a situation where that could happen another time.

But in spite of everything, I try to maintain my sense of humor and an attitude of gratitude. After all, I’ve survived a whole decade of full-blown bipolar disorder in all its flavors, and winter’s almost over. 😊

Mixed Features

Well, it’s finally happened—I’m in the middle of a good old-fashioned mixed bipolar phase. I’ve been anxious and irritable for weeks, then depression and agitation joined the merry mix about a fortnight ago. The fact that I am currently unstable disappoints the hell out of me…I’d been doing so well for so long that I even thought I might never have another episode. Well, as they say, pride goeth before a fall, and my pride has fallen… straight down the toilet.

This is nowhere as bad as previous episodes have been. I’m not on my knees in the middle of the night washing the bathroom tiles and sobbing. But my sleep is wonky and my temper is surging and I feel speeded-up on the inside, like wanting to jump up and run as fast and as far as I can until I remember I can’t run. In fact, I have no motivation whatsoever, which is the depression manifesting itself while my mind is racing at 200 MPH.

What’s really weird is my sleep patterns. I’m always up till at least one in the morning, but sometimes I’ll doze off briefly in front of the TV, then wake up with a second wind that ensures I’ll be awake till at least 4. I make myself go to bed at that time, but I lie in bed for a minimum of 30 minutes wide awake while my brain churns. Finally I drift off to an uneasy sleep, and THEN I sleep through the alarm and don’t open my eyes till noon.

I think to myself that it’s no wonder I’m close to losing it, there has been an astounding amount of stress in the house and I don’t respond well to situations I have no control over. I need to be a steadying influence, and all I can do is wander around in a state of confusion, like everyone else in the household. But if truth be known, this episode started before the shit hit the fan, so I have no idea where it came from. Yesterday was my birthday, and I was a wreck all day; then my sister called to wish me a happy one and subsequently proceeded to dump all over me. She had a few bones to pick with me over things that happened years ago, plus claims that I never tell her anything about the family. Which is true, because the family doesn’t want to share certain information with her (or anyone ) and I never betray a confidence. I also hate being stuck in the middle of other people’s shit! Still, I can see her side of things, it’s not pleasant to feel left out, and I’m going to lean on my kids to get them to pay her more attention.

Obviously, my current circumstances are not ideal, and my psychiatrist, Dr. Young, took it very seriously when I called her on Tuesday. She sussed out the manic parts (agitation, racing thoughts, irritability) from the depressive side (low mood and anxiety) and proposed a treatment plan. She told me to take Klonopin every night for a week or two instead of using it infrequently like I do, and if that doesn’t work, she’ll increase my Zyprexa. So far it hasn’t worked, but I’m following up with her next week and I want to give it every chance. I don’t WANT to go up on Zyprexa. But I want to be over this interruption in my general stability and if that’s what I have to do, I’ll do it.

So that’s my story and I’m sticking to it. Thanks for reading!

Asking For a Friend…

Has anyone ever noticed that the longer they remain stable, the less serious their illness seems to be?

It’s weird. I know I went through a lot in the early years of my bipolar diagnosis, but it all seems like it happened to someone else. I didn’t start this blog till 2013, but I have spotty memories of a couple of manic whing-dings from 2012 when I completely lost my shit. I was newly diagnosed then and had not yet learned what my disordered brain was capable of. That became clearer when I started documenting my episodes. Now I can go back into the archives to see what a hot mess I really was, and the gaps between posts tell an even wilder story.

But even with the evidence of past cycles in black and white on my screen, I still wonder how the hell I managed to get myself slapped with the label of bipolar 1. Not once, but five times. I have friends with the same diagnosis whose manic episodes dwarf mine, and I can’t even imagine doing what one gal did…she ordered a Chinese dinner. From a restaurant in China. For pickup. Then she bought a plane ticket and flew to—wait for it—China. The worst thing I ever did was blow up my career by acting like a giddy 8-year-old at work, and then there were the times I spent myself into bankruptcy. Not to mention the religious delusions and paranoia…but we won’t talk about that.

I did, though, and my doctors through the years have all agreed that my personal constellation of symptoms merits the diagnosis that has stuck to me like shit sticks to a blanket. It’s just that I’ve been stable for three years, which is a long time in bipolar circles, and what happened in the past seems like it was nowhere near as bad as I’ve been told. My kids can tell Manic Mommy stories that I suspect are somewhat overblown, but I’m at a disadvantage because my memory of some events is faulty and they are unified in their recollections. So there’s that.

Anyway, just a few musings for a chilly October night. I’m thankful for the ability to evaluate and process these deep thoughts instead of driving myself nuts looking for answers to questions that have no answers. Everyone has those; the trick is to let them go so we don’t get bogged down in confusion and angst. I like that idea…even though I’m just asking for a friend. Haha!

I’m Still Here

I know, it’s been months since my last post, and I’m surprised I still have readers (I know—I’ve checked my stats). But for someone who doesn’t have a lot to do, I’ve done a lot this summer, not the least of which was a trip to Mexico with family in early August. Now that was an experience…one none of us will ever forget.

Oh, it all started off innocently enough. We got off the plane in Puerto Vallarta and discovered our reservation at one resort had accidentally been canceled, so Ben had to find another one, FAST. We ended up at a nice hotel that had a 1930s ambiance and an unfortunate number of stairs. Seeing as how Clint’s mom and I needed wheelchairs much of the time—and Mexico does not have the Americans with Disabilities Act—there was a lot of creeping up and down said stairs with breath held and tense muscles. (There were elevators, but you had to use stairs to get to them. Go figure.)

But we managed to have a great time anyway, and we ate authentic Mexican food and sipped free tropical drinks and spent way too much time in the sun at the pool. I’m still peeling. We were about the only Americans at this resort so almost everything, including announcements, were in Spanish, but it was amazing how quickly conversational Spanish came back to me. I found myself ordering food and making small talk in the language, and I think the staff was appreciative because their English wasn’t really all that great.

It was on the voyage home that things kinda went to hell in the proverbial bushel basket. First of all, we had to fly to Chicago to catch a connecting flight to Portland (whoever came up with that itinerary should have to make that same trip when they’re tired and just want to get home). But we couldn’t land because of thunderstorms, besides which—according to the pilot—we were running low on fuel (!) and needed to gas up in Minneapolis. We finally made it back to Chicago, but by this time it was after midnight, and our connecting flight had been canceled so we were stuck there for the night.

Well, I’m here to tell you that you haven’t lived till you’ve sat out in front of O’Hare International Airport at 2 AM, waiting for a taxi to take you to a hotel 20 minutes away, and not knowing exactly when or how you’ll get home. We spent all of three hours in the hotel the airline provided for us before we had to go back to the airport. This next flight took us to Dallas/Ft. Worth, where we waited for many hours as the flight to Portland was delayed several times.We FINALLY boarded just before 9 PM and made it to Portland around midnight.

I’ve left a lot out of the preceding narrative in the interest of not boring y’all to tears, but I should mention that we had a family friend with us who somehow ruptured something in her back that kept her in a wheelchair for the last couple of days of the vacation. So there were poor Ben and Clint, with THREE women in wheelchairs and little help from the skeleton crews that run airports at night. They deserve all the credit in the world for getting us all through those harrowing days without completely losing their minds.

And we’re going back in January.

It’ll be to another part of Mexico, but we’re doing the destination vacation thing again and hopefully everyone will be a little healthier. In the meantime, I’ll keep brushing up on my Spanish and try to post more often than every 3-4 months!

A Little Bit of Everything

I know, I know, I’ve let too much time pass between blog posts, but life has been in a swirl of randomness and it’s hard to grab onto something solid to talk about. Not to worry, I remain very stable and have made it through the spring without even a hint of hypomania. But the generalized weirdness is not conducive to good writing, so please excuse me if this post is a bit odd.

I’ve been to see Dr. Young twice since my last entry, and I not only got the expected diagnosis of bipolar 1 (again), she also diagnosed me with anxiety. As a separate issue. After all these years of it being wrapped up in my BP, someone has finally taken it seriously. It doesn’t change anything, I’m still on the same meds, but now it’s real and we talk about it and I feel vindicated.

Dr. Y is also taking my complaints about memory loss to a whole new level. She gave me a test that shows I have mild cognitive impairment, and she’s sending me to a neuropsychologist for further evaluation. It’ll be awhile because they’re scheduling at least six months out., but just the fact that I’m going to find out what I’m dealing with—either bipolar brain-fade or dementia, or maybe a combination of the two—helps a lot.

It could also help me stay on disability if I’m reviewed within the next year or two; I wouldn’t mind trying to work a little just to get out of the house, but my anxiety and forgetfulness make it nearly impossible. I can’t memorize things anymore, which is the main reason I lost that last job in 2014, so anything with multi-line phones or complex computer programs is out. On top of that, I can’t stand or walk more than a few minutes at a time, and that effectively limits any kind of physical labor like being a gas jockey or a flagger for road construction.

It has, of course, occurred to me that I’m 62 and thus eligible for regular Social Security. It wouldn’t be near the amount that I’d get if I worked till age 70, but that’s not going to happen anyway. I just wonder if the amount I get now from SSDI would go down if I had to switch. I’m making it on my current payments, but that’s with me living with Ben and his family. I’d never survive on my own. Rents for a studio apartment in my area run about $900 or more a month; that’s close to 3/4 of my check. Then of course there’s the matter of keeping the lights and the heat and the water on, and forget Internet and TV, both of which I do NOT do well without. A car? Not gonna happen. Forget about eating too: I make too much to qualify for food stamps. So living alone isn’t even an option.

But I don’t feel sorry for myself. Even with all the stress going on in the household, even with so many unfulfilled wishes, I like my life. I can stay up and sleep in as late as I want (although I HAVE to be up by 1 PM so I can watch Days of Our Lives), I can eat what I want, I can talk to my kids almost anytime I want. I get to go on cruises. This year I get to go to Mexico. And it’s never boring around here!

Nine Years

Dear Readers: I’m sorry I haven’t posted recently. There’s been a lot going on, but it’s nothing I particularly needed to share (and I’ve also been really lazy). I’m happy to say that I’ve survived the winter without falling into depression, and that it’s almost silly season and there’s no hint of mania either. Huzzah!

What brings me here today is that March 7 marks nine years since I was diagnosed with bipolar disorder. I look back and I’m amazed at the changes that have taken place since then. What was once murky and ill-defined is now clear as a bell; my life makes sense now, even as I face situations over which I have absolutely NO control. I’ve learned that bipolar doesn’t have to manifest itself when I’m stressed out, and I won’t let myself blame it for everything that goes sideways in my life. I take my meds faithfully and no longer complain about having to take so many. It doesn’t matter if I take 1 pill or 20, I do what I have to in order to maintain my stability. I also listen to my doctor and stay up-to-date on current trends within the bipolar community.

Speaking of my psychiatrist, I got to read my notes from the last visit in my online chart, and boy, was that an experience! I have to admit, though, that the very first time in my life that I have truly felt ancient was when I read the intro: “MJL is a 62-year-old widowed white female, a retired nurse.”

Holy crap. I mean, that makes me sound like I’m just a couple of steps from the threshold of the nursing home. I’ve joked about it for years, but I never truly thought of myself as being, well, old. I turned 62 a couple of months ago, which makes me eligible for Social Security (if I weren’t already on it) and a whole bunch of cool senior discounts. It’s funny, I definitely don’t think of myself as middle-aged anymore, but technically I’m not yet elderly, so where do I fit in?

I guess it depends on who you ask. Just like with the diagnosis Dr. Y put in my record: bipolar affective disorder, manic, in full remission. I wonder what that means, exactly? Is it still bipolar 1, or is it something more nebulous? I’ll have to ask at my next visit. For years I’ve been a solid 1, and I’d just as soon not have any ambiguity; I’ve gotten used to the designation and actually don’t mind it anymore. We’ll see what Dr. Y says next week, anyway.

Once again, I want to apologize for my three-month absence from this blog. I’ve never gone anywhere near this long without posting something, and I really don’t have a good reason for it. I’m thankful for you, my readers, and I salute you for coming back after this long dry spell. And while I hope it never happens again, I also hope you’ll bear with me if it does. Welcome back!

Feeling “Stresstive”? Me Too!

Yeah, that’s a word I made up. I’m stressed out, but I feel festive too and am enjoying the holiday atmosphere that Ben has created in our house. The tree is up—my wonderful 7 1/2-foot artificial pine is finally getting some use after six years in storage—and there are lights draped over everything that’ll stand still, just like when the kids were growing up and I went balls-to-the-wall on everything Christmas. I like watching my son decorate. He enjoys it every bit as much as I did, even though he’ll bitch about tangled light strands and struggle with the staple gun. He’s never punctured himself with it (as far as I know) but I wouldn’t be surprised if he did. Like me, he is not the most graceful human ever born, although I can state in all honesty that I have never walked into a pole, and he has. On multiple occasions. In front of other people.

As for the stress factor, there’s a lot to be concerned about, only some of which is related to domestic matters. COVID-19 is spreading faster than a rumor, causing more shutdowns (thank God Clint’s salon is still operating!) and hospitals are almost at capacity. I’m probably going to have surgery on my battered left ankle, which is the one I broke last year, but I don’t want to do it until the virus is on its way out. Speaking of the ankle: now I have to wear a big, ugly brace called an AFO (ankle-foot orthotic device). It’s the kind of contraption you see on some old people, you can wear a shoe, but you can’t wear pants over it because the brace is so bulky. I still have to be fitted for the AFO, they are custom-made for the individual patient. But I hate the idea that I’ll need one of these things for the foreseeable future. I’m currently wearing the boot I got when I fractured the ankle because I need the support, but that’s only temporary; the AFO is for the long term, at least until/unless I get fusion surgery. I’m also living on large doses of Aleve and Tylenol which take the edge off the pain. I know better than to try to get narcotics from anyone in this town; besides, they’re not all that when it comes to pain relief. It still hurts, you just don’t care anymore.

Which has kind of brought me to a crossroads. I’ll be 62 next month, but I don’t feel that old, not in my mind anyway. My body, on the other hand, is decades older than my spirit, and now all the bad things I’ve done to it are coming home to roost. The ankle was really the last straw; now I’ll need to get a disabled parking permit for the car because there is no way I’m parking out in the south 40 and hobbling to the store. I need to lose weight, a lot of it, and it just isn’t happening even though I know I’m aging faster than I have to because of it. Right now it could go either way—I could drop some pounds and maybe halt this downhill slide, or I could just go on as I’m doing and let the chips fall where they may…like in my lap. I prefer BBQ chips, by the way.

Oddly enough, the only thing I’m not particularly worried about is my mood. I’m steady as a rock. There’s been no fall depression, not even after the time change, and I think winter will be OK too as long as nothing I AM worried about hits the fan. Most days I don’t feel bipolar at all, it’s like it never even happened. I no longer have to do a daily gut-check to see if I’m slipping down or ramping up. I just feel…normal. Of course, I’m on a shitload of drugs to make me this way, and I’m not going to experiment with them. I like the way I am now. It’s different from when I was “stable” before I got the full effect of the meds. I know what they are doing for me, and I’m not even tempted to cheat. (Not that anyone around here would let me…)

So, that’s how my December is going. I hope I can pull another blog post out of my head before the end of the year—I know I’ve been negligent lately and I’m sorry. There’s just so much going on and my thoughts tend to get tangled, much like Ben’s Christmas lights, and I have trouble choosing which items are worthy of sharing and which aren’t. Hopefully I’ll be able to sort it out soon. Happy Holidays!

Hello, Dr. Young. Can I Be Your Patient Forever?

I love my new psychiatrist.

We had our first meeting this morning, and I was immediately impressed with her command of my medical and psychiatric history. I could tell she’d done her homework by the questions she asked, such as whether some of my mood episodes correspond with the seasons and what I do when my anxiety flares up. We talked for almost a solid hour, and she was bright and eager and intuitive. Hereafter she will be called Dr. Young, because she might be in her early 30s…if that. But I won’t hold that against her, especially since she also treated me with the appropriate deference without making me feel ancient.

I must admit it’s a little weird having a female head doc. All of my mental healthcare providers, except for the nurse practitioner I saw for a few months several years ago, have been men. I was comfortable with that and even preferred them in this capacity. Maybe it was because males are known for fixing problems (or at least trying to fix them) and tend to be authority figures. Dr. Y isn’t heavy on the authority, but it’s clear who’s the doctor and who is not, and I like it that way. Even though it’s very early in the relationship and I’ve been stable for a long time, I feel I can trust her to take care of me when things get bad.

She also cares about a patient’s physical health. She ordered blood tests for kidney and liver function to make sure they can handle my medication burden, and even an EKG because some of the meds I’m on can cause heart rhythm problems. She urged me to check my blood pressure often and monitor my weight too, It’s funny, I don’t even know how much I weigh. All I know is that I’ve gained back most of the 100 lbs. I lost after Will died…the specifics, I don’t really WANT to know. Haha!

Best of all, she isn’t changing my medication regimen. (She didn’t change my diagnosis either, but it’s so well-documented that there wasn’t any question about it and we didn’t even discuss it.) You can’t argue with success! I’ve been in good shape for quite a while, with a few hiccups now and then, and I know my meds are the reason. Like Dr. Goodenough, she said that my medication management is complex and there are a lot of moving parts, but if it works and adds quality to my life, then we’re going to leave things exactly the way they are. (Including the Klonopin, which a lot of younger doctors don’t like prescribing.) That is, unless there are some ominous changes in my bloodwork or on my EKG. Otherwise, we’re sticking with the tried and true, and that too is very reassuring that I’m in good hands.

So, I’m once again under a psychiatrist’s care, which is a big sigh of relief. I have to admit, though, that the clinic I’ve always gone to for mental health care has done right by me even when I was between docs, like the interim MD who called me to order bloodwork for cholesterol and thyroid, and the one who backed up Dr. Awesomesauce and put me on Zyprexa a few years back when I was manic AF and didn’t know if I was coming or going. Dr. Y also mentioned that she has plenty of backup and assured me that someone would always be available to me.

I just hope I get to keep her longer than four years…

Mental Illness Awareness Week and Other Stuff

I’m actually a little late in writing this post because it’s almost over, but the first full week in October is, indeed, Mental Illness Awareness Week. (This is different from May, which is Mental Health Month.) I don’t know exactly how (or if) it should be celebrated, but for those of us who carry a mental illness diagnosis, it’s another way our voices can be heard. So much stigma is still attached to MI, but we are making progress.

Look at all the commercials we see on TV nowadays for psychiatric medications. There’s one for bipolar depression; another for bipolar 1 specifically; still another for schizophrenia. Who would have thought even 10 years ago that these illnesses would come out of the shadows under the auspices of the drug companies? I’m no fan of pharmaceutical advertising, but if it gets people talking about mental illness, so much the better. I’d like to think the American public is smart enough to know that you don’t just take a pill and get cured, but given the uncommon-ness of common sense, I’m not sure. So, I educate whenever and wherever I can; and I love it when I talk to someone about MI and their eyes are opened because I look and talk like a “normal” person. I’m not the one-eyed purple people eater many people expect when they meet a person with a mental condition (or two).

Meanwhile, I’m going to be getting a new psychiatrist soon. I’ve been wondering about that and was just about to call the office yesterday to find out where they were on getting patients in to see the new doctors. Then I got an e-mail from one of the regular ones letting me know he was going to be filling my medications while I’m waiting. That’s nice to know. I’m not in any real need of a quick appointment, but someone with bipolar 1 really should never be without meds. I used to be so resentful that I had to take so many, but now I can’t even imagine going off this cocktail. I hope the next pdoc won’t want to futz with the magic formula, because I am doing as well as I could possibly ask for. I do hear the faintest whispers of seasonal affective disorder, but that’s perfectly normal for me. At least I recognize it now and can take action to mitigate it (thank you, HappyLight) before it gets out of control. I never want to be where I was in October 2014 ever again.

Fall is definitely here. We’ve had rainy and windy, sunny and warm, foggy and dreary. We’ve had to light the pellet stove a couple of times since this month began, and I’m back to sleeping in socks. I don’t really mind sleeping in socks—when my feet get cold, I can’t sleep, and when I can’t sleep, I’m not a happy camper. I love sleep. I also love wrapping myself up in warm blankets and sitting on the sofa with a little dog or two.

Speaking of dogs: we have a new resident hound thanks to Clint’s son, who brought him along when he moved back in with us. He’s only a pup, but he weighs 50 lbs. at least and he seems to think he’s a lap dog. Next to his “dad”, he loves me almost as much and has his ways of letting me know it. One of those ways is jumping into my lap and spreading himself across my legs as he tries to lick my face. I like it that he’s so affectionate with me, but he can be rather…overwhelming, to say the least. And he’s still got some growing to do!

I also should mention that I made it through my 40th wedding anniversary on the 27th of last month. I think I was a little depressed before and during, because we always wanted a 40th wedding anniversary and I still hate it that we didn’t get it. I see old couples walking around and I’m almost angry that Will and I didn’t get to do that in our old age. He’d be almost 70 now, can you believe it? I can’t picture it, even though he’s been gone only a little over four years. I never really saw him aging, just like he never noticed that I was no longer the 21-year-old girl he married. So, I spent the day in bed, watching football and shirking my kitchen duties. It must have worked, because I felt better the next day and have not cried any more since then. I think maybe subsequent anniversaries won’t be quite so difficult.

We shall see, anyway. Thanks for checking in and reading my stuff. 🙂