I asked my husband, Maurice, to think back to before I was taking meds. We both remember the trial and error period when my pdoc and I were trying to find the right combination for me. Some of the meds had some pretty wacky side effects. In fact, one of them made me attack Maurice. […]
Wow. With a goal of posting twice a week, it appears I set myself up to fail. I’ve become so obsessed with finishing my novel that I have gotten so that I don’t allow myself any distractions, including blog writing. I watch very little TV, but I do watch The Walking Dead, which I saw […]
Breaking the Rules My regular readers know that I have a pretty firm rule that I do not discuss medications by name because I don’t want to discourage someone from taking a med that didn’t work for me, but might work for them. We are not all identical, biochemically speaking. For the 8 years I’ve […]
This Throwback was originally posted in January 2014 The second most lucrative drugs sold in the United States are those used to treat depression. (Drugs to prevent heart disease are first.) Abilify, an antipsychotic and antidepressant, is the 4th largest selling drug in the U.S. with 5.2 billion in sales. I regularly take Abilify, but […]
The Problem I struggle with memories. Actually, it’s worse than that. My memory sucks. Oh, you’re probably thinking, well sure, my memory sucks too. Now, I’m not trying to one-up you, but unless you are taking some kind of medication or have a health problem, I’m probably out-doing you. Three of the six meds that […]
Thinking back about ten years ago two things come to mind. First, was meeting Maurice, the man I look forward to spending the rest of my life with. The second thing is not pleasant. It was right after I met Maurice that my life spiraled downwards. Looking back at my life I can clearly see […]
Having attended numerous depression and bipolar support group meetings, I have heard one complaint from new people over and over again – weight gain. When the new person timidly asks if anyone else has experienced weight gain, the usual response is a lot of stifled laughter as nearly every person in the room raises a […]
This may not be news to many of you because the report came out a couple of weeks ago, but scientists have found two new gene regions that are connected with bipolar disorder. To put it simply, Scientists have shown further evidence that bipolar is a genetic trait and this could mean much, much more. […]
Like many hardworking, tax paying individuals, I gladly paid into the Social Security system, but never expected that I’d have to use it for disability. Since both my doctors will not release me to go back to work, it may be awhile before I’m earning a regular income again. It’s frustrating, hurtful, and sometimes demeaning, […]