Bipolar Disorder Support Group

Bipolar disorder is not just a single disorder, but a category of mood disorders marked by periods of abnormally high energy and euphoria, often accompanied by bouts of clinical depression. This is the place to talk about your experience with bipolar disorder, learn from others' experiences, and find support.

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Creating Stablity in my Life

deleted_user
deleted_user
I am bound and determinded to become and remain as stable as I as I can. By duing so, this means going to all my weekly therapist appointments, all Psy. MD appoints (usually monthly untill I've found a good working medciation regiment).

I journal daily and also keep track of my moods throughout the day (good/bad, up/down, or side to side). This way I have it in black in white and can be better prepared to evaluate my emotions and behavoiors (and sharing this with my therapist).

I have also set out a daily schedule, for taking meds, eating, exercising, and doing work around the house. (And eventually returning to work and racing/drifing).

I am attempting to establish stabliity in my simple daily life structure and hope to continue these practices and not just drop them once things start getting easy.

I've poored out my heart to you all in hopes that there is some logic behind it and if so maybe it will help someone else out.

Cheers,
Skyline
deleted_user
deleted_user
good for you to have a plan..you are doing all the right things...... I am trying to do this but it is hard for me with so many outside stressors to deal with, and I have to deal with them to be stable
deleted_user
deleted_user
It has been shown, through research and actual life situations, that stress can severly impact an individual with Bipolar Disorder.

Stress, however, is one those things that we can have some control over and at the very least be prepared for by doing certain things (I've found the deep breathing techniques used in the art of Tia Chi work wonders for me). We can also plan around stress and prepare for stress that we are knowing is come. We can also avoid stressful situations complestely. No one said we have to stress ourselves, but if you're like me...it's one of the things you do best.

WOW! Hell of some writing there...LOL!

Cheers,
Skyline
deleted_user
deleted_user
if you read my post you can see that sometimes stress comes at you, lol. i am happy to see you are taking such great control of your life, i envy your strength. keep up the good work.
juststartingout
juststartingout
That is awesome that you came up with a plan for yourself!
I know I need to do one for myself... but I just haven't sat down and done it... was it hard for you to schedule everything? I feel like I don't know how to do it right... any tips?
i agree with others, outside stressors throw me off... my daughter will have an unexpected, emergency appt or something else comes up!
I hope it all works well for you.
GracieLooWho
GracieLooWho
i wish i could eliminate stress in my life .. creating a path to stability could be so much easier then .. i try my best now (maybe not my best) but i try hard and at least try to eat and sleep regularly (try) and always go to my appointments with my pdoc and tdoc and always always take my meds (that one i have down) i just wish i could eliminate all the stress.. or even some ........more power to you .. i hope everything works out for you .. i think i need to exercise too..
computerbob1
computerbob1
You are right Skyline. Developing and sticking to a treatment plan is a great way to strive for stability. Finding and forming good habits in areas of diet, exercise, taking meds, limiting our exposure to stress and rewarding ourselves for success goes a long way. I've written out my treatment plan so I can refer to it when I get off track and I usually find something I have forgotten about. There are some places on the net that discuss this and some walk you thru making a plan.

http://bipolar.about.com/od/copingresources/a/managing_my_bp.htm

https://www.facingus.org/tour/plan

http://www.mentalhealthrecovery.com/#

Thanks Skyline for the topic!
dancingd
dancingd
Excellent outline of a program to maintain stability..
BUT,if you do have a breakthrough episode,you should NOT blame yourself..because sometimes,even under the best of circumstances,our chemical imbalance will go wack...it's always a disappointment,and when it's happened to me,I tend to blame myself..Pdoc says do not blame myself..sometimes it just happens.

Good luck ,you're taking all the right steps
deleted_user
deleted_user
WooHoo! Way to go! These are all recommended steps for stability!

I have one to add to your list: progress, not perfection. As dancing wrote, know that some days you'll abide by your plan better than other days.

The hardest part for me is a daily schedule when my mood is so unstable.
freeheeler
freeheeler
Good post you guys.

Exercise, regular sleep and stress reduction are my most powerful coping tools.
deleted_user
deleted_user
Thanks for all the support and feedback everyone. Couldn't have done it without you! :) I suppose that's what were all here for to provide support, what works for us, and to hold each other up when we can''t seem to stay on our own 2 feet.

All this coming from a therapist...LOL! Just goes to show, BP disoder does not care who we are, what we have, and will attack without notice. We must remain vigilian and stay together, or we may fall.

Cheers,
Skyline

BTW: I took the Skyline out for a spin and broke 200mph (without nitrous)...I shouldn't have done that cause if I got caught..BYE BYE License! But it was still rewarding and quite a rush :) !!!
deleted_user
deleted_user
In regard to the message pertaining to "Progress, not Perfection." I am more than familiar with it. It must have slipped my mind when I created my post, a philosify I strong agree with and try to practice also.

Thank you for so kindly pointing it out to me! ;)
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