Information and opinions on health from Tabby at HealthCentral.com. HealthCentral.com is one of the top health destinations on the Web, with more than 35 condition-specific, wellness and general health Web properties. http://www.healthcentral.com/profiles/c/77780/index http://www.healthcentral.com/profiles/c/77780/rss self application/xml en-us 15 120 19 http://www.healthcentral.com/images/hc_logo_sm.gif http://www.healthcentral.com/profiles/c/77780/index http://www.healthcentral.com/bipolar/c/77780/153171/specialities Mon, 21 May 2012 14:53:48 -0400 Tabby So, I developed seizures after my car wreck in 2007.  The neuro residents at my local ACC University teaching hospital, with no proof thereof, looked at my near 30 year psych history, the lithium I was on at the time (and asked why?), and the fact that I had been on nearly every sort of med out there with mostly adverse reactions... and decided that they were "psycho-somatic".   That's right... the Partial Complex seizures I have,... http://www.healthcentral.com/bipolar/c/77780/153171/specialities http://www.healthcentral.com/bipolar/c/77780/153017/unemployment Wed, 16 May 2012 11:11:01 -0400 Tabby In 2009, I was unemployed for nearly a year.  It was a hard year financially.  So much anxiety, bills struggled to be paid, never really having enough to meet the ends at the end of the month, and never knowing if (or what type) of job I was going to be forced into accepting (cause I got to where I was submitting for damn near anything remotely plausible).   Strange thing though... when I've looked back over that year... in the... http://www.healthcentral.com/bipolar/c/77780/153017/unemployment http://www.healthcentral.com/bipolar/c/77780/152332/intolerance Mon, 23 Apr 2012 14:26:04 -0400 Tabby This is prompted from a sharepost by another poster about when or if to stop taking meds.  There is a part in the post about how the goal should not be to stop taking the meds or when you are able to stop taking... or something along those lines.   I responded that I do not take psych meds and I do not by choice.  Am I better for having not?  No.  In fact, I noted in my response that I suffer greatly because of... http://www.healthcentral.com/bipolar/c/77780/152332/intolerance http://www.healthcentral.com/bipolar/c/77780/152221/tired-tired Thu, 19 Apr 2012 10:27:28 -0400 Tabby I am one of you and you are all one of me... many would say that I have no clue how they feel and in truth, I perhaps do not.   I do not live within other's lives or heads and I do not know other's situations... but I do know depression, mania, psychosis, paranoia, and i do know what it is like to be bombarded 24/7 with such intense thoughts to just "cut myself loose" and fall away.   I've had so much and yet so little in... http://www.healthcentral.com/bipolar/c/77780/152221/tired-tired http://www.healthcentral.com/bipolar/c/77780/152126/dead-weight Mon, 16 Apr 2012 10:57:57 -0400 Tabby The slide downward into melancholy started on Friday afternoon, near sunset... I felt it.  The longer I live and the longer my mental resides.. I am getting more and more intuned or atuned to the shifting.  I felt the slide start, the drop of something, in my mind.   Since Friday afternoon, near sunset... it's gradually and ever increasingly, worsened. Ah.. but, I had about 1.5 weeks, overall, of mild-moderate hypomania. Now,... http://www.healthcentral.com/bipolar/c/77780/152126/dead-weight http://www.healthcentral.com/bipolar/c/77780/151384/elephant-suicide Tue, 20 Mar 2012 19:40:14 -0400 Tabby Again, I am not a expert of anything.  I am merely a person who struggles and yes, suffers, with mental illness.  It matters no longer, what form or version, mental illness is mental illness - is it not?   I've been having very black dark thoughts of recent and I journal those thoughts.  I've been journaling for oh so many years now, nearly 20.  When I was a teen, I journaled as well but have seemingly lost those due... http://www.healthcentral.com/bipolar/c/77780/151384/elephant-suicide http://www.healthcentral.com/bipolar/c/77780/151202/ve Wed, 14 Mar 2012 11:34:19 -0400 Tabby A title for my sharepost?  Give me a minute, I'll think of one and when I do, I'll put it up there.  Until then...  Yet, I feel the need to warn.  It's not a "roses and unicorns" sharepost, be advised.   There has been a recurring theme of sorts lately, in my life.  I am a member of another Bipolar message board, a more "exclusive" board.  One in which you must register and be approved of before you can see... http://www.healthcentral.com/bipolar/c/77780/151202/ve http://www.healthcentral.com/bipolar/c/77780/151084/anniversaries Sun, 11 Mar 2012 09:36:17 -0400 Tabby Some anniversaries are wonderful and that is what we all sort of think when we hear the word, "anniversary".  However, some anniversaries are not so wonderful and often times, those are the ones that cause us the most issues.   Many folks, who struggle with any form of mental illness, I've found in my life's experience and have personally known (including myself)... are sensitive folks.  It sets us up for who we are and how we... http://www.healthcentral.com/bipolar/c/77780/151084/anniversaries http://www.healthcentral.com/bipolar/c/77780/144138/2-versions-beware Wed, 14 Sep 2011 20:22:43 -0400 Tabby Well, in truth, there are more versions of me but today I only note 2 in particular.  One being the "out in the world" version and the other, well you all know, the "one with bipolar" version.   Out in the World version is the one that is a daughter, a sister, a mother, was a wife, am a employee, a taxpayer, and a citizen.  It has numerous and multitudes of responsibilities such as bills, raising child, caring for elderly... http://www.healthcentral.com/bipolar/c/77780/144138/2-versions-beware http://www.healthcentral.com/bipolar/c/77780/137868/colors-returning Thu, 05 May 2011 20:33:19 -0400 Tabby I can always tell when my mood is going "up" or "lifting".  As I get older and battle these episodes over and over... it's gotten where many times I literally feel the "drop" and I literally feel the "lift".   One of the telltale signs for me is that the colors in life start returning.  That is, not everything is viewed in a darkened whitewash fog.  Blues, Pinks, Reds, Violets... sort of like Spring blooming from the cold... http://www.healthcentral.com/bipolar/c/77780/137868/colors-returning