September 2013 - Bipolar Burble Blog

Should People with Bipolar be Forced to Take Medication?

Posted by Natasha Tracy | Sep 23, 2013

I have written before that you can sort of, a little bit, manage bipolar disorder without medication. There are a few proven treatment strategies that do work to manage bipolar disorder and keep you out of the prescription line at the pharmacy.

Nevertheless, I’m still a big believer in medication. I believe that if your life is out-of-control because of bipolar disorder, then medication is probably the best thing for you. I believe that if you’re in pain because of bipolar disorder, then you should be seeing a psychiatrist. I believe that if your functionality is compromised by a disordered brain, then you should be looking at a medical solution.

But does this mean that people with uncontrolled bipolar disorder should be forced to take medication?

How Does It Feel to Have Bipolar? Lonely

Posted by Natasha Tracy | Sep 17, 2013

It’s common for people with bipolar disorder to feel isolated. Isolation comes from the person with bipolar choosing to isolate themselves and those around them walking away and forcing isolation on them.

So I commonly tell people with bipolar disorder to reach out. It’s important to reach out to people who will be supportive – because these people do exist. And it’s important to reach out to professionals and support groups so you don’t feel so alone with, what is undoubtedly, a very scary diagnosis.

But even when a person takes that advice, even when a person gets it all together, even when a person with bipolar does find supports, it’s still lonely.

Calling all Manic Folks in the UK

Posted by Natasha Tracy | Sep 10, 2013

Hi all.

Today I need to ask for your help. I’ve been asked to participate in another documentary – and I’m honored to do this. The documentarian is from CB Films and is working with Channel 4 in the UK.

The thing is, he’s looking for a person suffering from a manic episode who’s in the UK. Now, obviously, this is a big ask. In my experience it’s difficult to anticipate mania and once hypomania or mania rears its ugly head, it needs to be dealt with promptly and not allowed to continue.

All that being said, the documentarion is searching for someone suffering from a manic episode who is willing to be filmed during their episode.

Yup, that’s a toughie.

How to Become a Famous Mental Health Writer/Blogger

Posted by Natasha Tracy | Sep 9, 2013

One could argue that I am a famous mental health writer. Under “mental health writer” on Google, a post I wrote is on the first page and my bipolar blogs are on the first and second page of the Google search results for “bipolar blog.” Moreover, I have over 35,000 followers on Twitter, Facebook and Google+.

So yes, I’m arguably a “famous” mental health writer.

And lots of other people want to be where I am. I get questions weekly from people starting blogs or writing careers who want advice on how to go about doing it. Well, if you want to be a famous mental health writer, or just plain old build a following, here are a few tips.

Escaping Bipolar Disorder

Posted by Natasha Tracy | Sep 4, 2013

Bipolar disorder is an inescapable mistress. No matter what you do, no matter how hard you work, no matter how many medications you take, she is always there, ready to hit you over the head with a 2 X 4. True, some people are lucky enough be experiencing remission. In that case, the mistress is forced to take a few steps back. But for people not in remission, people in full-blown bipolar disorder, that mistress is relentless. Every minute of every day she steals your brain and makes life unbearably painful.

And I have found that if you also happen to be bipolar and anhedonic, almost nothing allows you escape from that reality. Anhedonia is the inability to feel pleasure and when truly anhedonic, no matter what you do, no matter how theoretically pleasurable that activity is, you will not feel that pleasure – no matter what. This is a concept that most people cannot fathom but believe me, an inability to feel pleasure is real.

I have, however, found one tiny escape. It’s something I do all the time. It’s a little embarrassing, actually. I manipulate physical sensations and responses. Yes, I have orgasms.