Depression is many things to many people. The common perception of depression is that you’re “just” really sad all the time, and while this is true for many who suffer depression, this is not a universal norm. Some people don’t feel sad, per se, they feel nothing; they feel dead inside.
Over 70 articles were published here on the Bipolar Burble blog in 2013. Some were hits and some not so much. So today I’d like to look back at two top 5 lists: the most-read bipolar blog articles of 2013 and the most talked-about bipolar blog articles of 2013.
Here’s what you were reading on this bipolar blog that was written in 2013:
Hi all. I try not to overly promote my events on this bipolar blog so the Bipolar Burble blog can focus on content, but this time I thought a couple of things deserved a word: a speaking engagement you can all attend for free and an award that I’m a little proud of.
So, this Sunday, January 5th at 4 PM PST (7 PM EST) I will be talking to MissADD. As she says:
Please join me this coming Sunday, January 5, 2014, as I welcome to the show Natasha Tracy.She is an award-winning writer and speaker from the Pacific Northwest. She specializes in writing about bipolar disorder, depression, pharmacology, and other mental health issues. Her expertise has been sought after by academics and reporters, she is to be featured in an upcoming documentary on bipolar disorder, and she has been a speaker at the National Council Mental Health and Addictions conference. She was named the second most influential online depression writer by Sharecare.com. Natasha and I will be discussing Bipolar disorder and ADHD. She will be talking about her own diagnosis with bipolar disorder, and how she has learned to embrace this, and approach it from a positive place. We will also be discussing tips for enlightening us to be able to understand what bipolar disorder is, and the best way to treat it. Natasha will also discuss Mindfulness, and how it has changed her life!
It’s going to be an informal conversation and I hope you’ll be part of it by calling in to (917) 889-7025.
Listen to the show here: http://www.blogtalkradio.com/missadd/2014/01/06/bipolar-disorder-and-adhd
I’m really excited about it and I hope to hear the voices of some of you folks so we can “meet,” as it were.
Social HeathMakers in the Category Mental HealthIt was recently announced that I’m the fourth most influential social HealthMaker according to Sharecare.com. You might remember that I made their list for the most influential in the category of depression, but now I’ve made it all the way to making changes mental health wide.
I recently posted an article at HealthyPlace where I recommended some New Year’s resolutions for people with bipolar disorder. These resolutions included:
I believe that all of these are solid, serious, doable resolutions that can improve 2014 for someone with bipolar disorder.
But when I look back at my 2013 and ahead to be 2014, I can only think of one thing: I just want my bipolar to be better.
I was really nervous to have to tell my doctor that I had decided to take the Truehope product EMPowerplus. I was pretty sure he was going to either laugh or chastise me out of his office. My anxiety about it was so bad that I didn’t want to mention it at all. Of course, that would have been a poor decision. Allowing anxiety to override your logic is never the right call.
So I told him and surprisingly, he was nonplussed. He just sort of said, “Alright then.”
I am now on day 11 of my EMPowerplus experiment and, yes, I have talked to my doctor about it (more on that later). Here’s what I have to report about the EMPowerplus:
It is not lost on me that next week is the holidays. Whether you’re religious, or, like me, just like a finely-dressed tree, there tends to be a lot going on.
So here is a bipolar holiday guide on maintaining bipolar stability over the holidays, which, as we all know, can be tough.
(Prereading: What is EMPowerplus by Truehope and Why am I Taking EMPowerplus?)
I’ve ordered EMPowerplus by Truehope now, and so, as a buyer, I know a few things that you can’t find out on their public site.
The experience of buying EMPowerplus is exactly what you would think it would be – you go online and you buy it. There is one difference though, and that difference is that someone calls you to follow-up.
The morning after I ordered the product, the Truehope follow-up person called and started asking me personal questions and confirming information I had already given them. Then she asked my diagnosis. I hesitated as I don’t really think it’s any of her business, but then said, “bipolar.” Then she asked me what medications I was on. I told her I was on several and I didn’t want to enumerate them. She said something along the lines of, “our support staff can’t help you if they don’t have a full picture.” I asked her what her qualifications were to be asking such questions and she said that she simply, “set up the file.” Then I asked her what qualifications those support staff have. She said, “they’re educated on the product.”
In other words, the follow-up person has zero qualifications and the support people who will be counselling you have zero qualifications also. (This is true, by the way, it’s just a call center.) And she wants me to hand over my personal, medical information to these people. I don’t think so.
There are many reasons I don’t typically talk about my own, personal, current mood and treatments. I’ve written about why I don’t write about my bipolar treatments here. Similarly, I don’t talk about my current bipolar mood state because my writings are less about me, in particular, and more about the experience of bipolar, in general. I believe that’s one of the reasons my writing is so popular. I take my personal experience of bipolar disorder and use it as a springboard to speak to what it’s like to experience bipolar for so many.
But one of the other reasons I don’t talk about my personal, current mood state is because I’m a private person. I know this seems weird considering how much I share online. But I’m careful with what I share, and what I don’t.
And finally, I know that I’m a role model for some people and I don’t talk about my own current mood episode because I don’t want other people to lose hope. In spite of recent accusations, I do actually bring hope to thousands of people with bipolar and people who love those with bipolar disorder and I don’t want to do anything to injure that hope.
(Preread: What is EMPowerplus by Truehope?)
I’m not doing well. I haven’t been doing well for a long time. It’s quite simple really, every day I fight the bipolar and at the moment, the bipolar is winning.
And when this happens I know what I have to do. I know I have to find an effective treatment. In my 15 years of being treated for bipolar disorder, I can tell you what pulls me out of a depression: medication. Nothing else ever has. Ever. I’ve done everything (believe me) and nothing works except finding the right bipolar medication. I know people don’t want to believe this, but it’s true.
But unfortunately for me, we’re out of bipolar meds. My doctor is out of ideas. I have no good ideas either. If I wanted a drug, my doctor would give it to me, but there’s simply nothing to want because there’s nothing with any evidence behind it that I haven’t tried. And there’s no combination (or combination of combinations) that I haven’t been on. Really.
And the other night I was in my apartment, suicidal as you please, and I desperately decided to try this EMPowerplus stuff. Because, according to some anecdotal evidence and case studies, it appears to have worked for a few people.
I have been wanting to write about the Truehope people (makers of EMPowerplus) for years but I haven’t because, well, I didn’t have anything nice to say, so I didn’t say anything at all. I knew that any critique I made of these people would be met with a slew of hate mail and, really, I get enough of that already.
But now I’m ready to go and at the bottom I’ll tell you why.
As I said last week, bipolar disorder can be a lethal disease. My point was that suicide can be a symptom of bipolar disorder and this is the cause of death for many people.
However, there are other ways to die from bipolar disorder as well. In fact, suicide is not even the most common cause.
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