Welcome New Members

Hi everyone,
New to this forum and happy to have found it I'm looking forward to learning and connecting with some of you. I'm from the Deep South and folks are stuffy around here for the most part though I love living here and having roots here in my state. I'm a young 50ish female, who loves yoga and dance so I go 4/5 times a week. Kids are all grown and I'm divorced and live alone, which I don't like but.....I'm interested in some new life changes that are happening whether I want them or not. Hahaha, I do want to explore as I've only ever been in vanilla relationships and these physical feelings have come with no warning but I like them!
Bye for now and hope to hear from y'all.

I may not be the oldest (74) living person with bipolar, but I’m probably the oldest here. My diagnosis goes back 40 years, symptoms 50 years or more. BP one wrecked my 20s and messed with most of the rest of my life up to now, but compared with many I’ve been very fortunate. I’ve been married for 45 years and had a decent career. But I’ve experienced many, many dark depressions and many manias, some psychotic, more manias perhaps than I’ve even been aware of. (I think when we’re manic we tend to think we’re just “high normal.” That’s part of the problem.)

So I’m very experienced with bipolar. After my retirement (in 2005) I went through several years of severe mania followed by depression followed by mania, and on and on, with as many as four major episodes a year. In 2009 an adjustment to my meds gave me some five years of freedom, though since last year I’ve had several experiences of what my psychiatrist calls hypomania. Thank God I’ve had no depression.

I’ve been very introspective during these recent manic episodes, very conscious of how my current experience contrasts with my normal thoughts and feelings and behaviors. I’ve even taken a few notes for the possible edification of my “normal” self when I return to it. I may write a book about it. I’m only half joking! What else do I do in retirement? I’m a professional writer (though no Kay Redfield Jamison).

I want to sound you about something I’ve experienced during a couple of my last manias. They lasted a couple of weeks, more or less. It happened that I became Ill a few days into each of these manias, and the manic symptoms went away a few days later, much sooner than I expected. (Remember, I am an experienced maniac and very `aware on a day-to-day basis of my manic symptoms, and so is my wife, who will not let me get away with saying I’ve recovered if she thinks I haven’t.) The illnesses happened to be upper respiratory infections, which always turn into bronchitis for me.

So the question is, has anybody else ever experienced such a thing, or heard (or better, read) about the possibility that a minor illness might shorten a manic spell?

Correlation is not causation, of course. But the idea intrigues me. Not that I’m going to go out and try to catch a cold the next time I get manic.

You're welcome here, halcatalyst. I'm glad you found us.

That's fascinating about the effect of the minor illness. [Not that bronchitis is all THAT minor ] I'd suggest asking in bipolar/ Since not many people from there read here. And it's a very interesting question.

I hate to admit it, but I'm lost. I don't see where to start a new topic! I would like to do it over in bipolar.

Hello, I am secuity and I am 20-25 and have AsPD.
When do I get to post without moderators needing to review my post before it is posted?

halcatalyst41 wrote:I hate to admit it, but I'm lost. I don't see where to start a new topic! I would like to do it over in bipolar.

When you are in the forum, it should be in the upper left hand side, above announcements. If you still can't find it, PM a mod and they will help you.

Otter.

I'm so used to people posting their own intro thread, I didn't see this. I apologize. LOL

Anyway, hi everyone, just your semi-typical 36 year old male.

I have currently been diagnosed with ADD/ADHD, Panic/Anxiety Disorder, Non-Combat PTSD, and Bipolar NOS.

So far, my partner has dealt with me for about 5 1/2 years now. He's actually glad we've made some headway and that he can learn to help me when I'm having one of those. I'll admit though, he thinks I have DID over all that. Really odd to hear the person your with say "With you, it's like when you wake up, and questioning who you are."

I'll admit, that actually hurt a bit, but it made me realize that I needed to seek help, and maybe also read and learn from others who have situations/issues similar to mine, so I look forward to reading what you all have to write, and hopefully I can add my parts in as well!

Welcome again - TC. No need to apologize!

Otter.

hey i am from india how r u all...

Hi everyone, I'm terrible at introductions and don't have a diagnosis of anything yet. I do have issues with polarized thinking and intense unstable emotions though, which lead me to look up borderline personality disorder.

I signed up here to try and be proactive about fixing that instead of waiting on therapy.