The combination of bipolar disorder and physical illnesse stir up a nasty concoction in me every time.  For example, depression and coughing collide while mania and fever slam into each other.  Or it could be insomnia butting heads with exhaustion.  You know the truth.  Bipolar or depression and everything in between are not going to take a vacation when you have laryngitis. 

The aftermath from the meeting of the two medical giants will generate lots of money shelled out at the pharmacy and a crick in the neck from sleeping on the couch for too long. 

Has this ever happened to you?  Yes?  Well, you are in good company.  I am the Queen of bipolar disorder and physical illness clashes.  Based on my experiences, I will give you some suggestions on how I survived the unwelcomed meet-up of the mental and the physical sides.

You can be a Survivor

When I come down with something which rubs against my mental illness symptoms in the wrong way, I usually fight hard against sleeping.  I lay awake staring at the ceiling.  I flip through the pages of a magazine.  I read a book I haven’t touched in months.  And of course, I play on my phone. 

During this entire time, the psychotropic meds sit defiantly untouched while I lay awake all night.  Over the years, I discovered two methods that helped me survive the battle between bipolar disorder and physical illness. 

Survivor Skill #1 – Get more sleep

When I feel under the weather, like with a cold, I get so tired that I practically collapse into bed from just laying around doing nothing all day. The truth is we all need sleep!  However, not everybody gets the right amount of shut-eye.  Below is the most up-to-date sleep data for the United States.

• 50% to 80% of the patients in a regular American psychiatric office are sleep deprived;
• Compare this to the 10% to 18% of adults in the general population who experience sleep deprivation; and finally
• Sleep deprivation costs the US $411 billion annually.

Getting the correct amount of sleep for a mentally and physically well human being, each night is crucial.  If you throw in a mental illness as well as the flu into the mix, the stakes go up.  A sleep-deprived person (with any type of illness) driving a car is as impaired to get behind the wheel and stomp on the gas as a person who is driving drunk.  This is serious stuff!

The bottom line here is to create an environment that will promote healthy sleep.  This is what we call good sleep hygiene.  It’s important to establish this level of health in order to function properly throughout the day.

Appropriate sleep hygiene means the following:

• Winding down before you get into the bed;

• Having an set bedtime;

• No interruptions during the night;

• Getting enough sleep; and 

• Waking up so that you feel rested. 

I am still attempting to achieve good consistent sleep hygiene. In the end, sleeping all the hours and minutes my body needs will, at the very least, assist me with decisions. 

These decisions could be determined by the following questions: “How many hours of sleep do I need to get?”, or “Should I take my prescribed medications while I am sick with a stomach virus?”

Survivor Skill #2 – Take your psychotropic medicine

Some of us have a tendency to skip our meds whether healthy or sick. I do take my medicine when I am well most of the time.  Although when I am physically sick, I often go down kicking and screaming because I do not want to take my regular psychiatric tablets. 

Here is what happens: My mind believes that my body’s mental health will carry on if I press pause on taking the remedy for my mental illness symptoms. With each passing hour to each passing day, my mental acuity tends to suffer greatly.

Every day, I experience varying levels of the following: short bouts odepression, psychosis, mania and little to no ability to stay focused to name a few. 

If you take the above symptoms and mix them up real good, give the potion an electric shock, then you will have my high alert bipolar symptoms while contending with a fever, mucus, muscle aches, congestion and pains.  Then if I stop taking any of my psychotropic medicines please add a triple shot to that espresso.  

But the thing is, when I take all of my meds, my depression is more easily handled by usual treatments.  The psychosis is still there, but it is back to its old pattern where I can better manage the paranoia and hallucinations.  The mania is deflated for now and tucked away in a drawer until another day.  And I can focus better than I did when I was not medicated.

Conclusion

I fulfilled my promise to you, my reader.  In this blog post, I told you that from my experiences, getting enough sleep and taking my daily meds are the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow.  These methods are used in order to ease up the time on the sidelines of life as well as the tough symptoms of bipolar and your sinus infection.  When I become physically ill while living with a mental illness, it can be a madhouse. 

Call to Action

Do you feel a triple dose of your symptoms happening to you whenever you experience mental illness episodes and physical sickness?  Please share how you got through that flu, stomach bug, sinus infection or cold.  You can either write a comment in the section below or send an email to me at [email protected].

References

References will be given upon individual requests.

Check us out on the web and become a FoLLOWER while you are there.

Facebook https://www.facebook.com/lifeconquering/

Twitter https://twitter.com/lifeconquering

Google+ https://plus.google.com/u/0/+LifeConquering

Pinterest https://www.pinterest.com/lifeconquering/

LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/amy-pierce-romine-a22153147/

Instagram https://www.instagram.com/amypierceromine/

FOLLOW. LIKE. SHARE.

The post How to Survive a Crash between Bipolar Disorder and Physical Illness appeared first on Life Conquering Blog.

I excitedly began scrolling through chose best bipolar disorder blogs.  There was the bipolar blog from Psych Central.  The psychcentral.com has a specific blog that I contribute to called Mental Health Discoveries.

Health Line’s 2018 Best Bipolar Blogs Award to Life Conquering

Scroll, scroll, scroll.  Oh my goodness!  The first thing I saw was the Life Conquering logo on the left then a marvelous write-up of my blog on the right.  I did a double take.  I was so excited!  I am just super honored to be on the Best Bipolar Disorder Blogs list.  My passion, hard work and patience have paid off. 

Life Conquering a Mental Health Organization and Blog

The award is displayed on the landing/front page of the Life Conquering Blog.  Scroll down to the end of the page and you will see all of my blog awards.

2018 Best Blogs – Bipolar Disorder

Blog award dedicated to a Father and a Veteran

This weekend is perfect to dedicate this award to my late father, Don Pierce.  He was diagnosed with a mental illness called PTSD after serving in the Vietnam War as a Military Police officer.

Vietnam Soldiers War Memorial

I miss our times on the back deck talking about the latest in politics, cranking up the 70’s music station and asking questions about his tour in Vietnam.  My dad did not die in combat.  However, he died due to a combat-related medical issue.  I miss him.  I wish he were here on my tough days when I feel alone and the bipolar is overwhelming me.  I know he would not mind me leaning on him for strength.  Dad always had great advice.

I will see him real soon in Heaven which takes the sting out of the missing part of his absence in my life.  That makes me smile.

Scripture references to know you are saved

Romans 10:9, which says, “If you confess with your mouth, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.” 

Ephesians 2:8, which says, “It is by grace you have been saved, through faith.”

References

https://www.christianitytoday.com/iyf/advice/faithdoubt/how-can-i-be-sure-im-saved.html

https://www.healthline.com/health/bipolar-disorder/best-blogs-of-the-year#8

https://lifeconquering.org/

PTSD, Veterans and VA Funding Service Dogs Go together like Cats and Dogs

PTSD Suggestions for Someone Who is Struggling

The post Best Bipolar Blogs Awarded to LC and Dedicated to Veteran Father appeared first on Life Conquering Blog.