Too Much of a Good Drug is a Bad Time

I have the distinct displeasure, along with a lot of other folks with mental illness, of being super sensitive to psychiatric drugs. This week I was instructed to increase the dosage of a pill I’ve been taking for years by a quarter tab.

Day one, I got (1) the jitters, (2) irritability, (3) aggravation, and finally (4) full blown seething hate by 2:00 p.m. Day two I sequestered myself to protect my relationships.

Most people think that psychiatric drugs will just zonk you out. And some do, but you never know. (Another thing you never know.) And man, I’d take zonked over this aggro shit any day.

Taking mood “stabilizers” is a lot like spinning a wheel of fortune where every space is a different emotion or degree of emotion. And there are multiple arrows and infinite combinations. No wonder finding the right combination of drugs for any particular brain often takes serious perseverance.

On doctor’s orders, I am returning to my previous dosage as of today and will be on Xanax until the violence wears off.

(This was written the week of 13 June.)

Comments

Brain Helpers, Part 2b

Besides everything listed in Brain Helpers Part 1 , science has found a number of other ways we can repair, protect, and grow our brains. I’ve collected some of them and divided them into Physical and Mental for posting purposes. Here are the Mental ones. (And here are the Physical ones.) Mental ways to repair, protect, and grow your brain Reduce stress . Too much stress kills neurons, alters brain structures, impairs memory, and leaves us more susceptible to mental illness. In bipolarites, it triggers episodes. The conversation around reducing stress won’t fit here. For now, this Harvard Health article and this NAMI list cover a lot of ground. Do puzzles . This isn’t a global fix for brain health, but it has been shown to help with attention, reasoning, and memory. Be happy . I know, I know , but happy brains are better at memory and learning, and they kick ass at neuroplasticity. There is a huge (like 30%) global increase in function in happy brains. All of this means...

What Bipolar Does to the Brain

I’ve been researching what bipolar does to the brain and seriously—fuck. There’s both a lot more research than my 25-year-old B.A. in Psychology could assimilate and not nearly enough. A layperson’s book on the subject is sorely needed. Here’s the gist. * There’s solid evidence that the dysfunction during depressive and manic states causes changes that persist into our baseline states. * There are several neurotransmitters involved: dopamine, norepinephrine, serotonin, GABA (gamma-aminobutyrate), glutamate, and acetylcholine at the least. And hormones that act like neurotransmitters are in the mix, too, like endorphins and oxytocin. * Brain structures yet discovered to be involved/affected include areas of the prefrontal and temporal lobes, the hippocampus, thalamus, and hypothalamus. * Bipolar affects both grey and white matter, meaning both the structural elements of the brain and the connective tissue between them. And by affects, I mean corrodes over time. There’s mor...

Brain Helpers, Part 1

1. Move* In the simplest terms, exercise takes the bad stuff out of our blood so it can’t harm the brain. And it gets the brain to release the good stuff that heals it, protects it, and helps it grow. 2. Sleep > 6 hours a night. Sleep is when the little sanitation workers clear the brain of its refuse, metaphorically and literally. If the garbage isn’t taken out, it becomes hard to process information or make new memories. 3. Eat The brain loves beautiful nutrients, especially the kind found in leafy greens, berries, and nuts. The brain is not down with the fatty, sugary, refined craptacular deliciousness that surrounds us. Healthy fats are cool though. Omega-3s FTW. 4. Use it Do new things. Learn new things. Enjoy it. Increase the complexity. This not only creates new pathways, it gives brains an overall resilience against stress and damage. 5. Love your people Strong social bonds lower stress and inflammation and help us sleep better. Doing things in groups, espe...

blobfish-a-go-go

Search This Blog