I have been thinking about, and I think I was encouraged, to write about my disorder here in my Tuesday hosting diary.
I added a poll to see how much all of you want me to write about this in the future.
I mean, I can write about the experiences I had in the hospital, and at the respite care facility, and getting into the regular 5 days a week interaction at the senior center, and managing my life back home on evenings and weekends.
A lot to write about, but I am not certain I want to forge ahead on writing all that.
But it is the main thing on my mind, so if I do not write about all that, I may just post some open threads.
I can condense it all into one more diary, or spread it out into as many as 4 diaries.
So, help me out with the poll.
Sorry I got the numbers out of order.
The little dog is named Itzl.
As you can see by Itzl's concerned look, this group is for us to check in at, to let people know we are alive, doing OK, and not affected by such things as heat, blizzards, floods, wildfires, hurricanes, tornadoes, power outages, or other such things that could keep us off Daily Kos. If you're not here, or anywhere else on Daily Kos, and there are adverse conditions in your area (floods, heatwaves, hurricanes, etc.), we are going to check up on you. If you are going to be away from your computer for a day or a week, let us know here. We care!
IAN is a great group to join, and a good place to learn to write diaries. Drop one of us a PM to be added to the Itzl Alert Network anytime! We all share the publishing duties, and we welcome everyone who reads IAN to write diaries for the group! Every member is an editor, so anyone can take a turn when they have something to say, photos and music to share, a cause to promote or news!
This is our current schedule of regular IAN diary writers:
Monday: Youffraita
Tuesday: bigjacbigjacbigjac
Wednesday: Pam from Calif
Thursday: art ah zen
Friday: FloridaSNMOM
Saturday: FloridaSNDad
Sunday: loggersbrat
en.wikipedia.org/…
Bipolar disorder (BD), previously known as manic depression, is a mental disorder characterized by periods of depression and periods of abnormally elevated mood that each last from days to weeks, and in some cases months.
I never had any period of depression that lasted more than a day.
When I spent about 3 years taking long walks, was that a three-year manic episode?
Well, I had moments of depression when I got back home.
This is all a little confusing, trying to figure out what I have been experiencing in recent years.
It is classified as cyclothymia if there are hypomanic episodes with periods of depression that do not meet the criteria for major depressive episodes
That sounds more like me.
While the causes of this mood disorder are not clearly understood, both genetic and environmental factors are thought to play a role.[4] Genetic factors may account for up to 70–90% of the risk of developing bipolar disorder.[12][13] Many genes, each with small effects, may contribute to the development of the disorder.[4][14] Environmental risk factors include a history of childhood abuse and long-term stress.
The death of my first wife, then the death of my second wife.
That sounds like long term stress.
Mood stabilizers, particularly lithium, and certain anticonvulsants, such as lamotrigine and valproate, as well as atypical antipsychotics, including quetiapine, olanzapine, and aripiprazole are the mainstay of long-term pharmacologic relapse prevention.[17] Antipsychotics are additionally given during acute manic episodes as well as in cases where mood stabilizers are poorly tolerated or ineffective.
My medicine for this is called divalproex sodium (Depakote ER).
I was told it is an antipsychotic.
Bipolar disorder occurs in approximately 2% of the global population.[22] In the United States, about 3% are estimated to be affected at some point in their life; rates appear to be similar in females and males.
Okay, that Wikipedia article is way too long, and has a lot of possible bad news.
Let us ignore all that.
The health care folks will gradually come up with better ideas, as time goes on.
