Hello everyone

I sneaked a few extra days into this thread as it was late starting. Long story short but now you have a choice - post in the daily or the weekly or both. Either way we'd love to see you

This week I am still slowly reducing my efexor and looking forward to being free of the headaches, dizziness etc. hooray freedom here i come

it's lovely and sunny here but we're in the southern hemisphere so our seasons are different.

does anyone here do regular meditation. i have tried to learn so many times and never succeeded! But I'm sure if i could ever learn to 'still' my mind it would be good for me so i keep trying.

Hey yo. I'll probably post in both, lol.

I went back to school yesterday. It feels good!! Things have been really easy. When people ask about me being gone, I just tell them. It doesn't bother me.

I bought a prom dress last night! I ordered it on ebay. I can't wait to see what it looks like in person. It's in my favorite color - hot pink

That is all. I've never been able to do the meditation thing, either. My mind is just too busy! lol! Good luck <3

Hi all, I'm so happy to see the weekly thread back. YEAH!!!!!!

SweetPea, I'v never meditated although I've tried Zums to help relax if I can't fall asleep and clear my mind. I'm too impatient to sit still to meditate. I hear it's awfully good for you so you should give it a try and let us know if it helps.

<3, I love pink. I used to love hot pink when I was younger and now I'm into cherry blossom pink. Definitely my favorite. I think as an overall color, purple is my favorite since I like all shades except mauve. But as a single shade, cherry blossom pink is my favorite. I've been accummulating oodles of clothes in that color. I could have a cherry blossom pink month pretty soon.

Life has been good the last few days (since I last posted in the depression topic). I've bumped up my walking to 3 miles per day and that has been good. Between it and my lightbox, I've definitely got the SADD and bipolar under control. I hope to never go back on Effexor. So SweetPea, I can relate with getting off that drug. It isn't easy. I was lucky but I've heard horror stories. Just an FYI, the side effects of withdrawal lasted about 4 weeks for me.

A couple friends from another topic have been pushing me to think about what's been holding me back eating wise and they've been very helpful in thinking up motivating ideas. So today, I turned over a new leaf and started watching my calories again. I've made it 9 hours so far. At least I feel like I have resolve, so maybe it will work. Keep your fingers crossed.

Well, I'll chat with you all later.
Marie

hey marie that's cheeky lol - you're sending me to do all the dirty work. i hate sitting still too. i think meditation sucks the big one but it's drug free and that sounds awfully good to me. marie - i am only on the lowest dose of 75mg and that is knocking me around a lot. how long were you on efexor and what dose were you on when you stopped? i am hoping the withdrawal stops ... and soon!

ooh a prom dress that sounds cool altho i would be scared of ordering something i can't see and touch and try on. i bet it will look great

Morning Sweet Pea, let's see if my memory can hold up. I was on 300 mg. per day and for about a year on effexor (other AD for about 4 more years). To withdraw (without my dr. permission) I reduced to 150 mg for a couple days, then I was going to cut that in half, but I forgot to take my meds two days in a row and decided to cold turkey it. The bad symptoms just lasted a week.

I order clothes online all the time and would definitely order a prom dress. There's always returning it. I hate shopping for clothes in the store. For some reason it's too overwhelming.

I've been good food wise for over 24 hours now. YEAH!!! Exercise is going great but I've struggled with food the last few months (since October). But others have helped me get back on track and I'm even semi-motivated to lose weight. So keep your fingers crossed.

Well, I'll chat with you later.
Marie

Hi Ladies,

Can't stay and play like I'd like to...

Hope your all having a wonderful Thursday, hang in there !! we're almost at the weekend YAHOO!!!

HUGS

ok one week sounds much better hehe. i'm not sure what i will tell the doc about going off these. depends how i do. i know it will be a challenge without any meds esp as i am also struggling with diet. i would need to eat ultra healthy go to bed at a good time blah blah to maintain all this and that is slipping

well done marie - hoping some of your motivation will rub off on me

i have to spend some time getting my house ready for sale so i can move. oh boy it's a humungous job and i'm not reallky up to it. have a friend who will help with some stuff and think i will also have to hire some labour to get it all done. there is just too much

have diarrhoea this morning and thnk i will go to the shops and grab a pill. i just can't hack it at the moment.

hey leenie

Hi Leenie and Sweat Pea and all others to follow. Things are slow at work. I rather be busy so that I'm not bored. I am bored, unfortunately. What I'd really like is to set up my walking DVD and exercise here so that I have more time at home. Unfortunately that wouldn't go over too well.

SweatPea, my psychiatrist said that getting regular sleep was important in treating bi-polar. No matter if weekend or weekday, get up and go to bed at the same time. I have been doing that for a year and it has helped. Maybe you could create the puppies so you could sleep better. And good luck on the house selling. That is way too stressful. I plan to die in my house so I never have to do that again.

Well, back to the boring work...
Marie

yes my therapist was big on the regular sleep thing too. the trouble with that is it presupposes that i actually sleep when i'm in bed. i don't i toss and turn and get agitated and going to bed early tends to make it even worse. it gives me longer to lie awake. i find no matter what time i get to bed i never get to sleep before 1am. so it just gives me 2 or 3 extra hours to lie there getting upset

i will try again tho i have been going to bed around midnight and need to pull it forward to 11pm each night as a starting point. i just don't think there's much hope for it if i can't get too sleep and sleeping pills don't work. the klonopin has stopped working too. the only night i slept well was the time i did that 5.6km walk. slept quite solidly but i was up for 18 hrs and did a lot of exercise. did take me a while to recover from that walk tho...

truth is i hate structure, hate regularity and consistency. you can see why i'm a poor candidate for dieting!

marie - what sort of work do you do?

ps i hate moving too but this house was always temporary. i couldn't find a place i liked at the time i was moving and didn't know where i wanted to live so i bought a temporary place. i thought about renting but that's tough with 2 dogs so i bypassed that option. probably would have been a better plan.

so now i have to tidy the place up and get it on the market. ugh ugh. that means work, and facing people and all that other stuff. gonna try and sell privately to save some bucks and pray for a quick sale

Hi everyone,

Feeling blah, but its TOM so things will improve. The weather hasn't been helping the last few days, rather cold and cloudy. Everything is just grey.
Its been rather busy. The girls are on their spring break, so I took them to the optometrist. We picked up a 10gal fish tank for DD15 so we have been moving fish around. Picked up a dresser from Salvation Army, so now thats sitting waiting to be sanded and painted. DD15 has been desperate for a new dresser as hers is being held together with duct tape! DD14 still has to go to her judo practice. She has an extra one on Weds, so she has two and a half hours of practice that day plus her regular hour on Mon and Fri. She is going to tournament in Edmonton on April 8. My mom bought a house that needs a lot of cleaning and painting ect, so I've been helping her pick things up for that. My neck and back are still sore from hauling four - five gallon paint cans from the trunk to the house, then I got my van stuck in her yard and had to push.
My eating hasn't been so great lately, but thankfully I haven't gained anything back. I've got to get back to writing everything down and get rid of the simple carbs again.

Sweet pea - good luck with selling your house. That is such a stressful thing to go through. But it will be so nice when you are able to move into an ideal place.

Marie - How is your grandbaby doing? Babies are so wonderful.

<3 - hope your prom dress fits great. My daughter graduated last June and we made her dress in a beautiful green, she has auburn hair and it looked really good. She just got accepted into the local university so will be taking some courses in the fall.

Anyway I should go and do something, Hubby should be home tonight and he just may want to eat something when he gets here, silly man

Take care everyone,
K

Hi Kiera, it's good to see you. I bet your daughter looked fabulous. I absolutely love auburn hair. I swore when I was in my 30's that when I had to dye my hair because of gray that I was oging to be a redhead. Well, I dye my hair because of gray but I've left it blond. Only because I have a chlorine pool and the red wouldn't stay. I sure did try. BTW, my DH is actually cooking as I type this. How cool is that? I'm not sure I oculd carry 4 five gallon bucks of paint more than a couple feet. I think you go your exercise for a week. Hopefully TOM will go away soon. Mine is just leaving and I feel so much better.

I just WATP 3 miles. YEAH!!!! I did the 3 miler with the stretchie bands. I bought new ones this morning. I used to have some from the physical therapist for my upper back but I snapped it after too much use. So this was cool, I use the stretchies for one mile and get my back exercises in that way. I really liked it.

Okay, I should help with dinner.
Marie

Well, I saw my md today, told her about my therapist believing I am rapid cycling bipolar ll. She is sending me to a psychiatrist for medication. I'm glad, because I don't think she's really up on all the psych meds. I just hope we find something that works! I know my posting is very sporatic here. It's just so hard to get my thoughts together enough to post. But I am still here, and planning to stay.

marcie - i think it's a great idea to go to a psychiatrist for medication, not just because of the meds but also because s/he can confirm the diagnosis
hope something works for you soon marcie, it's hard when you feel so distracted

hey keira nice to see you

marie those WATP tapes are great!

yup moving is stressful. i have been running around like a maniac and still lots to do. having trouble finding someone who can trim my hedge anytime soon. the last guy said 2 weeks and quoted $300. crikey dick that's outrageous. trying to see if i can get one of my friends to help with some stuff or maybe mother. have already listed the house for sale on the internet altho i know it's not quite ready but want to hold an open house sunday if there is any interest. i am pushing hard but i need to sell before i can make an offer on the other place otherwise it is too tricky

i am absolutely shattered!!!
having beautiful bbq lamb chop for dinner with salad. after dins either tidy house put away stuff etc or catchup with friend. she has baked muffins today with choc chips. i think they are pumpkin flavoured but not sure

oh i am running on empty - totally overdrawn - must calm down lol

Good morning, chickies. It's actually sunny here for a little while and that's a nice change. I am so sick of winter!!!!! But it is Friday and that thrills me to no end.

Marciet, I'm definitely a proponent of psychiatrist being the ones to treat bipolar. Regular MDs aren't as good of mixing the meds to get the best results. I think you'll be happy that you are going.

SweetPea, good luck onthe open house. Agian, too much work.

Well, I'm at work and should get back to it. I'll stop in later.
Marie