National World Bipolar Day - March 30

Image belongs to International Bipolar Foundation 

March 30th is a very important day to me it is almost birthday celebrating day for me.... it is National World Bipolar Day!!! The vision of this day is to bring world awareness and the stigma of bipolar disorders. This day means we are one step closer to ending the stigma not only around Bipolar but other mental illnesses as well! I could not be happier and honored to be part of this day.

The International Bipolar Foundation (http://www.ibpf.org) asked people who lived with bipolar, caregivers who help someone with bipolar, and the general public to submit a photo with a sign or positive message that would be shared on World Bipolar Day via Facebook and Twitter. I knew this is something that I had to do and be apart of.

So I thought I would write this blog post to go along with my photo for World Bipolar Day... So I hope you enjoy this particular post as I did!!!

Property of a Bipolar Mom and Her Daily Life

* I am not my illness

* I am a daughter, wife, and mother

* I am loved 

* I love with all my heart, body, and soul

* I am not crazy, insane, or unstable 

* I love music, crafts, and to read 

* I love animals 

* I am a fighter and will continue to fight for my invisible illnesses 

* I support invisible illness

* I am a stigma fighter

* I respect all

* I look like just everyone else but unique 

* I will fight for my family

* I am creative 

* I may have an illness but in reality it is more of a blessing not a burden 

* I like to dance like no one is watching 

* I am clumsy 

* I care 

* I am proactive in treating bipolar

* I love the many forms of therapy out there

* I am not afraid to tell someone I am Bipolar 

* I look just like anyone else

* I will not be a negative statistic 

* I am not meant to be used as a label 

* I am in good company 

Property of Bipolar Mom and Her Daily Life 

Learning About A New Symptoms In My Daily Life: Anxiety and Panic Attacks

Image found on Google Free Images

As you guys know I am bipolar and part of my formal diagnosis is generalized anxiety disorder. It is really part of my diagnosis I do not talk about because it really has never presented itself to be enough  of a problem for me at least. It often goes hand in hand of bipolar and for me it leads to excessive worry of just about everything and it goes hand with my rapid thoughts. Usually it gets worse around the holidays or special events. It is something that I have been easily controlled and managed.....

However, really since the holidays my anxiety has taken on something a new roll and has presented new symptoms....symptoms I have never experienced before with my mental illness. To be honest it is a little scary to face a new area of my illness.

Property of Bipolar Mom and Her Daily Life

So I guess I should start with a brief part of what Generalized Anxiety Disorder or GAD is. It is defined or described as exaggerated anxiety and worry about everyday life events with no obvious reason to reason. People with GAD tend to expect disaster and worry about money, health, family, work, or school. The worry/fear is often unrealistic or is out of proportion to the actual situation (which is usually where I fall).

Image found on Google Free Images

The common symptoms of GAD- and the symptoms I usually have

* Excessive, ongoing worry and Tension (me)

* An Unrealistic view of the problem (sometimes)

* Restlessness or feeling a bit edgy (me)

* Muscle Tension

* Headaches 

* Sweating

* Nausea 

* The need to go to the bathroom frequently

* Tiredness (me- usually after my anxiety dies down)

* Trouble, Falling, or Staying Asleep (me)

* Trembling 

* Being Easily Startled (me)

However, since the holidays my GAD has gone just what I consider "mental/emotional" symptoms. I am now experiencing the physical symptoms of GAD which has never happened along with taking longer my body to recover from what caused it. Now when these symptoms occur I am now having physical symptoms of muscle tension, nausea, crying, vomiting, and panicking. I have been talking to my counselor and he did not like how long this anxiety was occurring. Of course a lot of times you do not realize something until it is pointed out to you (well at least to me). So we agreed that I will talk to my doctor about it and figure out ways to cope with anxiety.My counselor and my brain doctor work together so it easy to express problems across boards.

So today I went to brain doctor today and we discussed my anxiety. There was an adjustment to my medications and a new way of taking of them. He also mentioned the word panic attack... me panic attacks? No no no no no ...... not this Bipolar Mom and Her Daily Life. It has taken me a long time to get where I have got and now I have to learn how to deal, live, thrive, and strive through another symptom/symptoms.

Image Found On Google Free Images

So here I am just a Bipolar Mom.... with her Daily Life... facing a new challenge...... or maybe not so new...just a different face

References:

http://www.webmd.com/anxiety-panic/guide/generalized-anxiety-disorder?page=3

A Message To My Readers

I have been making a lot of changes to my blog. No personal blog layout yet but that is a small goal... but one thing I have written for the blog which can be found right now at the bottom of the blog and hopefully in the future "about me" section of a new blog layout what the whole concept of "A Bipolar Mom and Her Daily Life". This is my goal or concept for "A Bipolar Mom and Her Daily Life".

The Face Behind The Concept and Dream of "A Bipolar Mom and Her Daily Life" : Property of A Bipolar Mom and Her Daily Life 

 This is my message...

 I thought I would write this message to my readers and hopefully future readers. What "A Bipolar Mom and Her Daily Life" is really about. It is more than a blog but a goal and ambition to hopefully to change the world. I must first share a little information about me. I am a bad example of a Domestic Goddess. I have a very active three-year-old little boy and a beautiful one-year-old daughter. I have been married for 10 years to a wonderful Marine! I have a B.S. in Psychology and currently applying for my Master's program. I craft, cook, clean, finding something new to try, and everything in between. I tend to function on auto pilot and live in pj pants. I am on the nerdy, geeky, and a little introverted. I am a huge bookworm, music lover, love games, and love to sing and dance badly. I march to my own beat and color outside of lines as often as I can. However, something else about me is I live with two health issues. The first is PCOS and Bipolar Disorder. I prefer the term live with instead of suffer because this is something that I live with daily.

One of my huge goals in my life is to fight the stigma of mental illnesses and bring much needed education and understanding to these invisible illnesses as well others. I also want to show parents and anyone else who "live" mental illness that they are not alone!!! That they too can live, thrive, survive, and show the world that we are no different than any other person who does not live with a mental illness. We often approach life situations differently and deal with issues of the mental illnesses a little different than a physical health issue. I started this blog and the idea of "A Bipolar Mom and Her Daily Life" to be part of the goal of stopping the stigma and educating about mental illnesses. An I believe in one way to stop this stigma and show people they are not alone in their mental illness and we are not the illness.

So this blog is just not all about being bipolar or other health problems. It is about my journey on how I manage this world. So you will see life events, good days, bad days, crafts, cooking, information, and anything else I can think of. I am still very new to the blogging world and also not the best writer and still have a lot to learn. I am also at the very early stages of this goal. However, this goes beyond just a blog. You can find me "A Bipolar Mom and Her Daily Life" on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, and even Goodreads and hopefully other social media platform even a website to follow this journey. On these social platforms you will find positive, up lifting quotes, education facts, jokes, what I am doing for my therapy, if I am having an off day, also when I am at doctor for my monthly visit, and so on. You also can talk to me and share! I love to communicate!

 I am hoping to further my education and research to help aid this goal. As I stated earlier I am currently applying for my Master's program and maybe one day even a doctoral program. I love science in general, research, social aspects of psychology, therapy techniques, neurology, and so much more. If my goal and dream of "A Bipolar Mom and Her Daily" takes off I would also not to love to just not personal experiences but credentials an qualifications as well. Not sure where my education will take me but I sure hope this dream is part of it.

 I am hoping to make a huge difference in this world so I hope you will follow me as this dream and goal grows. ~A Bipolar Mom and Her Daily Life~ Courtney