My new discovery

As my life gets back on track I suspect I'm going to be writing a lot more about my role as a caregiver to other mentally ill individuals. It's going to be interesting to go back to that (19 days!) now because for the first time I've come to understand that my serious illness is more like theirs than I thought. I used to believe that when the doctors said I was seriously ill they meant because I tend to not respond well to meds, I'm a very rapid cycler, I have severe mixed episodes and these are all factors that statistically put me in the "not good" category. The truth though is that I was diagnosed as "high functioning for severity". I never paid attention to the fact that this meant I too had severe illness and just was able to do well. Instead I thought it meant I got out of the things I associated with severe illness.

Well, now I've been through a lot of them. And more may come in the next months. My realism forces me to know that getting sick soon would be a bad thing and would mean changes in my life.

I've also realized that things that help my patients may help me. So many things I've never wanted to try before because having things to help in the house would mean I needed help. But this time I've tried more things like soundblocker headphones/earplugs, a white noise machine, and a few other things I forget. But my greatest discovery has been my newest. I bought a blanket which has areas that allow you to add weights. You can wrap up in it or sleep with it and the weight is soothing. I just got it yesterday and can't believe how much I love it. I wish I had tried this years ago.

From now on, I'll be taking more ideas from the seriously ill side.