Well its been 6 months and Im glad to say I dont have very much to report. No news is good news when it comes to mental illness prognosis! I have had some minor tweeks to my med regime but nothing too extensive. I have some bad days but Im lucky that they are never worse than minor inconvenience. It seems I have stabilized for now. I am still going to acupuncture every two weeks - which helps both depressive and manic symptoms. I missed my appointment two weeks ago so I went a month without and definitely felt the difference. Recently my doctor and I (do you like how I pretend it is a partnership?) increased the dosage of my main antidepressant just to cover the last remaining symptoms I have, so I hope that goes well.
Side effects are still pretty mild. One strange one has to do with my vision: I get blurred vision and I have to consciously focus my eyes at times. I have glasses and it seems like my prescription is wrong, but I have had it all checked out and everything is fine there. This time to time blurred vision is really annoying. I have also found that my eyes cross really easily. I never use to be able to cross my eyes at all and now it seems my eyes enjoy it: anything gets close to my face and *pop* there goes my eyes. My doc says she has never heard of visual side effects but I figure the 'experts' never know everything (or anything really) about the medications they serve.
As for the police inquiry nothing has come of it. We reported it to the police (and we were very lucky to have a kind and understanding officer) but never heard anything of it. I am still convinced it was someone who works or worked in the building. Following this, I still do not feel completely secure in my apartment as I am always concerned that when I arrive home without my partner there will be someone there. (I know my doctor would have something to say about that: "forget this being a rational fear, I bet it is your anxiety acting up, plus a little paranoia we should keep an eye on").
Thats it for now. More to come...
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in the mind of a crazy feminist: a space where feminist ideology and the experience of mental illness can unfurl
Welcome
Considering how prevalent mental illness is, why do so few bloggers talk about it?
The aim of this blog is to write about my experience with mental illness, developments in my life as well as issues in the field of mental health all the while keeping a feminist framework.
I hope you can take something from this blog, whatever that may be.
The aim of this blog is to write about my experience with mental illness, developments in my life as well as issues in the field of mental health all the while keeping a feminist framework.
I hope you can take something from this blog, whatever that may be.
About Me
About my writing style
While I can be described as generally quite pessimistic and passionate (others would say angry) person, most of what I write here is never really 'angry', but rather the result of having had to bottle up frustrations. As an active feminist activist I am often frustrated with the wall one often faces because of ingrained sexism and other forms of discrimination that penetrates all levels of our society; but as an activist I have an outlet to release this frustration and 'do something about it'. With my experience of mental illness I have had to bottle these feelings because, it seems, my friends and family feel uncomfortable if I talk about it, my doctors sure do not want to hear about it, and often I have enough self doubt that even I will disregard its importance.
But here, I get to release these experiences and frustrations. I get to get them off my chest and work through them in my own way.
So if I sounds angry, its probably just frustration with a healthy dose of sarcasm. ; )
But here, I get to release these experiences and frustrations. I get to get them off my chest and work through them in my own way.
So if I sounds angry, its probably just frustration with a healthy dose of sarcasm. ; )
A short history
Age of first diagnoses: 17
Number of diagnoses given: 4
Number of relapses: 4
Years of psychotherapy: 2.5
Number of perscriptions tried: 6
'Alternative' treatments: accupuncture
Years of my life affected: over 10
Number of relationships affected/destroyed: all but one
Job/volunteer position offers withdrawn directly because of my diagnosis: 3
Favorite strange side effect: yawning
Number of diagnoses given: 4
Number of relapses: 4
Years of psychotherapy: 2.5
Number of perscriptions tried: 6
'Alternative' treatments: accupuncture
Years of my life affected: over 10
Number of relationships affected/destroyed: all but one
Job/volunteer position offers withdrawn directly because of my diagnosis: 3
Favorite strange side effect: yawning
My feminist beginings
I never considered myself a feminist until I was 21 and in my third year of university. I told my roomate in a low voice,
"I think I am a feminist".
It was if it was a dark confession.
Now it is one of the ways I define myself and I believe it shapes how others see me. I like that it does.
"I think I am a feminist".
It was if it was a dark confession.
Now it is one of the ways I define myself and I believe it shapes how others see me. I like that it does.
A note on "experts"
It becomes apparent quickly that I am a bit skeptical of the knowledge we have of psychology/psychiatry. My extensive experience with doctors of all sorts has only convinced me that at times psychology/psychiatry are pseudo sciences. What I mean by this is that the people who study and practice these fields - those we call "experts" - often do not know how the mind works, boundaries of diagnoses often blur and there is little awareness of why some treatments work when others do not. Psychiatric drugs are litterally a shot in the dark because often scientists do not know how or why they work, research just tells them that sometimes they do. Diagnoses are at times laughable in how vague and inadequate they are. (How many of us has heard, "you have (bipolar) tendencies" or "characteristics of (obessive compulsive disorder)".)
BUT, to make myself clear, I am not angry toward or dismiss the role of these "experts", they are doing the best they can with limited knowledge. But thats just it... how can anyone be a true expert when so little is known of a subject?
BUT, to make myself clear, I am not angry toward or dismiss the role of these "experts", they are doing the best they can with limited knowledge. But thats just it... how can anyone be a true expert when so little is known of a subject?
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