To help you get out of the slumps and on your feet again!!

Do I need to pay more attention to:

Nutrition?
Exercise? (One of the most important things to do)
Positive, Inspirational reading, songs etc.?
Praying. Ask God or my higher power to protect me from negative and evil influences?
Reading Spiritually healing books, meditating, connecting with your higher power
Food therapy: http://www.jaredstory.com/depression_food_therapy.html (Below is some ideas from their website.)
Highly beneficial nutrients for bringing the body back to balance, giving the body the power to reverse depression, disease, acidity and aging include:
1. Complex carbohydrates in the form of fruits and vegetables which include the most powerful fruits and vegetables: carrot, parsley, beet, broccoli, kale, cabbage, spinach, tomato, apple, orange, pineapple, cranberry, acerola cherries and papaya.
2. Soybeans and soy products
3. Beans, nuts, seeds, dried fruits
4. Whole grains such as brown rice, wild rice, kamut, rye, millet, barley, spelt, quinoa
5. Salmon, white fish, range fed turkey, eggs
6. For sugar, use honey, molasses, cane sugar, stevia
7. Minerals/vitamins – selenium, folic acid, calcium, magnesium, chromium, niacin, Vitamin D, B vitamins – all of which are best derived from food rather than specific supplements. (It is important to understand that supplements may be needed for short term treatment of a depletion, but how do we know when that depletion is filled?)
Homeopathy (*check out the referrals in my website)
Journaling the cause of my depression?
Doing cognitive therapy?
No-Cost inner-circle support? (*This can come from family, friends etc)
No-Cost community support? (*This can some from Church, NAMI, 12-step groups etc.)
No-Cost Support?
Remembering that my higher power can help me and “this too shall pass.”
Accepting things the way they are?
Asking “Do I have total, partial or no-control?”
Vocalizing my grief through groans, moans etc.?
Using oils such as lavender and peppermint?
*No-Cost Support for a time with child care, housework etc.(church, family)
Rereading past cards, notes and positive journal entries
**Trying herbal supplements
*Trying a ponder page
*Reevaluating your expectations
* Trying the depressurizing technique
You may need to get away for a few days
Thanks Thinking: Try writing things you are thankful for
Aromatherapy is easy to apply and is enjoyable
Sunshine – This can be critical for some
Acupressure and massage can be very comforting and insightful
Reading Motivational, supportive books or watch Youtube presentations. Search “motivational”

Professional Support:* Psychiatrist? You may need medication
Professional Support: *Therapist?
Professional Support: *Hypnosis?
Professional Support: **Hospitalization (discuss with your Health Provider)

*Further details are available in My Journey from Darkness to Light
by Patricia Potts
**Free newsletters, blogs and youtube videos available through patriciapotts.com

Before I learned that I was bipolar, I didn’t pay much attention to my sleep. Actually, I counted myself lucky when I got up in the middle of the night and was able to squeeze a few more hours out of the day.

Now that I have learned about bipolar and accepted my illness, I understand my need for sleep in order to avoid the depressive episodes that have so fully eclipsed my life in the past. These days I almost always make sure that I get at least 7 hours of sleep each night. If I do wake up early I try to catch a few more hours sometime in the morning.

Recently we went on a cruise. During our stay we made choices about shows and dinner hours that allowed me to get the sleep I needed. In addition to this I continued taking my medication and we had a wonderful time. Sometimes I take sleep for granted but recently I realized that in my case it is an unsung hero!

“My medicine isn’t kicking in like it should. I am cycling from depression to grandiose ideas. This bipolar stinks! Do you have any ideas?” My friend anxiously asked.

As we talked there were three main ideas that came to my mind:
1. Ponder Pages
2. Prayer by Prayer
3. “Leaf”ing negative feelings behind

Ponder pages: Having a place for ideas/goals/should-dos in a notebook or planner or PDA can be invaluable. When ideas about what you should or want to do come (often in a torrent) write them down, committing yourself to prayerfully think about them in a quiet moment (doing laundry, dishes, driving etc.) I have often found that by the time I ponder on it I no longer have the desire to do it, I realize that it isn’t the right time or I have ideas about how it can become a reality.

Prayer by prayer
This is more fully described in my book My Journey from Darkness to Light. Basically I have learned that when I begin to feel overwhelmed it helps to:
A. Stop what I’m doing
B. Pray for help
C. Tell the Lord what I feel I need to/should be doing (I usually look at my planner and name 4-5 most pressing things)
D. I rub my hands together as if I had sand between my palms and the sand represents the pressures I am feeling. In a sense I let the sand (pressures) fall from my palms into the hands of my Savior leaving me with open hands ready to listen to what my Savior wants me to do.
E. Ask to know what HE wants me to do
F. At this point either (1) I have 2-3 ideas come back to me (often my thoughts include simple things like eat, take my meds and one of my 5 ideas) or (2) I don’t have any specific impressions but I am able to return to my list with less pressure and choose more wisely the things I can do that will bring me the greatest peace and happiness

“Leaf”ing negative feelings behind
I have explained this concept through youtube. It can be found on my website http://www.patriciapotts.com/Vids.html . It is also described in my book My Journey from Darkness to Light. This is a form of cognitive therapy that is quick, easy and efficient.

Negative/Pressure Thoughts Feeling Can I know this is totally true? Talk back

The house is a mess Overwhelmed, guilty, fearful No Maybe it isn’t as clean as I like but it’s not a total mess!
She is not answering her phone. She doesn’t want to talk to me. Sad, hurt, guilty No I am mind-reading. Her phone may be having trouble. I can pray and call a mutual friend.

These simple ideas can be the difference between anxiety and peace. May they bless your life like they have mine.

Is sugar contributing to my depression?

A week ago I was at a neighbors house. She smiled and offered me a huge slice of chocolate cream pie about 1/4th the size of the whole pie. I didn’t want to offend her, so I ate the whole thing…every last crumb.

Later that night, my daughter, Cindy, made a gorgeous chocolate cake for her sister’s birthday. Again I didn’t want to offend her, so I ate a generous slice. Afterward while wiping the table I finished up left-over slices from my grandchildren. Afterall, I didn’t want to waste.

What were the results of my approval-driven choices? Dah…

D-depression
A-anxiety
H-headache
I-insomnia

As the dark cloud of despair and self-hatred (I can’t believe I ate the whole thing!) lurked overhead, I remembered several years ago when I discovered my allergy to MSG. I had begun to be suspicious about headaches but the real clincher came when I put the MSG grains directly under my tongue…HEADACHE CITY 101!! I was convinced that I didn’t want to knowingly eat anything with MSG again.

What about sugar? I know I suffered negative effects because of my binge. Will it be enough to curb my desires and approval addiction? I hope so. Today is day four without sugar. In three weeks we are planning a cruise full of yummies (temptation city). Maybe when my resolve weakens I’ll have to grab some of that white stuff, put it directly under my tongue and be prepared for the results because I think I’m allergic to sugar!

My daughter has found help with the ups and downs of life with Omega available at Costco. Check it out!What is the Research on depression and omega-3s?

Can fish oil supplements ease depression? Stoll Believes the answer s a cautious “yes,” but is quick to add that more studies are needed. Several teams of researchers are currently testing fish oil as a remedy for depression, bipolar disorder, and schizophrenia. Until those results come in, the jury on fish oil is still out. Still, the research that has been done to date suggest that omega-3s may have important implications for our both depression and our overall health.

As reported in the May 1999 issue of the Archives of General Psychiatry, Stoll and Colleagues found that large doses of fish oil supplements significantly eased the symptoms of severe bipolar disorder, even in some patients who weren’t responding to drug treatment. The study (a double-blind, placebo-controlled study), which measured traits of relapse into mania; involved 30 patients whose symptoms were not abated by their medications. Fourteen of the subjects started taking a hefty 10 grams of fish oil supplements every day, some while using other medications and some using the fish oil supplements alone, while the rest took olive oil. After four months of treatment, 12 of the 14 patients taking fish oil capsules reported fewer symptoms of depression, and only two had suffered a manic-depressive episode since the study began. In contrast, only three of the 16 patients taking the olive oil placebo said they felt any better and nine had major attacks. Researchers stopped the study early, partly because it seemed unethical to withhold fish oil supplements from any of the patients. In one case, a participant came to the study with a treatment-resistant case of bipolar disorder marked by what Stoll described as violent rages and crime sprees. “When given the opportunity to participate in our fish oil study, he was eager indeed,” Stoll writes. “The fish oil was a charm. Participating in our double-blind study, he had no way of knowing that whatever we were giving him, it worked! His mood swings and rages stopped abruptly and he felt well for the first time in his life. He has remained on fish oil supplements for three years.”

 

five-steps-from-guilt-to-gladness

Recipe for Analyzing Dreams

Have you ever woken up with strong feelings of being overwhelmed or feeling fear, guilt or anger because of a dream?

I have.

Through the years I have developed a recipe for analyzing dreams based on research and my own personal experiences.  I hope this helps you as much as it does me:

Dream Recipe

Pray and ask for wisdom to understand what your dream means to you then write down:

1. A list of the emotions generated through your dream (fearful, guilty, excited, angry etc.)
2. A list of people who where in the dream (Yourself, family members, stranger descriptions etc.)                                                                                                                                                                                                                                     3. A list of prominate things or places in your dream (garage, street, at work etc.)

Now you are ready to analyze what it has to do with your life.  Ask yourself:

1. Where in real life are you feeling those feelings?
2. Are you experiencing those feelings with the people in your dream?
3. Do you have negative/excited feelings about the things/places you saw in your dream?     

    You may be surprised at how much insight you can gather as you prayerfull write your answers down.      

The first dream I analyzed had a real impact on my life.  I was caught in a window well with a spider headed straight for me.  Here is how I analyzed it:

Feelings: fear, panic

People: Me, the spider

Places/Things: window well, window

REAL LIFE:

Feelings: I was feeling overwhelmed and fearful about my schedule.  I was stretched to the max as a young mother, a daycare provider and a wife.

People: As I prayed and pondered about it I felt that the spider represented the demands in my life: my own demands, my husbands expectations, my children, the daycare children, church responsibilities etc.

Places/things: I began realizing that the window well was one I could see from the basement when I was doing daycare activities.  It represented being stuck in a rock and a hard place and being unable to escape to freedom.

When I got to this point I could see that something had to change.  I began examining my committments and letting goe of some of my expectations about keeping house, about the number of children I took in my daycare and I talked to Dan about his actual expectations. 

Within a few weeks I made these changes and I was able to reduce my stress and my feeling that I was caught between a window well and it’s window. 

Over the years I have used this formula and included my dreams in my journal.  I have found that the Lord communicates with us in many ways and sometimes it’s in our dreams.  I hope you enjoy trying out this new recipe and I hope it brings you sweet results!

I clicked into Amazon to gather information about my book sales for January 2009 only to discover that there were no sales. I thought of all the posts, newsletters and blogs I had created and felt discouragement welling up inside me like a sponge in my chest soaking up any hope or encouragement within. I had committed to 8-10 hours a week of marketing to help my books find new homes and now this. Discouraged I looked around the kitchen where my desktop computer resided and silently prayed, “Please Father. “I am trying to follow thy will. I want to bless the lives of others but I don’t think it will happen at this rate.”

Standing I stretched backward to relieve my tired back then began to pace through our forest green couches. “What more could I have done? How can I get my books to those who need them? How can I feel at least a little progress?”

The day continued and I became increasingly frustrated. Soon I found myself thinking “Why try. I may as well give up my marketing efforts and do something productive! I can give my remaining books to my children and their children and their children”

By 2:00 I began teaching guitar and kept busy doing what I love. Cheering those who were practicing and encouraging those who were not.

It was nearly 6:30 when Mary and her daughter, Elizabeth came. Elizabeth was a new student and we spent much of the lesson on orientation and helping her get started on her first song. Just before she left Mary said “I looked at your website and I loved it. Do you have any books here that I could buy?”

Mary didn’t know it at the time but she was a direct answer to my prayer as she continued “I have been looking for something just like this.”

Mary followed up the next week by sharing “I could hardly put your book down. It was an answer to my prayers.”

I once read of a football player who had trained and paid the price to make a touchdown. When the big game came he was tackled just 2 inches from a touchdown. Instead of giving up he kept on doing what he was doing and finally made that touchdown.

I am thankful that my Heavenly Father and his angels were mindful of me and my heartfelt desire to get a book to Mary so that we could both find joy in the touchdown and hope for the future.

 

 

 

 

Mom sat to my right, along the edge of my wedding quilt.  She quilted going to her left and left the threaded needle by my right elbow so I could take it from there and I would quilt to the far left edge. 

 

Mom was a much better quilter than I was. She came from the old school where every young woman had a trousseau.  I had been much more interested in the social aspects of finding my husband, courting him and finally reeling in the catch! Mom had watched and listened with rapt attention to every detail of my dating and courtship (I know, that’s hard to believe but it’s true.)  And so, after 5 years of dating and courtship, here we were along with 10 other women weaving threads in my victory quilt.

 

I call it a victory quilt because I had to work hard to catch my man and he truly was quite a catch.  Now nearly 34 years, 5 children and 6 grandchildren later I find myself taking different kinds of threads.  I am applying myself to a quilt make of patients like me.  Others who have endured the pain of depression then finally in a desperate attempt to find recovery accepted a label that would change their lives forever. 

 

These individuals are my brothers and sisters.  They are taking up the golden thread of friendship and camaraderie. They are the courageous warriors who have dared come forth and be counted as they thread their next golden needle and begin to quilt.

 

I want to thank those who have set up the frame, purchased the supplies and laid out the material so the rest of us could find each other somewhere in between.

http://www.patientslikeme.com/forum/show/35848

At Halloween time I posted a video in youtube using a pile of leaves. The topic was “leafing” my negative thoughts behind. In the video I descibed a simple form of cognitive thereapy. Well… I had to use it today. I swear I was feeling guilty about EVERYTHING (I even felt guilty that our old car had a bad “check-up” yesterday…it must be my fault!) Everywhere I looked I could see my shortcomings and failures. Finally I got out my pencil and paper and (1)wrote what I was thinking then (2)how I felt about it then (3)asked myself “Can I actually know that is true?” (4) Finally when it was time to talk back to myself all I could do was stare and the paper and wish I felt better. (5) I then recalled my support team and turned to the page in my planner where I had the names of people I felt comfortable brainstorming with. I called Cindy. She helped me find positive somewhere in the rubble of the negative. I AM SO THANKFUL FOR THE TOOLS I’VE LEARNED. THIS KIND OF THINKING COULD HAVE KEPT ME DOWN FOR A MONTH OR MORE!! -