I consider myself lucky as my mental health and my life are steadily improving overall. As someone with bipolar disorder type I I have been stable for around 20 years, even though I have chronic fatigue, joints problems, and other issues.
One psychiatrist I saw for three years called me “one in a thousand”, another was astonished that I manage multiple health issues both mental and physical with only Olanzapine. This is why I consider myself fortunate.
How was I able to reach stability
For sure after the second relapse in 2006 with its complications (joints and muscles pain, chronic fatigue etc… ), it was not easy to find stability. However, I had no choice but to fight back without action things worsen as I was trapped in a vicious cycle: anxiety worsened my physical suffering, and physical suffering intensified my anxiety, besides I was not in good terms with some family members which made me more fragile. This can be explained by the biopsychosocial model.
Biopsychosocial model is a model that conceptualizes health and illness as a result of an interaction of social, psychological, and biological factors. It was developed by George L. Engel in 1977 as an alternative to the biomedical model that focused on biological factors alone.
The model outlines the interconnectedness of these dimensions, recognizing their impact on each other to shape an individual's health.
About panicking
It took more than a decade to understand that because I focused too much on my physical pain I lose control and I magnify the suffering. In fact, After a strain injury, I used ice excessively, worsening the problem. Similarly, when a pain-relief ointment caused slight tingling, I panicked—convincing myself the injury was serious, or when I use a pain relief ointment and tingled slightly and I panic so much because of that and I thought the injury is getting much serious.
Looking for professional advice whether mental health professional or not
I was able to understand that I am panicking after many consultations. They tried to alleviate my suffering using different medication, massage, acupuncture and supplements but that was useless (I am not speaking about Olanzapine medication or Omega 3 and Vitamins supplements that I took lately). Many concluded that it was psychological in nature. I ended up believing that too. I understood that anxiety can affect the body and there is a mind-body interaction. Now that I grasped the nature of the issue I had to face it using tools offered to solve it.
I consulted different health professional
The nutritionist’s advice helped me get back in shape and reduce medication—as did therapy with my psychiatrist and psychologist which resulted in medication decrease.
I was introduced to psychology and psychotherapy by a psychiatrist then a psychologist. I found good results with both of them. Consequently, I started my psychoeducation journey and I am enjoying reading and blogging about mental health. My lust for studying psychology empowered me to understanding many concepts and improve my wellbeing, as I was able to label many issues I was encountering at regular basis, like some cognitive biases, avoidance behavior, and a few types of OCDs.
Say the truth even if it hurts
I had to say it and grasp it well too, my mental and physical health were poor, and I have to work on different fronts and it is complicated. I am accountable for my own health and wellbeing. It is useless to see myself as a victim, being proactive is the only way out. It is a battle and I need a plan and a clear strategy.
I have even tried for a couple of month not fighting back, influenced by a friend who has mental health issues too and who keeps saying “let things happen naturally”, it turned out it is a very bad idea. As my condition got worse and I entered a more intense vicious circle.
Sleeping
Sleep rules are simple, sleep early and wake up early and nap everyday. Besides, I rarely drink coffee and avoid anything that has caffeine in it, such as RedBull and some medications like Panadol.
Sport
Try different kinds of sports until you find the right activities, for me it is: cycling, walking and using lightweight dumbbell for light training. Of course, I should be careful and gradually increase the exercises intensity.
Waste no resources
This is huge, I do my best not to waste time, energy, or money. I am most often very efficient with my primary resources. This will first support having a productive life and be successful as well as avoid being passive and negative, which in themselves are destructive whether we have health issues or not.
When we stay productive for a while, we build professional skills, we build a fitter body and mind, in short we grow more successful. If we have more fitness we become more mobile and have more freedom, same if we keep reading we have more knowledge and we take better decisions. Professionally with success comes more financial freedom and a sense of security.
What hinder the recovery of mental health sufferer
They do not fight back or fight for only a short period of time and they have the victim mentality. Often to get the right diagnosis take some time even years, then we need to find the medication that works with us and find the right work. Besides, we’d rather be active and eat healthy. This is true for any person with psychological problems or not, but for people who suffer mentally this is crucial.
For sure we need to be patient, to understand and alleviate our suffering, personally to understand all my mental health issues it took me around 15 years, and to understand it in more details and acquire better tools and techniques to have a better life I know this is a life long journey. For this reason I am blogging as writing is distilled thinking and writing needs to do more research and reading.
Another point is embracing change
Many mental health suffers that I see complaining in Facebook groups and in real life do not embrace change, their health and life has changed in a negative way because of bipolar disorder and its complications or any other major problem, but unfortunately they do not react accordingly.
- If ones’ weight change because of the medication we’d rather change our diet and exercise. We’d rather also learn how to cook to be self-reliant and to have more chance of success.
- If our sleep pattern and sleep quality change, we’d rather be careful about caffeine intake, sleep early and wake up early daily and take our sleep seriously. Besides, it won’t be wise, to sleep for long hours during the day which will influence negatively our night sleep and health.
- Find a job that suits our condition, personally I work remotely from the comfort of my home and I am very happy with it. I save a lot of time by not commuting and I save money too. You may also face opposition from relatives or significant other to change your job but on the long term our health and wellbeing is a top priority.
Start with what you have
I am aware that after complications and intense suffering regaining control over ones’s life won’t be quick, there is a period, that should be as short as possible, were we are still shocked by the intense turmoil, we feel fragile and not in control. However, it is essential and vital for our future wellbeing to start rebuilding our lives after a setback as quickly as possible.
For a better future we start with what we have even with little health, energy, or money. To continue playing the victim and the unlucky person will only make things worse. In fact, in the beginning if we are in a bad situation being positive and proactive will only help avoid further damage, we may need to work for a better life for years to see the light of a good life.
In this case, we have to be careful about being a perfectionist, eating 10% healthier is a positive start and is better than eating without any restrictions, loosing 2 pounds is a good start even if the goal is loosing 40 pounds, also going for a short walk is better than no exercising at all, everything has a start, if we keep trying we may even succeed more than we dream of.
Experiment & fill your life with constructive habits
I read many ebooks to find a great one, I tried many sports had many injuries to find the right sport and intensity, same for work and hobbies. When we keep trying and experimenting, we better understand ourselves, what work with us and what it doesn’t, and with time this knowledge can equip us to achieve great success. Trial and error is an efficient strategy to acquire self-knowledge.
As a matter of fact, despite the medication I take that leads to weight gain and my weight is most of the time a normal weight or slightly overweight, I have found hobbies and passions that are constructive. Moreover, I was able to leverage technology using TTS to read non-fiction ebooks regularly, to build better language skills and explore new ideas.
Conclusion
This article is not suppose to cover everything I have learned to thrive despite chronic health issues, many ideas and tricks look basic and they actual are simple and known by most people. What matters the most is practicing these principle regularly and turning them into habits to reap rewards.