Losing the routine that saved me from manic depression

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This analogy will not be perfect, but might make a decent movie review.

“History of Violence” is a movie by Canadian director, David Cronenberg. Viggo Mortensen plays Tom Stall, a middle aged man living a quiet life in a small rural American town.

Everything else is spoiler, so… spoiler alert.

Tom has a routine, he owns a diner and has a lovely wife and two kids. Every day is pretty much the same. Wake up, have breakfast, share a moment with his wife, walk into town, have a coffee in his diner and basically hangout until it’s time to go home, where he shares a moment with his family and then goes to bed.

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Posted in Bipolar, Bipolar Disease, Bipolar Disorder, Clinical Depression, crazy people with no pants, Depression, Health, Living With Depression, Living With Manic Depression, Manic Depression, Mental Health, Pregnancy | Tagged | 8 Comments

Suddenly there were people

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If you ever have the opportunity to meet someone you blog with, I’d recommend meeting them for a shawarma.

My girlfriend and I needed some time away from the village, and she had been having shawarma cravings for weeks, so we thought a trip to Ottawa was in order — best shawarma in Ontario is on Bank Street, near James.

I also thought it would be an opportunity to meet with a blogger I’ve been following for a few years now. ‘Zoom‘ and I met once a few years ago at one of the first ‘Ottawa Blogger’s Breakfast’ meetings. Unfortunately, it was the only meeting I have been able to attend… mostly because it’s a three hour round-trip, $40 bus ride for me to get to a restaurant where I’m going to spend $20 on eggs and coffee.

That’s pretty much an entire weeks milk and pop budget for me.

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Posted in Bipolar, crazy people with no pants, Health, Living With Depression, Living With Manic Depression, Manic Depression, Mental Health, Ottawa | 4 Comments

Friday Conversations With My Psychiatrist | Reexamining the causes for exile

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Psychiatrist Day

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This one has been hard to write. Not so much because of the emotions involved, more because just getting the context right is difficult.

On August 29 my mother and I had a confrontation regarding my decision to prevent her abusive mother from being around my infant son. At the end of the meeting I told my mother she could visit with my son anytime she wished but, because my mother wasn’t taking our concerns about my grandmother seriously, we insisted the visits take place at my girlfriend’s apartment.

And now it has been almost three months since my mother has visited with my son. Until recently I believed her self-imposed exile was entirely about her pride, that she was unwilling to make the phone call because she believes she deserves unfettered access to my infant son.

From March until August we had allowed her to “babysit” on Thursday’s. It was my idea to give my mother a few hours alone with my son to give them time to bond. We told her it was to give my girlfriend some time off, but in reality I had to practically force my girlfriend to give in to the idea.

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Posted in Appointment Day, Bipolar, Bipolar Disease, Bipolar Disorder, Clinical Depression, crazy people with no pants, CSG, Granny, Health, Living With Depression, Living With Manic Depression, Manic Depression, Mental Health, Pregnancy, Psychiatry | Tagged | 10 Comments

Protected: And then someone told the Children’s Aid Society I was a threat to my son because I have a case of the bipolars

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Posted in Bipolar, Bipolar Disease, Bipolar Disorder, Clinical Depression, crazy people with no pants, Health, Living With Depression, Living With Manic Depression, Manic Depression, Mental Health, Valoris | Tagged , | Enter your password to view comments.

Turning into a stay at home daddy

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I think it’s official, I may have become a stay-at-home dad. If it’s not official, then at the least I’m in training.

My girlfriend went back to work at the convenience store ‘full time’ — which means she’s short of Official full time by four hours every week. Starting next week she’ll also be cleaning some woman’s house twice a week.

So every morning (except Monday and Tuesday), usually around 5am, I take over full time parenting responsibilities for our son. It’s only for seven hours, then it’s back to sharing the diaper changes, but it’s the closest thing I’ve had to a responsible schedule in… I guess, years.

And there is an actual schedule. He sleeps until 7.30 or, if I’m lucky, 8am. Then he starts moving around in his crib, just enough to wake me up. After twenty minutes he’ll start to cry because his diaper is full and he’s hungry.

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Posted in Bipolar, Bipolar Disease, Bipolar Disorder, crazy people with no pants, Health, Living With Depression, Living With Manic Depression, Manic Depression, Mental Health | Tagged | 7 Comments

The True Nature Of My Being

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The signs I’ve slid into a depression should be obvious to me by now. After almost two decades I should at least have a check list by my door, or beside my bed.

Dressing in black for days on end is generally a dead giveaway, especially if it’s always the same shirt, socks, underwear and pants.

I’ve been sleeping for twelve hours at a shot, then never feeling fully awake for the next twelve. Over the past two weeks I’ve been outside for more than fifteen minutes in a day maybe four times… I’ve been outside every day, but only a quick walk to the store for supplies, then home again.

I’ve stopped eating. I’ve been drinking a lot of water, milk and diet pop, and only eating once a day. Mostly cereal. I just haven’t been able to put together and execute a plan that would get me to a grocery store.

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Posted in Bipolar, Bipolar Disease, Bipolar Disorder, Clinical Depression, crazy people with no pants, CSG, Depression, Granny, Health, Living With Depression, Living With Manic Depression, Manic Depression, Mental Health, Poverty | Tagged | 10 Comments