Friends, Family & Carers Forum

[outlander]

@Former-Member 

[Former-Member]

Thanks @outlander  

[Former-Member]

I subscribe to a BP support group that keeps a positive message about managing life with bipolar. Today an article came through about the intrusive thoughts some patients get. One person described it as the "attention robbing chaos" in his head and and how he often does not want to go out because of it. I mentioned this to Mr Darcy as he often feels that way. Depending on severity, distraction can give relief, though in some cases this is only temporary.

I am grateful Mr D has been keeping his mood chart as anxiety has also been tracked which will help pdoc. 

[Sophie1]

Hi @Former-Member  hope your Sunday afternoon is going peacefully - two things ... 1. Mood charts - we have managed to keep a headache / migraine / vomiting chart for a month now for MsS - we haven’t ever been consistent enough with a mood chart - I just saw your explanation of MrDs chart in another thread - thankyou for sharing - you have inspired me to try again with Ms S for mood tracking ...  2. Which BP group do you subscribe to for the articles you spoke of below ?? Cheers Sophie 🙂 

[Former-Member]

Hi @Sophie1 

The Black Dog has a couple of different mood charts - link given to one, I ended up combining a couple, making our own with room for notes re: life stresses etc. I used a " /" to separate day from night sleep when he could only function of a morning, if it ever gets to that stage I would probably add in a separate field. Combining one with migraine info might be useful for you as well as noting symptomatic issues (ie clumsiness etc).

BP hope is the website. I do not have a paid subscription.

Black dog mood chart: 

https://www.blackdoginstitute.org.au/docs/default-source/psychological-toolkit/18-moodchartforbipola...

[Sophie1]

Thanks @Former-Member  the chart looks great - I love the layout - I will use that layout with a few extra lines for more meds and a couple of lines for migraines and headaches... I’ll check out the websites too thx soooo much - glad there’s always more to try out 

[Former-Member]

I have found if the charts are too complex, filling it out becomes a chore and it becomes unsustainable @Sophie1 . Mr Darcy finds it too hard to do mood charting while we are away and I respect that. He is really private about taking meds when staying with friends and I am just grateful he remains med compliant. Since being on his mood stabiliser, he has not had a major mood swing 😀.

[Shaz51]

hello @Former-Member 

[Former-Member]

'Morning @Shaz51 😀

[Shaz51]

how are you this morning @Former-Member