- Hey everyone!
Happy Tuesday, it's the beginning of the week
and that means I'm usually pretty tired.
I don't know why.
I was talking to Sean this morning,
we were trying to figure out how
much sleep we think we need cause I think it's a lot.
Is that normal?
That's my faq for you.
Cause I feel like I need a lot of sleep.
Okay, but anyways, Tuesday means that I'm on Tumblr.
If you've asked your questions with #Katiefaq,
I have searched the hashtags and I have searched
my inbox and I have come up with
some answers to your questions.
Today I have four and also stay tuned
to the end because I have a really cool
website to check out.
Yeah, it's the one that I forgot.
Remember, I was like someone sent me this
cool thing, but I forgot to get it
the other day.
Now I have it so thanks to the person
who sent it to me for resending it.
Okay, so question number one.
My sister got diagnosed with bipolar disorder
while in the throws of an addiction.
I know drug use can cause bipolar disorder,
but I worry that she is over medicated
taking high doses of Ritalin, Adderall,
Xanax and Wellbutrin.
She acts drugged.
Recently, she was off her meds for a short period of time
and she seemed so much better.
Is it possible that she got incorrect
diagnosis while she was in her addiction?
Can the ups and downs of drug use
mimic symptoms of bipolar disorder?
Yes it definitely can.
A lot of times, if we're on different
medications and off different medications
and we're on drugs, if we have an addiction
to something, like let's say we
drink a lot and we use cocaine.
Well cocaine makes us feel really good about ourselves,
very high and alcohol, like I said before
in other videos, is a depressant so brings us down.
So we have something that is elevating
our mood, something that is bringing our mood down.
So that would look like bipolar disorder.
If you have questions about bipolar disorder,
check out my video and I'll show
you the different types.
So, yeah, there are a couple of things.
Yes addiction can mimic bipolar disorder
and it's often misdiagnosed.
Bipolar disorder is also misdiagnosed as depression
a lot because people who have bipolar two,
or even bipolar one, if they come in with
a depressive episode,
cause that's usually when people want to get help,
people will thinks it's depression.
They'll not realize that there's also
mania or hypermania.
I would always get a second opinion just because
and people with bipolar disorder are usually on
two medications or so, you need a mood stabilizer
and a lot of times you'll need an antipsychotic.
Some people can get away with just one,
but most of my clients with bipolar disorder
are on two medications.
But being on four, that's a lot.
None of those are actually mood stabilizers or
antipsychotics, so I would look for a second opinion.
But that's just my...
Obviously, I'm not a doctor, but I would
definitely look into that, okay.
Question number two.
For your next Tumblr Tuesday, how do I keep
positive when entering back into
real life after treatment?
For me, I'm fine for a few weeks
then depression, anxiety and the E.D. voices return.
It's been about two months since I came
home and though behavior use is low,
I'm mentally backsliding.
This is very common so don't think that all is lost.
It's really difficult when we're coming out
of treatment because all of a sudden all those
things that we've kept out, like all the stressors
and stuff that treatment kept at bay
are now crashing down on us.
We're like holy shit I remember why I was in
treatment because this is really stressful.
Now, the best thing to do is to increase the amount
of things you're doing for coping.
So taking time for yourself, if you're back in school,
I'm trying to see if you...
Well is just says into real life.
So if you're back in school, definitely talk to
your teachers and school counselor and
maybe take a few easier classes to balance
out the hard classes so you don't feel
too overwhelmed.
You may need to increase your sessions
for a little bit where you see your
therapist twice a week or something like that.
It's very common but we have to use our skills
to keep us on track.
Because you feel like you are mentally backsliding,
we may just need a little more support.
So like a said increasing sessions, maybe doing
an outpatient or after school we go to a treatment center
or we take like half the amount of classes.
This is for if we are in school.
If it's work we may just want to go back part time.
Just know that we don't have to go zero to sixty.
We don't have to go from treatment to 100%
back to regular life because that's really
difficult and that's asking a lot of ourselves, right.
Because school and work and everything
is very stressful and to go from not
having to do any of that to doing it
all at once can be really overwhelming.
That's not abnormal, what you are feeling is very normal.
Let's just make sure to take some time for you
and figure out what's best okay.
And anybody else, leave your tips and tricks
below about how've maintained your
recovery out of treatment when you felt
like you may have been backsliding mentally.
Question number three.
Hey Katie, I'm wondering if it's normal
for your mood to be up and down all the time?
I am 20 years old.
I can wake up okayish and then end up
getting really upset that night or
it happens the other way where I will
wake up and it's so hard to even use my
eyes to see, totally feel crazy by the way,
and it can get better during the day.
Is there anything I can do to stop
this pain from happening?
No one seems to get how much it hurts
and I'm starting to question why
I'm trying all this stuff when nothing helps.
It's not really normal.
I don't even like using the term normal,
but it's not something that everybody experiences
where a mood is all over the place.
There are a couple of things I want you to think about.
Our diet can really play a role in this.
If we aren't eating properly, a lot of times,
if we are struggling with an eating disorder,
our mood will be all over the place.
We'll be really erratic, we'll be grouchy
at people, then we'll be like wanting to cry.
We just feel really out of control because
our brain needs the proper nutrients to keep
our chemicals balanced, our dopamine, our serotonin,
there are so many things going on in our brains.
There are a zillion types of chemicals
and we need to have those all happening
and firing to keep us feeling normal.
So definitely diet can play a role
but it may be that right now you may
just need someone to talk to.
You may need to see a therapist to kind of
vent things out so you don't feel so
crazy like you said or out of control.
It can help you get out all those anxious
feelings so you can calm down and be you.
You can try journaling, you can see a therapist
and if your mood still feels very labile,
meaning it's up and down during the day,
you may want to talk to a psychiatrist
and just get a sense of what you are struggling with.
It may be something that medication can help
for now while we work in therapy.
Then we can take the medication away
and you can feel a little bit more like
yourself.
So those are things that I would try.
I know it's hard, I know it's really stressful.
If you're looking for a quick fix, medication
is probably the quickest thing to try to
help our brain balance while we get our
diet and our venting and our emotional stability
back in check, okay.
Question number four.
Katie FAQ. Hey, so here's my question.
I was sexually abused by a guy from my high school,
who's also in my grade, for almost three years.
The school knows about it and did nothing.
I still have to see him everyday
and lately he's been following me around
doing things that are super intimidating.
How do I deal with this?
My anxiety is off the charts.
I hate getting messages like this.
It's because of you sending it,
but I want to find this school and I want to
scream at them and punch them in their stupid face.
Because they should've done something.
And of course, your anxiety is off the charts.
You shouldn't be expected to deal with and see
the person who did that to you.
Ugh, it makes me want to scream and cry at the same time.
So what I would do is I would try to find someone
who can help you.
Whether it's a therapist outside of the school
who will report it, because it should be reported.
That's the thing, he shouldn't even be there.
He should be in deep shit.
He should be in jail he should be in juvie.
We need to find a way to get you to feel safe at school,
because you shouldn't have to deal with this.
I would find a therapist that's outside
of school or if you haven't talked to the school
counselor, if there's a new school counselor,
a new school psychiatrist please
make an appointment and see them.
I just get really frustrated.
Has anyone else gone through this and have some tips?
I've never had a school not respond when I've reported,
but that's why I think seeing a therapist
on the outside would definitely help this
and they would report him and you would start
feeling more safe.
I would also look for groups in your area
where you can talk about the abuse with people who know
where you're coming from and can be really supportive.
Yeah, that's what I would do.
This really sucks, I'm so sorry that the
people that you counted on let you down.
Arh, makes me angry!
I feel very angry.
Please keep me posted on this, okay.
Let me know how it goes.
I would look for some outside support.
Cause it's not your fault and you deserve to feel
safe and secure where you are, okay.
I'm sorry honey, I hate that.
Okay, journal topic.
One of my followers on Twitter sent me a direct message.
You know how I talk about writing letters to the
future you and talking to you as a child,
and doing that work with ourselves?
There is a cool website called futureme.org and
I'll put it in the description below.
But you can write a letter to your future self
and it will send it out.
How cool is that?
Oh my god.
So check that out, it's really amazing.
And I have a quote for the day for
you to think about and journal about.
It says...
And I got this on Instagram cause I follow some
people and they write really motivating stuff.
Don't worry your life is turning upside down.
How do you know that the side you're use
to is better than the one to come?
I think that is just a great quote to think
about when we're dealing with recovery
cause it can feel like we're turning our
world upside down.
But how do we know that the side we're
used to isn't worse than the one that's
yet to come, right, and we can hope for a better tomorrow.
I think that's a really hopeful quote.
Write that quote down, journal your thoughts about it
and share.
Tweet me pictures, Instagram me pictures and I will
check those out.
Have a wonderful day, I'll see y'all tomorrow on
my website and YouTube.
Love ya, bye.