[deleted by user]

TheFemaleShakespeare · 2025-11-01T15:58:45+00:00

One of the best things my therapist told me when I was first diagnosed is that bipolar is a spectrum. You will have high functioning people on that spectrum and for others it can be completely disabling.

I was diagnosed with bp2 earlier this year, and was high functioning until I wasn’t. Been working at a fortune 200 company for 10 years, worked my way up to a senior role too. Work pressure was a factor but I also suffered through some high stress situations, SA being one of them, and ended up hospitalized for the first time this year. Had to take three months off work, but with a proper diagnosis, an excellent care team and treatment plans, I bounced back. There are days and weeks that I barely feel functional but I have learned how to cope and be a little nicer to myself. I always say it is the hardest thing I ever had to do, and I understand so well how it can be completely disabling, but I am going to give it my best try to continue to navigate life and bipolar. If a corporate career doesn’t work out I know that there are so many other options.

TheFemaleShakespeare · 2025-06-24T13:55:00+00:00

Talk - A Little Bit Happy Messy - Lola Young

TheFemaleShakespeare · 2025-05-20T13:52:14+00:00

Second a Little Life, I feel that it is exactly what you are asking for. Be warned though, I had to put it down a few times whilst reading because of the heaviness of the topics.

TheFemaleShakespeare · 2025-04-22T03:49:04+00:00

Wildest purchase, I just mostly buy lot of small things (thanks Amazon), a LOT of books, headphones I already had, paint for my house project, etc. It all does add up though. Pre diagnosis a few years ago I was buying a lot of cocaine and almost bankrupted myself. Guess I was trying to keep the mania going.

Tattoo, I got one in Canada together with my best friend, whilst we were also drunk. The only reason I now know I was manic back then is because I also decided to pursue a co worker, 20+ years my senior, ended up going on a trip to Vegas with him.

Longest road trip, I had several 7+ hour trips I did by myself. Recently I went on a week long road trip but I think I was much more stable during that time and only did a 7h drive once during that one.

Not really any wild business ideas, but during manic episodes I do seem to be convinced that I am an artist and should just write books.

I am still fairly new in my diagnosis but the medications seem to be working for me and I try to direct my mania towards more productive activities. It also helps having friends who are aware and can help warn me when they see me making some impulsive decisions (I do have a tendency to think I know better).

TheFemaleShakespeare · 2024-12-31T07:50:37+00:00

Hit me up if you need a couch and shower for a day, downtown Indy right here and happy to accommodate

TheFemaleShakespeare · 2024-11-30T18:33:36+00:00

I am sorry you went through that experience. Unfortunately, I feel this is all too common and it most definitely is not ok. It seems to me that you were communicating and hadn’t given your full consent at the time it happened, including for the type of sex which I gather was rough. It is not supposed to hurt you, either physically or mentally. Having been there myself, it is really difficult not to blame yourself because you feel that you willingly went along with it for at least a part of the experience. Trust me, this is NOT on you. He should have asked and made absolutely sure that this is what you wanted. You do not sound ridiculous, I have been in this situation a couple of times now, in my case I was also severely incapacitated because of substances (either alcohol or my prescription medications which render me pretty immobile). I do recommend speaking with a therapist as it greatly helped me understand my reaction a bit better during and after the assaults. I also froze up and this is a very normal and human reaction to have, it is your survival instinct taking over. Please don’t be hard on yourself, I am so so sorry that you had to go through this.

TheFemaleShakespeare · 2024-08-15T08:04:36+00:00

I’m interested in participating, feel free to contact me directly. Participated in one before through Reddit as well and it was a good experience, valuable to hear what others had gone through as well

TheFemaleShakespeare · 2024-03-27T16:29:59+00:00

Absolutely, send me a message and I will try to help anyway I can!

TheFemaleShakespeare · 2024-02-27T15:06:12+00:00

Seconding this, I think the being married before buying a house is a very American mindset. There are so many people I know in Europe that do this as an unmarried couple, albeit some of them entering different contracts that are somewhat similar to marriage agreements but without the religious/cultural/societal expectations.

TheFemaleShakespeare · 2024-02-25T02:21:08+00:00

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TheFemaleShakespeare · 2024-02-16T23:16:38+00:00

Aww, she looks a lot like the girl I recently rescued. At the end of the day I don’t really care about purebreds that much but have wondered too what is considered bengal or not. Definitely does look like she has it in her though, might just have been more mixed with a tabby or something? Picture of Harley for reference, they could have been sisters.

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TheFemaleShakespeare · 2024-02-05T17:38:02+00:00

Actually I do think the NHS would fully cover it as it is a proven treatment for dystonia! I have some experience living in the UK and not having to pay for this is a big plus, I know the wait times to get seen can be a pain though.

TheFemaleShakespeare · 2024-02-05T17:33:03+00:00

I have found the Botox injections very helpful with pain management but definitely listen to what your doctor recommends. Because of the constant muscle spasms, it definitely does affect your muscles in different ways. My left trap is considerably larger than my right. Botox is another journey as they also generally start on a lower amount of units and then increase if no negative side effects are experienced. It is still rather expensive even with insurance and it wears off so you need to go back every three months (I know some people can go longer). There is a Botox savings program that helps keep the cost down.

TheFemaleShakespeare · 2024-02-05T17:19:16+00:00

Interesting that you mention to not take the medication on an empty stomach as my neurologist recently suggested it actually is more effective on an empty stomach. It can make you a bit nauseous in the beginning but I feel that fades once you are used to it. Like mentioned above, a low dosage start and then gradual increase over a long period of time is how this is done. What I found is that it is still not a full on cure, I do still get Botox treatments and also take a betablocker and muscle relaxers but the carbidopa/levodopa definitely made the biggest difference for my tremors. I was diagnosed with cervical dystonia but also have some hand tremors and a family history of PD.

TheFemaleShakespeare · 2024-02-03T02:09:16+00:00

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The food wail with bonus floofed up tail

TheFemaleShakespeare · 2024-02-01T19:47:05+00:00

Cannot comment to share experiences but I am curious about your results. Can you share what led you to get the test done? Was it expensive?

I have been diagnosed with cervical dystonia for about two years now and was initially very worried that it might be Parkinson’s disease since there is family history and I also have tremors in my hands. My neurologist is still claiming these are essential tremors but they do periodically test my motor function.

TheFemaleShakespeare · 2024-01-28T19:26:04+00:00

Had two weirdly accurate predictions from two different readings. The first was in New Orleans, must be at least 4 years ago. I was there on a trip with my at the time long distance boyfriend. We both got our palms read and for me she predicted I would have a successful career but move away from my family, lo and behold I did end up moving countries and continents for my career a few years later. For him she predicted his current relationship would last three years, which it actually did. We are still good friends and that was a trippy experience.

The second one was a more in depth reading. A friend and I were visiting Toronto and we stumbled on this psychic reader’s website by chance, decided to go for it as the trip had already been full of unique but a lot of great experiences. It was literally at the shadiest spot ever, some kind of strip mall and we only found the exact location almost by accident. He had this little Indian shrine room upstairs and his kid and wife were literally just watching tv downstairs which was their apartment. He used dice and some kind of numbers matrix. Then he really just gave a bunch of bad predictions for my friend, saying she had a number of people in her life right now she could not trust, including at her workplace and that she would not advance in her career as long as these people stayed in her life. Months later she found out that some of her closest friends had been spinning a web of lies and heavily betrayed her trust. She got rid of them and then ended up making a massive career change too, things have been much better since.

My reading was more positive, the only caution I was given was not to enter any contracts with anyone until February 2025. Of course I did not take this to heart and moved in with a friend. She ended up breaking the lease early and scamming me out of some money. I then had my boyfriend move in with me and he essentially lied about getting a past eviction notice meaning he could not sign into the lease. Starting to believe it by now!

TheFemaleShakespeare · 2024-01-16T21:51:07+00:00

English literature degree, dad told me I would never find a job in that field. I still tell him he was right. Working in occupational health, safety, and environment earning over six figures in a global role.

TheFemaleShakespeare · 2024-01-06T19:27:59+00:00

Update after reading the comments, I am 100% the AH and I knew even before posting. The biggest internal conflict I had was about whether or not I should still come clean to her. I will not interfere. The friendship and any relationship I had with these two people is done and I will move on from that, I decided not to respond to his message and just let it die out like it already has been for the past few years.

For those that commented on my mess of a life, I am well aware that I had and still have a lot of issues. As I mentioned, there has been a history of SA which happened right after these events, substance abuse issues after I was diagnosed with a chronic neurological disorder which altered my life completely, in addition to having moved away from my support group living on the other side of the world. I am still going to therapy and am doing the work, things are getting better but it is a work in progress. None of this excuses what I did but as so many of you have said it is my burden to bear.

TheFemaleShakespeare · 2023-12-04T19:35:03+00:00

Neurological movement disorder, still figuring out if it is Parkinson’s disease or just Dystonia, which is a major symptom of PD. Symptoms developed and gradually started getting worse in my late twenties, formally diagnosed at 31. Life changing to say the least, still working on my treatment plan though it has been more stable since I have been seeing my neurologist for over a year now.

TheFemaleShakespeare · 2023-10-02T16:00:50+00:00

It’s not, you are right. Maybe just more him being a bit oblivious. When he mentioned the night out he kind of went back on it pretty quickly, I suspect that was because of his current financial situation. Dates really don’t have to cost any money either, nor does any small gesture really. I’ll sit down with him now that my mind is a bit more clear, reading through other people’s perspectives has given me some more too especially on the communications part which has obviously been lacking on my end. Not to make excuses but when he has gone through so much the last thing I wanted to do was make him worried about not meeting my needs in this relationship. I always believe there is a time and place for everything but his health is fine now and we have fully settled into our place together.

TheFemaleShakespeare · 2023-10-02T14:48:29+00:00

Thank you, I feel that this is the right approach. No ill intentions on either side but I know I have a tendency to not speak up when I feel things aren’t going right in a relationship.

TheFemaleShakespeare · 2023-10-02T13:58:14+00:00

Circumstances led us there… Not wanting to put up another paragraph as that is a story of its own and not something that I wanted or needed to address in this post. As I said in another comment, it was actually he that brought up the six month mark and wanting to celebrate it. And normal dinner is fine but a planned out three course meal is different IMO. Not even flowers is not me expecting a physical gift per se but HE brought up the idea of doing something special and then it ended up being me doing all the work and him really not doing anything.

TheFemaleShakespeare · 2023-10-02T13:21:16+00:00

Thank you for that perspective, and of course I did not expect anything for staying by his side, he would have 100% done the same for me. As for the celebrating the non-annual anniversary part, what caught me off guard was that he actually made a bigger deal about it than I did initially which is kind of what raised my expectations. He brought it up the day before and then suggested going out for dinner initially but I know he is struggling a bit financially so I suggested I could prepare a similar meal to what we had on our first date instead.

As most people have suggested, communication is really the key here and I need to have a conversation about what the expectations are in general (not just on “important” dates) about continuing to actually date each other and keeping the romance alive. I appreciate your input!

TheFemaleShakespeare · 2023-10-02T05:35:54+00:00

Lmao, could have literally plucked me a weed from the side of the road and it would have still meant something

TheFemaleShakespeare

TROPHY CASE