Category: Bipolar Disorder
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Happy Birthday to Me!
Today I’m 56 years old! That means I’m well past the halfway mark of my life. Yikes! I hope to live at least three more decades, so I better start taking better care of my physical health by eating less high cholesterol foods and exercising regularly. Both my mother and maternal grandmother had strokes. Scary!…
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Balancing Act Book Cover Reveal
Thank you, Michelle Hammer of HammerTimeDesign.com and Schizophrenic.NYC, for an absolutely awesome book cover design! Soon my memoir, Balancing Act: Writing Through a Bipolar Life, will be on the market! Thanks to everyone who has joined the Balancing Act Street Team Facebook group. I greatly appreciate your support in making my memoir a success.
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Bipolar Kicks My Ass
When I met with my psychiatrist yesterday, we discussed my diagnosis. I learned that since I’ve been hospitalized for bipolar symptoms, my diagnosis is type 1, not type 2. Since I’ve been ramping since July third, we agreed it was time to add low dose quetiapine (Seroquel), a sedating and mood-stabilizing antipsychotic, to my medication…
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Balancing Act Book Launch Street Team
ARC, book launch, street team, Advanced Reader Copy, book review
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Yes, I’ve Been Violent
My Mental Illness and Violence Hi, I’m Kitt. I’m bipolar, and I’ve been violent. Mildly so, for the most part. Flipped over a table once. Been known to slap in response to being called a f*cking b*tch. Don’t do that anymore, but fair warning: don’t call me a f*cking b*tch. My slap is powerful, as…
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I Spoke in Public!
Thank you, Lianne Sauvage, for inviting me to share my mental health journey at Belmont High School’s Mental Health Assembly! For my speech, I adapted content from My Bipolar Thoughts, my memoir work-in-progress. The speech was scheduled for 25 minutes! I plan to refine these speaking notes and use them again for future speaking engagements:…
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Love, Marriage & Mental Illness
Been married 22 years today. Started dating 25 years ago. Some of us living with mental illness can and do have stable relationships. Some of us need someone else in our lives. My husband and I support each other, help each other, complement each other. Plus, we made a kid, now a young adult. Not…
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Small Steps
Progress sometimes comes in small steps. This weekend I walked the dog with my husband, which meant I stepped away from my computer and actually went outside. Beautiful outside. Weather warm. Sky clear. Saddleback Mountain gorgeous, every nook and cranny visible as if I could reach out and touch it. Honestly, I find it hard…
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Who, Me, Dating?
At age 30, Kitt O’Malley moved in with her parents after treatment for debilitating depression resulted in psychotic mania which left her unable to do her work as a licensed marriage and family therapist. She left her career aspirations behind, and she started seeing a psychiatrist and a therapist who treated her for what was still thought…