Friday 14 December 2018

Christmas Post ........ Ideas for Resilience as you Navigate Mental Health


Sometimes I know that my blog posts border on dissecting the negative aspects of Mental Health so I thought for a Christmas blog I would look at resilience and the kind of things that might help you navigating your mental health condition.  Resilience is something that I have always struggled with after a BiPolar episode, getting back to that place where things are not whirling around anxiously or low mood has you tied up in the mornings or mania is feeding a confidence frenzy and forward momentum beyond what others can cope with.  So think on the following as some good hygiene for resilience:-

Waking Up – Talk positively to yourself when you are carrying out your morning routine, try and dispel negative thoughts about the day ahead, visualise a successful day
Starting the Working Day – Get 1 or 2 tasks out of the way before you even reading your eMails***
Dealing with Distractions during the Working Day – Try and avoid leeting Social Media into your working day. Manage your eMail and communications, don’t let eMail manage you.
Mid Morning – Get up and walk somewhere away from your desk before returning to continue working
Morning – Try and carry out a short mindfulness exercise during the morning, even if this is just concentrating on the Breathe for 3/5 minutes
Lunchtime – Try and have a light lunch & a brisk walk
After Lunch – Same rule applies, Get 1 or 2 tasks out of the way before you even reading your eMails
Mid Afternoon - Try and carry out a short mindfulness exercise during the morning, even if this is just concentrating on the Breathe for 3/5 minutes
Afternoon – Find somewhere and do some stretches
Before finishing work for the day – Plan your first 1 or 2 tasks for ***
Reflection – It can be really good to Journal for resilience, a reflective diary can really give you insight into yourself and your navigation of your mental health
Evening – Approach the evening in a similar way to the working day, get any home tasks out of the way and then chill & relax, do stuff you and yours really like doing

& if you only do 1,2 or 3 of the above don’t ever beat yourself up , start again the next day

Tony

( in case I don’t blog again before Christmas, a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year )

Tuesday 13 November 2018

'twas the night before Brexit ( poem/parody )


'twas the night before Brexit
And all through the House
Not a creature was stirring
Not even the Louse
The Primeminister sat down at Chequers with care
She could never be sure what Boris had done to her chair
The Cabinet were nestled all snug in their beds
Whilst naked visions of Mogg & Gove danced in their heads
Theresa in her stillettos and Raab being dab
Thinking about the DUP and what they would nab
When out on the lawn there was such a clatter
David Davis voice shouted out 'whats the matter'
Away to the window did May with a dash
As Juncker appeared on the lawn in a flash
Michael Barnier waved papers and made quite a show
Whilst Boris & Starmer stood there toe to toe
When, what to my wondering eyes should appear
But Jeremy Corbyn in his leathers with cheer
With a soundbite, he appeared so lively and quick
As he made his Brexit case and the Remainers quite sick
More rapid than Eagles, Jeremy Hunt came
And he called on all his Mps by name
Now Grayling Now Hammond Now Hancock Now Soubry
On Evans On Lewis On Liam Fox On McVey
To the top of Number Ten to the top of the Wall
Now all you Tories come answer Mays Call
She has you a Brexit that may not be what youd grasp
But you dont want Boris Hard One, it would sting like an asp
As Barniers barbs like a wild hurricane fly,
When Brexit meets an obstacle, it seems to reach to the Sky;
Socialmedia debates are raging out there too,
The Cabinets falling apart even with the Chief Whips glue,
And then in a twinkling, I heard that the truth
was that Boris was prancing with each little hoof.
As I drew in my head, and was turning around,
Down the corridors of Westminster Theresa was bound:
She was dressed all in red, from her head to her foot,
Rees Mogg and Davis chuckled, imagined her covered in soot;
A bundle of Memos were flung in her sack,
And she look'd like a peddler just opening her pack:
Her eyes- How they twinkled, her simple and merry
It felt like our Theresa had been at the Sherry
Her droll little mouth was drawn up like a bow,
Her face was ashen and as white as the snow,
Barnier had stumped her as she grinded her teeth
On the altar of Brexit she laid a great wreath.
Tusk was broad faced with a little round belly,
Theresa crying ‘Irish backstop’ all over the telly,
Chubby and plump like a jolly old elf
Boris still promised all the money for the National Health
A wink of his eye and a twist of his head
Soon gave me to know we had plenty to dread.
Theresa spoke not a word, she continued to work,
Arguing with the DUP & with Boris the jerk
And laying her finger aside of her nose
And giving a nod, from her desk she arose
She sprung to the Commons desk to announce with a whistle
The SNP listened hard with their suits dressed with thistle,
We heard her exclaim, as she summoned her might,
Brexit means Brexit and still my Chequers plan is right.
<FIN>

Friday 12 October 2018

The Black Art of Normal



So I’ve called this BLOG ‘The Art of Normal’ because I think something we with Mental Health challenges to navigate ask ourselves ‘What is Normal?’,’Whatever Normal Is?’, it seems in reality being ‘Normal’ is a Black Art and actually I guess for me it feels like it might mean being Bland.   What I actually feel, after a number of years contemplating my BiPolar II, is that I want to be more even headspace wise and more resilient before, during and after episodes.   I think that’s probably the best I can ask for.
I’ve said before that the key thing to hold onto when you are in a dark place is that its likely that ‘You Are Not Alone (YANA)’, there will be folks facing the same challenges that you can perhaps link in with online or you may directly know but your Family & Friends are probably more forgiving that you think about your condition, some family’s are admittedly harder work than others though. I though have asked myself, “When will it end?” more times than I like to think. I, too, have questioned why I can’t just be “normal.”   If you’ve been in a dark place for a long time now, I want you to know you’re not alone.  It can be hard to know how to escape the darkness, or if it’s even possible.
I guess the twee advice here is ‘Look for the Light’, whatever lights your life up generally, for me currently my Grandchildren can spark a smile when nothing else can.  Reading a moldly old comic book can do it too or an old wobby set episode of Tom Baker Doctor Who.
I understand that when we want to feel ‘normal’ we can also feel ‘hopeless’.

Here are some posts from The Mighty that may help you: -

Resources like the Mighty can be useful when you feel hopeless, we will be exposed to Happy & Sad however we need to hold onto the Happy stuff as hard as we can and grab more of it.

Peace.

    Tony

Tuesday 9 October 2018

21 Days Later ................. World Mental Health AwarenessDay today

Today is World Mental Health Awarenss Day.

In the Office Im facilitating a challenge with folks with a colleague called '21 Days of Happiness'.
It might sound a bit twee but when another colleague did this earlier this year in the workplace everyone who did the challenge saw an uplift in their happiness, we are getting them to do a survey before and after to self assess levels of happiness in order to know.

I thought as quite a few people have been reading my BLOG lately that people might benefit from this challenge so I'm going to set you up for that and it's up to you whether you have a go.

The 21 Days challenge is also based on the fact that its perceived that it takes 21-30 days for something to become a habit, I think its also bandied around that if you spend 10000 hours on something that you become an expert.  Don't know about that as I've spent way more than 10000 hours as a human being and I don't think I'm an expert.

So, these are the tasks if you want to try the challenge:-



Exercise
Wednesday 10th October

  • Mindfulness – There are many documented benefits to meditation including reducing the negative effects of stress, mild depression and anxiety. According to Acor, meditation also allows us to get over our cultural ADHD, that has us focusing on more than one thing at once. It allows the mind to quiet and opens us up to new possibilities.
Thursday 11th October
    • Write three new things you are grateful for – This helps train your brain to scan the world for the positive things first, rather than focusing on the negative things. Gratitude has long been linked to increased happiness and it’s surprising how quickly your life can improve with this simple practice.
Friday 12th October
    • Journal about one positive thing that has happened in the past 24 hours, this process allows your brain to relive the positive experience. There are many options for journaling, online with sites such as Penzu or a hand-written journal. Writing by hand, rather than digitally, has been shown to increase learning, which might be helpful when you’re trying to change thought patterns.
Saturday 13th October
    • Exercise for at least 15 minutes –  exercise increases your levels of dopamine, energy, and helps improve your overall sense of well being.
Sunday 14th October
    • Mindfulness – There are many documented benefits to meditation including reducing the negative effects of stress, mild depression and anxiety. According to Acor, meditation also allows us to get over our cultural ADHD, that has us focusing on more than one thing at once. It allows the mind to quiet and opens us up to new possibilities.
Monday 15th October
    • Random acts of kindness – In Acor’s study, he had participants write one positive email that praised someone in their social network, but there are many ways to perform random acts of kindness. Get creative and have fun, you will not only make someone else’s day, but it will improve your own.
Tuesday 16th October
    • Write three new things you are grateful for – This helps train your brain to scan the world for the positive things first, rather than focusing on the negative things. Gratitude has long been linked to increased happiness and it’s surprising how quickly your life can improve with this simple practice.
Wednesday 17th October
Journal about one positive thing that has happened in the past 24 hours
Thursday 18th October
Exercise for at least 15 minutes 
Friday 19th October
Mindfulness
Saturday 20th October
Random acts of kindness
Sunday 21st October
Write three new things you are grateful for
Monday 22nd October
Journal about one positive thing that has happened in the past 24 hours
Tuesday 23rd October
Exercise for at least 15 minutes 
Wednesday 24th October
Mindfulness
Thursday 25th October
Random acts of kindness
Friday 26th October
Write three new things you are grateful for
Saturday 27th October
Journal about one positive thing that has happened in the past 24 hours
Sunday 28th October
Exercise for at least 15 minutes 
Monday 29th October
Mindfulness
Tuesday 30th October
Write what you are grateful for from the 21 days of Happiness challenge – perhaps journal this but equally think about a BLOG or a POEM or anything creative as writing goes

Good Luck if you choose to try this.

Tony

Thursday 4 October 2018

Blank Page



Its national poetry day today so here is a very quickly written poem for the occasion from myself:-



Blank Page
=========

I thought I’d write a poem
So I’m getting in the mood
I’ve took off all my clothes
And I’m writing in the nude

Did that get your attention
I guess it probably depends
On what you see in your head
And how close we are as Friends

Maybe I should write something serious
Something that brings a tear to your eye
Romance you from the written page
But I’m not that kind of Guy

I could right about things Politic
Surely that would be quite drab
However I think the consensus is
That Polticians right now are bad

So here we are on Poetry day
A page to fill in front of me
I’ll let my character fill the page
I thinks that’s probably key

Whats the most important thing
That I could say to you today
I think I would tell you to be more kind
Every single day ………….

Written 4th October 2018

https://nationalpoetryday.co.uk/about-npd/


Wednesday 3 October 2018

........& now for something completely different ?!?

Sometimes being creative can be a real cartharsis for someone navigating mental health, I love that I'm allowed to shout on stage with my friends occasionally:-

Our band is called Spewtum, its 4 old Punks

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fgXyW5tS5kk Spewtum @ Capstock 2018 , apologies for sound quality as it all depends on where the camera is compared to the speakers .........

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hG155Q-NQjg   This sees the first ever Capstock stage invasion :)

Enjoy or Endure , you decide  x x 


Monday 1 October 2018

Suicidal Thoughts ( thoughts on thoughts )

This is going to be difficult because once I publish this then my family can read it, so I approach this BLOG with trepidation as it’s a subject that Ive only lightly touched on with all my family.
How do you talk to other folks about Suicidal Thoughts who have never experienced them before?   I told my dad last year: “When I say I’ve had a good month, it means a haven’t been consumed with thoughts on failure or even fleeting thoughts on dying.”  My Dad is straight up working class and has never struggled with his Mental Health as far as I can tell, I think it may be different for my Mum, though undiagnosed  — and it’s often hard for me to explain to them what it’s like to deal with navigating my BiPolar.   They are though always very concerned about me.

Let me be straight, Its very rare I have ‘people would be better off without me’ thoughts and I’m also a coward so Im not sure I could ever do anything about it.  I really cant get my head around self harm for instance as I just have no frame of reference at all.  I imagine that its  quite human to want to end our struggling and protect others from our struggle by absenting ourself from Life, it’s the very extreme of hiding away under the bed covers for weeks on end, just that you cannot come back from it. I know many who struggle as I do. I know many struggle greater than I do, most I imagine, some less. I know that this is first world problems & my heart hurts when I see the Injustices that other nations have and I have all the material stuff and benefits of the UK.  While I know I’m not alone in my frustration, I can feel alone even when surrounded by friends and family, that sounds counter intuitive I bet. Almost always the thoughts of Carol & the children rush my mind and save me from myself, so though I have absolutely catastrophic thoughts about professional failure I don’t have to deal with the stark reality of Suicidal thoughts very often. I think that whomever or whatever you put before yourself, is what you need to hold onto in those moments. By that I mean those you hold up as the most precious people in your life.  Allow yourself to feel everything but don’t live constantly in a Rut of your negative thoughts if you can absolutely do something to pull back from them, the quaint phrase that everyone uses is ‘This too shall pass’ and its true but in the dark moments you don’t feel that.  It may oft pass in a very painful way for you but it will pass and you have to foregive yourself at that point. Foregive yourself the awful things that you contemplated, the awful outcomes you fleetingly sought.  Passing out the other side of the dark means that you can tell people that things can & do get better ………………..

Depression is of course, tinged with feelings of great sadness, the worst though can be the numbness, the inability to get out of bed and face the world. Whether life was/is good or bad, I could be numb to it all. Again the everyone is better off without me thoughts can surface in your everyday life.    You can feel that you only have negative energy and negative thoughts.  Depression is a Liar and a Thief, It lies about your head and it steals your time.   The problem is the warped thinking can become your truth,  we have to call this imposter out in our lives  if we are to tackle what might lead us down the rabbit hole into Suicidal thoughts.  As ever all this is easier said than done.  I’ve never looked to take my own life, I’ve never planned it like others, I have thought about it,  even thinking about is a scary visceral reminder that thoughts and thinking are very powerful even when they are not facts, problem is with the small number of colleagues and friends that have acted this out I have only ever found out about their Suicidal thoughts too late, far too late, that’s not to say that you can have any Psychic thinking ( we all know that Psychics don’t exist don’t we / they are con artists so we cant have that ), what we can try to have is I guess a degree of discernment with ourselves and our friends.
This Blog post is as much a reminder and reassurance for myself as it is for anyone reading it. I’m not a mental health expert, but I do know how it feels to be in a really dark place and how challenging it can be. First of all, although it might feel like it, you are most definitely not alone, YANA, write that down somewhere and refer to it often, ‘You are Not Alone’. ALSO ‘This too Shall pass’, maybe very very painful but it will pass, there will be better days.  I know you can feel like the loneliest person out there; even when you are surrounded by loads of people, you can still feel alone and empty inside. But that’s not normally the factual, you feel it, but feelings are not facts. There are lots of people who want to help if you ask them. You need to let your family and friends love and support you through your difficult times when you are having really negative thoughts. That’s what they would want to be there for, they would not want to find out about your Suicidal thoughts too late, finding out too late for them is going to be the most painful experience in their loves if that happens.  I now have an agreement with both my Sons and my Wife that I will up front tell them when Im blue and I will Whatsapp them how Im feeling when I enter into a really Rut tyope episode, did that recently and it was actually uplifting when I could tell them that I had come out the other side.  Don’t feel like you’re a “burden” to them. Think of it like this: They would much rather help support you through a difficult time than not know about it and find stuff out when its too late, don’t let your friends contend with your absence and the feelings that they are too late, reach out if you can, please. It can be scary being honest about Suicidal thoughts, about any aspect of your Mental Health,  but it’s essential, particularly with Mental Health professionals who are aiding your navigation with medication and therapy. Friends are normally pretty hard to shock, really,  honestly, they are, you will be surprised how they will come alongside you even though your head is saying that they wont want to, friends and family just normally will be there.

Now the twee bits again:-
YANA – ‘You are Not Alone’.         ‘This too shall Pass.’               ‘The world needs you, and you are too valuable to lose.’        Work wise – ‘You are a Unique diverse part of your work force.’

Peace.

Wednesday 26 September 2018

VulnerableMan ....... Superhero (sic)


Vulnerability

Hopefully this stream makes sense ……………….

Sadly I think Im more vulnerable than most, some friends play this back to me as they feel that when talking with me they hear about the good and the bad of life, most people responding to ‘are you okay?’ with ‘Im fine’, I’ll generally respond with ‘okay-ish’ or I’ll certainly paraphrase where I currently am navigating my mental health, I think that’s because Im very aware of where my headspace is.   This means that when a lot of friends talk to me there isn’t as much room for small talk as there would be with others, this can mean that people view you as needy though luckily my close friend views me as vulnerable and is generally very supportive.
Ive just navigated through a dodgy BiPolar episode containing mania, anxiety and depression (low mood), I think Im out the other side, doesn’t mean Im 100% though as Im still vulnerable, I think this is because I struggle to attain a position of resilience with my mental health, Im keen to try and stay at work, though Ive had 3 major BiPolar episodes this year Ive only had 12 sick days off work which is a much better result than previous years but it takes a lot of energy and it doesn’t mean Im at work and 100%.  When explaining to my Mum & Dad where I am with my BiPOlar I think they view it as quite Binary, at work = Well, off work = Unwell.  Its not that simple.
I’ve now spent a lot of my, especially recent, working life letting my mental health consume me and Im trying to fight back against that at the moment.  Tools in the toolbox work for me but I don’t often get the residual benefit so I don’t get the resilience in place when Im in a better place headspace wise than at the peak of an episode.  I don’t really want to be known as the sick one but the Spoiler is that I am the sick one generally as Im navigating my condition > 50% of the time.  However I have learnt in recent times that there is no shame in being the sick one and no shame talking about it, in fact feedback from talking about it is that this helps people in the workplace so that’s encouraging benefit of being ‘Out’ with my mental health I guess.
So in fact being vulnerable gives me an outlet to be honest about my condition and the affects on my working practice, I can discuss creeping anxiety with work collegaues, I can talk about my working day/week with my Manager and being vulnerable shows others that they are not alone.  Our navigation of our conditions will no doubt differ but perhaps an honest discourse about mental health is a worthwhile benefit offshoot from this approach.  
Navigate the Dark, Celebrate the small Victories, Repeat

Tony

Sunday 16 September 2018

Anxiety in the UK

I'm not sure whats going on with my head at the moment, the anxiety with my BiPolar II has got a pernicious grip on me it seems.  I was meant to be at a party Saturday night which I didnt go to and band practice today which I didnt go to.  I missed work Weds thru Friday last week where I was just staring at the screen and not able to really work out what im doing with stuff that 3 weeks earlier I think I was fine with, like the rug was pulled out from under my confidence ....... hard to explain, hard to understand why?  I often cant spot triggers, its not simple.  At the Mental Health appointment on Friday we discussed navigating the condition and again the phrase was aired that the fog is temporary and the landscape is permanent.  I see that more and more as the years pass.  I've had immediate meds changed and I hope that means I can attack next week better, I hope so. 

Why can anxiety be so pernicious: -

Anxiety provoking thoughts seem to be resistant, rather than getting better the more thought you give them, they often get worse.

Albert Einstein has said we can't solve problems by using the same kind of thinking we used when we created them, thats right as its probably warped thinking that has created the anxietal thinking and unless I can change my thinking, additional thinking is often stuck in the processes that created the anxiety.   This is where mindfulness comes in but its not a silver bullet and sometimes I find there isn't a huge residual benefit.  I Still try to use tools from my mental health toolbox though.

When we behave in ways that reflect the anxiety we have then we have our Nervous System still holding the fight or flight prickliness response and the anxiety persists.  Im told we need to access our parasympathetic nervous system and behave as though everything is fine, this is easier said than done, often the problem with reading around subjects. The advice in books sounds simple but putting it into practice is hard.  I must have 8/9 books on Anxiety and BiPolar now and often the advice sounds so obvious.

Research has I think supported that when you ask someone not to think about something, they think about that thing,  I find that pernicious about Anxiety.  I cant kid it, it seems I cant fool it.  Though its fooling me I guess.  Rumination during anxiety seems to make the anxiety deeper, like a record groove, it stays there, stuck.   

Apologies if this comes through as a whining blog, its not meant to, I was trying to think through by writing whats going on with me at the moment.  Trying to navigate the condition.

So many tools, so frustrating progress seems the pattern ............

Tools I often try to use: -
Mindfulness
CBT
Exercise ( walking the dog )
Throwing bad thoughts away  ( writing them on paper and putting in the bin )
Visualise a positive outcome  ( easier said than done )
Counting your Blessings
Bath before Bedtime ( to help Sleep )
Serve ( help others, service aides empathy, empathy aides well being )
Write poetry ( creativity ) song lyrics

Wish there was something that helped with short term Memory

~FIN~









Sunday 20 May 2018

Stuff


Not 100% sure what I’m trying to get across here, little bit stream of conciousness I guess.  I think I’m just trying to underline all the reasons that with my BiPolar II that I doubt myself in many ways due to lots of different factors.  At the mens wellbeing group at NIS this week I talked about the Devil on my shoulder.
Im prone to occasionally doubting my diagnosis, devil on my shoulder making me think that Im maybe malingering, imagining things or just not trying hard enough to be well, whatever that really means.  I visualise my battle by talking about navigating my condition, like a ship on the seas,  through that tryng to live the best life I can with the BiPolar II condition that I have.  BUT I think its true to say that educating yourself helps to get to a more functional life, the more you know, the better you can fight, however there still are no silver bullets.
I have some doubts about medication as well, some books will look at different meds and treatment approaches but ultimately I want to trust my GP and Mental Health case worker to be taking the right decisions on medication and therapy for me, I don’t really want to second guess them so too much information can be worrying for me in that area.  I don’t want to be too unsure about my medication by having too much information.  My Mental Health case worker always asks me about medication changes with the vernacular ‘ how do you feel about that’ as a change so Im pretty comfortable with that relationship and manage to avoid most ‘health anxiety’ regards medication but not all. An area where I do have ‘health anxiety’ is with the weight gain that I have experienced in the last 18 months, I’ve read that the meds can cause this also the condition itself presents with this as well, I know I really need to attack my exercise regime and work against my lack of motivation in this area as well as I’m keen to try and correct my over eating, portion sizes of my meals.
I fear the unknown around my condition and can get quite het up if I have symptoms that I really don’t understand.  Its recently been brought to my attention that as well as hypomanic, depressive and anxietal episodes you can have manic/hypomanic and depressive symptoms at the same time, called a mixed episode.  This was something that I hadn’t really unpicked with my GP as I was very confused about a recent episode last year where I was going around at 100mph once up & about but was still finding it hard to get out of bed in the morning, I just thought maybe I was exhausted from the mania perhaps but the mixed episode explains it better. 
The https://imgur.com/gallery/zH9aRMX information from Jim Phelps is really useful in understanding and looking at the spectrum of the BiPolar II condition and its symptoms.  I totally recognise the symptoms in table 2.1 and where my symptoms generally sit.

Hope this adds to peoples understanding of BiPolar II a little.


***END***

Friday 16 March 2018

Funny not Ha Ha!

I was inspired to write this after reading someone else post on The Mighty mental health BLOG.  My experience being different to them.  
I had a wobble yesterday and I think it was because I f&*ked up taking my medications the previous evening as well as experienced some unsettling news, I felt blue and I felt vulnerable, as if my resilience and stability was under threat.  I would just like to try and get across that a medication regime can at times be hard to follow and missing Meds can pull the rug from under someone................ hope that makes sense.
I take medications for my bipolar disorder. These medications are taken to help me keep emotionally and mentally regulated and grounded in my life.  Due to the concoction of pills the best time for me to take my pills every day is about 4/5pm.  This is due to the sedative nature of some of my Meds.   Every day around 5pm I take my pills BUT sometimes especially if Im buzzing/manic I can forget to take my pills, until much later or not at all ( very rare ).  The problem is that the disorder itself is disruptive and can make a daily routine task difficult to always adopt.   If I don't take my pills or take them at a different time it really knocks me off my stride.   I use a pillbox in the kitchen by the mobile phone recharging as that seems to be a really good place as a reminder to me.
Every now and then, something happens and I miss my pills. This then means that I'm basically not optimal that evening and the next day, taking pills later affects sleep in a major way AND not taking them at all has an even more exreme affect on my next day.  Im not expecting sympathy because obviously if you are prescribed medicine then the expectation is that you will take them religiously in order to get the affect that is expected BUT hopefully this post will just help you understand that though there are peaks and troughs with any mental health disorder there can also be self inflcted minor hills and valleys as well.
I can get "funny" feelings when missing pills,   "funny" feelings are mostly the physical things and sensations that happen within me. These sensations usually come on between 3-7 hours after I have missed my daily dose of medication.  The sleep affecting stuff generally impacts the next day.
"Funny" feelings:
1. Sight gets a little cloudy
2. A sensation of dizziness at times.
3. Odd skin sensations.  Some of this can be the prickling anxiety that I forgot my Meds and took them later off schedule.
4. Clenched fists or other muscle tightness.
5. Digestive issues. Reflux etc, this one is very odd.
6. Tightness in the chest.
7. Sounds become far away or like waves in my ears.
8. Brain farts, I seem to become more forgetful, more randomly applied to my work
9. Just a feeling of not being "with it."
10. A sensation of separateness from what is happening currently.
So these "funny" feelings are not so funny and not all appear every time, so I make sure to get back on my regular medication routine as soon as I can.  This is I guess just another aspect of navigating your mental health that has to be factored into your life, really need to keep on top of medication regimes.

***END***