Health Issues/300 Followers/Awesome News

I went on some new medication last night, and I can barely keep my eyes open this morning. Actually it's afternoon. See what I mean? I feel out of it.

When I was a teenager, I started to get migraines. Not too bad, usually once a month, and they wouldn't last too long. Over the years, they've slowly been accelerating, and I now get three or four a week.

I know, yuck, right?

Mostly, I can get rid of them, but it's just not fun to even start that many, so my doctor and I decided to try preventative medication. I've been on some before, and it helped a lot, but then I fell into the trap of hoping I'd interupted some sort of migraine cycle, and once they were gone, I wouldn't get them as often any more. Nope.

Also, I've mentioned this briefly on the blog before, but I also get depression from time to time. This started in my early twenties, when I was pregnant with Xander. For a few years, I've been wondering if I was bipolar II. Bipolar II is a sort of milder form of bipolar disorder, where generally the highs (or manias) aren't as high. It can really vary a lot. I tend to have sort of low lows and then just slight manic times.

I tried googling images for this post, and there are a lot of happy/sad photos, but I don't think that captures it. It's more like despair and euphoria with a touch of madness.

I like this one:

If you've ever caught me in a manic state, I'm quite hysterical. I talk more quickly than normal. I feel wonderful. I want to do twenty projects and I want to do them all at once. I tend to buy a lot of craft supplies and start projects and not finish them. I also get goofy. The depression is another story. Ug, I hate that part.


I actually deal quite well with it most of the time (could be so much worse), and the exercise helps a lot. But, it still impairs my function. And it can be exhausting. I'm never sure when I get up in the morning if I'm going to cope ok, or if I'm going to spend the day not coping. I'll spare you the details.

So, at an appointment yesterday, my doctor diagnosed me bipolar II. I'd known for a while that migraines and bipolar disorder were linked, but I was surprised that there was one medication that could potentially treat both. So, I'm trying it out. So far, I feel good, but very, very sleepy. Hopefully that will go away.

If you're the praying sort, I could use some prayers that we get a handle on this. Any sort of mental illness is a journey, and I'm feeling very hopeful about finding a good balance that works for me.

In other news, Craftastical! reached 300 followers a little bit back! I'm thrilled! Seriously, I can't believe my little blog has attracted so many new readers. I'm planning a little give-away to celebrate. I need to get my act together. Maybe if I put it out there now, I will feel more committed to put something up next week. So, check back. And it looks like I might hit 350 soon.

Also, do you remember this shadow box frame I made from dollar store frames?

Well, last week, The CSI Project had a little contest, judged by Heather from Dollar Store Crafts. I hadn't ever entered one of their contests, but I knew I had to put a link to my shadow box up there. I was thrilled to see I made the top ten.

Heather stopped by and left this comment on my project:

Hi! I just wanted to stop by and say congrats! I didn't have time to comment when I was judging the CSI entries last week. You did a great job! I love your project because you had an item you wanted (a shadowbox) and you figured out a good way to use dollar store stuff to make the thing you wanted. To me, that's the essence of shopping at the dollar store for craft supplies!

How amazing is that!?!

Thanks so much to Heather and The CSI Project! I'm going to be stopping by a lot more often now.