So, I'm trying to do a better job as a wife, mom, and homemaker since I'm still not working/still going to school. I'm also really into the creative arts, including writing and crafts. My husband's birthday was yesterday, and I wanted to do something cute for him from the baby.
Here's what I came up with:
Should I do a how-to post for this cute little DIY project?
Some people in my life aren’t comfortable with me talking about my mental health issues because there is still a lot of stigma and discrimination directed at people who have mental health issues. I, however, choose to share my truth and my struggles with you because it might help someone who’s having similar struggles to mine. I also feel that blogging about it is cathartic for me. Writing about my issues helps me to see them more clearly and frame them a little better. Sharing my struggles helps me cope with them.
Some of you reading this don’t know me well enough to know what my struggles are. I struggle with managing my Type II Bipolar Disorder, which went undiagnosed until I was a week away from turning 21.
I also struggle with ADD. It was never officially documented in my mental health diagnosis, but my mental health nurse practitioner had me order the book You Mean I’m Not Lazy, Stupid, or Crazy?! That book is a self-help book for adults with ADD. Why would he have me order it if he didn’t believe I have ADD? I’ve also been reading Overcoming Distractions: Thriving With Adult ADD/ADHD by David A. Greenwood over the past couple weeks. I may talk to my primary care physician soon about getting an actual diagnosis because I can tell you beyond a shadow of a doubt that I’ve been struggling with ADD since birth.
Greenwood’s book also put a name to something I’ve been struggling with for my whole life, known as sensory processing disorder. The passage in the book about it that caught my eye was this:
Many with ADHD also exhibit some type of sensitivity to various sounds, feelings, smells, and other stimuli. While what they call “sensory processing disorder” is a separate diagnosis from ADHD, many, including myself, have a low tolerance for certain sounds and other stimuli. This might be one reason a child in a restaurant has a temper tantrum. You might think she is just misbehaving, but what you actually might be witnessing is her inability to handle all the stimulation. Is it ADHD or sensory processing disorder? Some feel the symptoms overlap. …That hypersensitivity to sounds and other things going on around you really irritates many with ADHD who have concentration issues.
WELCOME TO MY LIFE. For as long as I can remember, I’ve had these problems. Ask my parents. I don’t know how many times they’ve told me stories about taking me out in public as a baby, it being very loud and over-crowded, them being able to ACTUALLY SEE my stomach cramp up into knots, and me screaming/wailing bloody murder until they took me home to the quiet, people-free refuge of our house. Later, I hated going to school. Too many other kids and annoying, anxiety-inducing stimuli lurked at school. I would have much preferred to stay at home, by myself.
Social situations, especially with people I don’t know or who make me uncomfortable, have always been excruciating for me. Those overwhelming stimuli combined with my awkwardness as an extremely imaginative/weird only child made for a LOT of anxiety that manifested itself in my so-called “nervous stomach.” I’ve never been able to stand the sound of someone yelling at me. If I even THINK someone is yelling at me, I am 100% guaranteed to have a meltdown and cry.
A lot of the anxiety and frustration I experience with my ADD and sensory processing disorder results in exhausting, tearful meltdowns. People like to tell me to suck it up, BUT I LITERALLY CANNOT stop it from happening. I can process through it and recover from it, but I can’t stop it from happening.
That’s all I’ve got for you on this subject for today, but I’ll definitely be making commentary on it in the future.
Chelsea Moye 