I’m afraid I don’t have much advice to offer, only commiseration. My boyfriend of six years just broke up with me so he could focus on recovery from his bipolar disorder. We’d been long distance about half the time. He moved 300 miles away to live with his mother in a state where he could get Medicaid. Because he was…

It kind of makes me feel better knowing that both Adele and Michelle Williams are also dealing with recent heartbreak.

I hear you. I’m on some sort of break with the guy I’ve been seeing for six years. We’ve done this before, but this is the first time it feels more like a break up than a break. He manages bipolar disorder, so it’s complicated. He’s in a place where he isn’t able to communicate at the level necessary to sustain an…

Loving Someone With Bipolar Disorder by Julie Fast

Thanks. I have a trusted therapist I’m working with through this. 

You have no idea how relevant that all is to my situation! But I’m fading, so I shan’t go into it. Thank you and goodnight!

Aw, shucks. One of the things I learned from my book is that I need to work on responding rather than resorting to my natural tendency, which is to react.

Thanks. That’s helpful. 

Cute doggo! Sorry to hear about your relationship turmoil. I’m currently “on a break” from a six year relationsip, but we don’t live together, so it’s not as disruptive as what you’re going through.

Thanks! I’m reading a self-help book on the topic, which is actually helpful, and I just phoned a friend for some perspective and am feeling better.

Does anyone else have experience being in a relationship with someone with bipolar disorder? My boyfriend and I have been together 6 years, and have always actively worked on things. Recently, though, the negatives have outweighed the positives for me. Symptoms that have me down: irritability, anger fueled by…

Wow. I didn’t think Trazodone or any of the tricyclics (which I suffered through in the pre-Prozac days) were used as a first line of defense since SSRIs came on the market. Glad you found something that worked.

Veterinary use of psychoactive drugs originally formulated for humans is actually quite common. Prozac has helped my anxious dog function much better, and she gets a hit of trazodone (which I also take as a sleep aid) so she can get through vet appointments without getting the shakes. 

Trazodone is an extremely ineffective anti-depressant that’s now used off-label as a sleep aid. I’ve been using it before bedtime for years to combat my insomnia, and it’s great for that. I can’t imagine taking it and expecting to stay awake during the day.

Showing up and voting isn’t enough when your state is illegally gerrymandered and hasn’t been a functional democracy since 2010.

Your phrase “posh Victorian child” sent me running for this:

I’m reading a comedic novel called The Dud Avocado by Elaine Dundy. It was originally published in 1958, and has been “rediscovered” a bunch of times since. It follows the screwball adventures of a liberated young American woman who has gone to live in Paris after graduating from college. She’s a party girl along the…

Yes! Raul Esparza is one of those actors I find magnetically sexy onscreen, but would find unworkably tiny in real life.

I’m reading that the couples fought amongst themselves because the women strongly feel that their men should go into debt to buy rings as evidence of their love and devotion. Those are some effed up values, so maybe it’s time to evaluate those friendships.

The “women’s curtailed choices” argument is industry-driven b.s. that has been used to justify leaving all sorts of dangerous medical devices on the market so their manufacturers can continue to profit from them. See also: Essure, pelvic mesh, various IUDs.