drowning

My cat is purring beside me and it's the only thing holding me together right now.

I'm not suicidal, I'm just tired. Tired of being sick, tired of being behind, tired of always feeling inadequate.

I have tears in my eyes, but there stuck. Crying would provide me with relief, and my brain just isn't okay with that today.

"Missing you comes in waves. And tonight, I'm drowning."

But really, I'm always drowning.

Missing you and having BPD is just about the worst combination. I love you but can't be with you and am always so paranoid that you'll find someone else. We each have our lives, and I'm glad we're independent people, but I want our lives intertwined.

I wear your pj pants to bed, and hug your hat as if it's a stuffed animal, thinking somehow that will bring me closer to you.

It's so hard to breathe when you're drowning.

Impulsivity

I realized that most of my recent posts have been about my bulimia, but I also want to write about my borderline personality disorder.

I thought I'd talk about a few ways I handle my impulsivity without self destructing. These don't help 100% of the time, but they do help.

1. Get upside down! I'm a gymnast so I go to the gym four times a week to do flips, and that gives me an outlet for a lot of my impuslivity, and also works as a mindfulness activity. Try power yoga, and open adult gym class or a trip to one of those new trampoline gyms. You could even try doing handstands, cartwheels or elbow stands in an open area.
2. SHOP! Impulsive spending is one of my behaviours, but it is possible to do this in a safe way. Try going to the dollar store, shopping for school supplies or even going to the grocery store (to buy healthy foods). I've used grocery shopping as an outlet for my impulsive spending by buying food I wouldn't normally buy, but will eat. I'll buy things like new protein powder or sushi. I even used textbook buying to calm my urge to impulsively spend money.
3. Drink a very hot or very cold beverage. This really helps my binge/purge urges. The temperature shock gets me to calm down. Taking a very hot (not burning though!) or cold shower works as well. 
4. Send a sexual text. This helps me with my sleeping around urges. Since having a boyfriend, the urges have calmed down, but I know it's a common thing with those who suffer with borderline. Instead of going and sleeping with strangers, try just sexting strangers over Tindr. I did this when I was single, and it was much safer than getting into a strangers car.

psych ward drama

Psych ward drama is always exciting... until you're a part of it. Then it's terrible.

My roommate who takes my stuff has become a nightmare. The good news is, she is no longer my roommate. The bad news is, it took her being violent with me before they moved the rooms around.

It started when she first moved in. I walked into my room and found my tablet on her bed, and she was wearing my scarf. The next morning I woke up to her going through my backpack. That afternoon she had put my laptop in her cupboard and taken my tablet again, along with a lipbalm and some stevia.
I finally got a nurse to take me seriously and gave me the key to lock my dresser. The girl gave me a friendship bracelet, and sat with me. Things seemed to be going okay.
Then that night, she took my container of nuts and started eating them. When I walked into my room she asked me if it was okay that she had taken some nuts. I said sure, but asked her to ask me first next time. She started mocking me and stormed out of the room.
Due to a spat between me and my bestfriend/housemate on top of what was going on with my psych ward roommate I took some ativan before going to sleep.
I woke up at midnight to her kicking my shin. Now I have shin splints so this was extremely painful. She left the room, and I followed her out to go talk to a nurse. I grabbed my tablet and phone with me in order to not get them stolen. She kept on talking about how I'm a bitch and a whore. She saw me following her and turned around and went at me, pushing me against the wall. Being stronger than her I managed to get around her but before I knew it I was pinned up against the other wall. I yelled out stop so that the nurses would come over.
The nurses came out and asked what was going on. She claimed that I had woken her up and taken her things. The nurses figured out pretty quickly that that isn't what happened. They sent her back to her room and I slept in the comfort room.

Today things seem to have sorted themselves out. She got moved to the locked back unit. I got a new roommate, who is the sweetest most wonderful lady. I'm still terrified though. I was happily eating lunch in the lunch room when she walked in. My heart rate rose immediately and I had to leave the room, finishing my lunch in my room.

I hate not being able to feel safe in a safe place.  

rejection letter

I applied for a job that would have been perfect for me. It was to be a teaching assistant for gifted students in the states - in exactly my area of research. I interviewed on Friday. Today I got the news that I didn't get the job.

When you have borderline personality disorder everything has so much meaning. I didn't get the job. Therefore I'm a failure. Therefore I'm never going to have anything good in my life. Therefore I should give up on school. Therefore I should die.

I know logically it makes no sense. But to me it does. I take rejection hard. I know that these people are strangers, but I got rejected by them. No one wants me.

I'm supposed to be working on my thesis. I lost all motivation.

I want to smash my head into the wall. Maybe that would improve my brain function considering how dumb I apparently am.

Inpatient

Sorry for the lack of posting recently. I'm trying to get back to blogging regularly but I keep sleeping instead.

I've been inpatient for a week now. After planning and starting to go through with my suicide plan the ambulance showed up at my door and picked me up. I'm here involuntarily but I do accept that I need the admission. I still don't want to keep myself safe, and that's scary. It's good to be somewhere where others can do that for me. We're located on the tenth floor of the hospital and everytime I look outside I want to jump. I guess that's proof that I'm not ready to leave.

It's incredibly boring here. I've been trying to keep up with school work but have been really lacking motivation. I'm hoping to be better by reading week, and if that is case I will still be able to catch up with work. There are a couple groups that brings during the day but not very many... And they aren't mandatory which makes it tempting to just lay in bed with Netflix in the background. But I know that won't help me.

Tonight I get to go off the ward with my boyfriend and roommate. I'm going out for dinner, and super excited to have food that isn't hospital food. I'm really craving a binge purge session and it may be inevitable tonight to be honest. I'll try my best though. I'll get to go home and bring some food I'm more comfortable with onto the ward which I'm excited about.

I've put a reminder to blog on my phone. I love writing to you all and definitely feel calmer when I write. This blog is definitely a journal for me.

Psychiatry appointment

I'm taking on a lot of challenges this term. I'm taking a full course load (programming, algebra, combinatorics, cryptography and finishing my thesis) as well as tutoring and doing an eating disorder recovery group.

I know that this is a lot to take on. But I'm being optimistic. I truly believe that I can do this. Keeping busy has always been helpful for me, and I want to try getting myself ready for graduate school, where I'll be even more busy than I am now.

My psychiatrist was not on board with this plan. She flat out told me she didn't think I could do it and that I should drop classes immediately.  This really upset me. I know I'm taking on a lot. And the reminder that I can drop classes and put my mental health first is always welcoming. However, I was really hoping that she would be more supportive. Congratulate me for trying. I haven't been this motivate in quite a long time and having her crush that with thoughts of failure was really disappointing.

I mentioned my anxiety being very high lately, and she said we could consider putting me on Lyrica. I'm usually all for trying new medication, but my current medication regime has helped a lot, and I don't want to mess it up. Additionally, she said that this medication can cause drowsiness lingering into the day even if taken at night, and that is just about the last thing I need right now. I'm not struggling with over sleeping as much as I was at the end of last year, but it is still a struggle, and I don't want to do anything that would make that worse. If anyone has any experience with Lyrica please let me know!

Best of 2016

2016 has been a shit year for many, including myself. But great writing tends to emerge during difficult times. Here are what I consider to be my top 15 pieces from 2016.

15. reflections from the hospital


14. Days Weeks Months Years


13. Why they need to get rid of atypical anorexia


12. To the girl who thinks she's smarter than this


11. #eatittobeatit


10. This one's for the girl


9. My depression is ugly


8. Faking perfection


7. Thinspo: video (no images, don't worry)


6. How to help a suicidal friend


5. Orthorexia


4. 7 things I want you to know as you're staring into the toilet bowl


3. A week with borderline personality disorder


2. Counting down (link to buy my poetry book, one of my greatest accomplishments so far)


1. Cat pictures (because my cat is the best thing that has happened to me this year)

Don't let the statistics tell you otherwise.

I never thought I'd find someone who cares about me like you do. Someone who will hold my hand and tell me everything will be okay when I felt as though the sky was falling. Someone willing to visit me when I'm locked inside a hospital room. Someone willing to talk to me, when all I could talk about is death.

They say that borderlines can't have successful relationships, that we're doomed for life. Well, I'm proving you wrong. I always believed in this myth, getting myself into destructive relationships, breaking up and getting back together time and time again, ending up hating and loving my partner simultaneously, making me feel as though my life is a tornado of emotions.

I found someone better. Someone who makes me believe that I can get my life back on track. Someone who makes me believe that I have a chance of making it in this world. Someone who believes in happiness and love.

I'm not going to lie and say that happy successful relationships are easy to obtain. They're hard. You need to work at it, and so does your partner. But it can work. It means having the hard conversations. Talking about the way you feel. Explaining what your disorder makes you believe and why you can't always function the way you would like to.

But it's possible.

You can find true love.

Don't let the statistics tell you otherwise.

emergency

I'm sitting in a bed in the medical emergency unit of my city's hospital after an overdose.

This overdose didn't come out of no where - I hadn't taken my meds properly for two days, and everything crumbled today. My bank wasn't helpful, I had to use a loan to pay for gymnastics, and even then didn't have it in me to go hand in my forms. Between the ste

I rescheduled today's plans for later this weekend or next week, and hopefully that all works out, There is the unfortunate chance that I'm stuck here for 24 hours.

My doctor thankfully just walked in and said my tylenol levels were fine. I just need to get one more text done, and I should be out in just over an hour!

So, overall, this experience wasn't too bad.

The only real bad part about the experience was the ambulance ride over,
This paramedic had been to our place a week before to pick up my roommate after an ativan overdose. She decided that it was her job to tell us how we should be living our lives, and kept on insinuating the relationship between my friend and I was destructive. Does she have depression? Does she know how supportive it is to live with someone who understands? It's your job to take patients to the hospital in a safe manner. Not to judge our lives.

Are relationships worth it?

I have a hard time with relationships, BPD can do that to you. It's hard to trust that someone loves you when all you've known is loved ones leaving.

I'm scared. I've been anxious lately and my boyfriend and I seem less connected then before. He got some bad news, and since then I just feel a disconnect. Like this disappointment has caused us to drift apart. I know he tends to isolate when the going gets tough, but I can't help but think that it's because he doesn't trust me to be supportive.

Sometimes I wonder if relationships are worth it. If I was single I wouldn't have these worries that my partner was going to leave me. I wouldn't be worried about being left alone. I wouldn't have this sinking feeling in my heart when he says he can't come over. Maybe if I was single all of this stress would go away.

But, I love him. I really do. And leaving him because of the way he copes would be ridiculous. There's nothing wrong with our relationship when I look at the facts. But why do I still have this sinking feeling in my heart?

Update

I safely landed in Vancouver after my five hour freezing cold flight. In about an hour I head over to register for the summer school I'm attending. I'm both excited and frightened.

I know I'm going to have a good time, and I know this is really going to motivate me for my upcoming return to classes. I just want to get settled into the residence I'll be staying at and meet the other students. Once that's been done, I'll feel a lot better.

I'm currently working on a few poems and articles that I am hoping to post by the end of the month. They're all in the final editing stage :)

Since my schedule has been completely thrown off course lately, I thought I would finish with some gentle reminders:

• Please remember to take your medication this morning
• Please remember to have breakfast this morning, no matter what you ate or didn't eat last night
• Please remember to brush your teeth
• Please remember to dress in a way that feels good for you
• Please remember to move a bit today, whether it's just leaving your bed for some tea, or going for a nice walk (with accordance to your doctor's orders)
• Please remember that socializing is helpful, but so is time alone, and try to do a bit of both

Sending lots of love to everyone

why live

Life goes on. And sometimes that's the problem.

I found out that someone in my school program committed suicide. And nothing seems to have changed.

It makes me wonder, if the sun will still rise and the stars will still shine do we really make an impact. I didn't even hear about the death until a few days later. Life kept on going on. I went to meetings, wrote in my journal, did some math. I ate breakfast lunch and dinner. So did everyone else. Life kept on going. The removal of his life had no effect.

But that's such a broad view. If we zoom in, we see that there's more to it than just that. If we zoom in we see the kid's mother and father unable to leave their bed, devastated by the loss of their son. When we zoom in we see the kids friends, who need to take a year off of school to cope. We see an empty bedroom that won't be entered for months.

When we zoom in we see why we need to live.

We live for the little things, and that's okay.

We live for fresh fruit in the summer, and snow angels in the winter
We live for hugs and kisses by our closes friends
We live for our family, our siblings and those who look up to us

I think one of my many struggles, is that I think too broadly. I ask why instead of why not. I try to find purpose in things that don't need purpose. And that's something I really need to work on.

Life isn't fair

I got to leave the hospital for a few hours today, which was quite a nice change in pace. I got some good coffee, chatted with a friend, had a nice hot shower, and packed some extra thinks for my stay.

That was all very nice. The problem arose when I was walking around campus. I got endless glares at my scratched up arms and hospital bracelet. I ran into a few people I knew who were spending their summer doing research, and I had to fake a smile and tell them that I'm taking time to myself to get better, and not that I was forced into hospital after multiple overdoses. I faked a smile when all I wanted to do was cry and scream about the unjust world.

Even my taxi driver was an idiot. I asked him to pick me up from campus and take me to the psych hospital. I have a hospital bracelet on my wrist. He decided that it was appropriate to ask why my arms where so scratched up.

To make things worse, I got an email from my perfect aunt, who has a perfect kid, saying she was sorry to hear I was in hospital. I understand that she's my dad's sister, and my dad wanted to share, but it sucks. Her son has been extremely fortunate with his health, and summer opportunities and I'm here sitting in a psych ward.

I know the world isn't fair. I know I shouldn't expect it to be. But I just hate that it's not.

High functioning

They say I'm high functioning.
I have enough diagnosis
To fill up one hand
But it's all hidden under
This marvelous mask

They say I'm high functioning.
I go to school, I work
I even live hours away from family
I do chores, I pay bills
But I till cry myself to sleep at night

The problem with being high functioning is that they don't notice when things go wrong. It took so long for me to find help because no lne believed I was as sick as I was. And by the time I got help, it was too late. I was slicing my body open and popping pills every night.

Perseverance

I've gotten shot down time and time again. I'm one of those 'hopeless' cases no one wants to help. I guess when your still suicidal after four hospitalizations and the max amount of anti depressants they can give you, doctors no longer know what to do. 

In some ways, I've had an extremely lucky upbringing. Supportive parents, great friends, wonderful teammates, and big goals. But no matter how lucky you are, life always gets in the way. It started with my parents divorce, followed by rejection, loss and despair. 

Between this rocky, although happy, upbringing, and losing the genetic lottery, the depression, anxiety, bulimia, and borderline personality were in full swing by the time I was 17. 

I'm what they call a high-functioning mentally ill patient. But under that high-functioning mask, is a lost girl who wakes up at 5 every morning because it takes an hour to will herself out of bed. A girl who spends hours staring at herself in the mirror and hunching over a toilet bowl swearing to herself that she won't ever eat again. A girl who thinks of blades, and ropes, and bridges and pills. 

I'm a therapists worst nightmare. Smart enough to know all the tricks up their sleeves, but not smart enough to listen. Smart enough to be self aware of everything I'm doing but not smart enough to stop. Every time I start thinking I could live a life without my illnesses I come crashing down, fully relapsing into the self harm, purging and other destructive behaviors. Every time I think I'll never slice my skin open or stick my fingers down my throat every again, I end up losing it all, setting my days clean count back to zero.

Every time I think I can break loose and start to walk away, something about this demon pulls me back to the start. I'm like one of those monkeys in a monkey trap. Forever stuck because I won't let go of that stupid banana. 

Don't you dare say I'm not trying

I spend most nights crying, counting my pills until I fall asleep wondering if I have the tools to kill myself without leaving my bed. 

But I wake every God damn morning and eat breakfast. 

Holiday meal plan

I know that many of you are stressed with Christmas coming up (tomorrow is Christmas Eve!!) so I thought I would share some yummy safe dishes of mine I'll be eating. 

Obviously it will be weird for me to be eating different food than my family, but since I'm vegetarian, it happens anyways so I use that as my excuse to make my own food. It helps that my immediate family knows and are supportive/know that I'm 18 and there isn't much they can do. 

How to get through a three course Christmas meal: 

1. bread/salad. 

I make myself a very nice garden salad and fill up on this. I don't dress my salads, I simply put some salt and pepper on it. I often have the same salad my family is having, and ask them to leave the dressing on the side. I'll tend to skip the bread, when the bread basket goes around, or put a very small piece of bread in the basket and go for that one. Bread is such a fear food for me, I'd rather not be triggered to b/p right from the get go.

Salad ~ 50 (about two-three cups worth, no dressing)

Bread ~50 (for a small piece)

2. Main course. 

I replace the turkey with tofurky roast (125 per tenth of the roast) and then have a plateful of steamed veggies (about 50 for two cups). I can't do potatoes, so I always skip those. 

3. Desert. 

This is the though one and seems to ALWAYS lead me to binging and purging. I plan on loading up on fruit salad (about 80 for a cup) and some light whipped cream to look like I'm indulging (25 per quarter cup)

In total your meal can easily be under 400cals, and you still feel part of the Christmas celebrations. 

Good luck!

-Niqi

xoxo

Friends

I tried seeing people today. I was social for 4 and a half hours. I currently want to sleep for 20 years. Why are social interactions so exhausting? Of course, now it is almost dinner time so I have to be social with my family.
I swear the holidays are more tiring then the school year. At least during the school year I can claim that the reason I'm not being social is because of readings and assignments.. It's kinda hard to do that during the break.
Ughh I need to sleep. A lot. Or just be alone for ever... Why are social interactions expected of me?

-Niqi
xoxo

happy happy holidays

The holidays are a wonderful time of year. If you're happy that is.

I should be in the hospital. But there is no more help they can give me. 

My family is gonna hate having me around because I'm going to lock myself in my room the entire time.

I'll eat my own Christmas dinner at the end of the table. Eating delicious pan fried veggies with no oil while everyone else feasts on turkey. All for nothing because then I will binge on cookies and pie.
I never understood why suicide rates went up around the holidays. Everyone seems so happy and festive. I get it now. Being the only unhappy one is quite a lonely feeling.

-Niqi
xoxo

I'm not depressed because..

I'm not depressed because I spent two days in bed. I got up today, wrote an exam, socialized with three friends, took a train to go home, watched a comedy, knit and played guitar. But at the end of the day, I'm back in bed wanting to die.

I'm not depressed because I don't know what I want to do with my life. I know exactly what I want to do with my life. I have plans upon plans of all the things I want to accomplish. I know which courses I'll take at which grad schools and which condo I'd like to live in in 5, 10 and 15 years. I will have three cats named Ana, Maleficent, and Pixie.

I'm not depressed because it's winter. Yes I am affected by S.A.D. I also attempted suicide in June.

I'm not depressed because school is too much. Yes university courses can trigger my anxiety. But some days the only reason I got out of bed is because I really really like linear algebra class.

I'm not depressed because of a certain reason. There isn't one thing you can change in my life that will make me happy. There are things that give me a reason to not die, until the chemical imbalances in my brain are changed. My meds are still being sorted out. My therapy is still being sorted out. I'm depressed because I am one of the unlucky ones with Major Depressive Disorder. You can't just 'fix' me. Please just stick with me.

-Niqi
xoxo

Questions questions questions

... I know I'm going to have to answer all of these the second I see my parents:

• How is school?
• How is treatment?
• How is recovery? 
• How much are you purging? 
• How much are you restricting? 
• Why do you care so much about your weight? 
• Why do you care so much about your grades?
• What are your grades like?
• How did exams go?
• How was the semester?
• Did you get to know any of your profs?
• Why did you spend so much money? 
• Why is there an ambulance charge on your credit card? 
• Can't you see how much your hurting us? 
• Does your eyeliner have some sort of deep meaning? 
• Why don't you want to talk to us? 
• Why don't you want to play with your siblings?
• Why don't you want to go see your highschool friends? 
• Did you lose weight? 
• Did you gain weight? 
• Do you know how much we love you?
• Are you still trying to lose weight? 
• Are you going to get a scholorship? 
• How much are your books going to cost next year?
• What are your new years resolutions? 
• Do you still like your therapist?
• Why aren't you ding treatment at the hospital?
• Why don't you want to stay longer? 
• What meds are you on now?
• Why do you need blood work done so often? 
• Is it safe for you to have meds in your room? 
• Why are you taking so many vitamins? 
• Is that enough food for breakfast/lunch/dinner?
• Isn't that a lot of food?
• Are you going to purge that? 
• Where did all our alcohol go? 

-Niqi

xoxo