Has a book ever helped you do something better or maybe changed your life in positive and real way?

Blademonkey

Forum GOD!
1984 George Orwell. Strange choice i know but first reading it in my teens in 1984, it gave me the inner perspective that while its crazy to be obsessed with being watched and monitored 24/7, its blind ignorance to think that my actions, behaviours and decisions are not under the watchful eye and scrutiny of someone, apparent or anonymous to me.
A great book that I have read and reread over the years and have many copies of it, love it love it love it!!! :) P.
 
I've found " The Bipolar Disorder Survival Guide by David j. Miklowitz, PhD to be very helpful in understanding my condition and to recognise warning signs of mania or depression and to find the right medication for me. P.
One of my oldest friends is type 1 and has quite extreme episodes to the extent that he has been unable to sustain a 'normal' life since his twenties. He's one of the nicest chaps I know, hard work but a heart of pure gold. The fact my girls met him and loved him to bits pleases me immensely.
Fight the good fight Paul.
 

Blademonkey

Forum GOD!
One of my oldest friends is type 1 and has quite extreme episodes to the extent that he has been unable to sustain a 'normal' life since his twenties. He's one of the nicest chaps I know, hard work but a heart of pure gold. The fact my girls met him and loved him to bits pleases me immensely.
Fight the good fight Paul.
Thank you Count, I've beaten the hardest battle and that was getting a diagnosis and the correct medication after years off battling whith three lots of doctors, and couple of psychiatrists. I've just got my meds to the right levels now and am feeling a lot better and if I do go off the rails I've got the mental health team behind me now, it's all good :) P.
 
Chuffed for you @Blademonkey I've watched my friend go through so many things and plenty of them could have been avoided with the right team to support him. Now you have a good team make sure everything is recorded treatment plan, drug routines, emergency procedures etc. so even if the team changes/is unavailable they'll know what works for you.
C
 

Blademonkey

Forum GOD!
Chuffed for you @Blademonkey I've watched my friend go through so many things and plenty of them could have been avoided with the right team to support him. Now you have a good team make sure everything is recorded treatment plan, drug routines, emergency procedures etc. so even if the team changes/is unavailable they'll know what works for you.
C
Unfortunately because of cutbacks ect in around nine months from now I lose the support of the mental health team unless I go off the rails big time in the meantime but at least my doctor now knows the score and is in charge of my meds and should anything drastic happens she can always get the MHT involved again.
I feel sorry for your friend, it has taken many years to get to this point and it was like a rollercoaster of up's and downs and relationship break ups so I know the difficulty he faces / has faced, finding a good doctor is the key and the start to managing this condition.. P.
 
In an odd sort of way he had it easier he went through his teens undiagnosed before going full bore in his twenties. A horrendous breakup, persecution by her friends led to self medicating with various drugs which led to Mania to the point of being captured by cops with riot shields, being held down and depo'd. After that it was obvious there was something really wrong, though the help took a while to ..help.
He came to visit once while on the rise to full blown mania and I spent a week in the flat with him trying to keep him safe. I tried to get him to the doc's but that just scared him more, to the point of threatening me. I rang the helpline again when he went out and they said to put his bags outside the door, lock it and call the police if he kicked off. I sat and thought about that for a while before saying bollocks! it wasn't just some loony in my house it was my friend just ill. So I rang a friend of his who drove up from London to Yorkshire and we proceeded to spike his drinks with tranqs until he came down enough to know what was going on.
It was a closer thing than I'd like to admit to be honest and many of his friends weren't able to make that distinction, 30 years on I'm still so glad I did.
 

Blademonkey

Forum GOD!
In an odd sort of way he had it easier he went through his teens undiagnosed before going full bore in his twenties. A horrendous breakup, persecution by her friends led to self medicating with various drugs which led to Mania to the point of being captured by cops with riot shields, being held down and depo'd. After that it was obvious there was something really wrong, though the help took a while to ..help.
He came to visit once while on the rise to full blown mania and I spent a week in the flat with him trying to keep him safe. I tried to get him to the doc's but that just scared him more, to the point of threatening me. I rang the helpline again when he went out and they said to put his bags outside the door, lock it and call the police if he kicked off. I sat and thought about that for a while before saying bollocks! it wasn't just some loony in my house it was my friend just ill. So I rang a friend of his who drove up from London to Yorkshire and we proceeded to spike his drinks with tranqs until he came down enough to know what was going on.
It was a closer thing than I'd like to admit to be honest and many of his friends weren't able to make that distinction, 30 years on I'm still so glad I did.
Good for you, well done. A lot of people can't handle a person, even a friend on a full blown manic episode and the ones that stick around not knowing what's up but just knowing something is up are true friends. P.
 

amosdecker

Über Member
Gary Taubes' Why We Get Fat: And What to Do About It changed my life (March 2018). Before I was done with it I altered my diet and cut sugars and processed grains / breads, starches. Next thing I did was purchase Dr. Atkins' New Diet Revolution (2009 paperback) and really started a ketogenic diet. Atkins induction, which you start out on, limits carbs to 20 grams or less a day, which is a very low carb diet. I'm coming up on two years on this way of eating and there is no way I will go back to the status quo.

My wife noticed, since I started cooking my own food. She cut a lot of her carbs (she has type 2 diabetes) and her A1C dropped below the 6.5 threshold. I now accompany her to her twice yearly diabetes checkups and you would not believe what these doctors are saying.

Why We Get Fat is at your local library. Check it out. Learn why the government's low fat diet created the obesity / type 2 diabetes epidemic. Look up McGovern's 1977 Dietary Guidelines. And look up Ancel Keys - another major instigator. These unproven, unscientific low fat diets have world-wide effects.

There are only three macronutrients: carbohydrates, proteins and fats. By recommending low fat, carbs go up, which only leads to bad things. Visceral fat - aka truncal fat, that oatmeal mush in your midsection coating your organs.
 

les24preludes

Forum GOD!
It's a bit different in my case. In 1994 I wrote my first book - "Secrets of Musical Confidence". It turned out well and gave my career as a performance psychologist a big boost. I enjoyed writing it and went on to write four more books, and writing became something that enriched my life. A couple of my friends wrote books as well, and we all found that getting a book published wasn't as difficult as one might imagine. Books were much more important in the 1990s when I started writing, and these days a website and a series of YouTube videos is probably a better way of reaching people. But books are still out there, and if you feel there's an author inside you be brave and give it a try.
 

Vacumatic

Testy
Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus.

It gave me a few life lessons, not least of which was understanding that very often women just want you to listen and not to provide solutions. the book also helped a gay couple who didnt know how to talk to each other as two men, saved their relationship, one had to understand that he should adopt womens tactics of negotiation rather than confrontation.
 
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