Hi there.

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Hello everyone.

I am recently diagnosed as ASD which now accompanies a slew of existing issues like ADHD and OCD. I am 30. Happily married. Spent the last 25 years masking up a storm and have little idea who I actually am anymore.

I have barely worked through my adult life. Studied a bit but that didn’t work out. Being Bipolar didn’t help either and I was in and out of the psych ward over the years. None of us could figure out why things weren’t working, even though I’d end the day with precision mask removal without even considering that to be a factor. Nobody could know. Nobody could see the brokenness.
I live with my husband now who I’ve been letting through. He’s my carer and basically keeps me alive - he calls me his orchid. “Beautiful, challenging to care for sometimes but always worth it because when you bloom?” Followed by a big sigh.

I’m currently studying at university in the Arts, specifically history and English. If I can, I’d like to go onto further study. I study online so can work at my pace as much as I want.
Trying desperately hard to unmask a little. When I was dx ADHD in late 2023 it started slipping down but now it’s time to pretty go. I want to feel safe and secure in myself.

Trying to find more of a community than my little city holds. Hoping that’ll be an option here.

L

laurawr, Welcome to Wrong Planet.

It sounds like you found the right place. Humans are a much more complex being then anything that has come before us. The reason why is because we have multiple brains. So when you describe bi-polar you are really describing switching between different brains within your skull. When you get overloaded, you switch.

So how do you stay in control. I will not say I am an expert but generally I do not switch. I always remain in control. What is the secret? Two things - sleep and exercise. So let me give a little detail. First, I am 76 years old but I try to perform around one hour of exercise each day. I walk up and down a steep hill. Sometimes I go to the YMCA in town and swim a mile. That takes me around a couple hours to swim that distance but I can do it. I just wear good flippers.



The second part is sleep. Sleep is extremely important. But not just shallow sleep but deep sleep. That is where your body repairs itself each night. You need around 2 hours of REM and deep NREM sleep combined each night to repair yourself. As we age, this can become more and more difficult. One secret tool that I found very helpful is a heated waterbed. I married my wife 50 years ago and on the honeymoon one hotel we stayed in had a waterbed. My wife was sold on it, so we purchased one and to this day all we sleep on is a waterbed. The design of waterbeds has improved over the years. So if you use one and make your bedroom very comfortable during the night, perhaps you will be able to master and control bipolar.

Hi Laura,
Welcome aboard.

Welcome to Wrong Planet!

Welcome to WP! I think you might find it someplace to frequent.

Congratulations on the diagnosis, and for finding such a loving husband.

Hello and welcome to wp

Welcome to Wrong Planet!