Feeling remarkably well - especially for the time of year

In an uncharacteristic fit of organisation, I got most of my Christmas shopping out of the way early. This is very fortunate, as, in a far more typical fit of disorganisation, I managed to lose one bank card and get the other one cancelled! Apart from that, I’m not finding the run up to Christmas too stressful.

The drawing in of the nights does get me down a bit, though, and it is harder to get out for a cycle or a decent walk.

I have been trying some other sources of exercise. Last week it was squash. Never really having played squash before, my opponent and I just made up the rules and ran around a lot.

I will need as much exercise as possible to compensate for the festivities.

All that said, I'm feeling remarkably well, especially for the time of year.

This week I'm going to start recording my various mood states and how they relate to exercise, alcohol, etc. This week on the whole alcohol levels are up, medication levels are pretty low and apart from post-work-do-hangover anxiety, my mood is surprisingly stable.

From now on, I’ll use a table to record information such as:

  • the level of medication I have taken,
  • the amount of alcohol I have had to drink,
  • the amount of exercise I have had.

The aim of this is to give an idea of how these things affect my mood, if at all.

Rating system

Medication
Usually Valium and roman chamomile.

Exercise
In an average week, I probably get about 5 to 8 hours of exercise.

Alcohol
In an average week, I probably consume about 7 units of alcohol. This has varied widely over the years. Sometimes I used to drink 5 days out of 7, then for years I was completely tea-total.

Anxiety
Rated from 0-10 where 0 is unnaturally calm (sometimes a sign of too much medication), 5 is anxious on several occasions in the week and 10 is permanently petrified. I’ll also rate any actual panic attacks on a severity of 1-5.

Depression
Rated from 0 (fine) to 5 (suicidal)

Mania
Rated from 0 (fine) to 5 incessant. As I suffer from the milder form of bi-polar disorder, I don’t actually become fully manic or delusional, so a 5 for me would be unable to sleep, to sit-still or to stop talking.

Week commencing 12/12/05


Medication: 2 cups of roman chamomile

Exercise: Less than usual - 3hrs

Alcohol: This week has been (for me) a relatively heavy drinking week as I have been to a few celebrations/nights out. 15 Units.

Anxiety: In the past week, I’ve been pretty calm most days.

Anxiety Level (0-10): 2

Number of Panic Attacks: 0

Severity of Panic Attack (0-5): N/A

Depression: Less depressed than usual for this time of year.

Depression Level (0-5): 1

Mania: I don’t remember being manic at all.

Mania Level (0-5): 0

Summary: All in all a very good week, despite having slightly more alcohol and slightly less exercise than usual.