*carries on cuddling tight* Glued together sounds like fun haha. I am making so many positive changes Nicole. That has been my one goal all year to make changes & that's what I have been doing :D As you already know I haven't cut in over 8 months & haven't overdosed or attempted suicide in over 14 :D I don't let people **** me over anymore. Granted I don't always realise but once I do, they soon know about it!!! SI can make you feel in control but technically you're not. I've always said, even though it is an unhealthy coping method, least you're attempting to cope. To be honest I don't feel like I'm being amazing but thank you Nicole :) Thanks for the admiration too. I don't feel like I'm that strong but I suposse I am, not that I want to play my own violin or anything...but I've gone through so much in the last few years and at times, I thought I was going to ****ing die. But somehow my strength and friends (and myself?) have got me to here :) You're certainly right about how sometimes friendships aren't as good as they appear to be. But the best thing usually is to get rid of it.

Sleepiness is good. My sleeping patterns are all over the place. I got really good and then kept it most of the time whilst I was at my bestie's but going away to Lanzrote and since I've come back has ****ed it up. Hoping it'll settle down. Plus I'm due to start placement on Thursday (whether or not it happens is another matter) so that'll hopefully help.

*still cuddles tight* you are DEFINATLEY amazing helen, and i'm so proud of you for how many positive changes you have made! and yes, you have got you to here, you're friends havent, they may have supported you, but lets face it, if you werent trying there is really nothing they could've done to help! just gonna butt in here and point out my little acheivment, i havent OD'd/made a suicide attempt in 8 months :D its not as good as yours, but thought it was worth mentioning :P
and yes, sleepiness is good, my sleeping pattern is also allover the place :/ i'm sleepy, but not tired (if that makes sense?) i wouldnt be able to fall asleep for a while yet :(

*still cuddling tight* Thank you Nicole. My best friend keeps telling me I'm amazing lol. Most days I accept it, but sometimes I really don't. Thank you for being proud, means a lot. I suppose you're right, I have got myself to here. They sure have supported me. Particularly my best friend. I couldn't have done it without her. I'd be dead to be quite honest. I know I've done it all myself, but not without her continuing faith & support in me. YAY for your achievement. That has made my day. Really really proud of you Nicole. It IS good though. It may not be as long as mine but you can reach it too. It does make sense & that really sucks. I get like that. I hope you do fall asleep soon though :(

*still still cuddling tight*<<siamese twins lol.
:D thanks for being proud of me, although its not much of an acheivment when you look at yours, but i will get there! friends are amazing, only true friends would support us through all this crap! and i know what you mean about not being able to accept that you are amazing, at my CPA on thursday they were all saying how well i was doing and i was just sat there squirming because it was so hard to accept that i've done well :/

*cuddles tight some more*

It IS much of an achievement. You've gone 8 months without doing that despite all the **** that's been thrown at you during those months. You will get there sweetheart. Keep it up :) Friends can be so amazing I agree :D But I have to agree that only true friends would support us through all the crap. Awww I'm glad they are recognising how well you're doing even though you find it hard to accept that for yourself. Hopefully in time you can too :) *squishes*

*is still cuddling helen tight* thankyou hun :D
yeah, i love my friends! i have been so lucky in the fact that i went to college and made new friends and they just accepted my self harm, just like that, they are pretty amazing. i mean i know they struggle with knowing that i hurt myself, but they support me and are there for me, and i love them for that. <3 i also love you wardies though, can't forget you lot, you've all helped me so much! i suppose i am really lucky. no matter how much i moan about my life :/

*still cuddling tight*

You're very welcome honey. I'm glad you love your friends & that your college friends have accepted your self harm. Some people will struggle knowing you hurt yourself but it's only because they care about you :) I'm happy they support you and are there for you though. Us wardies love you too :D We're always here to help you sweetheart. We are very lucky despite all our issues, yes we have tough **** thrown at us, but least we have homes/education/clean water/food etc??

The girls in my college course are lovely. They all seem to say hello to me and each other which I find sweet, not to mention the fact it's polite. There's two that have been really supportive to me and it means so much. One of them knows I've self harmed in the past so about the cutting, overdosing & suicide attempts and still seems to like me :) Granted she doesn't know everything about me. But what she does know hasn't seemed to freak her out. Heh. I don't intend on telling the whole class about all that and my past. That's something I'd prefer to keep to myself. I suspect those two girls may find more stuff out, but we shall see :)

*still cuddles tight*
i'm glad everyone in your course is so nice too! and i'm glad those 2 girls have been supportive and not said anything to anyone else! and its up to you wether you want to tell them or not! i am telling my friends about my past because well...i still have really low days, and i dont wanna freak them out when i'm like that, so its easier if they just know, as for everyone else on my course...i suppose they will know about my SI at somepoint, because unless i have fresh cuts i dont intend on constantly covering my arm, especially in the summer, but they wont know the details.

*cuddles tightly some more*

I'm glad they've been supportive and not told other people. I really believe they're not the type. I was worried about how we would all interact. God this will could sound racist and I really don't mean it too. But me & one girl are white and the rest are mostly Muslims if not all. I could be mistaken on that. But we all mix really well. Good for you choosing to tell them. I'm glad they've been great about it. If you feel comfortable in doing so, you shouldn't cover up scars, particularly in the summer. I've had my scars on show a few times and nobody's uttered a word about it :) The friend I told about it had assumed it was that but didn't want to say anything about it. Sorry I keep rambling don't I? :P

*is still cuddling tightly*
lol helen, no that doesnt sound racist. although everyone on my course is white apart from one boy who is half caste. glad you all mix really well though, its the same on my course, i was expecting it to be like school with the bullys and stuff but its SO not, i mean we have our seperate social groups and stuff, but everyone gets along and socialises. and we even get along with the teachers, like the other day our tutor was telling us about the strip show her and 2 other teachers from our department went to during the half term (random conversation for a childcare lesson i know :/) but like at school the teachers wouldve never talked about that, college is such a different atmosphere to school, i feel safe there :D
and if anyones rambling here its me XD i dont even have any idea what i'm going on about so if you can then its a miricale!

I'm really glad it doesn't sound racist. Obviously I have mixed with people from different cultures before, particularly when I was at sixth form college. However it was more of a balance really. Rather than just two white people in the class. Glad it's the same for both of our classes :) We seem to all have our small social groups but we all get on with one another aswell. Again, everyone gets on with our class tutors. Some of the girls did Level 2 so they already know them and some of the girls in there :) You do find teachers, particularly at college anyway are more open at college. I think it's because there's safeguarding issues and lessons are more 'relaxed'. Does that make sense? Like you said college is a different atmosphere. I loved it at sixth form :( Would love to go back but I love the college I'm at lol. Even if it does stress me out badly sometimes. God that makes me feel old, god knows why. I think I'm in a random mood, well it is nearly 3am after all lol. I'm glad you feel safe at college. I suposse I do to an extent because I found it's the first time education can COMPLETELY distract me all day from ****. So even when I'm low & don't really want to go anywhere, I still manage to so far :) Another improvement/change I've made lol. I think we're both rambling to an extent. But it's good to have conversations that aren't about our issues or have them included but other stuff, like happier stuff. I know what you're on about...? LOL xx

lol helen, y'know i really feel sorry for anyone tomorrow who tries to catch up on everything and has to read through all our ramblings XD we seem to have taken over the ward!
but yeah, college is amazing, and the tutors are so supportive aswell. i suppose thats a positive change that i've made too :D and yeah, a lot of the people on my course did step 6 last year, so they already knew all the tutors, in fact, im the youngest in my friend group :/

I was just thinking that myself Nicole lol. Let's hope it's not too boring for them ;) Least it makes the ward look busier though. It keeps going dead in here. But if you go back to this time last year it kept going dead. I reckon it's do with half term, school/college/uni/work keeping people busy and then it's Christmas & New Year. Maybe I'm wrong. God I'm rambling & going off on a tangent.

I'm really happy your college tutors are supportive too. Mine have been, particularly when I've cried on two separate occasions in classes. Both times I got taken out of class for 5 minutes & given tissues lol. Even got told to have water once. Yay for positive changes for both of us (and the rest of the ward of course) Awww that's cute. I'm either the 2nd or 3rd oldest in my class. Bit odd lol. Going to be 21 next March =/ However I'm the baby of my parents children. Well they had 6 children before meeting & having me :P But I consider my Mum's children my real brother & sisters. They've ALWAYS been here for me & everything. Pfft to the other sister & brother of mine who act like I don't even ****ing exist. I've tried inviting them back into my life but they couldn't care less >_>

lol aaw. and i wasnt here this time last year! i only joined RYL febuary/march this year lol. but it's nice to have some positive posts in the ward for once, away from all the negative stuff.
and i'm glad your tutors are being supportive too, i know what its like, at college on friday i was really struggling and we were supposed to be doing independant study in the library but had a time to go back to class, and i was nearly crying i was so stressed, so i went to see the student support worker christine and we had a long chat and then she printed off some information for me to do with the work i was supposed to of been doing and took me back to my tutor and explained that i had been really upset so couldnt do the work, and my tutor had a chat with me about what had triggerd it and asked me if i wanted to go back into the lesson or not.

Aww. I wasn't posting much this time last year due to various things heh >_< Cute that you've been here less than a year. I've been here 3 years + now :| The ironic thing is, it was just when everything started falling apart even more. Oh dear >.> Things are better these days. Yeah there's still really **** times but as I've already said, I'm in a different place now. I agree it's nice to have positive posts, particularly when there has been 'negative' ones. Feel mean for calling them that :S People can't help being low etc.

I'm glad that person was so supportive when you were stressed out on Friday. Sorry this is a short reply, am getting tired now lol. Plus I keep going off the point. I can't think of the correct phrase lol.

I guess this is a lost post, I don't know whether/where to create a thread for it, but I guess I just need to tell someone, y'know?

So, basically, over the last week I have had 3 separate suggestions from people that maybe I should get checked out for bipolar. My aunt, who's a clinical psychologist, suggested it yesterday and I supposed it set me off to find out if I am or not. I did a bipolar self-test through The Black Dog Institute website (a well-regarded Aussie mental health org.) and came out with a score of 35 - 22 being the suggested score to think about talking to a professional.
I spoke about it with my mum this morning, and she had apparently read up on it when this all began (I was around 14; so about 9 years ago now) and thought that I might have been. However, our public mental health service REFUSED to test me for it, and just diagnosed me with BPD.
Now, over the last couple of months, I have become more aware of the differences between my moods, and having researched the ever-loving crap out of bipolar over the last 24hrs, I'm pretty sure I am - and have been for quite some time. I'm going to make an appointment to see my GP this week, as soon as I get paid, and sort this out once and for all. If it turns out that I am bipolar, it would explain a hell of a lot - for example, I think I would now say that my recent tattoo was a result of a manic episode...
I guess I'm scared, and confused, and kind of angry that this could have been undiagnosed for years - even with my parents requesting that I be tested for more than just BPD. Has anyone else been in this situation? How did you handle it; and what do you wish you'd done differently.

I'm really glad that I married the person I did, now - his stepmum has bipolar disorder I; so he knows how to support me, and look after his own emotions at the same time.
Arghhhh, now the pleasure of waiting a week for a formal diagnosis :(

Hi TheDreamingTree, you may want to make a thread in Vets Support with that post. However I really hope your appointment goes well & they listen to you. Could you take your partner or someone for support who would help fight your corner? xx

*hugs helen* lol, yeah, i joined when i was going through a really bad patch at the begging of the year! and we cant help feeling low, but the posts are about negative things, so it is nice to have some positivity in the ward! right, this is an even shorter post, as i am going to bed now! lol, i've enjoyed our chat, or ramblings, whatever you wanna call them XD night night *squishes and STILL hugs tightly!*

Thanks MammaMia, I'll do that now. And I've got a great GP at the moment - very caring and understanding, so I feel comfortable talking to him. I've also got a great psychiatrist that I see every now and then (when I can afford it... eep!), so I'll just have to save up for a while to get back to seeing her for an alteration to my meds.

I'm glad you joined. Indeed we can't help feeling low but it is nice to have positivity around the ward. I've enjoyed our chat & rambles too honey. Thank you :) Hope you sleep well *squishes and STILL hugs tightly too* Night night xxx

I'm glad your GP is caring & understanding and therefore you feel comfortable to talk to him. Hope he is able to help :) Anyway I'm going head to bed too. Hope you're okay as can be xx