Hi Redbob,

I' m Debi. I've been diagnosed with DID for five years. I was dealing with an alter who was psychotic at times. this was the first "male" alter I had encountered-two more since then. Guard, "his" name {which he takes very seriously} attacked a co-worker with a pair of scissors, totaled my car, tried to choke my boyfriend and planned every detail of how he was to strangle one of my MD's.

I have no known knowledge of any of this--it's lost time completely to me. I learned of Guard and all of his actions through my therapist. I knew I needed to find a way to try to prevent "his" acting out, because I was soon going to end up in jail if it didn't stop.

My therapist and I worked out a contract giving Guard specific guidelines to follow. Asked him if he would promise to follow this and sign it. "He" signed it, and took his promise very seriously because I have had no violent acting out from Guard since. He takes his promise seriously because everyone promised him everything and never came through. So, you may want to talk with your therapist about something like this. It really worked for me. I've never needed to go on any anti-psychotic medications. Thank God.

One of many

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Hi RedBob,

As far as I can tell I have someone who is diagnosed Bi-Polar. I take a combination of medicine to keep that part of me leveled off. And believe me this was not a one shot task to say the least. They've tried a lot of different medications when I first started therapy because the doctors at the time thought that my problems where just that. A Bi-Polar condition. I've gone from Lithium right on down.

With the doctor I have now, He knows that we have to treat every one different at different times. I now take Buspar three times a day to keep the level of my adrenaline down which in turn keeps my episodes of dissociation down. I take Paxil once a day which seems to keep me going so that no feels depressed and want to lay around all day. It also helps me feel well enough to go out of the house to go to my friends shop to work on leather. I still have a hard time just walking outside or around my block. On a real good day I can do a destination walk to the store close by me. I still feel some times unsafe but I keep trying. At night I take Elavil to help my dreams stay calm and in perspective so I can wake up from them knowing that they are just dreams. Helps me not panic in them. I still don't sleep more then 3 hours at a time but at least I can go right back to sleep (of course after I have a cigarette) . It's not the best habit but since I never smoke for longer then 3 years at a time I'm not worried about that. My doctor thinks that it most likely is what wakes me up I quess the urge for the cigarette.

It's been nearly three years since I really slept more then 5 or 6 hours. I use to go through a cycle of needing 10 to 12 hours of sleep to function on, so this is not too bad for me. At least I feel like getting up in the morning and doing something. That's the blessing of the right medication. For others behavior I go to AA meetings 3 times a week and sometimes I even go to a late night NA meeting. Keeps my addictive side in line, if you know what I mean. Hope this was helpful for you and write if you have any other questions. Jacki S.

ps. It's the one with the chronic back problem that lets me know when I doing to much stressful stuff.