raceing thought

[rennie48]

how do i slow my mind down ?

[cowgirlnerd]

The racing thoughts and constant humming, music in my head was a scary thing to admit, but found out it was normal with BP.  I hate it.  I have to have a radio on or a TV on at all times so I can focus on something besides that noise.  When I tell people about it (that don't have this) - they react like "Sybil" with the hearing voices thing.  It's not like that - it's just a running commentary.

If you are drinking a lot of caffeine - that makes it worse.   The only luck I have had is with meditation.  

Good luck!  The commentary in the head is (from I am told) part of the BP.

[LeftCoastChick]

I find the racing thoughts sometimes to be the most frustrating thing.. it can be a positive or a negative thought.. but sometimes my brain just won't shut down. I'm finding the Serequel helps quite a bit, but there are days when it still gets exhausting, I do take ativan to calm it down, though I try not to use it unless I have to, it's the hardest at night, when I am trying to settle down.  I do take trazadone to help with sleep, but sometimes that doesn't even help.  I have a couple of meditation cd's which at times help, but to try to focus, boy it just doesn't work sometimes.   Talk to your GP or pdoc, and let them know - being honest about all that was going on with me has actually helped, I was scared that the pdocs would think I was just plain crazy - but I was assured that the racing thoughts were quite normal with BP. Knowing that there are physical differences in a person's brain with BP helped me understand this illness. I was resistent to taking meds but now that I have started them I am far less exhausted then I used to be.
I hope this helps and much luck.

[monkeyc]

Racing thoughts can be very hard to deal with, I used to love them before diagnosis as they were so useful in what I do for a living but they can really be a problem.  The answer is really what ever works for you.

I use or have used meditation, reading, walking and some other techniques - a good therapist can help you learn some skills and ways to manage it.  Its really taking your mind off what you are doing and replacing those thoughts with something else,it takes practice and effort but you can do it - you might find you need drugs to help at first.

There are some days where I need to take Valium - it works well for me but your mileage may vary, I use it most before bed when I cannot sleep because of the thoughts.

[Venora Moonwind]

There are many techniques. I find medition slows mine down .Journaling or free writting everything that you think helps slow it down too. It helps to get it out of your head and onto paper.It doesnt have to make sense. Just write the thoughts as they come to you.
Love Venora