@itchyd that, too, drives me crazy!! Sounds! Zounds - I can’t stand any … except the sound of silence - especially first thing when I wake up! lol.

So, this is funny to me. I decided long ago there are two signs I am no longer depressed. One is if I hear myself "giggle" even alone in response to a silly thing that's happened on tv. Giggles never ever happen when depressed - laughing yes.

And the second is humming. I have decided that depressed people don't hum. That humming is what we start to do again when our depression is lifting. These two things I pay attention to as signs I am actually getting better.

Oh, the third is in our wording. When depressed we don't "jump in the shower." Can't even imagine that I can shower without a day of processing that it's time, about time! lol. (Though I just watched a video that seniors should only shower 1ce or 2ce a week as our skin is thin, it removes the natural oils thus creates dry skin that gets bruised more easily and creates tears in our skin that can lead to infection "in the elderly."

I heard someone on the news use the elderly when talking about a 55 year old killed in a car wreck. That word needs to be reserved for 80+. And when I'm lucky enough to reach 80, the word will still pieve me. BUT 55 year olds are not elderly, all women as not grandmas as this is also used for older women. "Elderly grandma." Never "elderly grandpa."

And while I'm at it, 55 year olds do NOT die of natural causes. I hope. Has live expectancy come down that far?
I was diagnosed as bipolar about 15 years ago and it was the best thing that ever happened to me. I was depressed for years, I had a few "high" episodes in response to medications. (xanax made me psychotically manic.) Mania in bipolar illness was not an appropriate dx if it was in response to an outside stimuli such as medication.

That has changed. Medically induced Mania is not listed as bipolar. It's also possible for people who have only been depressed to be bipolar diagnostically, (unipolar symptomatically.) Because my dr at the time was the first one to talk to me about brain inflammation and he was curious that I also had ADD and temporal lobe epilepsy - which he says is all inflammation as is mania. He put me on Lamictal and I have never looked back. I've had a few episodes I would label depression but never once have I been laying in bed reminding myself it was time to breathe again. I dread the day I ever have to go off of it. I was on brand name (2,000+ a month) on previous insurance but when I had to change I needed to go on generic.

all anti-seizure drugs are not created alike. When dilantin became generic, people started seizing again. I had not had a seizure in 25 years and I can't live where I am if I can't drive so I was very very careful about what generic I would use. (generics are not all the same, esp high blood pressure meds need to be the same manufacturer every month or nobody will ever understand why your BP is good one time and not the next. generics are not interchangeable. I'm huge on this. There is a book about it on Amazon.) The one manufacturer that is most closely associated with Lamictal (for folks who are here using generic without efficiency) is Unicell. I only take this manufacturer. It is the only one they sell at Walmart. Thyroid meds are another that all generics are not even close to the same. If your TSH is good then bad then ok again, find a manufacturer that works and stay with it. It can mean calling pharmacies to find who is dispensing it or your dr can write "unicell only" for example. Pharmacies can get different manufactures most of the time if asked.

OK. WAY off topic. I'm in an advocacy mood. lol. Perhaps the one person who needs to read this will.

ask your wife if she would prefer a different song. Hum together. If you are humming when the TV is playing, I would feel disturbed too. Course the other is are you climbing the steps of mania? the problem with bipolar of course is there is never just a good mood. Am I getting depressed? Is humming all the time a beginning sign of getting hypomanic. Trickly.

My doctor said "if bipolar meds help, you have bipolar disorder even if you have never been manicy." I wish more people with untreatable depression were put on bipolar meds just to see. It's changed my world. Anti depressants never helped tho I was on them for decades. This Dr helped me find nervana emotionally.

ok. long I know. I would have written shorter but I ran out of time. lol. (what is going on with social security has me riled up. They closed down their civil rights department! That is a far cry from DEI. Slippery slope.)