Hi ___,

I was discharged yesterday afternoon. Tonight I took 7.5mg of Olanzapine (instead of the 10mg I'm supposed to take) and 600mg of Lithium (instead of 750mg). I hope all goes well as I gradually reduce my meds. I believe I can function without taking meds, and I'm going to try it.

I also spoke with ___ (my friend who called the police, who brought me to hospital), and got his version of the story of what happened and how I got into hospital. I hope that by reducing my meds slowly and being clear about what put me in hospital the first time, I can avoid a relapse and ending up back in the hospital.

I also went to my first weekly meeting of a psychoeducation group for bipolar people who have had their first episode of mania. It's a challenge for me to sit in a group like this and not look at it from a sociological perspective. In fact, I see the psychiatric institution as a form social control on members of society that are not acting in acceptable ways. And I think too often society stigmatizes people that don't fit the norm, perhaps out of fear that these 'abnormal' people may hurt others. Thus, it is difficult for me to endorse a psychoeducation group that tries to limit our range of emotion to an acceptable range. However, I do realize that education about bipolar can help me in attempting to live with bipolar within the context of our society.

I also have an appointment set on Monday with a naturopath that I met from a job I did in the fall, and an appointment with a psychiatrist from the hospital on Tuesday.

I'm also reading this book by ___ called ___(a book about holistic medicine), and I'm waiting for this book called ___ (a book about cognitive behavioural therapy) from the library.

So, although I'm nervous about reducing my meds, I hope that I'm well supported enough to ensure that I create health daily and don't end up back in the hospital.

Thanks again for your support. Hope you're well. Take care.