How I Cope With Frustration

Ever felt like you have had mood swings and do not know why? You would think that would only happen during our time of the month. When I spoke to my rheumatologist, I realized that our behavior could change because lupus can also affect our brain. So, imagine feeling like you are lashing out and people are thinking that you are "crazy" when lupus affects the brain. Lupus made a big impact on my life to where I would experience moments where I blacked out and never remembered or even lost my composure. I used to wonder why I would lose patience in a quick second and it was because at the time lupus was affecting a lot of things in my body including my brain.

Lupus and mental health

Being emotional is normal but depression started to feel like a disease. Nothing could make me happy and sometimes I did not know why. The people around me would try to make me happy and I could not convince myself to get out of it. I started taking the medicine, but I still did not feel normal. I did not feel like myself. My doctor referred me to a psychiatrist and that was really needed. But it is hard to speak to someone when everyone around would make you seem "crazy" because you speak to someone about your problems. I try to make sure I never lose my composure in any situation like I use to.

Frustration with mood swings

Think of this, what does frustration mean? Frustration leads to aggressive behavior. To me, frustration can be defined as you being anxious over things that you can not fix. There are certain situations that are, “it is what it is” type of situations. I no longer get frustrated with situations that I cannot fix. Being deterred from my initial goal will have conflicts with my behavior. It's enough to have insecurities over things you can not control can be overwhelming. My experiences with lupus affecting the brain so far have been my personality, memory, I have had dizziness, and vision problems. Therefore, they make you see doctors around the clock because the medicine you take can cause conflict within your health overall.

There are 6 things I do to remain focused:

1. Eat a healthy diet.
2. Write my feelings out on a diary or in a poem.
3. Exercise (sometimes I would go to the park and walk because of the distance between people it is much safer than the gym.
4. Continue to openly express yourself. Do not hold your feelings in.
5. Work on yourself. Learn to love yourself. Create goals and create a vision for yourself.
6. Take time to revise your health plan with your doctors and find the best regiment for yourself.

Being the best you can be can lead you to a longer life. Why? Because a healthy body helps you live longer. So, if you need to speak to someone, do not ever feel embarrassed, it is perfectly normal.