Are You Prepared For The Zombie Invasion?

So really, are you truly prepared? For starters, Boy Scouts are not. I mean, if you’re trapped in the middle of no where, fire making skills might be helpful, you’d think. But fire’s just a small light house saying “human brains” to the oncoming hoard. This is not to mention that most of us are urban dwellers, which means that survival skills in the wild do not apply. So what to do?

First things first, there are two types of zombies. There are the mutant-raised-from-the-dead zombies that are slow moving and attack in hoards, and then there are your biological zombies, ones infected with some pathogen that makes them hunt for human brains. Preparation for both kinds are crucial.

The second kind of zombie might seem the scariest, they tend to be fast, adrenaline fueled, killing machines. But they’re still humans, which means that they can die given enough time. The likeliest outbreak of this kind will happen in a campus setting where experimentation is most probable. The setting will also be urban, so urban survival is key.

First, no guns. You’re probably not trained to use one anyways, so the most that can be hoped for is a lucky shot. But by the time you get one, you’ll have alerted every last zombie in the area to your exact location. What is desirable as a defensive weapon is something that is portable, useful, and deadly. Taking a page from the Half Life book, this would be the crowbar. It can pry open doors, it’s light, and it’s an all purpose zombie slaying machine. If it works on aliens, it should work on zombies, that’s my logic.

But killing zombies is only half of the struggle against the raging hoard. It’s also outlasting them. This means hiding and supplies. Most people will hit the supermarkets first, and that means a crowd. Crowds mean limited mobility and easy prey for the hoard. One must out-think normal human impulses to stay alive. So it’s coffee shops that you want. They often have supplies on hand for making basic foods like bread and they often have back exits. So if the zombies start coming in the front, you can get out the back. Plus, they have coffee, always a perk for those long nights staying awake on guard for the hoard. Music venues are a second choice. They often have bars that can be pulled over the front windows to protect their equipment and most have food that you can plunder and bake for the weeks to come. Rationing will be important, but there will be enough for some survivors to make it through. Finally, libraries. Most libraries have a cafe and plenty of reading material to keep the mind occupied. As the weeks go on, the mind will start to need something to stay interested in. And again, they often have multiple exits and entrances. Plus, libraries can house large numbers of people, so if you’re in a large group, you have plenty of space to spread out in and keep out of each other’s hair.

Campus settings might also be useful in this case. With a copy of the anarchist cookbook in hand, one can fashion all sorts of improvised booby traps using materials plundered from the local labs. You can also make artificial sweeteners in the boring times of the uprising.

No matter what, in this case, the point will be defensive.

The first kind of zombie is the worst kind. Slow moving does not mean safe. Gathering together they can form herds of hundreds, even thousands of zombies, slowly marching their way toward you. No amount of ammunition will save you, or crowbars for that matter. Tall buildings and trees will be the best safeguard against this. If stuck in the woods, learning to set up tree forts will allow the herds to pass underfoot without so much as touching you. It also prevents against local wildlife (except bears). An axe will be the tool of the trade in the woods setting, and a fireman’s axe in an urban environment will also be handy. This allows you to cut the lumber for a tree house platform. Also, on cold nights, you can forget about the fire rule and use flint against the case hardened steel that the axe is made out of to make a fire.

Unlike the short term rabid zombie uprising, this risen from the dead zombie hoard will require some offense as well as defense. Guns again are not advisable, the loud noise is just not acceptable considering the risk involved. Crossbows are a much better weapon of choice. The bolts are reusable and they are silent. A great trait in this type of warfare. Plus, crossbows require less training to use than a bow, so hunting with one will be much easier.

You might be thinking to yourself that this is focusing on a lot of wilderness survival. That’s because there you will encounter the fewest number of zombies. Urban environments will be overrun. But let’s say that you are trapped in an urban environment. Number 1, don’t get in your car and drive out of the city. Everyone will be trying to get out and the quickest thing that will happen is a zombie will upset the traffic flow in one way or another. Rather, find one of the quick fixes that one would do in a raging invasion and stay put for a while. Gather medical supplies, weaponry, personnel, anything needed to deal with scrapes, cuts, hoards. Then, as the invasion dies down and the zombies start heading out for more food, then it’s time to head out into the wilderness where there’s wild food and plenty of hiding places.

The number one rule to every survival instinct is to go with option 3. Options 1 and 2 will already be taken by people in a panic, and you don’t want to be caught in a crowd.

Mental Illness will also become a major problem in any group. Sadness and depression will set in as people lose loved ones. Constant stress will lead to panic disorders. And of course, one of your group members might also be mentally ill. These should be expected and respected. But they should also be dealt with. Obviously, with the internet probably being down, WebMD will not be available for symptomatic depression, so pay attention to some warning signs for depression. Obviously, the typical signs like

• fatigue and decreased energy
• feelings of guilt, worthlessness, and/or helplessness
• feelings of hopelessness and/or pessimism
• insomnia, early-morning wakefulness, or excessive sleeping
• irritability, restlessness

These symptoms will be present in the case of a zombie attack no matter what. So instead pay attention to some other signs. Check for appetite loss, difficulty concentrating, suicidal gestures. Plundering a pharmacy would be a good idea. No one is going to go for the antidepressants, they’re going for the pain killers. While at the pharmacy, see if there are any in the group that need medication on a regular basis, the last thing that is needed is someone to go cold turkey on medication that they’ve needed for years.

This is just a rough guide to zombie survival. For a more detailed approach, Max Brooks’ Zombie Survival Guide is an invaluable resource in developing your own approach. Mine is to set up at the math building. Coffee, energy bars, and only one stairwell that can be easily boarded up. So this halloween, double check your zombie survival strategy.

Starting a New Regimen

I’m in a project starting mood, so it’s time to start a project. I’ve started a new regimen, taking walks and paying attention to my senses in the morning. Mornings still have a manic edge to them where I’m restless and unable to focus. So a good solitary walk is just what I need. And I learned a lot from my first one.

Primarily, I noticed that I’m still paranoid. I’m attributing all sorts of thoughts to other people just by glancing at them, judgmental and conspiratorial thoughts. So klonopin is definitely still needed. But the walk also allowed me to center myself in a very relaxing way.

The place that I walked was simply to a park, but I attended to every sense along the way. The cold air, the way the ground felt, the sounds of cars and smell of the geese. It’s an old relaxation exercise that I was taught by my psychologist that I’ve long forgotten. The calming effect was great. I felt centered and ready to be productive, all from a little walk. I think that I’ll keep doing it.

That’s about all I can write for now, the klonopin is really knocking me out today.

Circadian Rhythm and Bipolar Disorder

The circadian rhythm, responsible for the sleep-wake cycle has been implicated in bipolar disorder, specifically rapid cycling.

So, what is the circadian rhythm. This is the rhythm controlled by our internal clocks to control our sleep cycle. It’s associated with CRY2 mRNA expression in our bodies. Meaning that it’s associated with a particular protein in our bodies. In our human brains, this is controlled by the suprachiasmatic nucleus, a small lobe located by the hypothalamus. Taken from wikipedia (the mother of all explanations):

The SCN takes the information on the lengths of the day and night from the retina, interprets it, and passes it on to the pineal gland, a tiny structure shaped like a pine cone and located on the epithalamus. In response, the pineal secretes the hormone melatonin. Secretion of melatonin peaks at night and ebbs during the day and its presence provides information about night-length.

Several studies have indicated that pineal melatonin feeds back on SCN rhythmicity to modulate circadian patterns of activity and other processes

So it’s a complex process as we can see above. Light modulates the SCN, then that sends signals to the pineal gland, responsible for hormonal control in our brains, releasing melatonin causing us to sleep. How does this relate to bipolar disorder?

Well, in a normal human, the expression of this is diurnal, meaning twice a day, associated with the circadian rhythm. It’s expressed more at night, and less during the day. But in patients with bipolar disorder who are depressed, even with sleep deprivation, the expression of this gene is very low, as opposed to the higher levels in normal brains. Additionally, it was nonresponsive to sleep deprivation. So something is screwy there. This also marks a difference between bipolar depression and seasonal affective disorder, which finds that there are higher levels of CRY2 mRNA expression throughout the day in SAD patients.

The findings get more interesting, there are also protective and risky haplotypes for the CRY2, AGGA and GGAC. These haplotypes were found in the seasonal affective disorder patients in sweden, indicating that there are genetic markers and genetic reasons for winter depression. But, in rapid cycling, there is a difference. The protective haplotypes were the opposite of the SAD haplotypes, they were AAAC and GGAC.

The results of this study are two fold. First, gene variations are in congruence with the usual findings that the circadian rhythm is disfunctional in bipolar individuals; where individuals have low melatonin levels. Secondly, it indicates that lithium might be a corrective agent in this process. Lithium stimulates the GSK3B regulator for the circadian rhythm. Thus, it can correct the imbalance in the circadian rhythm that is found in individuals with bipolar disorder. This adds to my previous post that lithium might actually be corrective rather than suppressive in medicating bipolar disorder.

In addition to this mumbo-jumbo, one finds an additional element to all of this there is a marked difference between bipolar 1 and bipolar 1 with rapid cycling. That is, the genetic markers were different, specifically the RORB gene variations. So in response to these findings, the study suggested that bipolar 1 was found to be corrective with just lithium, but with rapid cycling they suggested that a combination of anti-epileptic drugs and valproate acid should be used in conjunction with lithium.

I apologize for the technical nature of this piece, it’d take a lot of research to break down what each of these genetic markers do, but I think that you get the basic ideas. In summary, there are not only marked differences between Seasonal Affective Disorder and Bipolar 1, but also between Bipolar 1 and Rapid Cycling. This variation is specifically genetic and also tied to the circadian rhythm. Personally, I always find that the findings of genetic differences between the different classifications of bipolar disorder to be interesting because it provides an empirical basis for different classification as well as the possibility for testing. Not to mention, it also allows us to understand the interactions of the brain itself with bipolar disorder and how the drugs impact it. The fact that lithium appears to have corrective properties is also fascinating. But that’s it for now. Hope you enjoyed my morning research project.

References:

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2939397/

Are You Proud Of Your Mental Illness?

It’s an unusual question to be asking, but let me clarify, do you ever have a bit of pride associated with your mental illness? Maybe it’s me coming out of my dysphoria and now just into the manic-y side of things, but I’m willing to say that through it all, I’m proud of being bipolar. There are days that I wish I didn’t have it. There are times that it threatens my life. But through it all, I have a twinge of pride whenever I do something while also dealing with the symptoms. I also have a twinge of pride in the way that it makes me see the world.

This comes from rereading A First Rate Madness which made me reflect and think that out of all of it, I come away with a skill set I could not have acquired any other way. My resiliency, realism, creativity, empathy, all these things I’ve learned the hard way and the only way, by going through the worst of it all. These can’t be bought. These can’t be read about and studied. None of these things can be developed without going through hell and coming back. So there’s a twinge of pride when I think of myself as bipolar right now. I survived and I came back with more knowledge of myself than I could ever gain from reading my own biography. But, maybe it’s just hubris getting the better of me.

First Day Back From the Klonopin Haze

Well, it’s almost gone, RXList has the half life of it at around 30-40 hours, so I’m still flying pretty high on it. So high that I’m still stumbling around a little bit when I walk. It’s amusing to say the least. My double vision is clearer though and I feel far less bored than I did last night. It was really what can only be described as a deathly boredom. It’s one where nothing is interesting and there is not an ounce of motivation left in you to do anything.

But today was different. I decided to take my abilify in the morning rather than at night so that it would do its job instead of the klonopin doing it for me. And as an experiment, it seems to be working. Negative thoughts are down, I have more energy. Plus, my girlfriend is now dragging me along to keep me from hurting myself again.

So it was to the farmer’s market, where I traditionally don’t like to go since there are a lot of people there. But I tried out something new, my new coat. There’s something about it that I feel like I look good in it, and that gave me enough distraction while navigating the crowds of buyers and unrestrained children. It wasn’t so much that it gave me confidence, it’s that it fed into the mania driving this whole episode by giving me something positive to think about. Which was entirely egotistic, but it’s by far better than the previous thoughts. It also got me outside. Something I hadn’t really done or wanted to do for a while. I just slipped off to class when needed and quietly slipped back home. The only time that I didn’t do that was when I consciously decided to spend a night out with my professor after the seminar was done. That went marginally well.

I still have a strong tendency to want to isolate myself. I don’t even like sitting on the same sofa as my girlfriend. There’s just something about contact and proximity that I am not yet comfortable with. But my old self is coming back through, which is a welcome change and a readily needed one too. This is definitely a mania that I will not forget. In the past, I’ve had some rather happy ones, but this really exposed the dark side that they can have as well.

Dying a Slow Boring Death

No, I didn’t try to kill myself. I’m just discovering a new side-effect of klonopin; when it doesn’t knock you out, it makes you bored to the point that you wish you were dead. I can’t read from the double vision that it gives me, my focus is shot, and I can’t stand watching even TV. I just become bored with everything and anything. So I’m writing? I’m bored doing this too, but it’s less boring than sitting around staring at the orange peels.

The most that I can muster up is sitting around in my new jacket smoking.

I’m too bored to even go on a shopping spree.

I’ve deal with extreme moods, I’ve dealt with feeling affectless, but extreme boredom is creeping up there in intolerability. If I can find a cure to this, I’ll let you all know, because it’ll be one of my greater achievements in life.