Studying with Bipolar/Depression - Page 2

  • Creator
    Topic
  • #196246

    Hello.

    I had to move my first exam back to October (was Aug 31). Part of the reason was due to scheduling conflicts (I work as an audit associate for medium sized regional firm). However, the main reason is I am diagnosed bipolar and clincal depression. What this boils down to is that I have extreme depressive states where just going to work and being my normal self (which believe it or not, I’m actually a “nice” and “extremely enjoyable” person to be around as reviewed by my peers) literally exhausts me. Leaves me drained, tired, etc. My “manic” stages are anger – which translates to me hiding my anger in the work environment and coming home drained, tired, and definitely ticked off I have to study.

    My clinical depression diagnosis came as no surprise – I’d been self-aware for some time. The bipolar disorder did come as a shock, and I haven’t really figured out how to properly deal with it. I’m unmedicated and don’t have time to study much less see a therapist, so while I appreciate those suggestions – I don’t believe in medicine and I don’t have time for therapy.

    So, my point of posting this was if anyone else in the wide another71 community suffered from either of these disorders and had tips/advice on how to push through it. I’ve forgotten a majority of the studying for REG I did in July, so I find myself even MORE frustrated as I try to just keep moving forward. I had gotten to chapter five (Becker). My study plan showed me I had time to re-start at R4 and still have two weeks to review. So, my next question is if anyone can verify that review will save me. I had previous tax experience so individuals is pretty locked down for me, unless it’s super deep. R3 and R4 seriously are a bummer.

    I’m rambling, but can’t exactly walk up to a co-worker and be like ‘Hey man! Are you bipolar? Do you have tips for bipolar people on taking the exam?’.

    I promise I’m not so serious… but this test is too expensive to fail, there is pressure financially to pass, and light pressure at work to pass to receieve promotion.

    REG - 10/2
    BEC - 11/30
    FAR - Feb. 2016
    AUD - April 2016

Viewing 15 replies - 16 through 30 (of 34 total)
  • Author
    Replies
  • #1427811
    Missy
    Participant

    My husband was diagnosed with bipolar depression in 2003, since then its about the only thing I've spent as much time studying as accounting.

    My .02, don't accept tips from anyone other than a doctor, your own doctor who has taken a full history and done testing. Even two people with similar diagnoses can have vastly different responses to medications, wholistic treatments, changes in diet exercise and sleep. I realize it's well meaning but to me its along the same vein as saying eating dandelion leaves cured my aunt's breast cancer, it may have, it may be anectdotal but either way prob best to run it by someone who knows you and knows psychiatry.

    Its nice to offer tips however for some folks with bipolar depression trying supplements can be not only ineffective but life threatening.

    Licensed Massachusetts Non Reporting CPA since 2012
    Finance/Admin/HR Manager

    #1427838
    aaronmo
    Participant

    Mia – I consistently love your down to earth realism.

    Scared…

    I'm really, really glad it helped someone! I have a lot of advantages…an INCREDIBLY supportive wife who encouraged me non-stop…supportive family…other people have a rougher go of it, and I respect the heck out of them knowing how hard it was for me when i had it easy in a lot of ways.

    I wish I had some magic pill, or advice I could give!

    For me…I had a total crises moment during REG. REG was memorization heavy, and memorization is my weakest area. The memorizing what was which kind of deduction was one of the tougher things for me…

    During the REG exam my computer crashed 4 times. Each time it interrupted work flow and I'd panic. I had to just practice breathing exercises, and close my eyes/focus, for 5 minutes + each time just to continue. I wanted to quit so badly…but I just kept closing my eyes, trying to focus and doing the best I could. On the SIMs I just hit a total panic on my (third and fourth) crashes…and I flat out couldn't remember ANYTHING. I must have sat there…rebooting…for 10 minutes. With the timer counting down. Finally, small pieces came back…and I gutted through it.

    #1427855
    ruggercpa2b
    Participant

    I agree with mla if you truly do suffer from it I would get checked out. For years I tried to avoid getting medicated and try oils and teas but it never worked. I was still always down in the dumps.

    I think there is a difference between feeling this way because of the exams and feeling this everyday. I was depressed every single day for years before even thinking about taking the exam. I finally sought help because it was starting to affect my work and I just could not sit down and study. My doctor put me on different meds and different dosages. And as mla said every person is different. I know for my antidepressant I am on a lower dose than what most adults take because when they upped my dosage it made even more depressed. I go to my psychiatrist once a month and we talk about how I am doing on my meds and if they are helping.

    I also realized that my ADD and insomnia were due to my untreated depression.

    If you truly are not well, go see someone. It was hard for me to seek help because its such taboo in my family and my culture. The only person in my family that knows that I see a psychiatrist is my sister and my husband.

    AUD - 73, 72 retake 7/2/2016
    BEC - 8/20/2016
    REG - TBD
    FAR - TBD

    I am so ready for this nightmare to be over. Been at this way too long.

    #1427870
    aaronmo
    Participant

    The more we talk openly and honestly about this stuff…the better for EVERYONE.

    #1427888
    Anonymous
    Inactive

    I've dealt with some really bad anxiety, stress and depression as a result of going through the CPA licensure process. Best and most natural way to deal with it for me, is to meditate daily. Mediation is not easy to do and you don't see results right away but if you make it a part of your daily routine it can help with concentration and taking a lil of the edge off of the depression. Also, it has no side effects – except you might become a lil mellower.

    #1428716
    Anonymous
    Inactive

    Great discussions from everyone above ^ As a sufferer of depression and anxiety, your comments let me know I am not alone during this challenging process. I am currently really burned out and feeling depressed 2 days after my Audit retake, but these feelings always come in Cycles like this. I will take a week break, try to relax, get needed sleep, catch up with my Family, etc. and then I will get back on the Grind – rain or shine. I am All In with passing these exams, even though this process is the most challenging task I have ever taken on. Keep Grinding, but know when to take a break and/or seek professional help if needed. And, I agree – always take a Doctor's advice first, but other options may help as well. Goodluck!!

    #1428779
    Anonymous
    Inactive

    @aaronmo – yes! Why pay a psychiatrist (or co-pay?) when you can come on here and talk about issues?! I think the path of CPA brings out the worst in two-thirds or more of the people who go through it. It's just an ordeal all the way around. A lot of people get beaten up by it and that's what's causing the depression. Flunking a section repeatedly and not knowing how to climb out of the hole is a common complaint. It causes misery and hopelessness and self-doubt and more. Just as a therapy sesh with a shrink requires a patient to talk about the issues, there is plenty of good therapy on this forum.

    BTW – I will echo what a few of you have said about not doing FAR first. That's what I did. I just took FAR 2 days ago. I got burned out after 3 months of studying. I finished the Roger review, did all IPQs and SIMs for practice, and reviewed almost all of them. Between the time I finished the course and the time I took the exam (about 2 months), I barely studied. I was so sick of looking at the book that the most I could do was just read over the hardest chapters again. I didn't even review the copious notes I took (100 pages or more). I wish I'd done BEC or AUD first. But, I did what I did, and if nothing else, the FAR exam experience totally spelled out for me everything I need to do, and change, from now on.

    Don't be depressed! Just keep going. Don't stop and think about it. It's the whole “Do or do not, there is no ‘try'” thing.

    #1434164
    aaronmo
    Participant

    I don't think there is a right/wrong answer to this…and it will depend on individual background, preference and learning methodology…

    But, in retrospect, I'm VERY glad I took FAR first for a few reasons…

    1. It had the most cross exam usefulness. It was a reminder on my accounting rules and thought process with application to every other section.
    2. It kicked out the worst obstacle early, before I was more sick of it and burnt out.
    3. Not knowing what to expect made me work that much harder.

    #1 was the biggie…I'm a conceptual thinker/learner and I have to be able to tie a process back to its strategic focus/end before I can understand it, or memorize components. The stuff in FAR is really the strategic focus that helps with all of the other processes in the other exams. Setting up s-corps vs. c-corps? I have to be abkle to tie it back to accounts before I can even start thinking about. Variance? I have to be able to think about how it ties into the IS.

    If I can tie things back to journal entries and the basic accounting equation, I'm usually pretty good. It's when I can't…like IT, or COSO…that I struggled to care, learn and memorize.

    #1435013
    Anonymous
    Inactive

    Hahahaha well maybe I should be glad I did FAR first then. Who knows, it may have been the right thing to do after all. It didn't really feel that way though…and the reason is because failing (or thinking you failed) your first one perhaps takes more effort to recover from than if you took one of the other (easier) ones and passed and got that huge surge of confidence and momentum needed to conquer the other three. I'm a numbers person. I like numbers and have taken plenty of advanced math courses. But, I have to say, the number of calculations that FAR requires – even though they're just arithmetic – was far harder to memorize and learn than what was in those advanced math courses…like for one exam, you just memorize a handful of calculations and how to manipulate the numbers, versus for FAR, you have to have a good memory and think, “Okay, so for diluted EPS calculation, I know I have to add back interest expense net of tax and then figure out the weighted average of the diluted shares after the stock split”…arrrrrrghhhhhhh. And that's just one example out of like 200 different ones to know for FAR! Seriously, post-calculus math is much easier in terms of learning and memorization. Anyway, I've moved on to AUD, started studying yesterday. If I didn't happen to pass FAR, I'll be going back into the ring later this year for another round of it. I'm gonna be a little old man and walking with a cane by the time I'm done with this whole thing haha

    #1435296
    aaronmo
    Participant

    You aren't kidding about the post-exam depression! That's a drawback FOR SURE. I think I mentioned that I left FAR thoroughly depressed, dejected and pessimistic. I felt beaten. My wife told me I'd lost my swagger. It was REALLY hard to pick myself up and go into audit (and I'm glad Audit followed FAR, because it was, for me, the easiest and most intuitive section) when I had half decided to give up.

    The thing that kept hitting me was…what if I passed? I'm not 100% sure I failed…and how stupid would I feel? I honestly might have quit had I failed FAR out of the gate, but perseverance is not my strong suit. My wife also kept encouraging and supporting me. I doubt I'd have made it through this process without a pretty dang awesome partner.

    But…here's the thing…the memory of that made the rest so much easier. Even when the exam kept crashing on REG, which I know cost me a fair number of points, I didn't feel that depression and thought I had a shot. Even at the worst of BEC, which was, for me, the single most awful section (maybe because it was my last), and for which I prepped far less, I didn't feel that dread.

    FAR was like a rite of passage.

    Man…I studied every awful concept Becker could present with FAR…lifo dollar, pension formulas, dilluted EPS…all the most obnoxious stuff…and I had it COLD…

    Almost none of that on the exam. It was just highly detailed, more basic stuff. I find it much easier to memorize formulas that have an actual purpose and use (part of me finds it like puzzle solving, and fun) than 200 differences between IFRS and GAAP.

    #1435869
    Anonymous
    Inactive

    If nothing else, this whole experience – not just the exam-taking – requires a very, very thick skin. The thing that irked me a lot on the exam I took was the way they worded things. “Distributions” are AICPA jargon for “Dividends” – or maybe they call them that in other countries, I don't know. Tons more IFRS stuff on there than I thought there would be….the US is not an IFRS country! I got a TBS on some stuff related to stockholders' equity – without being specific, let's just say that it was the DUMBEST question I ever worked on that topic. Huge, long list of bullet-pointed info, and calculations following. I know I got at least half of it wrong but I was thinking to myself, “I guess I don't know this topic at all, even though I probably put 10 hours into learning it.” Getting past the frustrations is definitely difficult. I had plenty of self-loathing during my FAR studies, and if I didn't pass, I'm probably in for more.

    #1453604
    Ivy1230
    Participant

    I'm so glad I found this post.
    Now I know that I'm not the only one going through this.
    I was diagnosed with bipolar disorder a few weeks ago, and started treatment to get it under control. Unfortunately, medications take a few weeks to sort out and to actually start working.
    I managed to pass REG (expires 1/2018), but failed FAR with a 74. I rescheduled to take it again about 4 times now (you're welcome for the $, NASBA) because it's been unbelievably difficult to study with my mood swings and over the top emotions and I just never felt confident enough to take it. I know that failing it a second time would most likely cause me to swing into my depressive state.
    I currently work for a Big 4 so I don't have the ability to study for hours at a time.

    Any advice?

    #1453640
    Anonymous
    Inactive

    I struggle with depression too. Depression makes this proces even more challenging. Recently I increased my meds to help cope with my depression and stress. It has definitely helped, but this process is just miserable – no doubt. I'm sure your meds will adjust after 3-4 weeks and you will be more efficient with your studies. Goodluck and know you are not alone. And, keep grinding away unless it gets completely out of control.

    -Blue Collar

    #1454009
    Ivy1230
    Participant

    Thanks!
    I can't exactly tell my coworkers about my BD so it's kinda hard coming up with excuses why I keep postponing my tests.
    I guess the only thing I can do is keep grinding away and hope my medications work. :/

    #1454051
    Missy
    Participant

    I can't imagine doing the cpa exam while getting meds right for BP….my husband could barely SHOWER during that time. Hang in there, and be very upfront with your doctor even if you think something is not that bad or will pass, I think DH tried 3 different types of meds before we found THE ONE, and then added another to it that made things awesome. Take care of yourself, do the best you're able with the studying part and be patient with yourself.

    Licensed Massachusetts Non Reporting CPA since 2012
    Finance/Admin/HR Manager

Viewing 15 replies - 16 through 30 (of 34 total)
  • The topic ‘Studying with Bipolar/Depression - Page 2’ is closed to new replies.