What happens when living with bipolar disorder becomes a full-time job?

Janine opens up about the deep exhaustion that can come with bipolar disorder — not just the hospitalizations or crises, but the cumulative weight of managing mental illness year after year. She talks honestly about suicidal thoughts, emotional fatigue, and what it means to wonder whether the voice in your head (that wants to die) is really you or just the illness talking.

This conversation also explores the things that keep us here when life feels unbearable: faith, prayer, dogs, dancing, friendship and the dream of disappearing into a place where no one knows your pain. For Janine, that place is Hawaii — especially Kauai — where the water, art, beauty and freedom feel like relief from psychosis, worry and mental strain. For Isadora, her spiritual home will always be Greece–extending stay after say for peace, mental clarity and invigoration.

It’s a vulnerable conversation about bipolar fatigue, surviving dark nights, finding purpose through a beloved dog and chasing the “jelly in the donut” moments that still make life worth living. There’s humor here too — ballet class, stretching, travel, reinvention — and a reminder that joy can exist right alongside suffering.

If you’ve ever lived with bipolar disorder, depression, suicidal ideation, spiritual conflict, or the quiet daily labor of staying alive, this episode will stay with you.

Send us Fan Mail

Isadora O’Boto (co-host) is a Juilliard Drama grad. Under the pen name Sephe Haven, she is the author of two award-winning memoirs: My Whorizontal Life and A Someday Courtesan, and playwright/performer of the solo show: “My Whorizontal Life: The Show!” Isadora co-hosted the podcast My Index to Sex with Lynn Ferguson. Find her at: isadoraoboto.com

Janine Noel (co-host) is creator and host of Bipolar She podcast, where guests share mental health stories to normalize illness. With an MFA in creative writing, she is a story consultant, helping others write down and speak up about the hard stuff. Between bumpy bipolar years, Janine has found time to act and produce. Have a Story? Tell it with Janine.

Michael David (producer) is a playwright with 17 full-length plays, more than 300 stage productions, and an unusually broad résumé that includes writing, directing, acting, designing, and producing. He is an original company member of Paul Stein’s THE CAR PLAYS and has written nine 10-minute plays for the project. MichaelDavidPlays.com...

This week on Nutty & Slutty, Isadora dishes on all things escorting — behind the scenes. She reveals what it was like to create intimate encounters: hauling music and mood gear from place to place, softening ugly hotel rooms with sheer force of will, and using charm, timing and hyper-focus to create the illusion of the perfect date. Janine asks questions about sex work, like how Isadora made it through an hour in one of New York’s seediest hotels?

Isadora shares how she summoned Marilyn Monroe as pre-game inspiration, and how her Juilliard acting training informed every move — from sensual technique to emotional performance, and from chemistry to cash — of course, the one detail that turned something consensual and beautiful into something illegal. Smart, sultry and a little outrageous, this episode is all about what happens behind the curtain.

Send us Fan Mail

Isadora O’Boto (co-host) is a Juilliard Drama grad. Under the pen name Sephe Haven, she is the author of two award-winning memoirs: My Whorizontal Life and A Someday Courtesan, and playwright/performer of the solo show: “My Whorizontal Life: The Show!” Isadora co-hosted the podcast My Index to Sex with Lynn Ferguson. Find her at: isadoraoboto.com

Janine Noel (co-host) is creator and host of Bipolar She podcast, where guests share mental health stories to normalize illness. With an MFA in creative writing, she is a story consultant, helping others write down and speak up about the hard stuff. Between bumpy bipolar years, Janine has found time to act and produce. Have a Story? Tell it with Janine.

Michael David (producer) is a playwright with 17 full-length plays, more than 300 stage productions, and an unusually broad résumé that includes writing, directing, acting, designing, and producing. He is an original company member of Paul Stein’s THE CAR PLAYS and has written nine 10-minute plays for the project. MichaelDavidPlays.com...

Can heightened sensitivity be a gift — or can it tip into something dangerous?

In this episode, Janine and Isadora dive into the strange, fascinating and sometimes frightening space where heightened spiritual sensitivity, creativity and mental health collide. What begins with a humorous confession about Janine avoiding antique shops quickly opens into a conversation about how both Isadora and Janine share a strong intuitive sense of the energetic world.

For Janine, a deep sense of energy and profound spiritual experiences once pulled her into a dangerous spiral. Now she uses self-talk to keep herself grounded from psychotic flashbacks at the grocery store.

Isadora reflects on her experiences sensing unexplained energies since childhood, as well as on how creativity and storytelling can shape our interpretation of life’s most intense moments.

Together they explore the thin line between imagination, intuition, and psychosis — and how self-awareness, humor and reality checks help keep them balanced.

It’s a conversation that moves from Trader Joe’s to thrift stores, to energy healing, spiritual encounters and the creative mind, all with the raw honesty and wit listeners have come to expect from Nutty and Slutty.

Send us Fan Mail

Isadora O’Boto (co-host) is a Juilliard Drama grad. Under the pen name Sephe Haven, she is the author of two award-winning memoirs: My Whorizontal Life and A Someday Courtesan, and playwright/performer of the solo show: “My Whorizontal Life: The Show!” Isadora co-hosted the podcast My Index to Sex with Lynn Ferguson. Find her at: isadoraoboto.com

Janine Noel (co-host) is creator and host of Bipolar She podcast, where guests share mental health stories to normalize illness. With an MFA in creative writing, she is a story consultant, helping others write down and speak up about the hard stuff. Between bumpy bipolar years, Janine has found time to act and produce. Have a Story? Tell it with Janine.

Michael David (producer) is a playwright with 17 full-length plays, more than 300 stage productions, and an unusually broad résumé that includes writing, directing, acting, designing, and producing. He is an original company member of Paul Stein’s THE CAR PLAYS and has written nine 10-minute plays for the project. MichaelDavidPlays.com...