Here is a post from Bonnie. I am always looking for positive stories.
Hi Julie,
I just came across your site today. I can relate to your situation. I’m 44 today. Back when I was 17 in 1983, just as I was entering senior high school, I started acting strange. I didn’t want to sleep and I didn’t want to eat. Eventually I was admitted to our local hospital in the mental ward. I was there 2 weeks. I came home but was still not right. I was saying and doing things out of my character. I was becoming delusional. At the end of the year I was admitted to University Hospital in Seattle for about 2 months. It wasn’t until 1986 that I finally was diagnosed with Bi-polar. Back then it was called Manic Depression. I went to a Naturepathic doctor and he put me on a bunch of vitamins and Lithium. I [ Read More ]
Yes! Absolutely! Always! It’s hard but I can do it!
That is what you will normally hear me say and it’s true. I can work when I’m depressed. My problem is that I don’t want to work when I’m stable. How often are you stable? It’s a new world to me that I rarely get to visit, but I have noticed many things about this world.
- People like to just sit around and do things- watch TV, go to a movie, have coffee with friends, knit, mess around in the garage, fish, take a walk, relax in a bath, listen to music, go on a road trip. ETC.
Those things are all so hard for me due to mood swings. I’ve had five days of stability recently. No mania and a bit of depression only. And I don’t feel like [ Read More ]
It’s been twenty-seven years since I heard the words that I still remember so clearly, “Lizabeth, you are a textbook case manic depressive” (now bipolar type I). I was seventeen and in the throes of a manic episode. The diagnosis did not mean a whole lot to me at the time. Psychotic features came along with it (for me those were delusions of grandeur and even some slight visual hallucinations). It pretty much came out of the blue—well after a trigger—but what I mean is that I never had any other symptoms prior to it. After a month-long hospitalization and when everything got back to normal, you would have almost thought that it just “went away”. I didn’t really consider if it would happen again. A few months later, I graduated from high school and went to college, took my medicine and [ Read More ]
Is this illness really REAL? I ask myself this all of the time.
I was diagnosed with ultra rapid cycling bipolar II with psychotic features in 1995. Now there is a diagnosis! I had my first hypomanic episode in 1980. So I have been living with bipolar disorder for all of my adult life. I’m 47 now. You would think that I would be used to it. I’m not. It always shocks me when I get really sick. The mood swings are just so odd. They can be so random and simply stupid- I can get psychotic just because someone is rude to me in public? That is crazy! I have an argument with my brother and I get in my car and cry so hard I can’t drive? I go out and have fun and meet someone attractive and I get OCD so badly I never call the person again?
This is the latest installment of the bipolarhappens.com guest blogger series from Dawn:
The past few years have been extremely difficult. They would be difficult for anyone, but when you throw schizoaffective disorder into the mix, things seemed downright impossible! (Schizoaffective disorder is a combination of bipolar or depression with schizophrenia. Hell, in other words!) I was hospitalized in 2008 for suicidal ideations and should have been hospitalized in 2009 for the same. In fact, 2009 was worse than 2008. All I could think about was that my life was an irreparable mess (broken marriage, severe financial difficulties, low self-esteem, and an inability to hold down a job.
I didn’t see how I could get out from under). The only solution I saw was to take myself out. However, even in that dark time, I still had a minuscule will to live. I talked to a [ Read More ]
There will never be enough words to say thank you to all of the readers of this blog. The comments and support mean a lot to me. I wish that I could reply to every comment- but alas, it’s not possible. BUT, I read every comment and will reply when I can.
Support is what matters to people with bipolar disorder. We need support and I feel that we need to support others so that we know life has meaning. Julie
The health information contained herein is provided for general education purposes only. This site should not be seen as a substitute for an official diagnosis or for professional health care.
