Living Bipolar
Authors: Landon Sessions
Tags: #Self-help, #Mental Health, #Psychology, #Nonfiction
by
Landon Sessions
Living Bipolar
© 2014, Landon Session
Self publishing
Published at Smashwords.com
Cover art © Honeyboy Martin, Fotolia.com
Cover design by Katrina Joyner, ebookcovers4u.wordpress.com
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. This book contains material protected under International and Federal Copyright Laws and Treaties. Any unauthorized reprint or use of this material is prohibited. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system without express written permission from the author / publisher.
Contents
Creative Imbalance:
Artist, Genius, and Manic-Depression
We are just like you. We are those afflicted with the Bipolar illness. We are parents, spouses, brothers, sisters, children, and friends. We are those who suffer from the Bipolar illness, and we are those who are affected by the Bipolar illness. To show you how we live healthy, happy, functional lives is the main purpose of this book.
Although our experiences may differ slightly, the feelings are the same, because the common dominator is the same -- the Bipolar illness. We think this accountant of experiences will help everyone better understand the Bipolar illness, ranging from those who suffer with the illness, and the lives which the illness affects. Most people have little comprehension as to how debilitating the illness is for an individual. Moreover, even those with the illness have little clue as, “How to live being Bipolar.” Currently, there is no road map, no guide, and no directions on how to live and cope with the Bipolar illness. We intend this book to do just that.
We will show you how to communicate with doctors, the most important things to do aside from medication, and how to have healthy relationships. We do this from the perspective of people who are Bipolar, and from people who live with someone who is Bipolar.
What is crucial to realize is we have already done the work for you. We have learned through trial and error, and by making mistakes to find the correct path to take. We have failed for you, and we have succeeded for you. We have done the work for you.
And now we wish to share with you, the path to freedom we have found. How we live happy, healthy lives with the Bipolar illness.
Bipolar illness involves and affects others like very few illnesses can. Perhaps what is most striking about the illness is it’s invisible. No one can see any physical symptoms, other than erratic behavior (i.e. increased talkativeness, increased energy, spending sprees, drug and alcohol abuse, no sleep, increased sexual desires), thus it is difficult for other people to detect. If a person has cancer all those around them have sympathy for them and they tolerate the person and their behavior. However, this is not the case with the Bipolar individual where one minute they are happy, the next sad, one minute hopeful, the next suicidal, one minute kind and loving, the next picking an argument, one minute calm, the next in rage. The illness brings misunderstanding, fierce resentment, confusion, lack of trust, financial woes, disgusted friends and employers, and warped children. More can be added to the list. We hope this work will inform and comfort everyone who is affected. There are many.
This book has come about as the result of a lack of practical Bipolar experience in how to live life with the illness. When a doctor informs you that you have Bipolar disorder, they do not also hand you A Users Manuel Guide. There are so many variables involved with Bipolar people, so many factors to be accounted for that it’s impossible to explain to an individual in a doctor’s session all the little things which must be done to manage the Bipolar illness. Therefore, things are often overlooked, such as, how to communicate with doctors, creating a schedule for your daily life, how to live a healthy life while taking medication, and becoming educated about the Bipolar illness, often go by without mention. Other factors such as the most important things aside from medication are forgotten as well.
We will provide you with first hand stories of life as we know to be true. We will talk to a psychiatrist and a therapist to gain a medical perspective, learn from people afflicted with Bipolar I and Bipolar II illness in how they live healthy and full lives. We will also draw from the experience, strength, and hope from parents, spouses, friends and children of Bipolar people to offer you a full range of perspectives. Although this is by no means a comprehensive picture of all Bipolar people, as patterns vary for Bipolar people, the coming pages paint an accurate picture which can benefit all.
For someone who suffers from the Bipolar illness life is uncertain. The highs are highs greater than any life can offer, but the lows are dark, lonely and hopeless. There is no rhyme or reason as to when a person will wake up feeling up or feeling down. Just when it appears the person is doing well, the next second they have regressed back into the pits of hell with the illness. A Bipolar person is similar to the mercury found in thermometers. The same as people cannot predict the weather accurately, thereby, knowing when the mercury will rise or decrease; no Bipolar person can predict when the illness will take over.
What the average individual may not know about being Bipolar is the significance of the medication. Even though a Bipolar person is taking medication, there are a whole slew of complications which arise when taking medications. The very medicine which helps a Bipolar person, also brings side effects which sometimes are too great to bear. These include dry mouth, drowsiness, weight gain, uncontrollable hunger, trouble breathing through your nose (also known as rhinitis), feeling spacey, suicidal thinking, a decrease in metabolism, induced mania, a decrease in libido, sleeplessness, adverse reactions with other common medications such as Sudafed, blurred vision, dizziness, stomach bleeding, nausea, a loss of concentration and memory, and the list can go on. Thus, a Bipolar person must deal with the illness itself, but also deal with what side effects the medication causes.
Life for a Bipolar person is confusing. Sometimes racing thoughts bring grandiose ideas of conquering the world, while depression may bring the person down so low that they forget about what is good about life, who they are, resulting in feelings of hopelessness and frustration.
Additionally, due to a Bipolar person having racing thoughts, sometimes communicating with a Bipolar person is the equivalent to trying to speak to a person who is standing on the streets in five o'clock traffic in New York City. See in your mind's eye people in New York City walking frantically, talking on cell phones, cars honking and people yelling. Then picture yourself standing in this chaos trying to hold a conversation. At times this is the extent to the level of distraction a Bipolar person may deal with, and demonstrates why communication and living can be challenging.
Self-esteem and self-image is another issue. When a Bipolar person is manic their self-esteem will overdevelop and the person will believe they are capable of taking on any task. During these times the Bipolar person is charming beyond comprehension, friendly, outgoing, witty, creative, and the life of the party. Yet, when a Bipolar person is depressed, the self-esteem crashes down in the person where they deem themselves as the worst person alive, they withdraw, isolate, become distant, cold, negative, angry, and in turn, hurt the other people in their lives.
The DSM-IV (TR) lists four bipolar disorders in its bipolar category:
• Bipolar I (divided into six criteria sets to specify the type of the most recent episode)
• Bipolar II
• Cyclothymia
• Bipolar disorder not otherwise (NOS)
-Keck and Suppes 2005: 4-2
Much is to be said about those who live with someone that has the Bipolar illness, or the friends, children, parents, and employers of someone who is Bipolar. For loved one’s of Bipolar people, their life is equally confusing, frustrating, hopeful, hopeless, happy, sad, up and down, positive, negative, and quite similar to a Bipolar person. Imagine the difficulties and complexities of being in a relationship with someone who is one person one day, and the polar opposite the next. Yes, for people who have a relationship with someone who is Bipolar, whether intimate or friendly, professional, or as an acquaintance, the extreme changes in mood and personality can lead to places just as dark as the Bipolar person travels.
To understand the Bipolar illness it is first necessary to define the illness itself. The Bipolar illness “magnifies common human experiences to larger than life proportions” (Goodwin and Jamison 1990-5). The symptoms of the illness reflect the normal human experience to such a degree that both patients and physicians often fail to recognize and acknowledge the illness, as only 1 in 3 people receive treatment (Goodwin and Jamison 1990) What is more alarming is 1 out of every 4 or 5 untreated Bipolar people commit suicide as a consequence of the pain experienced from the illness (Goodwin and Jamison 1990).
The Bipolar illness is one of extreme shifts due to the fluctuation from normal to an opposite state -- even with the aid of medication. At times the Bipolar illness can be characterized by productivity, creativity, and high energy, while in contrast, the illness can display itself as one of profound fatigue and indifference to all that life has to offer. The use of medication by a patient will increase or decrease mania, depression and the frequency of episodes.
The Bipolar illness is diverse in its manifestations, and its “symptoms, course, severity, amenability to treatment differ from individual to individual (Goodwin and Jamison 1990:13). Additionally, the behavior and mood fluctuate from patient to patient, differing from one episode to the next, one day to another.
Perhaps what is most challenging about the Bipolar illness is many individuals struggle with grasping the idea that they have a life-threatening illness which requires lifelong maintenance on medication to keep it controlled.
Let’s look at some patient’s description of the illness:
Depression carries with it common language fragments:
The patient is “slowed down,” “in a fog,” or “tired” and describes life as having “lost its color,” “dull flat, and dreary.” Everything is “hopeless,” “heavy,” “too much of an effort,” “drab, colorless, pointless.” Life is a “burden,” and things just drag on and on.” Hypomania and mania elicit descriptions of a much livelier and more energetic kind. Life is “effortless,” “charge with intensity,” and filled with special meaning.” The patient is “racing,” “speed up,” wired,” “hyper,” “high as a kite,” “moving in the fast lane,” “ecstatic,” “full of energy,” “flying.” Other people are described as “too slow” and can’t keep up.”
-Goodwin and Jamison 1990: 16
Much consideration has been given to what personal cases should be highlighted in this work. We have chosen cases that deal with the full spectrum of the Bipolar experience. Many of the case studies used substances early on to regulate their illness. However, these same people now live sober lives, and have adequate experience living as a Bipolar person on medication.
The Epidemiologic Catchment Area (ECA) study, carried out between 1980 and 1984, estimated that 56 percent of individuals with manic-depressive illness abuse or are dependent on alcohol or drugs at some point during their lifetime (61 percent for Bipolar I and Bipolar II, respectively). And the National Comorbidty Survey (NCS) estimated that 71 percent of individuals with manic-depressive illness (Bipolar I) “reported at least on life-time substance abuse disorder.
-Torrey and Knable 2005: 234