Bipolar treatment got them back on track
Speaker1:
I would have so many ups and so many downs that it was hard to manage my life.
Speaker2:
It wasn't until when I got out that, in retrospect, I knew that I was going through full blown mania, just going out every single day. Just dance and salsa away. Literally six nights a week on three hours of sleep.
Speaker3:
I was a workaholic, type A personality, and a go-to guy.
Speaker4:
I would go nights without sleeping and I was constantly wired, I was on edge and jittery, and then I'd crash.
Speaker5:
When I was low, I always got real low. I would stress out at people, just hollering at the kids. That was the main thing. I used to verbally launch out at people. I started hollering and cursing for no particular reason.
Speaker4:
I had mood swings. I was constantly up. I would be talking a mile a minute. I couldn't slow down. My brain was just constantly going and then there would be days where I couldn't even get out of bed.
Speaker6:
I became a workaholic and I was catching those racing thoughts and using them in a useful way, but yet at the detriment to myself. That hyper mania episode turns into a rollercoaster downturn into depression and that depression felt like everything I touched turned to crap.
Speaker2:
And then I hit rock bottom. I like crashed and that's when my mother, she dragged me to go get help or something
Speaker5:
I ended up in the hospital, went into deep depression, got diagnosed with bipolar.
Speaker1:
I still could not adapt to society when it came to employment and so I started reaching out for mental health help in the county that I was living in. Then I started going to the VA Hospital.
Speaker4:
They diagnosed me with bipolar. I kind of was relieved, like I am not making this up in my head because that was a big fear of mine was I am just – I am making this all up, I am somehow causing this and I found out from the doctors and stuff it really isn't you know that, there really is something wrong and the medicine actually does help.
Speaker5:
I had a Psychiatrist that was really there for me. You have like small groups where you go in a room and anybody in there was going through change, so you wouldn't feel out of place. He never forced you to talk or anything, waited until you got good and ready and he had a way of bringing it out of you before you started talking. Then you have one-on-one with him at times too where you and him just sit and talk and talk about your issues and everything.
Speaker3:
I found the right team at the VA Hospital. They got my records and they know what they are dealing with and I know what I want. I know what works for me. I got the right medicine.
Speaker4:
It took me actually a few years before I agreed to take medication because I was thinking I could do it on my own. Now that I know what it is I can control it. I can mentally stop it from happening and I couldn't. They gave me the medicine and it actually really did help. I was really surprised and I feel great because of it.
Speaker1:
The treatments that I have received through knowledge, awareness, education, I have become to accept it and realize that it is a part of my body that I need treatment with and for.
Speaker2:
I do not make it a secret to my friends and none of them have shut me out for it.
Speaker5:
I think it turned my life around. I am in the workforce now in the day. Get along with all my coworkers. I can go to the movies. Got a significant other, plan on getting married next year.
Speaker3:
You are no different then anybody else, your body is not perfect. Figure out with medical help and advice and therapy, how to make it a little less imperfect so you will be a little more happier and the people that love you will be happier and want to be around you.
Speaker6:
To my brothers and sisters out there that are struggling with the racing thoughts, the loneliness, the isolation, there is help out there.
Speaker2:
I think you should hold your head proud and walk into any VA and kindly demand what you are due, the treatment that you are due and they are more than happy to help you out, too.
