I think my mother in law is bipolar. My wife's family has a history of mental illness. Her brother is schizophrenic, as well as bipolar I believe. But the MIL hasn't been diagnosed, as far as I know. She goes through big mood swings. One minute she'll be totally fine, and then the next she'll be a raging bitch for no reason.
I had a friend once that had this same situation. Was taking ? Paxil ? I think for it. Was years and years ago though.... same thing though, massive mood swings.
Great stuff, Eric. I don't get the manic episodes, but I sure as hell know the depths of depression. I can't imagine what it would be like with swings that extreme. Kudos to you for having the courage to share.
My ex wife and our oldest daughter suffer from bipolar disorder....didn't realize it until my daughter was in her 30s...she's got it under control thankfully
That's not really what bipolar disorder is. Not to single you out but it's pretty annoying when people do this. For some reason, with this particular issue people can see something and swear that they are qualified to make a psychological diagnosis. I don't have it but a very close family member does and it drives me crazy when I hear stuff like that. I can only imagine how hard it is for my family member when we see someone get angry about something or fly off the handle and then whoever we are with says that person must be bipolar, meanwhile she just has to sit there and hear it and not say much becuase she doesn't want to advertise the fact that this is something she actually has to deal with.
And I find it annoying when people are overly sensitive about a condition and automatically think that other people have no idea what they're going through. I'm not saying that we think she has bipolar disorder because she occasionally gets angry. She is dealing with severe depression. She exhibits many of the symptoms of being bipolar and mental illness runs in the family. Her son is diagnosed with bipolar disorder AND severe schizophrenia. So as bad as you think your family member has it, try tacking on schizophrenia to that. Her son is basically a giant child. He self medicates with drugs like meth, and he's in and out of jail for various reasons. The State of Oregon says that he has one of the worst cases of schizophrenia they have ever seen, and his allergies to certain types of medication make it nearly impossible to treat his condition. My brother in law is broken beyond repair. He will never have a life and will most likely die young from all of the meds and drugs.
I appreciate you sharing this, too Eric. You, justifiably, called me out once for using the term bipolar in a colloquial way to describe how the Blazers had kind of a up and down character to their play at the time. Made me rethink how loose language can hurt those who do suffer from this condition and I don't do that anymore.
Bravo to you Eric. Takes a strong person to analyze themselves and find their differences. Not many people have the courage to be critical about their person. I've got lots of respect for you for that, and am proud that you are now using your experience as a way to inform the general public. If you help even just one person who is struggling but did not consider bi-polar disorder then you have done a great thing.
Do I have to be compassionate towards people with mental illness? The article says you weren't until being diagnosed. Well, I've never been diagnosed by a professional.
Yo Kingspeed, was the buying of all the blazers tickets and touring around the country part of the manic phase of your disorder? Or was that just doing it for fun, couldn't have been cheap. And it was kinda crazy making all those last minute decisions to keep on going? I know one of the symptoms is spending money like crazy, I've seen it first hand with someone who is bipolar. Its literally fucking crazy how much he "made it rain" went to Costco, dropped like 20 grand, went to Staples, dropped 5 grand. Laptops he didn't need, etc. The guy is heavily medicated now....and it basically stabilizes him, but he loses all motivation and drive and creativity.
I guess it could've been. I was medicated and balanced then but even so, little manias and depressions come out to play now and then. As for Nate, if you had shared your second post first, there wouldn't have been a problem. What you described first wasn't bipolar disorder and it's lame to call someone "overly sensitive" about this subject. WarriorFan's post was valid.
Another thing, ElPresidente, in terms of little manias, a couple weeks ago, I got really high all of the sudden and ran out and bought a big ice cream cake for no reason. And then I was like wait a minute what just happened?
No. We went off one of my meds a few years ago and I suddenly had a LOT more energy and didn't need as much sleep but it wasn't worth it. Within a matter of days, I wanted to kill myself. Back on meds. Never going off them again.
