Bipolar disorder has a bad reputation. I know this from personal experience because I was diagnosed with the illness in 1995. Many of us with the illness have faced years of pain and discrimination due to the mood swings that make us seem as though we’re simply out of control and can’t manage to have a normal life. Family members and friends are often frustrated with what they see as our unreasonable behavior, and we’re regularly chastised for not working up to our potential, as though we choose to have over-the-top emotions in response to everyday life.
This book is a testament to what I went through the ten years after my diagnosis and how I managed to get my life back despite trying twenty-three drugs without finding relief. In 1999, I had had enough. I realized that my health was up to me. Even though I had been depressed 90 percent of the time and hypomanic the other 10 percent for a large part of my life, I realized I had a choice. Killing myself was not the only option. I could learn my symptoms and do something about the mood swings before they got out of hand. I could keep searching for the right combination of medications and lifestyle changes. I could improve my relationships and live more like a mentally stable person in the real world. Through research I knew what the illness was, but not how to treat it when the medications didn’t give me total relief. So I worked on a treatment plan. I knew that I had to come up with something or I would kill myself eventually, just to end the constant pain of so many mood swings. This book is that treatment plan.
Today I have a medication that works well with my personal treatment plan. I can write books and am even thinking I’ll finally be able to go back to school without getting paranoid and obsessive. Hopefully, I can travel again without getting severely ill. I now have friends who have been in my life for a long time. I no longer alienate them with my out-of-control bipolar disorder behavior. I use my treatment plan every day. My triggers are the same they have always been. Medications take the edge off and help clear my brain from excessive thinking, but I still have to watch my life daily. I still get severely depressed, and hypomania is always waiting for me if I don’t take care of myself. But considering the life I led before, I’m now able to function without constantly wondering what is wrong with me and why I have such a terrible life. My family and the friends who managed to stick around when I was severely ill can really see the difference. Writing books on bipolar disorder has given me a career, something I have never had. Before you think I’m different than you are, you should know that I was alternatively depressed, hypomanic, paranoid, obsessive, and anxious off and on while I wrote this book. I just kept it under control.
I had two goals while writing Take Charge of Bipolar Disorder. First, I wanted to tell you that you’re not alone and that there really is a way to effectively and successfully manage this illness by using the 4-Step Treatment Plan presented in this book. And second, I hoped to help family members, friends, and health care professionals experience—even externally—what it’s like to have bipolar disorder, and then offer them proven and easy-to-implement tools they can use to help us stay stable.
Finding stability takes a lot of courage and even more hard work. Having a plan in place that works for you makes the task a lot easier. When family members, friends, and health care professionals are involved in this process, the dream of having a life that manages bipolar disorder instead of one controlled by it can become a reality. I hope you find the 4-Step Treatment Plan offered in this book to be as lifesaving as I have.