My daughter has bipolar; she is amazing, clever, funny, beautiful, thoughtful and kind. She can also be crippled by depression to the extent that she can’t take care of herself. She can’t wash herself, her hair, her clothes and lies in bed day after day; she can’t prepare food or take her meds, get herself dressed, go out, see her friends, concentrate on a book, make a phone call, go to the gym, have a date or even work. Her mind is full of suicidal thoughts and life is not worth living at that time.
My daughter has bipolar; she is amazing, clever, funny, beautiful, thoughtful and kind. She can also experience mania to the extent that she has to be hospitalised to protect herself and others. She is not in touch with reality, You Tubers and Vloggers are ‘talking’ with her, she is not sleeping or eating. Everything is unreal, she smashes precious possessions with a great internal rage, screams at me, plays her music at full volume at 4am without a thought, she rearranges furniture, crockery or garden items constantly and paces up and down in a relentless, never-ending procession, broken only to rage some more. Money is now spent without a thought on anything which takes her fancy.
Medication and CBT can help reduce both of these states to a bearable existence, but this has to be ongoing, both alcohol or drugs can derail wellness in a moment. Bipolar is a cruel lifelong condition which has forced my amazing, clever, funny, beautiful, thoughtful and kind daughter to move home to be taken care of until she can find the medication which helps her to get back on her feet and reclaim her life – 2 years and the optimum balance has not yet been found.
Words by Jane (Lived experience representative).
Published on March 30, 2022 at 10:38 am
