I’ve decided to work on a new project on a subject that is very close to my heart. I’d like to work on a project having to do with Bipolar Disorder Awareness. It’s been an idea of mine for some time now and I think I’m ready to take it on.
My Story
My story begins way back before I was born. I was an active baby in the womb and rarely slept. My mother knew I would be a spitfire from the moment she felt my first kick. After birth, I was up all night crying and I just wouldn’t fall asleep. My parents didn’t know what was wrong with me but they continued to search for answers.
Years later as a toddler and young child, I had a nasty temper. I was prone to fits of rage just from hearing the simple word, “No.” My parents were terrified after my brother was born. They’d send him to his room during these rages worried that I would hurt him. That was never my goal but somehow I couldn’t control my anger and was powerless to my body’s rages.
My mother searched high and low to find someone with any idea as to what my problem might be. She heard Oppositional Defiant Disorder along with a variety of other scary but compelling diagnoses. But these were never good enough for her. She knew something else might be the cause but nobody would listen. It wouldn’t be until my freshman year of college that we would have an answer to my earlier years.
In the meantime, I started third grade and began seeing doctors for what was diagnosed as ADD. I started on meds and it seemed to help for a little while but I just felt like I was in a constant funk. Later, they diagnosed me as depressed and put me on Paxil. I had never felt so wonderful in my entire life. It was amazing. But there were side effects. I’d become so depressed that I would be suicidal and it was a very scary time for my parents. Doctors took me off the drug after a few years and I felt so much better.
The years went on and soon I started high school. The transition was bad and I ended up failing four courses that year. However, that May, doctors decided to give me a Mental Inventory to see if anything might show up. The results came back showing a high tendency toward Bipolar Disorder. They started me on mood stabilizers and suddenly, I was happy again. And there were no awful side effects. It was a fabulous time in my life. I started doing better in school and the massive highs and lows in my behavior were evened out. I was a happy person.
Now, back to my earlier years. As I said, I found my answer to them my freshman year of college. I had been very interested in Bipolar Disorder since my diagnosis and when I came across a book about BPD in young people I had to read it. It talked about an early manifestation of BPD that is rarely diagnosed because it looks like so many other mental illnesses, two of which are Oppositional Defiant Disorder and ADD. All the symtoms checked out, active in the womb, not sleeping as a baby, rages as a young child, along with a wide variety of other symptoms, all of which I had exhibited as a child. I finally had my answer.
The Project
So now about the project
