I was diagnosed Bipolar, OCD (which is comorbid), and Generalized Anxiety Disorder NOS all at sixteen, after a couple stays in a state hospital. I had been going to counseling with a doctor who said he THOUGHT I was bipolar. I had been on some medication for so I knew, at sixteen, what it felt like to be zombied out and have people tell you that there's nothing wrong with you....blah blah blah, etc etc. I was fifteen when i quit seeing him.

WITH THAT SAID!

 Since my (rather obvious) bipolar I diagnosis at sixteen, I've been given the right medication (for me it turned out to be Lithium after trying the likes of Abilify, Depakote, and what not) I have started to try to do the advocate thing and talk to people at my high school about it.

I'm only seventeen now...so I still have A HELL OF A TIME dealing not only with the bipolar, but with the Lithium that I absolutely love but absolutely hate. (you know what I mean).

 

More over, in making a couple of speeches I had several kids come up to me (in an auditorium of 50 or 60...about 2/3 of the kids) saying I have bipolar it sucks man I flip out on people...one second I'm happy the next I'm sad....

I don't judge though...this kid whom I've went to school with since I was 12...

"Really? I never knew! When were you diagnosed? What kind of meds are you on?"

"I've never been diagnosed...but like...everyone says I am. and I don't take medication because I just handle it, you know? But I still flip out..."

Alright...it's a possibility (however, an undeniably slim one)....that these kids, indeed, had bipolar....all thirty something of them....haha

But I couldn't help but think that they, somehow, thought it was cool. It's really starting to become the trendy thing.

That makes me sick to my stomach.

I wish there was something to do to these kids, besides simply saying, "LOOK YOU HAVE NO CLUE HOW IT IS AND IF I DIDN'T HAVE A HEART I WOULD WISH IT ON YOU....YOU IGNORANT LITTLE TWIT."

 

but...that's not right, of course.

 

Any thoughts?

sincerely,

Wes Byers

 

myspace.com/dreamer1016

Bipolar is one of the most misunderstood disorders, and I personally feel it's second only to Schizophrenia. People don't know what the symptoms are and just assume it means feeling fine one minute then getting angry/sad/whatever the next minute. I have a friend who was convinced she was Bipolar, and upon hearing this I pressed her about it. I asked her many questions and it turned out that the symptoms she thought were from Bipolar were really just from her diagnosed Depression. Seems no one ever talked to her about the symptoms. I explained bipolar to the best of my ability and she seems to understand a lot better than she did before.

So, I guess what I'm trying to say is the best way to stop people from thinking they're bipolar is to explain what bipolar is in the first place. Try to stamp out the wrong information they have and replace it with truth. Again, bipolar is one of the most misunderstood disorders, there's a lot of misinformation out there.

Hope that helped. 

I think I'd try to be  patient with these people as it's hard to know what's going on in the rest of their lives. Perhaps their sense of being able to relate to some of the things you've talked about isn't all bad even though their circumstances might not be severe enough to be considered bipolar. Perhaps you could suggest that they learn more about the disorder if they're concerned about it so they can get  some help if they're really serious about it. If they reply that it's not too bad, you can let them know they're fortunate and that they should definitely seek help if they feel their circumstance are getting worse. I think if you get too angry with them, perhaps other people who do have more serious issues will be afraid to seek help as they might falsely assume their symptoms aren't that bad either.

I know it is definitely tough to see people try to draw attention to themselves by claiming to suffer from something you have every reason to believe they don't. I still think it's better to err on the side of caution and urge them to get help if it's serious. I wouldn't feel obligated to argue with them about whether or not they have bipolar though as that's really an issue they'd need to address with a mental health professional. I would tend to think the people who don't want to find out or are just trying to be cool etc... will stop talking about it when they fail to get attention from you and those who are seriously worried about it will seek help.
 

 
 

dont understand why some people are like that... they dont know what it feels like to actually get diagnosed and have tons of people tell you that you have some weird thing...

 

anyway dont know how you can take lithium.. after everything i was on thats what got me outta the center but after a couple months i stopped taking it.. now just the thought of it makes me wanna puke..

I have Bipolar I, comorbid OCD, and GAD too, AND lithium has been a miracle drug for me, (I'm on 900 milligrams of Lithobid daily). I'm also astoundingly high-functioning, and when I tell people I'm bipolar, they practically go into shock. Last year, I had one girl tell me that mental illness is the Devil's Work, and that we all need to be cured of our sins. I reacted completely inappropriately and started to scream at her. And then you have all the emo kids who like to diagnose themselves and cake on eyeliner and perpetuate the stigma that mental illness is some kind of affectation. I hate to sound cynical, but after I was diagnosed, I lost all of my "friends" and had to start from scratch, with a much thicker skin, one that included learning to let things roll off my back. Twenty-five different kinds of psychotropic medication, two tonic-clonic seizures, and a plethora of IEP meetings later, I'm going to graduate near the top of my class and head off to college with a much better outlook on life. In response to your question, all I have to say is fighting stigma is an uphill battle- we have a long way to go before people in the United States and elsewhere will realize that this isn't something we chose, you don't go to sleep with a normal brain and wake up with one that sporadically fries itself. I don't take medication because I don't want to feel anything. I take it because it allows me to function. Combat ignorance with education. That's all you can do. Educate, advocate. Those kids have no clue. NO CLUE. And they probably never will. Accept it. Speak your peace. And move on. Sorry if any of that sounded preachy, but my area is very ignorant when it comes to mental health issues, and I learned through trial and error that it's better just to smile and nod when people ask you if you've grown out of your mental illness yet. ;)

I was diagnosed a year ago at fifteen with bipolar.  It's definetely not a great thing to have.  I've been to hell and back and have had a rough time coming out of the dark! 

Not a lot of people at my school know that I have bipolar.  I'm the girl that hangs out with everyone - from the popular to the not-so-popular kids - guys and girls a like.  No one knows that I have a problem, except for my boyfriend and our closest friends.

I wish people could understand what it is and what it's like to live with it.  Today i was sitting in class and a girl behind me was doing some research for Anat. & Phys.  She was like, "Is bipolar part of the brain?" I was like, "Yeah." Then the girl next to her was like, "Yeah, I hear those bipolar people are really crazy.  There so stupid." And she kept going on and on.  I was about to yell, "You wanna see crazy!"  But instead, I was just like, "Hey I've got it!  Am I crazy?"  They just looked at me and were like "Oh my God you've got to be kidding me!"

Sometimes it's hard to live like that, but not always.  But I do have a question for ya, how did you get the courage to stand up and talk to all of those people?  I wish I could, it would sure make going to school a hell of a lot easier.  plez email me at dodge-1998@hotmail.com

As Always,

Ruth

Yeah, I have OCD and I have always wanted to just kinda scream it out like that -- "I have OCD. So what!!!???!!!" But I never had the guts, though I've heard people with OCD be joked about and stuff. Like when the drama teacher asked if we could fixed crooked signs for the play and she was like "I have an OCD about that". I hate when people think they are funny but it is not. And the guy who used to sit in front of me in composition class was soooooooooooo intrigued by OCD and always talked about it. He said he used to have it. I told him a large portion of people have it at some point in their lives so he asked if I ever did. He's like my best guy friend but I just kinda looked down and did some head nod/shake/spasm thingy. I felt like it was different because he's over it and I'm not. But that situation was different than the one with the dramam teacher making jokes because he wasn't trying to be funny, he really is genuinely intrigued.

See now, I'm afraid after listening to a speech about it, I'd be one of the ones walking up and saying, "Hey! That's me!"

And I would have know idea what I was really saying.

So today I have been looking it up for over and hour on the internet, and still I wonder if it's possible I have it, though I'm sure I only have depression. Anyways, I'm not going to say I do just because it seems a possibility to me. Today, I am going to tell my mother (I am only 15, so I need a parental unit to get anywhere, including a doc's office) what has really been happening for me lately [cutting, etc.]. I'm not looking forward to it, but your post made me decide that there's no way I could diagnose this on my own, or at this rate I know I can't fix it. So I'm going to get some help today-- real help this time. .

Thanks for your unintentional input =]

Yikes!  I know!  Some people even think cutting is cool now because they've seen it on tv shows.  Its one thing to break the silence - its another to glamorize! 

There's a great website called  http://www.bipolarhappens.com/  You can't share your stories or speak to Julie Fast who runs it like you can on this website...but she does give lots of useful info - and she has BP herself.  For ex, in her last e-newsletter she described her own teenage and young adult years and tried to give helpful hints about how you can tell if what you are experiencing is normal teenage stuff or not.  I don't think you're going to walk around tell everyone who comes up to you to check it out...but maybe you can with some kids.

Oh yeh - she also developed this great system that I think will work for people with ANY mental disorder - not just bp - it helps you figure out how you can help yourself when you're experiencing alot of symptoms and how your family/good friends can help you - its very individualized - i haven't tried it but i can see how useful it could be.

In terms of how to get through to these kids - yeah - that's where NAMI and this website and this whole "stop the stigma" comes in.  We do have to start educating people so they are not so afraid and prejudice and now we see that on the flip side - we have to show people that its not cool.  Guess we have a long way to go!  I suggest every school have a lot of mental health sections in their health classes and the guidance counselors should get speakers/assemblies to increase awareness and decrease the misinformation.