Great discussion topic. I was diagnosed with bipolar 11 years ago and hospitalized for bipolar mania. I was given this label, told to take medication, spent a few days in the hospital and sent on my way. I was never encouraged to become a student of the nature of bipolar disorder, never told that medicine had potentially fatal side affects, never encoraged to examime the triggering events to past episodes which might lead to future episodes. In fact, I told them my 31 year old brother died a year earlier which obviously caused me deep greif and my spiraling out of control life. The doctors did not care.... I felt like a freak, all alone and I was scared to death and tramatized by the hospitalization.
I don't know if too many people are being diagnosed or not. I do know that most people believe their is no hope for a cure, that medicine is the only answer and most people including people who have been treated for bipolar over the course of many years have never been taught the basics for living with bipolar disorder successfully.
Educating the patients would be a great way to have more possitive affective results with medication usage. For instance, charting ones mood each day along with medications taken, people around and foods... of course their is more too, will provide a much needed picture for the doctor. In a sense what a patient is doing is providing daily test results and observations for both doctors, therapists and "self."
I take medication for my bipolar and have been able to reduce them by 50% after 10 years. I did this under the observation of a doctor. At one point I didn't like feeling broken by taking the meds and stopped. I was hospitalized shortly their after. This occurred because it is dangerous to stop many medications abruptly. I reduced the meds because I wanted to reduce long term side effects to my body and mind.
I apologize if I got of track with my reply. It is late and time for me to log off.
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Great discussion topic. I was diagnosed with bipolar 11 years ago and hospitalized for bipolar mania. I was given this label, told to take medication, spent a few days in the hospital and sent on my way. I was never encouraged to become a student of the nature of bipolar disorder, never told that medicine had potentially fatal side affects, never encoraged to examime the triggering events to past episodes which might lead to future episodes. In fact, I told them my 31 year old brother died a year earlier which obviously caused me deep greif and my spiraling out of control life. The doctors did not care.... I felt like a freak, all alone and I was scared to death and tramatized by the hospitalization.
I don't know if too many people are being diagnosed or not. I do know that most people believe their is no hope for a cure, that medicine is the only answer and most people including people who have been treated for bipolar over the course of many years have never been taught the basics for living with bipolar disorder successfully.
Educating the patients would be a great way to have more possitive affective results with medication usage. For instance, charting ones mood each day along with medications taken, people around and foods... of course their is more too, will provide a much needed picture for the doctor. In a sense what a patient is doing is providing daily test results and observations for both doctors, therapists and "self."
I take medication for my bipolar and have been able to reduce them by 50% after 10 years. I did this under the observation of a doctor. At one point I didn't like feeling broken by taking the meds and stopped. I was hospitalized shortly their after. This occurred because it is dangerous to stop many medications abruptly. I reduced the meds because I wanted to reduce long term side effects to my body and mind.
I apologize if I got of track with my reply. It is late and time for me to log off.
Good Night!
David Mariant
December 21, 2009 - 12:51amThis Comment
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