After a round of denial and a new job, I came to realize that yes, indeed I was bipolar. I stopped sleeping and cleaned everything in the house. I was at that job for 5 days before I quit and sought help. Luckily, we had done enough research from the first time to recognize the symptoms and get under a doctor's care quickly.
I am on SSD now and I work part time. I have a very supportive family who was right there during this whole thing, and my boyfriend at the time is now my husband. My sister is the one who found me this site five years ago, and we have both been subscribing to the newsletter ever since.
I finally joined the forum in April of 2004 because of a medication side effect. I have double vision. It is slowly getting better. I am not yet back to where I was, but 98% I will accept. I found my way to the chat rooms one month later. I honestly think that this whole experience with my eyes, while extremely scary and frustrating, has taught me better coping skills of acceptance and patience. I try to concentrate on the good things in my life rather than thinking about how bad I have it now.
Joining the chat rooms has been such a help to me during this time - I cannot tell you how much! The chatters have been so supportive of me and excellent company while I am not driving. It has helped distract me, and gets me out of dwelling on myself and my problems. The shift in focus has been such a relief.
My husband and I have five cats. We didn't mean to end up with five. Cats just kind of happen, and I am not complaining about that! I know first hand how important animals can be in helping a bipolar person deal with the stress of everyday life.
I was born on New Year's Day, the day associated with the Roman god Janus. Janus is the god of endings and beginnings and has a dual nature, as does bipolar disorder. I try to keep a balance between looking forward and to the past.
