Quoted:
FUCK BIPOLAR.

It stole my mother from me.

My mother was diagnosed with bipolar disorder about 6 years ago when she had a complete psychotic breakdown. She likely had it for years, but self medicated with narcotics and muscle relaxers.  Now, she has special bipolar, they say, with 'psychotic features'. She cycles yearly.  Her trigger is the autumn death of her mother from 8 years ago, so every year around end of August she starts cycling up into a mania.  She is then hospitalized, like clockwork, before the end of September generally. This has been constant for 6 years. Because of this, she can't work, can't maintain a residence, can't manage her finances, basically can't be a person. She has been in and out of shelters, hospitals, halfway houses, bummed on people's couches...You name it.

She believes her disease is physical and not psychiatric. She goes from doctor to doctor looking for reasons to be sick, but they never find anything.  She thinks she was exposed to high levels of methymercaptan in a natural gas leak at a former place of employment years ago, and that caused her disease. She blames everything on her 'poison gas' exposure. In plain speak, she's fucking NUTS.

She is manplative and narsissitic, she steals, cheats, lies, refuses to take meds.  It's a nightmare. I can't even talk to her.  I can't trust her near my child or possessions.  

Basically, I don't have a mother anymore and she was a great mom during my childhood. I now have a mental patient and I can't deal with her, even being a seasoned emergency room nurse. I simply don't have the resources or time.

If you think bipolar is some trivial thing, it's not. People who lie about having bipolar are assholes and FSA who want benefits, I know many of them.

Quoted:
If you're not acting out and it never interferes with your job... why be afraid of it?  Tell people if you want.  I wouldn't walk up to my boss and drop a bomb on him, or bring it up awkwardly in a meeting, but if people know you well and appreciate your hard work they will see you as an example of someone with Bipolar Disorder who's managing pretty damn well.  Actions supersede labels.

This is what we call an irrational fear.

Quoted:


If you're not acting out and it never interferes with your job... why be afraid of it?  Tell people if you want.  I wouldn't walk up to my boss and drop a bomb on him, or bring it up awkwardly in a meeting, but if people know you well and appreciate your hard work they will see you as an example of someone with Bipolar Disorder who's managing pretty damn well.  Actions supersede labels.



This is what we call an irrational fear.