I felt like I needed to have a post dedicated to my beautiful sister, just to tell you guys all about her really and to try and help explain why some people with Bipolar Disorder choose not to take medication for it (it's not because we're mad! I promise).
My sister Alex, as well as being the strongest person I know is also the most beautiful and talented person I've ever met. She's a bit of a tom-boy but she's dead pretty. She's really bubbly and easy to get along with, or at least that's how I always think of her. She's a very talented musician but also very shy. Don't ask how she can be both bubbly and shy at the same time, she just is, one thing that people say we have in common a lot. Bubbly but shy :) She's plays guitar very well and has a voice like an angel.
Anyhow onto the thing I admire the most about her, her strentgh. She is an extremely strong person.
So yeah... When I was 12 and she was 15 she was diagnosed with Bipolar Disorder II. I'll not go into how she told the family and the truly awful night before she moved away from home to live half way around the world. But I will tell you that that night was the worst night of my life.
My parents tried, and succeeded (after a while), to make me forget about it. They acted (and still do act) like she never existed, like she was never part of our family, never real.
I didn't have any contact with her for a couple of years, and it's only recently that I've been in touch with her again. It turns out she moved to Australia to live with some close friends out there. She started school and just a normal life, she claims their her family and they claim she is theirs. She goes by their surname and loves them all very much. She's very happy out there and they've given her loads of support through the disorder.
Alex went on various medications that the doctors advised for her condition and each one of them saw no improvement, some of them made her feel and act even worse. She won't tell me much of it, I think she feels like I need protecting from it all. And now that I've been diagnosed with a form of Bipolar disorder it's like she wants to tell me even less so her opinion and decisions don't effect (affect?) me. She has told me though that she had some hard times with the drugs and all the doctors she went to were really like pushy and wouldn't let her stop them when she felt worse. I felt horrible when i heard if my sister, older and bigger, yet seemingly so much more fragile, being forced to take drugs she didn't want. And when I was diagnosed I just plain refused. My sister had got through with sheer willpower, so why wouldn't I be able to?
She's strong now, stronger than ever. Enless you know her really, really well you wouldn't even know she was bipolar.
And that's without meds. So that's why some people choose not to take medication, because some people have seen that willpower can be just as strong as any medicines.
I must stress that this is not always the case, and when I told my doctor I didn't want any meds. he told me I was crazy and to get out of his office. So yeah.. different people have different viewpoints.
So basically what I'm trying to say, is that with the right people around you, anything is possible, and I've got my amazing sister Alexis to thank for showing me that. :)
My sister Alex, as well as being the strongest person I know is also the most beautiful and talented person I've ever met. She's a bit of a tom-boy but she's dead pretty. She's really bubbly and easy to get along with, or at least that's how I always think of her. She's a very talented musician but also very shy. Don't ask how she can be both bubbly and shy at the same time, she just is, one thing that people say we have in common a lot. Bubbly but shy :) She's plays guitar very well and has a voice like an angel.
Anyhow onto the thing I admire the most about her, her strentgh. She is an extremely strong person.
So yeah... When I was 12 and she was 15 she was diagnosed with Bipolar Disorder II. I'll not go into how she told the family and the truly awful night before she moved away from home to live half way around the world. But I will tell you that that night was the worst night of my life.
My parents tried, and succeeded (after a while), to make me forget about it. They acted (and still do act) like she never existed, like she was never part of our family, never real.
I didn't have any contact with her for a couple of years, and it's only recently that I've been in touch with her again. It turns out she moved to Australia to live with some close friends out there. She started school and just a normal life, she claims their her family and they claim she is theirs. She goes by their surname and loves them all very much. She's very happy out there and they've given her loads of support through the disorder.
Alex went on various medications that the doctors advised for her condition and each one of them saw no improvement, some of them made her feel and act even worse. She won't tell me much of it, I think she feels like I need protecting from it all. And now that I've been diagnosed with a form of Bipolar disorder it's like she wants to tell me even less so her opinion and decisions don't effect (affect?) me. She has told me though that she had some hard times with the drugs and all the doctors she went to were really like pushy and wouldn't let her stop them when she felt worse. I felt horrible when i heard if my sister, older and bigger, yet seemingly so much more fragile, being forced to take drugs she didn't want. And when I was diagnosed I just plain refused. My sister had got through with sheer willpower, so why wouldn't I be able to?
She's strong now, stronger than ever. Enless you know her really, really well you wouldn't even know she was bipolar.
And that's without meds. So that's why some people choose not to take medication, because some people have seen that willpower can be just as strong as any medicines.
I must stress that this is not always the case, and when I told my doctor I didn't want any meds. he told me I was crazy and to get out of his office. So yeah.. different people have different viewpoints.
So basically what I'm trying to say, is that with the right people around you, anything is possible, and I've got my amazing sister Alexis to thank for showing me that. :)
I didn't know I was bipolar until I was 45. I made it 45 years and did pretty well. Now I can look back and see where it affected me and the turmoil I was in. I started meds 3 years ago and it's been a three year experiment. Finally I'm on a cocktail that makes me feel like me and is controlling the more serious issues of my bipolar: cutting, shopping, affairs, etc.... So I'm thankful for my meds.
ReplyDeleteI think this blog is a great idea. People don't realize that we're just like they are, we just happen to have a label that's comes with a stigma. On my Biploar Diva site I try to break that stigma. I have another blog that I don't advertise that's got the real side of me and some of the more difficult things I go through. If you want that URL just email me at thebipolardiva@gmail.com