I can look back and laugh about this story but it wasn’t funny at the time. I was hospitalised for the last time in Sydney about 13 years ago now. Whilst there my mum and sister flew down from Queensland packed up my house, literally threw me in the back of my car after being released from a 2 week stay in hospital, and we drove to Queensland. I had no choice in the matter, was still high as a kite and didn’t really care at the time. It was all for the best in the long run. I just wasn’t coping living alone in Sydney.
My stint in hospital came about when I spiralled out of control yet again after going into an extremely high phase which then reached the ever so scary psychotic episode.
I still wasn’t diagnosed at this point with bipolar, that actually took 15 years! Every hospital stay they just said, oh you have had another “nervous breakdown” or termed as”schizophrenia form of psychosis”. Did anyone explain that to me…..no…..did anyone explain to me that I had “depression” which I had for 12 months after the psychosis….no no no. You can imagine my frustration dealing with these debilitating illnesses and the fact that no medical staff sat me down at any point and explained anything. I struggled on all alone, but with plenty of support from my family, who were also in the dark.
Thank goodness there seems to be a lot more awareness about different forms of mental illness and people are diagnosed a lot quicker and therefore medicated correctly today.
I guess this is where those of us who decide to publish our own stories help not only ourselves but those around us. The more informed the general public are, the less stigma there is for mental illness as a whole, so congrats to all you bloggers out there who are voicing your illness and informing the world!
Moon Mind Balance 