Bipolar Story Shared on November 12, 2014

I was diagnosed with bipolar 2 in May of 2014. I had previously incorrectly been diagnosed with depression in 2012 and 2013. I stopped taking my antidepressants in 2012 when my mood stabilised. But the depression returned in 2013 and the doctor told me stay on the antidepressants until told different by him.

Then it happened in March 2014, my mood went into overdrive and eventually a colleague at work advised me to go see the nurse. To make a long story short I ended up at my doctors who realised I was in a manic state and was taken off the antidepressants. I was referred to a psychiatrist whom I saw in May 2014 and was diagnosed as bipolar and put on lithium.

Unfortunately the mania stayed with me till July since late February.

I couldn’t record everything I did in that time period as I would be typing all day but I can tell you, I went on spending sprees, expensive house renovations, trying to buy new cars when I couldn’t afford a wheel barrow, sharing grand ideas with whoever would listen. I’m left with total embarrassment and financial chaos. The lithium is working well for me, except I feel it’s holding me back from any form of excitement or enjoyment.

I find it hard to leave the house at the moment and face the world, my behaviour when I was manic can’t be explained to each and every person who witnessed it. Luckily I was able to pull out of 70,000 of crazy spending. However, I still need to sell some assets to clear up the financial mess I created. My wife will be getting more control of our finances so this can never happen again. I’m lucky I could have done a lot more damage when I was out of my mind.