Crazybeanrider's Manic Moments-Living With Bipolar Disorder

The connotation behind the following illustration doesn't actually need a lot of explanation. However, I will give a brief one. A day in the life of someone with bipolar disorder. On this particular day for Silas, it garnered her in the psych ward for a month. She was EXTREMELY manic that day. To the point of no return. Silas had gone to her psychiatrist that day, but he was not in, so she was assigned a fill-in. Dr. Notsohot.

Silas told Dr. Notsohot she was uncomfortably manic and having severe mixed manic episodes. She does not remember exact details of that day because most of it is a distorted blur. Why Dr. Notsohot didn't recognize she was in crisis, no one understands. Silas left his office and decided to go shopping. Silas was hearing voices almost constantly now. She could not push them away. This manic-mixed episode was extremely dangerous by this point. She had cut her arms with a razor blade. Silas was calling EVERYBODY she knew on her cell phone, asking for help. Her friends and family cautioned her to go immediately to the hospital. So Silas found her way to the nearest emergency room. The hospital did a psych evaluation, and said she was OK to go home. Silas was beyond ill, she wasn't situated in reality, and they let her leave the hospital. She barely knew her name when she left the hospital in a state of disbelief.

The voices told her to go to another store to shop. Unable to block out the disturbing voices, she did. She shopped and shopped until the money was gone. The cart was stuffed full of who knows what. She made more phone calls. Her therapist and psych Dr. Notsohot told her to stay put, so her family could find her. Silas wasn't listening, nothing was registering. She drove aimlessly all over the city. She hit a curb and ended up with a flat tire. Two gentlemen kindly changed the flat tire. She does not remember the details of that happening, she was on the phone as it was occurring, so her family heard the details of what had happened. She made even more phone calls. Finally, with the tire fixed, her family were able to talk her home safely.

The next day they drove Silas to the hospital and her psych doctor (not the fill-in) and therapist had her committed. No one, including doctors and family know why in her condition she was not admitted the first time. She had cuts on her arms, and visible mental health issues. She had been in the hospital several months earlier, so she built barricades as far as reaching out to professionals. And once again she felt let down.

Silas did get the treatment she so badly needed. She was taking her medication as prescribed, but unfortunately bipolar episodes are not on a fixed schedule. Often the medication stops working, and a person spirals into a cycle of mood swings. Silas had her medication changed and she began to get well and live her life again.

Names have been changed to protect their privacy.