Living Drug Free with Bipolar Disorder

Living with bipolar disorder has been the most trying feat of my life. Throughout years of therapy and prescription drugs, I have learned the only person I can trust with my mind is me.

I was diagnosed with type I Bipolar Disorder when I was 25. I had already lived a lifetime fighting inner battles of emotions and energy draining mood swings when the doctors convinced me the only way to truly treat the disease is to medicate it. And medicating a disorder of this nature is no easy task. There are the anti-depression drugs to bring your mood up and the anti-anxiety drugs to bring you back down. Next are the anti-psychotics to treat the crazy little thoughts popping in on occasion and the thyroid and seizure medications given to mediate mood and elevate drug effectiveness. By the time I was 26, I had attempted suicide several times and my liver was shot. These drugs did nothing but convince me life was not worth living. I needed to find the path to normalcy without a prescription.

It took me years of trying and failing and trying again to grasp a knowledge and understanding of the disease process call manic depressive disorder. I learned all the signs and symptoms of a manic and depressive state. I studied the physical effects on the body and learned how to focus all my energy on my inner self rather than everyone around me. I dropped all the medications and stopped dictating my life on the third Tuesday of every month to a psychologist with a sand-filled timer. With this new found knowledge I took steps to make my life easier and drug free.