Living with Bi-Polar Disorder and Working in a High-Stress Environment

I have been a cop for 15 years and for the most part I find it to be the most fulfilling job in the world. I have worked as a street cop, which is where we all start out, a detective, a bicycle cop and a field supervisor. Each assignment had its own rewards, but each presented different stresses. Personally, I found being a detective the most stressful. It could have been the division I was assigned to. I investigated sex crimes. I conducted the first investigation into an Internet predator in our departments history. This was back in 1997 when the Internet was just getting commercial and the TV news shows didn't even know what an Internet predator was. I am proud to say the guy was convicted of the crime and got 65 years in prison. Eventually, the stress of the job got to me and I went back to the streets. After that my family began to tell me that my mood swings were getting out of hand. I almost lost my family and finally sought psychological help. That is when I was diagnosed as Bi-Polar.