Hi everyone.

I saw the special on ABC last night and was taken aback.  I was overjoyed to see more and more people coming out with regards to their mental ilness. Mental illness is NO DIFFERENT than any other ICD-9 diagnosis in that it involves an organ, system, etc. In us it's just the brain. I was diagnosed, or actually mis-diagnosed, has having clinical depression in 1999. Luckily enough I made it through graduate school, even after a severe relapse in 2001, to fulfill my dream of becoming a physical therapist. Unfortnately, after a work injury in 2005 I was out of work for nearly 3 years. The subsequent lack of structure manifested as despair. Luckily I was able to recongnize sysmtopms of relapse. In 2007, an ex-girlfriend, then a psychology student, thought I could be bipolar. The reasons being I had invented a few things, been very artisitic, and cycled up and down between emotions very fast. Turns out she was right. In late 2007 my health care insurance ran out and I could not afford to pay for it.  Things became very bad as I become extremely suicidal in early 2008. Just before I had was preparing to "go away" my mother found a physician who specializes in bipolar disorders local to me in NJ. My mother and he saved my life. He informed me the average time to correct diagnosis of someone with bipolar disorder is nearly 10 years! THIS NEEDS TO CHANGE!

I've accepted many things since getting on the right medicine. I'm not bipolar. I AM SOMEONE WHO HAS BIPOLAR DISORDER. I'm John who has bipolar. I've accepted that the head injury I suffered in 2004 at work causes me to also be someone with epilepsy which I just try to manage pharmaceutically. I've accepted that I can't be a physical therapist full-time.

I have also accepted that just because I have bipolar disorder and epilepsy doesn't mean I can't move forward and become an integral member of society. Right now I am doing applications to medical school. I may be a little old, but hey, who cares!

I tell everyone about having bipolar disorder. My friends may get mad sometimes that I am so outspoken, but I don't care. This is my soapbox. Do not let a diagnosis hold you back! Dream the same dreams you did when you were a kid! They are still attainable!

Tags: Stigma

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