My Story - Anonymous
My Story - Anonymous
Ever since I was a young child I had been experiencing abnormal amounts of anxiety. I suffered with obsessive and intrusive thoughts as well as separation anxiety. It was terrifying to experience as a young child, but it was all I had ever known. I didn’t know any better. At night, I would almost never sleep. I had an over-active imagination, racing thoughts, and fears of going to school. There were many times that I just did not attend school due to the extreme amounts of anxiety and discomfort. Around age 8, my parents took me to see a psychiatrist and therapist because they knew that something just wasn’t right. The first psychiatrist and therapist I had seen weren’t helpful and didn’t see anything wrong with the behaviors I had been exhibiting. When my parents took me to see another psychiatrist for a second opinion, he determined a diagnosis after a couple of years of trying different medications to see the effectiveness. I was then diagnosed at age 12 with bipolar NOS (rapid-cycling) and a severe anxiety disorder.
It seemed like after the diagnosis is when the disorder worsened. My teen years were a living hell and it felt as though they were wasted with doctors appointments, consuming dozens of medications, hospitalizations , and feelings of emptiness and worthlessness. It seemed like those years of pain and struggling would last forever. It wasn’t until after high school, which was a huge struggle for me, that I began to mellow out some and try to take control of my life.
Today, I haven’t done this well in a very long while or ever. I am living independently with my fiance, my two cats, and a ferret. I feel as though I can finally start to live and enjoy my life which was very difficult for me to do previously. About a year ago, I started experiencing a lot of mixed episodes. That has been one of my main struggles at this point in time. There will be some really crummy days where I won’t feel like or just can’t do much at all. I try to rest and wait out the low moments and try to keep in mind that they don’t last forever. The mania isn’t too severe, but at times I do get very hyper, I talk a mile a minute, I laugh constantly, sometimes I want to spend money, and I have a quite a bit of anxiety and worries. Things haven’t been terribly unmanageable lately though and I am very thankful for that.
The Have I Got A Problem website is a free online resource to help people better understand any issues or concerns they may have about mental health or addiction. The website includes resources specifically focused to; general Mental Health, Depression, Stress, Anxiety, Insecurities, Self-harm Schizophrenia, Bipolar, Anger Management, Eating Disorders, Coping, general Addiction, Alcohol, Smoking, Gambling, Drugs, Cocaine, Heroin, Marijuana (Cannabis) Ecstasy, PCP, Mephedrone, Ketamine & Crystal Meth.
The site was created to give the public information to help them understand mental health and addiction issues and to assist people in making better informed decisions about their life and personal choices.
www.haveigotaproblem.com was created and is run by 'Advising Communities’, which is a UK registered charity (Charity No. 1061055)
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"I'm still walking the fine line of good day-bad day but at least I'm walking, and knowing I'm not alone."
Kim B
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