Hi I am new here I have had this my entire life and never knew it I am 54 now and found out when i went to the doctor about maybe having ADHD. I am in college and was having a difficult time with anatomy, when he said bipolar i almost fell over. You see when I filled out my papers I did not put family history since i was adopted. I did meet my biological family a few times, and completely forgot my father has it BINGO!
I can not believe they did not include this in my adoption records, I was terrible and honestly I did not mean to be. I remember coming home from school one day and falling asleep my mother woke me and I was talking crazy, she rushed me to the family Dr. whom was a D.O. not good the next thing i remember after falling asleep was looking down at my shoes and wondering how i got here and why the doctor was telling my mother i was on drugs. I was 10 years old and had never seen drugs but my mother believed him and not me after that point i was the devil because of this idiot doctor, i soon made it true by 13 i was smoking pot regularly cig. and popping acid there is not many drugs i haven't tried.
I would sleep for 24 hours without waking my mother could not wake me for school i had people throw ice water on me and would NOT wake up. I grew up thinking this was norm it was not untill i had my daughter that i could wake easily, and when she was born I stayed awake and felt on top of the world for 4 days straight no sleep, i thought i was just excited and it was normal. I had 2 sons later in life when i was 34 and 38 my oldest son would sleep for 3 or 4 hours a night and after about 6 days he would sleep 12 hours I complained to doctors they claimed he was just a active little boy, it was draining me i could barely go, i never got any sleep, both of my sons have bipolar my youngest is borderline right now with ADHD like myself. Did I mention I have I and II? After leaving their father I met a man and began a relationship that lasted for 5 years, my X had hep C so i had been tested yearly and I left in 2000 in 2001 i was negative not thing anything of it I began menopause which really kicked the bipolar in (it was horrible) I gambled I lost my nice home in Fl on the beach and my boyfriend gave me hep C I was devastated to say the least, i moved bought a house i could not afford and traded for my house at the beach took out loans i could not pay back and ended up losing a home that was worth 450k i had nothing and no one but my sons, i packed up and moved to KY for work (according to a friend of mine) there was no work here i had no education only a GED we ended up in a homeless shelter its been a rough life I can tell you that, but i finally found a doctor that did not insist i was depressed I never took meds they would give me they hand them out like candy and it was a good thing I didn't, when i heard bipolar it all fit together it told my entire life I lived it but never ever thought i had it. My children are all in denial i wanted them to get help before they end up waiting their entire life to find out what is wrong.
Bipolar is a strange illness and has so many different symptoms. I was on lamictal and my liver elevated now i am on one that is milder but i honestly see do difference in the way i feel (btw my hair fell out in handfuls with lamictal it is a side effect they do not list) the one i am on now is neurontine it mellows me almost like smoking but not so intense it was made for epeliptic like most of these drugs and it failed. I am on vyvance for ADHD which helps me motivate (my drug of choice was cocaine and actully in moderation it worked well for me i did great but its not legal) so now i have so many things wrong and can not take one med because the hep c makes the bipolar worse i can't take the bipolar meds it hurts the liver???? Sorry this was so long tried to fit it all in I look forward to making friends on here and becoming part of the chat group