Ha ha, wonderluster. Do you follow these guidelines for yourself? I find a lot of people talk up the healthy lifestyle, then they go out on the back porch and smoke half a pack of cigarettes and eat a pile of junk food before going into the living room and flopping down in front of the television for six hours. Every day.

Over the past few years I've gotten much healthier, by the urging of caregivers and friends and family. It is possible to live a reasonable life even with MI, but it's an effort. I am always wondering when the next horror will occur: the raving of the voices running me down, the delusions that the police are after me or my friends have money that belongs to me, etc. Every day is a fight. I would like to think that one day I will find the miracle med that will blow MI away, but it's been 11 years, and many meds, and where is the relief?

A healthy lifestyle is important, but you may find that at the end of the day you are in the third of MI people whose illness does not get better. That is a harsh realization, and I hope it doesn't happen to you.