The Long Road to Managing My Minds Illness

I was diagnosed at the age of 25. I am now 49. It has taken many years of therapy changing of therapist and their therapy techniques. Medication changes, crisis interventions, hospitalizations, substance abuse treatment, stints in jail and prison for me to learn the important basics that everyone diagnosed with a mental illness should learn right away.

First u are always responsible for what u do to urself and others as well as breaking the law and damage to property and persons. The legal system doesn’t care much that ur sick but that u have broken societies laws that we all must live within. If u are on any drugs “street drugs" the illicit drugs cause total chaos to our chemical balances that are already out of balance. I have been to rehab 13times some completes some not some court ordered some voluntary. Sleep every night ur brain works better. Change meds one at a time. U can better judge sideaffects and if they help like they should be as well as monitoring your weight.

Be honest and willing to work with your therapist, you only get out what u put in to your recovery. If you need different types of treatment modes ask get another therapist or get 2. There is also peer support that is great too.

Have a safety plan and know when to use it!! Build a support network they see the blindspots that u dont see.

Feel blessed that mental health care has come so far. Know that if you do not manage your illness as much as u are able too. Understand ur symptoms of ur illness and get your treatment plan In place and meds on board.

Mental illness will give u jails, institutions and death. But if you have the tools to manage urself great. Seek out in your community a mentor or advocate or the crisis lines to help point you in the direction of help and you taking ur care into your own hands..

Be free of the stigma! We matter and can live nearly normal lives. Hail on my comrades of the mind and be well.

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Hidden Disabilities - Mental Health and Exercise Accommodation

In August of 2019, I was diagnosed with pre-diabetes and my doctor recommended exercise to treat it. This all started in 2005, when I was diagnosed with a postpartum mental illness and treated with medications that have known metabolic side effects. My diagnosis was later changed to Schizoaffective Disorder. Every time I’ve been taken off medication, I’ve gotten sick again, so I need the mental health medication, even though it has side effects.

My work provides the benefit of points towards a gym membership. So, I joined the gym after I learned about my diagnosis. As part of joining my gym, I had a free consultation visit with a personal trainer. At the end of the visit, we sat down, and he took out his notepad.

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RECOVERY AND RESILIENCE

My name is Jennifer and I am a recovered mental illness survivor—

I have endured severe mental illness for over half my life. During that time, I suffered from clinical depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, schizoaffective disorder, and borderline personality disorder.

Due to the depression, my behaviors ranged from excessive crying to excessive sleeping to suicide attempts. I felt feelings of worthlessness, hopelessness, and helplessness. All I thought I wanted to do was die. But in fact, what I really wanted was help with overcoming my severe sadness.

During my manic states, I endured impulsive, spontaneous, and irresponsible behaviors. I felt on top of world. I felt excessive amounts of energy. I had racing thoughts. I had delusions of grandeur. I’ll be honest. It felt great to be so high, but it is also very dangerous. Risky behaviors can lead to much endangerment of self and others.

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What I Have Gained from Mental Illness

Mental illness has been a part of my life for the past 30 years. There have been many ups and downs. There have been times I was hopeless and wanted to die. Mental illness has even consumed my life at times. Even so, mental illness does not define me. I am more than schizoaffective disorder, depression, and bipolar 2. I am not ashamed to have these disorders. But I am also more than a label. I am a unique person who happens to have a mental illness. I do, however, understand that these labels are important, since they are used in giving the doctors direction in the best treatment for me.

Having a mental illness has been the worst and best thing to happen to me. It has been the hardest thing I have ever had to deal with. It has disrupted my life. It has caused much pain for me and my family. And it has moved me to the point of almost taking my own life. Yet, having a mental illness has taught me many things about myself and about life. I have learned that joy can be found in the simplest of things. Every day is a day to start over and begin again. I have seen more love and compassion from family and friends than I may have never seen otherwise. I am more capable than I would have ever imagined to stand up to the hardest of life’s challenges. Perseverance has become my friend. And faith leads to healing for mind, body, and soul.

This thing we call life throws things at us sometimes that can overwhelm us and push us to our limit. It dangles hope in front of us sometimes, only to jerk it away in an instant. And just at the moment we think we have it figured out along comes a curve ball in the form of unforeseen relapses and occasional hospitalizations. Mental illness has robbed me of many years of productivity and happiness. But it has also led me to where I am today. And that is a good place. It is a place that I never dreamed I would be. I am blessed with a wife who loves and understands me and a son who loves me unconditionally. I have a sense of purpose and a desire to help others who are living with a mental illness.

Yes, having a mental illness takes away so much from people. However, learning to live life with a mental illness can give a new sense of meaning and purpose. Finding this meaning and purpose is a process that takes time and patience. Rome wasn’t built in a day. And discovering meaning in the pain of mental illness won’t come overnight.

I believe that real meaning in life can be found in the quality, not quantity, of life that we have. Because, of the treatment I have received and the help of many caring people I am able to experience the quality of life that escaped me for many, many years. Now, I am convinced there is a purpose for my pain. My life has meaning. And, hope, is a common word in my vocabulary. There is hope. There is always hope. Mental illness does not define me. It is not who I am. It is something I am learning to live with and overcome every day. By the grace of God, my future is bright. And I am determined to shine the light of hope on others who may also be living with a mental illness.

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From the Son

My name is Robert Hagee and I have a mental illness, I have had the illness since childhood, it was believed to be schizophrenia when I was young but came to schizoaffective disorder. If I was to write anything about my illness it would be this: that without my mother who was very strong from her life struggles as a child and as an adult, I would not have survived; I look back and realize if I was to know of all my issues and struggles to come when was a young and not to know of the good I do not believe I would have continued. There are other issues with my health and the hardest thing I face is that my mother will be at my funeral and my only regret I would ever change is the fact that my mother has had to experience my life with me.

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Schizoaffective Disorder

Hello, I wanted to write to those attempting to understand mental illness. My name is Jori, I spent my entire life not knowing or understanding why most people didn’t see the things I saw or heard the things I heard so I always knew I was gifted and a chosen one in my mind. My mother was diagnosed with 8 personalities and my father had severe mental illness too which I am not sure was ever diagnosed but because of his alcohol and drug addictions, I am not sure if people assumed his addictions were the issue which was just a bandage for the real problems in his mind.

I first began to notice I had something wrong when I was about 14 and I would snap, once attacking my mother whom I hated and throwing her to the floor in attempt to kill her. I was removed from the home and lived with a family which I observed kindness and loving relationships which was my first opportunity to see things in the home I came from were not acceptable as far as neglect and verbal, mental and sexual abuse.

I never graduated from high school and had two children with two different fathers who abandoned me during my pregnancies, leaving me to care for my children as a single parent. I did not know that I was supposed to bath my children and my oldest got an infection and had to have a surgery on his penis which flared up from never being cleaned by the age of 3. My fear was keeping him safe and not abusing him. I also would give my children a cup of chocolate milk and a vitamin in the morning and send them off to school without a lunch. The school finally began giving my children the free lunch programs so they would have something to eat. I never learned to cook or do self care until I observed friends caring for themselves. Life was tough, life was lonely and the loneliness has never left me for some reason I hold a hatred for my parents still to this day and I am 48.

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My Recovery Journey

I just want to talk to people about my mental health struggles throughout my life and how I’ve overcome each and everyone of these hurdles and how I could be inspiration to others. Through the power of open and honest communication and never giving up on oneself I’ll be honored to talk about my struggles but also my hope that I can give people that are struggling today day with things that they cannot control in the midst of the coronavirus

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A letter to those who have experienced schizoaffective disorder (or any type of “mental illness”) –
I’ve been there. In fact, I’m here right now.
I got my first episode when I was around the age of 17-18. I think I had just turned 18. I’m 22 now. As... — A letter to those who have experienced schizoaffective disorder (or any type of “mental illness”) –
I’ve been there. In fact, I’m here right now.
I got my first episode when I was around the age of 17-18. I think I had just turned 18. I’m 22 now. As a kid and as a high schooler, I was pretty shy and often held everything that mattered to me in. I wasn’t assertive or very confident really. My first episode served as a blow, causing me to experience things that I had never felt before – the high and thrill of being alive. The joy of standing up for myself in psychiatric hospitals, the thrill of mania that made me feel more alive than ever before. Medications always managed to calm down my mania, delusions, and hallucinations, but they always left me feeling inhibited and no longer as brave as I had been. It’s a choice that I have to make – whether it’s being high, euphoric, fearless (sometimes delusional and hallucinating), yet in the hospital, or sane and rational, but a bit sedated and lacking the high and fearlessness I had before.
I will never forget what I read about the Shamanic View of Mental Illness, which states that mental illness signals “the birth of a healer”, thus mental disorders are “spiritual emergencies, spiritual crises, and need to be regarded as such to aid the healer in being born.” The person going through the crisis was chosen as a bridge or medium to pass a message to the community from the spiritual world. The disturbances of mental illness result when the person does not get help in dealing with the the energy from the spirit realm. Another way to look at it is that unless the relationship between the living and the dead is in balance, it is the “duty of the living to heal their ancestors.” Some spirits trying to come through could be “ancestors wanting to merge with a descendant in an attempt to heal what they weren’t able to do while in their physical body.“
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Chihuahua Miracle
BY SARA PAULSEN
Mental Health Survivor, dog breeder, and Liam
SEBAGO, MAINE— In my mid-20s, I was terrified to reintegrate myself into society after losing my job and ending up on disability. Even though I was taking
my medication... — Chihuahua Miracle
BY SARA PAULSEN
Mental Health Survivor, dog breeder, and Liam
SEBAGO, MAINE— In my mid-20s, I was terrified to reintegrate myself into society after losing my job and ending up on disability. Even though I was taking
my medication for my schizoaffective disorder, it doesn’t control all my
symptoms. I don’t have delusions anymore, but I am left with visual and
auditory hallucinations. I became very lonely, and I was at a loss as to how
I would continue to live the rest of my life. I needed a companion; I
desperately wanted a Chihuahua.

I didn’t intend for him to be a service dog. Over the Internet, I found a
local Chihuahua breeder with a positive reputation. While petting Liam for
the first time, I began to open up to the breeder, who told me she had been
training Chihuahuas for 33 years.
She was very easy to talk to, so I told her about my journey with
mental illness and why I wanted a dog at this point in my life. She asked
me what I was still struggling with on a daily basis.
I explained that I was constantly asking my boyfriend either “Did you
hear that?” or “Did you see that?” to get a reality check on the low-level
hallucinations that my medicine still doesn’t completely control. As you can
imagine, it was creating a lot of stress in our home. I was also paranoid
about being home alone and going out alone, and I was self-conscious
about my possible behaviors.
The breeder asked if I would consider working with her to train Liam
to help me. I immediately thought of hugs, kisses and unconditional love –
which are all wonderful – but I didn’t know what else she could train Liam to
do for me. She said she had ideas that she had never tried before and asked if I would be willing to work on creating a Chihuahua miracle. She
didn’t ask for a penny.
How could I resist? I worked with her for two years twice a week, and
during the second year, my therapist even agreed to join us. This was the
opportunity of a lifetime.
Liam now assists me in ways I never thought possible. I’ll lightly tap
his shoulder with two fingers and then ask him either “Did you hear that?”
or “Did you see that?” If he did, he will put one paw forward; if he did not,
he will lie down.
Super amazing, right? I had no idea a dog could do this. This
seemingly basic task changes the way I live my life every day.
He has become my barometer for reality. I don’t have to ask the
people closest to me a thousand times a day about a possible
hallucination. I don’t have to be scared and wake someone up in the middle
of the night. My paranoia has decreased drastically. I’m not scared to be
home alone and I’m not scared to go out alone, because he is always there
supporting me.

I continue to bring Liam, my Chihuahua, everywhere I go. I am a
public speaker for three separate mental health speaker bureaus in Maine.
He can be quite the attraction. It is as if we have an invisible leash
connection at all times. He just turned 7 years old, so we are in a fantastic
rhythm together. He is still happy and healthy.
His little 6-pound frame has changed my life. I am not scared
anymore, and my relationships are stronger and healthier than ever before.
He has helped me so much to reintegrate into society. He is my best and
most loyal friend.

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Offering Hope Hang In There

I’m MERLIN.I have been dealing with mental health issues for many years, more than 25+ .I have taken all different kinds of of meds and have tried to stop taking meds more than 8 times and have ended up in the hospital.a mental health hospital can be a scary place but the people are trained and are there to assist you with your recovery.Since dealing with mental health issues over 25+ years I have decided to turn the tables on MENTAL HEALTH and train to be a PEER SUPPORT ADVOCATE.i want to help other people dealing with mental health issues and let them know that there is light at the end of the road and what they are going through is only temporary.i want to share my faith and help educate,inpire,coach and be an example to others.medication and counseling

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Middle School & Mental Health

TO ANYONE WITH ANY MENTAL ILLNESS OF ANY AGE:

(you don’t have to be in middle school)

Middle School’s known to be some of the hardest years of our lives, between hormones and homework it’s tough enough to make it through without mental health and the stigma it so often carries. As it’s impossible to make it through a class without someone making a joke about a mental illness either a friend of mine or I have, I’ve come to a certain conclusion. Teenagers will be teenagers, it shouldn’t be that way, it shouldn’t be an excuse to kidding about things that people truly struggle with on a daily basis, but it is. Sometimes things in life are just stupid, but we can’t let that get to us.

I’m a 13 (almost 14) year old in the ignorant year of 8th grade, towards the end of last year a few things in life went really, really wrong, and it resulted in a series of unfortunate events (no pun intended). Basically, by the time 8th grade started, I had not only experienced my fair share of panic attacks, gone to a therapist several times, but I had also been diagnosed with depression and an anxiety disorder. I had basically hidden from my entire grade during the summer, so as school started up again and I was struck by a mass of indirect insults towards my mental illnesses, let’s just say there was a lot of tears at the beginning of the year.

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mental illness mental health inspiration hope coping treatment medication therapy recovery schizophrenia bipolar disorder depression anxiety borderline personality disorder posttraumatic stress disorder attention deficit disorder schizoaffective disorder obsessive compulsive disorder suicide self-harm substance abuse abuse eating disorders autism panic attacks NAMI minoritymentalhealth Support Faith stigma

NAMI - You are Not Alone — The Long Road to Managing My Minds Illness

See, that’s what the app is perfect for.

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