Post by Groks on Jul 1, 2008 7:39:51 GMT -6
Really, that's what the book is called. I just finished a book called "Madness, A Bipolar Life". Since I have bipolar disorder, I usually identify with the character of other books about being bipolar. In this one, though, I identify somewhat, but the lady who wrote it had it really bad.
She takes you on quite the trip through her extreme ups and downs, her excessive drinking, frenzied mania, disabling depressions, eating disorders, and constant ins and outs of hospitalization. She tried several kinds of medications, shock treatments, hospitalization - sometimes she did better, sometimes not. She really demonstrates how painful it is when your mind runs at excessive speeds and will not shut up.
I was hoping at the end of the book that she got on the right medications and lived a reasonably sane life. Rather, at the end she mostly accepted that she was bipolar, and decided to live with it (of course, still taking meds and having professional help). A quote from the book:
"I am who I am. This is the way it is: a balance, maybe an uncomfortable one. It's about doing all the necessary, frustrating, boring, exasperating, annoying, banal everyday tasks to keep the episodes at bay, but accepting that they'll come at some point anyway; structuring my life tightly in order to function well, but being flexible enough to deal with the unexpected; embracing the bizarre notion that sometimes things might go wrong - but other times they might not. I try to build a future out of contradictions; madness is only a small part of my life, yet sometimes it completely takes over and tries to destroy me.
Both things are true. That's all right. It has to be.
And it is. I relish my life. It is a life of which I am fiercely protective. I have wrested it back from madness, and madness cannot take it from me again. I will not throw it away. So what if it isn't a normal life? It's the one I have. It's difficult, beautiful, painful, full of laughter, passing strange.
Whatever else it is, whatever it brings - it's mine.:"
I have to admit, I relate to this.
It's very well written and really takes you on quite the journey. It's a good read!
She takes you on quite the trip through her extreme ups and downs, her excessive drinking, frenzied mania, disabling depressions, eating disorders, and constant ins and outs of hospitalization. She tried several kinds of medications, shock treatments, hospitalization - sometimes she did better, sometimes not. She really demonstrates how painful it is when your mind runs at excessive speeds and will not shut up.
I was hoping at the end of the book that she got on the right medications and lived a reasonably sane life. Rather, at the end she mostly accepted that she was bipolar, and decided to live with it (of course, still taking meds and having professional help). A quote from the book:
"I am who I am. This is the way it is: a balance, maybe an uncomfortable one. It's about doing all the necessary, frustrating, boring, exasperating, annoying, banal everyday tasks to keep the episodes at bay, but accepting that they'll come at some point anyway; structuring my life tightly in order to function well, but being flexible enough to deal with the unexpected; embracing the bizarre notion that sometimes things might go wrong - but other times they might not. I try to build a future out of contradictions; madness is only a small part of my life, yet sometimes it completely takes over and tries to destroy me.
Both things are true. That's all right. It has to be.
And it is. I relish my life. It is a life of which I am fiercely protective. I have wrested it back from madness, and madness cannot take it from me again. I will not throw it away. So what if it isn't a normal life? It's the one I have. It's difficult, beautiful, painful, full of laughter, passing strange.
Whatever else it is, whatever it brings - it's mine.:"
I have to admit, I relate to this.
It's very well written and really takes you on quite the journey. It's a good read!