How my bipolar diagnosis improved my mental health?
It was the significant and severe warning call I needed to put my wellbeing first.
My name is Emily Washcovick and I am thirty-one years old. I live in Milwaukee, Wisconsin and work in Yelp as a marketing manager and run a small-business expert.
I was diagnosed with bipolar disorder when I was twenty-eight. But for years before I learned I had the condition, I had been a bit of a perfectionist. I was always really busy, and my energy would come by big spurts. I had a constant stream of thoughts, and my personality was just go-go-go. On the flip side, I would also go through periods where I do not feel low and be veritably depressed. I would do the bare minimum to get by at work and burrow myself down because I felt so overwhelmed. I was burning the candle at both ends until my life as I knew it came to a whistling halt in October 2018.
My beau and I had just gotten a pup, Oscar. I had also recently started working somehow more frequently from home. I was running around introducing Oscar to friends and family and working all the time, while only sleeping three hours a night for days at a time. I felt exhausted but could not stop myself from drawing and organizing our apartment every night when I really should have been sleeping. I latterly learned that this behaviour is indicative of a manic incident. One night, while I was in one of my go-go-go modes, my beau asked me to stop what I was doing and come to bed. I was completely unresponsive and did not even register that he was speaking to me. That had never happened before. He was concerned about my behaviour so he called my parents. They came to our apartment and helped me safely get to the emergency room.
Education I have bipolar
After being admitted to the exigency room, I was sedated and slept for twenty-four hours straight. The coming day I was transported to a near inpatient program for psychological health at Rogers Memorial Hospital in Oconomowoc, Wisconsin. I was snappily diagnosed with bipolar I, which means I endured ages of severe mood occurrences ranging from mania to depression. Because I was brought in during a manic incident and have a family history of bipolar, it was easy for my care platoon to know what was going on.
One of my aunts was diagnosed with bipolar early in life and has managed her psychological health well. She takes her medication, has a good life, and works on her psychological health. I did not know about her diagnosis until I was in the high academy, because it was not a commodity my family talked about. But that changed when my other aunt started showing signs and symptoms of bipolar at family events. It was the first time I saw someone in a manic state. She was veritably high-energy and spoke a mile a minute. So when I was diagnosed with a bipolar complaint, I was scared but having family members who also had the opinion helped me accept mine.
After my hospital stay, I checked into inpatient treatment and took a medical leave from work. During my stay, I was placed on different medications by a psychiatrist and went to group therapy to start treatment for my bipolar complaint.
After six days, I transitioned to inpatient treatment and decided to call my master. I told him what had happened and what my diagnosis was (although I knew I did not legally need to disclose anything to him or my employer). I took leave under the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) for twelve weeks before returning to work. This was pivotal to my recovery and a really important step while I was adjusting to my medication and learning about my psychological health. In outpatient treatment, I continued to work with a therapist one-on-one to establish lifestyle changes and boundaries to help me re-enter my life more healthily.
Living with bipolar
I currently take two medications, one to help me sleep and the other to help me manage the mood elements of my complaint. I noway miss my medication, ever. It gives me a sense of control.
Also, I have made enough drastic changes to my work-life balance. In the past, I had zero boundaries and would check work emails at all hours. But now every morning I go on a twenty to forty-minute walk with Oscar before looking at my email. I shut my computer down by 5:30 pm, and I have become more intentional about work trips. Finding a routine that works for me took some trial and error, and thankfully I had a supportive boss who encouraged me to stick to my boundaries.
Having family members with bipolar disorder have helped me realize that bipolar disorder does not look the same for everyone, and everyone’s journey with it is different. My aunt who is had multiple bipolar occurrences does not have a simple case of bipolar like me. She has had to try numerous different medications and treatments. My other aunt, who has managed her bipolar from a young age, is someone I go to for support. She does not hesitate to say something to me if she notices I am off, and I know she is not judging me or looking down on me.
Before my diagnosis, my family did not talk about psychological mental health that much. But now we talk about it all the time. I think having an open dialogue about psychological state helps all people. My bipolar diagnosis was the significant and severe wake-up call I required to prioritize my psychological state. After going through treatments and working with doctors, therapists, reading and educating myself about my disorder, I have a much better understanding of myself, my mind and my feelings. And that has allowed me to steer through life smarter and better and further in tune with myself.
A year after my diagnosis, I also decided to start an advocacy blog, Bipolar Brought Balance, to journal and partake in my experience with others. My thing is to help decrease the stigma about manic depression. The bipolar complaint does not define you. It is just a part of you. I want others reading my story to know that you can still accomplish all the effects you want to in life you just might have to try a little harder some days. But getting an opinion and taking a way to manage and maintain your internal health can put you worlds ahead of people who are not aware of how important psychological health is.
SOURCE
https://www.prevention.com/health/health-conditions/a37713282/emily-washcovick-bipolar-story/