unique music/ video from J Dilla is my only contribution <object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/_ncSt5xC8Uk&hl=en&fs=1&"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/_ncSt5xC8Uk&hl=en&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object>
A couple of us on this board who ran around together in the college days can vouch for that point. We basically lost a friend to bi-polar disease. No, he didn't die. He just had very erratic behavior primarily cause he wanted to party hard and not take his prescribed meds on a regular basis. Noone seems to know what he's up to today. Last I heard, he was living in some "facility" or something. I still remember clear as day the one night back in college he basically flipped out on a good friend to all and tried to beat his ass...for some trumped up reason that was completely bogus. I hope he is doing better...whereever he is. It all started with him hallucinating that a pair of red eyes were staring at him from outside through a window and telling him to kill himself. Very weird and I'm not sure how that associates to bi-polar...given it is about extreme lows or highs with little in-between. My Mom is also bi-polar and was diagnosed late in life. She is fine with meds. She had some episodes before she was diagnosed that were bizarre and almost killed her. Ended up in a psych ward before she was properly diagnosed and treated. Scary visiting her in there.
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Like others posting, what I understand from experience with friends/family: On the plus side, people with bipolar disorder are statistically far more likely to be artists / writers / generally creative; there is a demonstrable link between genius and manic depression. All chemically average persons spend their entire lives hoping to feel as good as a manic depressive does when he's up, or otherwise spend a lot of money on pills & needles to artificially simulate the experience. (I believe this is what makes it so difficult to stay medicated long-term. Electrochemical normalcy is tedium.) Downside: left untreated, bipolar sufferers are far more likely to "crack," per the music video (and the musician) above. Also, they tend to have more failed marriages/relationships, more speeding tickets, behave more impulsively in general. On mania, my favorite line from Michael Clayton, which offers a surprisingly poignant take on a bipolar lawyer whose medication has lapsed: Opening to the movie (NSFW, bit of language, but oh, what language): <object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/FjTp3MSh-Vw&hl=en&fs=1&"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/FjTp3MSh-Vw&hl=en&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object> If you want to read up, I recommend The Noonday Demon: An Atlas of Depression. It won a National Book award a few years ago; it's a societal/medical, as well as distinctly personal, history of the disease. As others have pointed out, jcee, the medications for this disease have proven highly effective, and if you stay current with them, it won't be that big a deal. If anything, it offers a lifelong, built-in pass to friends & family whenever you've had a bad day at the office & decide to respond a little too curtly at the dinner table. It's a highly treatable disease; could be a lot worse.
I was with the writer of that book at The MacDowell Colony, a retreat for artists, this January in New Hampshire. Very nice, very interesting guy. Thanks for reminding me of his book. I'd meant to read it.
I imagine those that can afford it do. Lithium is the oldest medication to treat bipolar disorder and is pretty common so its probably the cheapest to buy. There's a lot of newer stuff out there now though.
Very cool. I remember reading about that place in a Chabon essay or afterword a few years back (or, trying to look it up online and vaguely placing it in the NY Times, perhaps I'm just misremembering "What I Did at Summer Writers’ Camp," that quotes Eugenides and him). Despite the permission supposedly needed to visit others' bungalows, I remember thinking that, sort of like tales of the Olympic Village, but with writers, artists' colonies must entail nonstop orgies. Just with less attractive people, and more plentiful inkstains. Whores of Mensa all around. Please don't disabuse me of that notion. (Also, good to know Solomon's working on something new.)
He wanted to do lithium, but it required me to stay for a week or so to get proper levels or something. I respectfully declined
Get a doctor you trust. Then listen to that doctor. If you stop trusting your doctor then get a new one. Unless you have a different view of what you want from your life, or have a strong fear of a certain medication, I think you should listen to your trusted doctor. Realize that you probably will have to go through a lot of medications and thus a lot of side-effects. Be strong enough to go through those hardships and hang in there. Every part of each sentence I said above is meaningful, so look at it carefully. Good luck, and don't ever make any severe decisions until you have talked about it with someone.
