{"id":2253,"date":"2011-01-31T17:14:12","date_gmt":"2011-01-31T17:14:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.bipolarhappens.com\/bhblog\/?p=2253"},"modified":"2018-10-31T12:04:08","modified_gmt":"2018-10-31T19:04:08","slug":"guest-blogger-lizabeth-schuch-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.bipolarhappens.com\/bhblog\/guest-blogger-lizabeth-schuch-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Guest Blogger: Lizabeth Schuch"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0It\u2019s been twenty-seven years since I heard the words that I still remember so clearly, \u201cLizabeth, you are a textbook case manic depressive\u201d (now bipolar type I).\u00a0 I was seventeen and in the throes of a manic episode.\u00a0 The diagnosis did not mean a whole lot to me at the time.\u00a0 Psychotic features came along with it (for me those were delusions of grandeur and even some slight visual hallucinations).\u00a0 It pretty much came out of the blue\u2014well after a trigger\u2014but what I mean is that I never had any other symptoms prior to it.\u00a0 After a month-long hospitalization and when everything got back to normal, you would have almost thought that it just \u201cwent away\u201d.\u00a0 I didn\u2019t really consider if it would happen again.\u00a0 A few months later, I graduated from high school and went to college, took my medicine and listened to my doctor\u2014that\u2019s all that had changed\u2014for then\u2026<\/p>\n

The long and short of it is that I did experience more manic episodes (and then we got the medication right), but years later it was the depressions (and especially the Seasonal Affective Disorder [S.A.D.]) that became more debilitating.\u00a0 Sure it\u2019s been a long road of ups and downs, but what I realize is that even though there have been many difficult times, the good and healthy ones have been a bigger part of my life.\u00a0 I learned at a young age that compliance with medication and listening to my doctors (which I always did) would prove to help in the long run to help diminish the extremes of this illness.<\/p>\n

Life after diagnosis was never going to be quite the same.\u00a0 I now had to pay attention to what it took to get to a place of wellness.\u00a0 But, it\u2019s taught me a lot\u2014about perseverance and the will to get back up each time.\u00a0 I did not and will not allow it to rob me of what I want to do.\u00a0 Slow me down, yes, but stop me, no.\u00a0 I continue to take my medicine and see my doctor.\u00a0 I have my faith, I exercise, try to keep my sleep in line, research, try to eat healthy, am active in a support group, have a wonderful support network of family and friends and I won\u2019t give up\u2014ever.\u00a0 My desire to just move on is what has always driven me.\u00a0 I\u2019ve never wanted to stay in a place of feeling sorry for myself\u2014for a little while is ok, but beyond that would only prevent me from moving forward.\u00a0 So, I guess I\u2019ve kind of treated it as any other illness\u2014you\u2019re sick, you do what it takes to heal, and you recover.\u00a0 Of course there\u2019s a lot more to it, but giving up has never been an option (of course, with all this being said\u2014it\u2019s still a ton<\/em> of work).<\/p>\n

I don\u2019t take my health for granted and I celebrate the good moments because I don\u2019t know how long they will be there (sometimes a long time and sometimes very short).\u00a0 I do thank God every day that I am alive.\u00a0 This illness has taught me so much and has definitely made me a more compassionate and empathetic person.\u00a0 If I can handle this illness as I have, others can too\u2014and just maybe\u2014the tools that work for me (after living with this illness for twenty-seven years) can help someone else.<\/p>\n

**<\/p>\n

Lizabeth is a mental health advocate for people with\u00a0mood disorders.\u00a0 She\u00a0is actively involved in\u00a0the The Depression and Bipolar Support Alliance (DBSA) and The National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) in the Metropolitan\u00a0Washington, DC area.\u00a0\u00a0Her latest article appeared in bp Magazine (On My\u00a0Mind series).\u00a0\u00a0She has recently completed her memoir and pursuing publication.\u00a0 If you would like to contact her, please post a comment under her post. <\/em><\/p>\n

**<\/em><\/p>\n

Thanks to Lizabeth for this posting. I find her so amazing because she is dedicated to advocacy- the political and personal kind.\u00a0 I know that all of us have different ways to get the word out about bipolar disorder – for me it’s writing- for others it’s standing on the steps of a courthouse!\u00a0 It’s great that we can all work together. I will keep you posted on when Lizabeth’s book is published.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u00a0Julie<\/p>\n

\u00a0PS: If you like this post and find it helpful, please click on the like button below. You can also post it to your Facebook page, Twitter account or send it to a friend.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

It\u2019s been twenty-seven years since I heard the words that I still remember so clearly, \u201cLizabeth, you are a textbook case manic depressive\u201d (now bipolar type I). I was seventeen and in the throes of a manic episode. The diagnosis did not mean a whole lot to me at the time. Psychotic features came along with it (for me those were delusions of grandeur and even some slight visual hallucinations). It pretty much came out of the blue\u2014well after a trigger\u2014but what I mean is that I never had any other symptoms prior to it. After a month-long hospitalization and when everything got back to normal, you would have almost thought that it just \u201cwent away\u201d. I didn\u2019t really consider if it would happen again. A few months later, I graduated from high school and went to college, took my medicine [ Read More ]<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bipolarhappens.com\/bhblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2253"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bipolarhappens.com\/bhblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bipolarhappens.com\/bhblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bipolarhappens.com\/bhblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bipolarhappens.com\/bhblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2253"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.bipolarhappens.com\/bhblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2253\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11744,"href":"https:\/\/www.bipolarhappens.com\/bhblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2253\/revisions\/11744"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bipolarhappens.com\/bhblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2253"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bipolarhappens.com\/bhblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2253"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bipolarhappens.com\/bhblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2253"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}