Bipolar - is it Funny?

This past week a young woman of 35 years left her home and became lost. Her boyfriend and she lived in a little shack. He had left to go get some food. After awhile she became scared and left. The area was about 97 acres of woods. This woman suffered from mental illness.

Many volunteers spent days looking for her. They had no reason to suspect anything bad. They would stop at night and begin the following day as soon as there was daylight.

Finally, on what they had planned to be the last day of searching, she was found. She was curled up in a ball and very scared. Chances are she did her best to hide from everyone. She was life-flighted to a hospital and found to have suffered from hypothermia and dehydration.

This story turned out to be happy ending. She was found alive and is now safe and sound with loved ones. God only knows what she went through those couple of days without her meds.

Going without those meds can actually be painful and scary. These meds are something that you have to be weaned off. You can not just quit them all at once.

The reason for this story is the fact that I was somewhere where this story came up. It turned out to be a big joke that she was nuts and without her medication. I almost let it hurt me but fought it off. It was not easy. I wanted to say something but was afraid I'd cry. I just wanted to yell you should watch what you joke about. Especially when you have not experienced it.

Being bipolar is not always easy and I am sure that is the same for any mental illness. I have mostly good days now but once in a great while I have a bad day. I realize this is the norm for anyone. It is just that a bad day can be even worse. On those days I really have to talk my way through it. Especially if it is work.

So if you are one that likes to joke around and have fun, that's OK. Just be careful what you joke about. Just be careful who you joke about. It can be offensive or painful to someone around you.