I Now Understand the Whys with Britney Spears

The last couple of years whenever I would hear or read something about Britney Spears, I would become horrified. Thinking what is up with Britney, what is she thinking, why is she doing these things?

But then came the revelation that Britney may be Bipolar and then I thought, "Hmmm that makes sense, that would explain, why she married a guy she went to school with after a visit to Las Vegas.

Britney Spears, got married at age 22, at a little Vegas Chapel, wearing a baseball cap to a childhood friend named Jason Allen Alexander. A symptom of bipolar is to act impulsively or do reckless things, such as go on shopping sprees, drive recklessly, get into foolish business ventures, or have frequent, indiscriminate or unsafe sex.

A tearful Britney Spears defiantly shaves her head at a Los Angeles hair salon after the owner refused to take part in her "extreme makeover." When Bipolar is present it will involve "risky or unusual activities to the extreme, even if it's likely bad things will happen," according to Bipolar.com.

On a show on the Oprah Winfrey, Jenifer Lewis (who has had roles such as Will Smith's occasionally visiting Aunt Helen on the Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, and also Dean Davenport in the final season of, A Different World. She has also appeared in movies, The Cookout, Nora's Hair Salon, Shark Tale and CARS), admitted to buying a mansion on one of her manic states of bipolar.

In a interview with Matt Lauer back in 2006, Britney admitted to being "an emotional wreck," after having her first son and being pregnant with a second.

According to the National Institute of Mental Health, "bipolar disorder, also known as manic-depressive illness, is a brain disorder that causes unusual shifts in a person's mood, energy and ability to function. Different from the normal ups and downs that everyone goes through, the symptoms of bipolar disorder are severe. They can result in damaged relationships, poor job or school performance, and even suicide."

"About 5.7 million American adults or about 2.6 percent of the population age 18 and older is given year have bipolar disorder." Bipolar disorder typically develops in late adolescence or early adulthood. Like diabetes or heart disease, bipolar disorder is a long term illness that must be carefully managed throughout a person's life."

Britney is like anyone who has been told that they may have a mental illness, she's in denial. It takes hitting rock bottom more than once for a person to look at the trail of destruction bipolar leaves behind, it's like a tornado, when this mental illness comes on.

It not only affects the person that the mental illness invades, it affects the people who love then and have to also view the damage the "tornado" left behind. People feeling helpless to help their loved ones.

I know this because several months after my son turned eighteen and was holding a good job and just became a father, this evil disease invaded his mind.

He became this rapper with grandiose ideas of things happening in his life that really weren't happening. He was very self-confident, focused on making things happen, talking with much sense one minute and not making any the next. His energy level was high and he was living off hardly any sleep. Behind his vehicle speeding, one day getting 3 tickets in less than four hours. What stopped him from killing himself, his car stopped while he was driving head on into traffic.

At first I just dismissed all these things as to him being on a bad drug, but that was not the case not at all. I got him the help he needed, but to this day he blames me for putting him in a mental institute. He blames me for his life not being where he thinks it should be. He does not take his medication and smokes marijuana instead convinced this is the way he can handle these manic feelings.

Knowing first hand what this disease can do, I will no longer sit back and judge Britney because of some of the choices she has made, because now I know she really did not make those choices....Bipolar did. Nor will I allow myself to feed into the negative media that bombards Britney's life both night and day.

BUT on the other hand if Britney wants her life to change, she has to admit that she has a problem and get the help needed, so does my son.

According to Bipolar.com "the first breakthrough in treating bipolar came in the 1950s. Today, there are many medicines and other ways to manage bipolar. People with bipolar hold jobs, raise families, and live full lives."

It hurts me to watch my child suffer because he does not want to be stigmatized with the label of having a "mental illness."

I have the label of having lupus, suffering with depression, and other things. BUT I also am taking medication, listening to my body and taking care of it." Last summer I almost died with lupus, but today I am in remission. In other words, I am being a responsible adult for my children, grandchildren and people who love me, but more importantly for myself. I love me.