Messages By: foxtrotnut

I watched the show with much interest yesterday, especially when I saw the promos showing 2 people who had or were exhibiting bizarre or out of control behavior.  I watched with horror as the mother was nothing but evil to her two sons.  I hope Dr. Phil and his professionals rip those two poor sons away from her and put them with a loving family with some wonderful counseling for a long time and give her some help for whatever problem she is having.   

I, too, am bipolar, and would never, in a million years be able to even utter some of the things she said to her children.  I have a 9 yr. old son and know the importance of what you say to a child can mean to him/her for the rest of their life.  My mother once told us kids she hated us.  I know she was just really mad when she yelled at us, but  I will NEVER forget her saying that to us.  I doubt if she would ever remember saying it, if I ever brought it up to her now.  But it is important to a child....   

My first real struggle with bipolar started 6 years ago.  I suffered 3 years straight of severe depression with no letup before I was diagnosed correctly.  Even then, finding the correct meds was difficult.  Had seizures on Gabitril and don't think it ever worked anyway.  Finally my doctors put me on Topamax and it seems to be working.  Found I also had sleep apnea and SAD also, along with the bipolar.  So those may also be present in people that are bipolar????  They sure didn't help my problems, that's for sure.          

I can't help but think the mother was using the excuse of bipolar to just behave badly????   No telling what damage has already been done to them.  And nobody has probably even thought of the possibility that the sons may have inherited the bipolar genes from her????  I hope the Dr. Phil Show professionals can evaluate her sons for that potential because they could be put on medication now....   After all the trauma that mother has put them thru, isn't there more likelihood they will have emotional problems themselves?  I was just sick to my stomach after I saw the show.  Where were the boys' father or other relatives?  I am sorry if I being a little hard on "Mommie Dearest"... 

Dr. Phil, I think you need to air another show about bipolar, which does not put us in such a bad light.  Every time a show like that is done and people see what bipolar people are like, then those of us who try to blend into society are looked at as lepers.  Most people don't know what bipolar is and the many who saw that show got a one-sided, unfair picture.  Not all of us are like that, are we?  Just my opinion.  Thanks.               

I have been diagnosed Bipolar Unspecified because I do not fall into the textbook described classifications of Bipolar l.  Apparently I very seldom ever cycle into mania, or at least it is not apparent to myself or my long-term psychiatrist or psychologist that I do, and mostly suffer from the depression side of the manic depression.  I was treated for severe depression from around age 16 off and on during most of my adult life.  I tried to kill myself as a teenager.  Trauma in my life started me in a tailspin which sent me in severe depression in 2000 which lasted for approx 3 years and I was treated with antidepressents with no success.  My doctors started questioning whether I might be bipolar so I was started on Gabitril, one of the meds given for bipolar and I immediately started feeling human again for a month or two.  Then within 2 months I was in the ER suffering from seizures.  We didn't know what caused them as Gabitril is an antiseizure med....  Dosage of Gabitril was lowered but I went back to being depressed and the next year was horrible as usual.   I suffer from SAD (you become depressed when the seasons change when the days become shorter because of lack of chemicals in the brain) so I was prescribed Zoloft last Sept. to help me with the severe depression I was battling.  When I couldn't stand the constant headaches and stomache aches I had for a month straight, I quit taking the Zoloft (an antidepressant) and stupidly didn't tell my doctor before doing so.  I suddenly started feeling normal again!  When I went in to see my psychiatrist that month, he noticed the change in me and was asking all kinds of questions.  Guess he was trying to figure out what had happened to his never manic bipolar.  Then I was telling him I couldn't stand taking the Zoloft and had to quit taking it.  That was the reason that I had cycled into the mania - that quitting the antidepressent did it.  So isn't that a good indication of bipolar?????  If it will bring you out of depression into mania?  When I was put on the Gabitril, it was not the Gabitril that caused the mania.  We figured out later that drug never worked for me.  It was being taken off the antidepressents that caused the mania cycle for me.  I am on Topamax now and it does seem to work somewhat, but don't know for how long.  It is a daily struggle.  Spend lots of time sleeping; I am not able to work and am on disability.   

My husband thinks I am lazy and his family is ashamed of my illness and thinks talking about it will make it go away.  My mother is proud of my sister and brother because they refuse to admit they have emotional problems even though my brother has been treated for mental illness his entire adult life, just like me, and my sister has had treatment a time or two also.  My brother's daughter was diagnosed with ADHD? and I bet is probably bipolar.  She made his life a living hell.  My sister's two daughters have been diagnosed Bipolar and are taking meds for it.   The other daughter has problems but just hasn't been treated....   Yet my mother insists there is no bipolar that is hereditary in our family.  My mother and father have sure done their fair share of crazy stuff themselves, too!  Denial will make it go away.  That is the thinking in many families.  So instead of having family support when a person does go seek help, a lot of time you receive backlash, and those who should be seeking professional counseling/meds are receiving pats on the back for not disgracing the family for mental help.  Makes no sense, does it????  I wish society would get over the stigma so we could get some progress/treatment/education in the mental health fields about this subject.  My family could sure benefit from it.  LOL! 

Remember, always work with your doctors, take your meds every day, and don't try to self diagnose....   

As a child I grew up on a farm with horses and in a family of hell, I think the horses are what provided me some companionship/hope/therapy.  We were poor, but the horses made us feel like we were special, kind of like Dolly Parton's "coat of many colors" that she sings about in her famous song.  As a result of such a traumatic childhood, I could never interact with people normally, but I was always an animal lover, especially horses.  I didn't have any horses in my life from about age 16 to 38 yrs. but now have them once again.   I don't know how I lived without them all those years when life was so tough and there was nobody to talk to...   I have struggled my whole life with severe depression, tried to commit suicide as a teenager, had thoughts of suicide.  I now know looking back that I had symptoms of bipolar growing up (I was diagnosed Bipolar about 2 yrs. ago) and am now almost 48.   

Anyway, the reason I brought up the horse therapy is because when I went into the chronic severe depression in 2000 that lasted for 3 years I had owned horses again for just a couple of years.  I have always had a special bond with my horses.  They are more like friends than animals.  No matter how badly I felt, I knew I had to get up every morning and go outside to water and feed them.  Same in the afternoon.  There is nothing like the sweet face of a loving horse to greet you when you feel like crap and are sad and depressed morning and afternoon.  They are never angry or judgemental.  My horses fight for my attention.  Never have humans crowded around me, made me feel important, or even paid attention to me when I spoke.  I have never felt like anyone has ever loved me, yet I get that feeling from my 4-legged friends.  In the past I have taken abused horses and rehabilitated them where they will trust again because I know what it was like for them.   I have several that will share my iced tea with me.  I can kiss them on their cute little noses and they kiss me back.   I don't feel well enough to ride them very often, but just being there is what counts for me.  I have another bipolar friend who also has horses as her therapy.  My psychologist told me that she thinks that my horses have probably been the biggest contributing factor in keeping me out of the hospital.   And I know she is right. 

I think it is now being widely recognized that animals help with bipolar and similar diagnoses.  There are lots of therapeutic riding groups doing work with children with disabilities.  I know having horses has sure made the difference with me.  Maybe you could find out how to check in your area and see if they have anything like that.