Readers have commented on and asked follow-up questions about my July 3, 2006 entry on Children and Bipolar Disorder. Some expressed sadness that children’s lives have become more complicated and stressful. While this may be true, it is not clear that there are more children with bipolar disorder ...
-
un-diagnosed bi-polar until I was 43
Alicia Trautman
Friday, March 28, 2008 at 03:27 AM
When I was 13 yrs. old, my family moved to another town b/c of my dad's work. I was extremely angry & sad, very depressed. I loved where we had been living since I was 4 yrs.old. All I had ever really known was Due West. Had many close friends. It was a tight knit, small college town (Erskine College in SC). I was devastated & hated my parents for "doing" that to me. I had a hard time finding my "niche" of friends, went through several. I finally ended up in the alcohol/drugs/smoking/promicuous group. Got pregnant @ 16 & remember blaming my parents for taking me away from my life, ruining it. I am 47 & just now realizing how many times I would sit in my bedroom & hope that my parents would come & hold me & tell me everything is going to be alright. They didn't know how to talk to me. Many times I was hateful, diobedient & down right disrespectful. Throwing tantrums & yelling @ my parents. Skipping school. Partying. I've managed to get a BS in Biology & a MAT in Biology,Chemistry & Physics, a CDL. I've had so many jobs & quit on impulse many times b/c I wanted to do something else, like go to a bar or concert... I have 1 son & am on my 3rd marriage. I truely beleive that I was bi-polar all this time & nobody knew why I was so "different". I get manic & go on spending sprees & I get depressed & don't do anything for days. I am bi-polar & it took teaching full time @ a small high school, which just happen to be in Due West, being the varsity cheerleading coach & sponsor of the Jr. Academy of Science, as well as teaching Anatomy & Physiology @ night @ Piedmont Tech. College @ night to break me. After 3 yrs. of that, I gradually became to hate it all & became suicidal 10/03. I am thankful that there are researchers out there trying to help young people, like I was. Maybe their lives won't be so traumatic as mine. Believe me, this little story is just the tip of the iceberg! I'm taking ECT now, along w/ meds. & it is/has helped tremendously. I started out suicidal..then chronically depressed (2 suicide attempts). Still think about it sometimes, not as much. Been institutionalized twice. If you would like to hear any info. from me just e-mail or send a letter.
Alicia Mundy Trautman
512 Stonewood Dr.
Greenwood, SC 29649
a.rainbowtrout@yahoo.com
When I was 13 yrs. old, my family moved to another town b/c of my dad's work. I was extremely angry & sad, very depressed. I loved where we had been living since I was 4 yrs.old. All I had ever really known was Due West. Had many close friends. It was a tight knit, small college town (Erskine College in SC). I was devastated & hated my parents for "doing" that to me. I had a hard time finding my "niche" of friends, went through several. I finally ended up in the alcohol/drugs/smoking/promicuous group. Got pregnant @ 16 & remember blaming my parents for taking me away from my life, ruining it. I am 47 & just now realizing how many times I would sit in my bedroom & hope that my parents would come & hold me & tell me everything is going to be alright. They didn't know how to talk to me. Many times I was hateful, diobedient & down right disrespectful. Throwing tantrums & yelling @ my parents. Skipping school. Partying. I've managed to get a BS in Biology & a MAT in Biology,Chemistry & Physics, a CDL. I've had so many jobs & quit on impulse many times b/c I wanted to do something else, like go to a bar or concert... I have 1 son & am on my 3rd marriage. I truely beleive that I was bi-polar all this time & nobody knew why I was so "different". I get manic & go on spending sprees & I get depressed & don't do anything for days. I am bi-polar & it took teaching full time @ a small high school, which just happen to be in Due West, being the varsity cheerleading coach & sponsor of the Jr. Academy of Science, as well as teaching Anatomy & Physiology @ night @ Piedmont Tech. College @ night to break me. After 3 yrs. of that, I gradually became to hate it all & became suicidal 10/03. I am thankful that there are researchers out there trying to help young people, like I was. Maybe their lives won't be so traumatic as mine. Believe me, this little story is just the tip of the iceberg! I'm taking ECT now, along w/ meds. & it is/has helped tremendously. I started out suicidal..then chronically depressed (2 suicide attempts). Still think about it sometimes, not as much. Been institutionalized twice. If you would like to hear any info. from me just e-mail or send a letter.
Alicia Mundy Trautman
512 Stonewood Dr.
Greenwood, SC 29649
a.rainbowtrout@yahoo.com