One Man's Battle With Bipolar Disorder
By: Lauren Murphy
Updated: November 8, 2007
We've probably all met people who can be really irritable on Monday, then sweet as can be on Tuesday.
Those folks are often wrongly labeled as bipolar, but true bipolar disorder is an entirely different thing.
Nearly one percent of the population suffers from this mood disorder, meaning about two thousand people in Lubbock swing from extreme depression to unbridled mania.
Bipolar disorder occurs equally in men and women.
Psychiatrists say it's independent of life experiences like traumas or disappointments.
One anonymous Lubbock resident shares his experience with twenty years of living with bipolar disorder.
"The lowest was I wanted to blow the brains out. I didn't want to live. I didn't think there was much hope."
He also described period of uncontrollable mania, and his decision to finally get help.
"Realizing that I was going to lose everything ultimately, wife, kids, everything."
Now that man began treatment a few months ago, and it has completely changed his life.
He says there's hope for others that lives day to day with that same disorder.
