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katerinalisa · 02-05-2003, 03:57 PM

I am a bit off kilter right now but I hope you can see the hope in my story overall and not look just at where I am right now...
I was first diagnosed BP at age 15 - tried TONS of meds...bad reactions or no response with each. I got into alcohol at age 8, then found drugs at 18....drugs, eating disorder, self injury, several $45k + spending sprees, hospitalizations where I was psychotic and was then given an added diagnosis of dissociative disorder which has since been removed, etc etc etc
At 24, my doc was finally convinced I was really ill...and he suggested the unimaginable....ECT. Electro Convulsive therapy. Honestly, I don't really remember much of that time period - things were pretty hazy for many years. But, I guess I was willing to try ANYTHING. I saw a couple other docs who agreed it was the thing to do - so I did it. FANTASTIC! The first several months were terrible (although, that is second hand info, again I don't really remember much). But I had stayed out of the hospital, clean/sober and relatively ok for the past 7 years. I had some major stresses in my life 1 month ago and ended up hospitalized last week but they adjusted my meds and I am trying to stay hopeful that things will get better again. 7 years out of the hospital - I have developed good relationships with people, I have worked the 12 steps a couple of times, and I have been promoted in my company from a call center rep to a programmer - they trainined me in house! Pretty amazing to think where I was before I got clean/sober and then found the ECT treatments.....The past 7 years have been far better than anything I could have imagined. Even though I had to go into the hospiltal this time, it was really more an effort for me to keep the wonderful things I have in my life (I tend to screw things up pretty bad when I am off kilter) rather than because I did something STUPID! So, I hope you can find hope in that

DON'T GIVE UP....NO MATTER WHAT - keep searching ...the answers are there, but the right people and the right solutions just haven't presented themselves in your life yet - hole on until they do!
-kl

02-05-2003, 03:57 PM	#3 (permalink)
katerinalisa Paused Join Date: Jan 2003 Location: denver Posts: 3	hope I am a bit off kilter right now but I hope you can see the hope in my story overall and not look just at where I am right now... I was first diagnosed BP at age 15 - tried TONS of meds...bad reactions or no response with each. I got into alcohol at age 8, then found drugs at 18....drugs, eating disorder, self injury, several $45k + spending sprees, hospitalizations where I was psychotic and was then given an added diagnosis of dissociative disorder which has since been removed, etc etc etc At 24, my doc was finally convinced I was really ill...and he suggested the unimaginable....ECT. Electro Convulsive therapy. Honestly, I don't really remember much of that time period - things were pretty hazy for many years. But, I guess I was willing to try ANYTHING. I saw a couple other docs who agreed it was the thing to do - so I did it. FANTASTIC! The first several months were terrible (although, that is second hand info, again I don't really remember much). But I had stayed out of the hospital, clean/sober and relatively ok for the past 7 years. I had some major stresses in my life 1 month ago and ended up hospitalized last week but they adjusted my meds and I am trying to stay hopeful that things will get better again. 7 years out of the hospital - I have developed good relationships with people, I have worked the 12 steps a couple of times, and I have been promoted in my company from a call center rep to a programmer - they trainined me in house! Pretty amazing to think where I was before I got clean/sober and then found the ECT treatments.....The past 7 years have been far better than anything I could have imagined. Even though I had to go into the hospiltal this time, it was really more an effort for me to keep the wonderful things I have in my life (I tend to screw things up pretty bad when I am off kilter) rather than because I did something STUPID! So, I hope you can find hope in that DON'T GIVE UP....NO MATTER WHAT - keep searching ...the answers are there, but the right people and the right solutions just haven't presented themselves in your life yet - hole on until they do! -kl