Sunday, February 28, 2010

Welcome to Bipolar Motherhood

Ever since my daughter was born I've been meaning to write this blog. It's an extention from my original bipolar blog, My Bipolar Pregnancy. Over the last few years many readers have expressed interest in hearing more about the challenges and triumphs of motherhood -- from someone with bipolar disorder.

If you are new here, let me take a minute to tell you about my vision for this blog and a little about me.

My mission on this blog is to help moms feel a little more connected and less alone. Being bipolar can at times seem very lonely, but it shouldn't.

A few stats:
* Bipolar disorder affects approximately 5.7 million adult Americans, or about 2.6% of the U.S. population age 18 and older every year. (National Institute of Mental Health)

* The median age of onset for bipolar disorder is 25 years (National Institue of Mental Health), although the illness can start in early childhood or as late as the 40's and 50's.


* An equal number of men and women develop bipolar illness and it is found in all ages, races, ethnic groups and social classes.

* More than two-thirds of people with bipolar disorder have at least one close relative with the illness or with unipolar major depression, indicating that the disease has a heritable component. (National Institute of Mental Health)

For every 100 people you know almost 3 of them will have bipolar disorder. I think I have an abundance of friends who are bipolar. I think this makes me very lucky. It means that I have lots of people to turn to when life gets to be too hectic.

Anyway, so I'd like this blog to be a place where we can all share our experiences and learn from each other.

A little about Me
My name is Rachael and I'm the mother of a wonderful little girl. I've been diagnosed as having bipolar I disorder with psychosis and ultra cycling since 2003. Looking back on my life I have been bipolar for the majority of my life. If I look back it started about the time that I was 12. By the time I was 14 I was being treated for major unipolar depression and a variety of anxiety disorders.

I didn't get the proper treatment until I was diagnosed with bipolar disorder when I was 24. I truly hit rock bottom at that time. I went into full-blown mania followed by psychosis and then severe depression. It took years for me to recover.

In 2007 I got pregnant and had my first child - an amazing little girl. She is now just over 2 years old. I was stable for almost 5 years when she was born - however I haven't been stable since then. It's been a rough journey.

Well it is late and I need to try to go to sleep.

I hope that this blog will inspire you to share your story.