I am a 42-year-old general practitioner with bipolar disorder – I have had three major manic psychoses requiring hospital admission, most recently in October 2022. The oversight of the Medical Board has been both a help and a hindrance to my quality of life and recovery. It helped me put boundaries in place when I was unable to see for myself how slowly I should return to work. On the other hand, it felt like it went on endlessly with reviews and specialists reviewing my situation, and telling my story repeatedly.
Now, two years into my most recent set of conditions on my registration I am heading towards an exit from the health program and looking forward to having the freedom to practice medicine as my treating practitioners and I see fit. I am currently mood stabilised on Epilim and while there are some nuisance side effects I am grateful to have clarity of mind.
“If I was speaking to someone diagnosed with bipolar disorder who had wildly fluctuating moods who wanted to know what the future held, I would let them know what I say to everyone living with a chronic condition – it’s part of you and there is no point in wishing it away.”
If I was speaking to someone diagnosed with bipolar disorder who had wildly fluctuating moods who wanted to know what the future held, I would let them know what I say to everyone living with a chronic condition – it’s part of you and there is no point in wishing it away. Spending time wishing it away causes pain to build. Your future has huge potential and bipolar will be part of that. There will be times it will be a pleasant part of life, like when hypomania makes cleaning the house fun and satisfying, and there will be times when you feel like you hit rock bottom as your mind focuses on pathways of pain amid depressive episodes.
Navigating the fluctuation while proceeding on the journey of life has its quirks but there are many tools that can help steer the mind in a helpful direction. A specialist psychologist can provide the ideal direction so that you don’t miss out on options that are proven to help with quality of life. Key here is good, consistent mood charting combined with strategies to employ when the chart shows signs of teetering. This leads you to the best chance of avoiding the outreaches of high and low mood and allows you to work within a functional range to enjoy whatever it is you choose to do with the rest of your life.
“A specialist psychologist can provide the ideal direction so that you don’t miss out on options that are proven to help with quality of life.”
