Posted by Gracie2 on March 14, 2003, at 14:56:51
In reply to Re: Perspective on Fears, posted by syringachalet on March 14, 2003, at 11:42:02
Another thing that I am finding helpful for myself is to try and help others in pain. It gets your mind off your own problems for awhile, and it does seem to me, these days, that the more love you throw out there into the universe, the more love comes back to you, although not in ways that you would expect. As I've said before, true recovery is a spiritual matter, and I'm finding this to be a sort of cosmic law. To help me understand this, I've been listening to tapes and watching recorded talks of Wayne Dyer, and they've helped me to calm down, to not panic, at what I consider to be a dreadful situation. Maybe I need to go through this to be happy again someday, who knows.
Anyway, what I'm doing myself is trying to help my cousin. Her son also has bipolar disorder, and he's put her through hell. She owes thousands of dollars in medical bills and attorney's fees, and her son is in prison. At the same time, she's trying to care for her son's toddler and work full time and overtime at a physically demanding job (the little thing is a highway construction worker). She's depressed about her son, the breakup of her own common-law marriage (her partner couldn't take any more of her son's violence and mood swings), and the long and painful death of her beloved mother from colon cancer, another recent tragedy in her life.
She's afraid that anti-depressants will make her too tired to work at her job, so she won't take them. In fact, she's using meth-amphetamine just to give her the energy to get through the day, and I'm terrified for her. I don't think she knows how the stuff is made (one of the ingredients used in making "crank" is Draino - yep, drain cleaners caustic enough to unplug a clogged pipe)and what it can do to your body.
I do love her, and I want to help her out. I'm trying to educate her about bipolar disorder. Thankfully, her son has been properly diagnosed and is taking medication during his prison term.
I want to give her hope, to let her know that her son can live a normal life once he's out of prison, as long as he stays on his medication.I'm going to try and convince her that she's desperately depressed and in need of psychiatric help herself. Maybe I can talk her into getting the help she needs. Maybe you know somebody who needs help, too.
-God bless,
Gracie
poster:Gracie2
thread:207662
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/social/20030308/msgs/209120.html