I was a straight ‘A’ student in middle and high school. I was on the Honor Roll almost every month; the school gave me a lot of awards and even gave me a scholarship to continue my studies. But after I had graduated from high school in August 2002 that was when my bipolar problem started to show more and more.
I was less busy and just had one part-time job because by this time the symptoms of bipolar were showing more and my health was deteriorating rapidly. I became emotionally weak, depressed, with mood swings, angry, mad, sad, manic, feeling evil, and so on. The days passed and I became worse and worse. I could not even deal with a part-time job; it was too much for me. My every day life was such a disaster that I was living dead. I couldn’t remember what I did an hour before.
My parents were desperate because they did not know what was happening to me or why I was so changed from a happy focused, straight ‘A’ student to a living dead person so suddenly. I failed most of my classes as well and I was about to lose my scholarship. I got to a point that I could not take anymore because I was so ill and the scary thing was that nobody knew a lot of what was going on with me because I did not tell anybody, not even my parents so they were not able to help nor was I in condition to ask for help or to find help for myself. So I had decided to kill myself.
A day or two before I had bought a couple of bottles of Bayer, Aspirin and Tylenol and one night I started taking a lot of pills, drinking from one bottle to the next and the next until I just could not drink them anymore and fell asleep. The next morning I was very weak and vomiting blood. So I was taken to the emergency room and from there they send me to Potomac Ridge because they diagnosed me with bipolar. A few days later they released me with the condition that I had to seek more professional help because they thought that I was doing very well; but I was just acting to make them think that I was doing wonderfully and on the contrary, I was horrible.
So, I was forced by my stepmother to see a therapist and I did for about two or three months then I quit. So after a few days I became worse and worse again. At this time I was even seeing my dead mother’s ghost; I was manic and angry. Sometimes I would leave the house barefoot and did not know where I was going. I was like something was controlling me. It felt like I was inside of a body that was making all the decisions and I just could not do anything about it. I would also panic about anything, and when I became manic I was so strong that my father had to hold me. I am only 108 lbs and he was 200-210 lbs. My family had to call the police to come and take me to the crisis center to get me sedated but the worse part of this was that I did not want to get psychiatric help or let any body help me. Because I thought ‘I am okay or I am not ill’ even though I could see that I was miserable and was causing my loved ones misery. Finally, my stepmother found a psychiatrist and she decided to take me to her for treatment, but I did not want nor was ready to be helped. But she took me to see Dr. Lee-Bloem and when I saw her I instantly hated her with all my heart. So I did not cooperate with her.
At that time I was not ready to get treated. I hated all adults, and she was one. So my stepmother kept taking me and telling me that she was going to continue taking me but it was useless because I was not cooperating in any way, so she gave up and let me be. Finally my stepmother stopped trying to get help for me or even helping me. She gave me all the medications that I was supposed to be taking to monitor them myself. She also stopped forcing me to go to the doctor. Dr. Lee-Bloem also told me that she couldn’t treat me if I was not going to cooperate. She also said that she would not treat me anymore until I made the decision to follow her directions and take my nutritional supplements. For a couple of months I was barely surviving, but I had isolated myself almost completely from the world.
By that time, I was back in college and that was the first year in college. I went from being a straight ‘A’ student to failing most of my classes to finally giving up completely. I would take the capsules of supplements, then stop taking them after I felt better. Each time I would slip back into my mania and depression. I wanted to give up but I had no energy to help myself or to ask for help. Finally, I knew that it was time to help myself. I had the desire to be well because I was tired of being ill and so lonely. Then, I decided to give a try and go back to Dr. Lee-Bloem.
Since I had that desire to get help, because nobody was helping me, and I am one of those people that had to do everything by myself, I decided to give it a try. I opened up to her; I trusted her, followed her instructions and even started to like her. Once I took that step I was able to give the second step and the third and so on. Before coming back to see her I was having from 2 to 3 manic episodes a week, I could not go to school, work or do anything else other than be in my room doing nothing. Now I am fully cured from bipolar from just following her therapy and taking my vitamins.
It is such a relief to be able to socialize better, do better in school, and be able to work. It’s a relief to my parents that I will be okay that they don’t have to worry about me all the time thinking that I may try to hurt myself or become sick while in public. That is one of the best things that I thank myself for going back to see Dr. Lee-Bloem. Now I take little vitamins and go to see her less and less and my parents greatly appreciate what a change the doctor has helped me get. With the EFT and breathing exercises and energy work and with her effort I now feel like I am a new person, as if I was never sick.
Now I have a full time job, go to college more than half-time, I have a wonderful relationship with my parents and I don’t have any bipolar symptoms at all. I am so happy and glad that I returned for my treatment because I haven’t had a manic attack for months and months. I like that because my parents don’t have to call the big guy (police) to come and get me. I also love the fact that I have become physically, emotionally, and psychologically healthy and strong and this allows me to handle any huge or small challenge. That is the kind of freedom that I have been able to get from the treatment. But I just want to make clear a point about the treatment.
I love Dr. Lee-Bloem’s form of providing her treatment not only because she is a professional, but she is always finding new ways to help her patients. Different forms of treatments work for each individual since we all need different treatment even though many of us have the same illness.