This month marks a year since the most challenging time of my life. December will mark a year since I finally decided to take the help my family was offering. February is the month I received my mental health diagnosis.
This has been the most difficult, telling, revolutionary year of my life to date.
I was previously aware of some of the challenges that come with a mental health diagnosis, but they aren’t all as obvious as you would think.
No one tells you how heartbreaking it is to watch your family try to help you when there is almost nothing they can do. You may want the help or you may not. That doesn’t make it easier to watch. All a loving family wants is to help make things better, but the level of help I needed was professional, and it was much more than they alone were able to provide for me emotionally.
No commercial talks about how expensive it will be to get the complete help that you need. Consultations aren’t always free. You might not get the right psychiatrist right away, which will end up calling for additional consultations. It’s likely that therapy will be a supplemental treatment to the medication, so add that on to the bill too. How much are your meds? Well that depends on what you’re taking, how high your dosage is, and what your insurance is looking like. I’m lucky enough to have a good job and a decent healthcare plan and it still isn’t cheap.
Speaking of medication, let’s touch on that. No one explains just how physically taxing it can be to find the right medication for your specific body chemistry. Well, I guess the sped up portion of the commercial ad does. One of the harder parts of this process for me has been managing the physical side effects that come with these types of medication. Dizziness, light-headedness, nausea, drowsiness, loss of appetite, irritability, and hypomania are the few that I personally dealt with.When you feel like you are on the constant verge of a meltdown the last the last thing you want is to physically feel like shit. These symptoms lasted consistently for two months without letting up. I look back a year and I can’t believe that this all took place in the longest 12 months of my life. I’ve changed my entire lifestyle to better accommodate a new me. Hopefully, a better me. Family and friends say that they notice a difference and that they can tell I’m in a much better place. I hope the place I’m in continues to get better.
Sam Pursues 