The faces of bipolar

Me manic, me depressed, me healthy

Many people don’t realize that bipolar affects not just my brain but my actual health. The photos above were all taken within a six month period, in my opinion I look like a different person in each of them. This summer my kids went through some very challenging things, even with my best effort it still impacted me deeply, I ended up manic. People also don’t realize that because of my mental illness I don’t always seek out the medical help I need, therefore I can go long periods of time with unaddressed health issues especially if I’m having episodes, which is what happened this summer. I had a physical collapse and ended up in emergency. I eventually found out I was dangerously anemic and my blood pressure was really high, it took me being barely able to walk to seek help. People think mental illness is just in our heads, but mental illness impacts ALL of my life. My brain is literally the lens in which I experience the world and when it’s not well many areas of my life are impacted, including my physical health, I think the photos above really show the reality of this.

I share this to share the reality of life with mental illness, for those that live with these challenges it’s an ongoing battle with our own brains for our health, it’s why being supportive is so important, sometimes when we are not well we neglect ourselves to a dangerous end.