Hi, My name is Terri and i
am a 41 year old female who has been through the rampant of the mental
health illnesses. I live in Ohio, and have a house filled with
animals, to me they are good therapy, and i also have a very supportive
husband. My illness have consisted of Major Depression, panic
disorder, anorexia, OCD, which is under control for about 10 years now,
Schizoaffective bipolar and alcoholism. I was once misdiagnosed as
borderline personality disorder, i had a bad experience with that
diagnosis, a misinformed doctor.
At this point in my life i battle mainly with the schizoaffective bipolar
and also PTSD from childhood abuse, which i forgot to add, sorry. I
have been managing my panic disorder and am not longer practicing any
anorexic behavior in 15 years. One thing i have been doing for a
long time is researching all of these mental illnesses and others to find
out as much as i can to help myself and keep up on new treatments. I
have spent time in the hospitals, mainly the Veterans Administration
hospital, I was in the Air Force for 6 years where I began to drink
heavily to cover up the depression and anxiety i was feeling. I have
also been going to college for a long time studying social work and
psychology and am at a senior level but the courses don't go towards one
degree and i do not have the money to finish. Someday i know i will.
At one point in time i was a drug/alcohol counselor in the military, if
you can believe it and a peer counselor when i got out. By the way i
no longer drink for a number of years. It was strange, but once i
finally got the right treatment i just quit drinking, i never tried to
quit, it just happened, and now the smell of it makes me sick.
I am here to answer the questions i can, and if i don't know i
will try and find them for you, or if you just want to chat about an
mental health issue also.
We all need to become
knowledgeable of mental health issues so society will hopefully someday
remove the stigma that still exists. With that have a good day.
Wicketbears@aol.com
