Have you ever had an experience with someone who was a crazy person before?
If you want tell your story in here you can.
If you want tell your story in here you can.
insane
- Thread starter Riot87
- Start date
-
This message board permanently closed on June 30th, 2020 at 4PM EDT and is no longer accepting new members.
I have bipolar disorder if that counts as crazy.
I've had lots of experiences of myself.
I've had lots of experiences of myself.
Yes.
I had a friend during college days, a really talented young woman who was bi-polar and who had maxed out her dosage (lithium) when I met her. The problem with her was that she would periodically take herself off the stuff, and then wonder why she'd ended up in the Vanderbilt Psychiatric Wing.
I've had other manic or bi-polar friends, and I'm still friends with them to this day, but I'm not with her. It became too hard to remain her friend, because she abused my (and others') tolerance of her and her insistence that she didn't need her meds. She never understood that it was the meds that helped her remain stable.
So the last time she had a crying jag and sat at the bottom of a ditch by the side of a road one summer, while our dates sat in the car and exchanged that "CRAZY WOMAN ON BOARD" look that only guys can exchange with each other, I vowed it was the last time I'd hustle her into a car and take her home.
Every now and then I run into a mutual friend and they always tell me that she's still a yo-yo. I wish her well.
I had a friend during college days, a really talented young woman who was bi-polar and who had maxed out her dosage (lithium) when I met her. The problem with her was that she would periodically take herself off the stuff, and then wonder why she'd ended up in the Vanderbilt Psychiatric Wing.
I've had other manic or bi-polar friends, and I'm still friends with them to this day, but I'm not with her. It became too hard to remain her friend, because she abused my (and others') tolerance of her and her insistence that she didn't need her meds. She never understood that it was the meds that helped her remain stable.
So the last time she had a crying jag and sat at the bottom of a ditch by the side of a road one summer, while our dates sat in the car and exchanged that "CRAZY WOMAN ON BOARD" look that only guys can exchange with each other, I vowed it was the last time I'd hustle her into a car and take her home.
Every now and then I run into a mutual friend and they always tell me that she's still a yo-yo. I wish her well.
I've known a few bi-polar people in my time. Naturally curious question here... Some of them have said they don't want to take the meds because the highs are so amazing... Is this true? Pardon my question, but anyone willing to shed any light on this?
It always seems to me that the people that need these meds don't want to take them and people that don't need them want to take them.
The highs generally lead to delusions, such as a belief in abilities you don't have or an exaggerated sense of self-importance. It also leads to reckless behaviour like spending money you don't have, obsessing over goals that are unattainable, sexual promiscuity and other similar things. Most manic depressives do themselves the most lasting damage when they are having a manic episode. It generally just makes you behave totally irrationally and there are often long term consequences of that.
The depressive side is obviously not much fun either, but I always manage that relatively well.
Not taking the meds - particularly anti-psychotics or mood stabilising drugs - is a bad idea.
It's true that many people with Bipolar Disorder say that they don't take their meds because when the manic phase is happening it feels good.
The problem is that they're not counting on the other end of the spectrum.
Bipolar disorder used to be called Manic-depression, but they amended the name because it can be any two extremes. After the mania, they might have a bout of depression, or rage, or suicidal tendencies, or... anything. And, as high as the high gets, the other side of the coin is just as extreme, if not worse.
Leaving an extremely mentally ill person in charge of their own medication makes no sense whatsoever. They're not capable of making that decision. That's not to sleight them, I just think it takes away from their quality of life. And that of those around them.
I've got a much more hideous story I could tell about being around a mentally ill person, but I'll stick to a couple of aunts.
I've got triplet aunts, born on my granny's birthday. Two of them are identical, one fraternal. The two identicals insist that they were implanted in gramma's womb by aliens when she was pregnant with the fraternal. They claim that they have a guardian angel that only they can see: a robot named Thaddeus. And they say that when we die, we all go back to the mother ship. If you want to be reborn with all of your memories intact, turn right just before you get to the ship. (I never asked what happens if you turn left. You go to hell, I guess.) And they're SERIOUS. They believe this. Every word.
10 years ago I came to experience life in a psychiatric ward as I battled anorexia and I met my fair share of crazies there. One of them was pushing the walls, that was his thing. Anytime of the day you'd see him with his hands on the walls, pushing. There was an incident once with a patient who couldn't get out of the toilet because the "wall man" was pushing the toilet door and wouldn't let go.
There was also this old man who was stuck in one precise moment during WW2 where the town of Caen in Normandy was under attack. He was emotionally and mentally stuck at that moment with no concept of people or things around him. And you could see the terror on his face, it was permanently there. Hell on earth in my opinion.
I obviously had some of the craziest conversations in there. One of them asked me once about one of the doctors:" I think Dr XXX is doing a lot better, don't you think? He was a lot calmer during our last session". It was hard to keep a straight face for sure! But I always had a penchant for the absurd so I actually loved those conversations and sometimes among all the utter nonsense there were amazing pearls of wisdom to be heard.
We became quite chummy for the time of a summer and then I was on the road to recovery so I left. I took on a job as a receptionist in a big furniture store and one day one of them came to the store during the 2 hours he was allowed to leave the hospital for and was amazed to see me there. I was a little embarassed, I'm ashamed to admit it, as he was wearing a very strange and garish combination of clothes and the way he was speaking so loudly to me made me wary of people in my work seeing it. But that was nothing. The next day he came back with 6 other "crazies", (with the same sense of style) there were all so excited to see me, one by one they took me in their arms and they stayed for about half an hour. Yes, I was embarassed but everytime I think about it again, I'm laughing!
There was also this old man who was stuck in one precise moment during WW2 where the town of Caen in Normandy was under attack. He was emotionally and mentally stuck at that moment with no concept of people or things around him. And you could see the terror on his face, it was permanently there. Hell on earth in my opinion.
I obviously had some of the craziest conversations in there. One of them asked me once about one of the doctors:" I think Dr XXX is doing a lot better, don't you think? He was a lot calmer during our last session". It was hard to keep a straight face for sure! But I always had a penchant for the absurd so I actually loved those conversations and sometimes among all the utter nonsense there were amazing pearls of wisdom to be heard.
We became quite chummy for the time of a summer and then I was on the road to recovery so I left. I took on a job as a receptionist in a big furniture store and one day one of them came to the store during the 2 hours he was allowed to leave the hospital for and was amazed to see me there. I was a little embarassed, I'm ashamed to admit it, as he was wearing a very strange and garish combination of clothes and the way he was speaking so loudly to me made me wary of people in my work seeing it. But that was nothing. The next day he came back with 6 other "crazies", (with the same sense of style) there were all so excited to see me, one by one they took me in their arms and they stayed for about half an hour. Yes, I was embarassed but everytime I think about it again, I'm laughing!
Last edited:
They were probably glad to see "one of their own" doing so well. How many happy endings come out of a place like that?
Yes! I truly am not disparaging manic depressives, but damn, it's hard to deal with them when they're off their meds.
That's very true Lepplady, and I know that's why they were so pleased to see me there. I've chosen to remember mostly the light, almost joyful times from that experience and not the rest (what I was going through at the time for one and the tragic scenes I also saw there on a daily basis) . I can't pass that hospital anymore without wondering if so and so is still there and how they're doing. I'd actually say that in some respect the patients in that place helped me more than the doctors themselves.
I don't believe my mom was mentally healthy at least some of the time. She wasn't diagnosed with anything, though - well, there was a "nervous breakdown" that she said the doctor said about her when I was in my young teens. She seemed the same to me.
I've run into a few. One guy I remember. Good-looking, well-spoken, but "manic depressive" was the terminology of the time. On his meds (lithium), he was fine. Off his meds, and he would degenerate into a disheveled, violent man. He'd get arrested, go to jail, get back on his meds, and plead with the system. They'd let him out because he was so nice. After a while, back off his meds. Lather, rinse, repeat. I remember finally reading about his death at too young of an age and remember thinking, there's a guy where saying "rest in peace" has some real teeth.
Another guy I remember. Wrapped himself in aluminum foil to ward off evil rays. Would pour motor oil into house plants to try to strengthen them - of course, all that happened was a house full of dead plants. Lived with his mother and aunt or sister. They finally turned him in and said, "Please take him," when they stumbled out of the trailer one night, gagging and coughing. He was at the furnace, pouring Clorox onto the hot surfaces in order for the chlorine fumes to purge the "bad air." I don't know how he didn't get his lungs burned. He was taking to the mental ward of the local hospital. I don't know what happened to him.
Another guy I came across. He was simply a sociopath. He was bright and likable until you realized how you could tell he was lying - his lips were moving. He couldn't put together an honest deal if he wanted to. He was incapable of it. He couldn't follow traffic laws. He simply had to be deceitful in every word and action. I'd call him mentally ill.
Hey, you live long enough, and you cross paths with these characters.
I've run into a few. One guy I remember. Good-looking, well-spoken, but "manic depressive" was the terminology of the time. On his meds (lithium), he was fine. Off his meds, and he would degenerate into a disheveled, violent man. He'd get arrested, go to jail, get back on his meds, and plead with the system. They'd let him out because he was so nice. After a while, back off his meds. Lather, rinse, repeat. I remember finally reading about his death at too young of an age and remember thinking, there's a guy where saying "rest in peace" has some real teeth.
Another guy I remember. Wrapped himself in aluminum foil to ward off evil rays. Would pour motor oil into house plants to try to strengthen them - of course, all that happened was a house full of dead plants. Lived with his mother and aunt or sister. They finally turned him in and said, "Please take him," when they stumbled out of the trailer one night, gagging and coughing. He was at the furnace, pouring Clorox onto the hot surfaces in order for the chlorine fumes to purge the "bad air." I don't know how he didn't get his lungs burned. He was taking to the mental ward of the local hospital. I don't know what happened to him.
Another guy I came across. He was simply a sociopath. He was bright and likable until you realized how you could tell he was lying - his lips were moving. He couldn't put together an honest deal if he wanted to. He was incapable of it. He couldn't follow traffic laws. He simply had to be deceitful in every word and action. I'd call him mentally ill.
Hey, you live long enough, and you cross paths with these characters.
It really does say a lot about this board that I felt today that I could talk about this experience on here, when just about a month ago (when the death of Robin Williams brought a lot conversation on the subject) I swore I would never discuss my own struggles with mental illness on a public forum.
I say long live the SKMB
I say long live the SKMB
BeverleyMarsh - I agree, and I loved your sharing about that time. I like reading about mental issues. I have two close friends that suffer bi-polar disease (is that the right word, disease?). One has a very supportive husband and he keeps his eye on her meds and I've had to alert him a time or two when I think she's not quite "right". Sometimes those meds need adjusting. And she's doing fine. She's got a big family and we all try to keep her close. The other friend is a trainwreck. She's got addiction issues, as well as her disease and she can't get it right and keep it right. Her husband keeps trying, bless him, and right now, she's good. Better than I've seen her in while. But we all worry the next binge/breakdown is right around the corner. Her kids are in middle school and good friends of my kids and it's so hard on them (her kids). And almost two years ago (Oct 22) one of my dearest friends committed suicide. She wasn't diagnosed, but I know she wasn't well. They can do and say some pretty entertaining things. Once my friend thought her vegetable garden was talking to her. She thought it was great, the things they told her were deeply spiritual and moving. It's astonishing what your own mind can do without you being aware of it.
Thanks for sharing and I'm really sorry to hear about the loss of your friend
Had a kind of close encounter of the Klinger kind. Heh! This other time, was talking with the orphan, Ramon Diaz, and he says to me Walter, how many are walking the streets? There was another Ray, we both knew, walked the street bouncing a ball, this that the other. Said he wanted only to find a place where nobody will fock with him, where he will be left alone. Blown-out clothes, blown out tennies, blown. Tile man, formerly, in Florida.
But there was this once, this other time, new hospital hadn't even moved in as yet, not completely, and I'm helping to check someone in. Big sighs. Big sad times. Big sad tears. Checking in, right...and they have me help carry the file over to the new wing. It wasn't a file...it was a file drawer...I had a stack in my arms and the lady had a stack in her arms. Another was in a wheelchair...or did she walk...memory. I have that disease that makes you forget, Anderson's disease. Some heavy duty time passages there. Time warp. Passed on now...but there was a time in between I can't even...but the passing included no doubt the reason for one of many trips, a call for help. I can't get over that stack of files...from a young age I mean onward and onward and I was only another slog in The Combine. Sc-airy is a social worker or doctor who is...ill. You get that Annie Wilkes vibe only not so obvious but by their fruit you shall know them.
But there was this once, this other time, new hospital hadn't even moved in as yet, not completely, and I'm helping to check someone in. Big sighs. Big sad times. Big sad tears. Checking in, right...and they have me help carry the file over to the new wing. It wasn't a file...it was a file drawer...I had a stack in my arms and the lady had a stack in her arms. Another was in a wheelchair...or did she walk...memory. I have that disease that makes you forget, Anderson's disease. Some heavy duty time passages there. Time warp. Passed on now...but there was a time in between I can't even...but the passing included no doubt the reason for one of many trips, a call for help. I can't get over that stack of files...from a young age I mean onward and onward and I was only another slog in The Combine. Sc-airy is a social worker or doctor who is...ill. You get that Annie Wilkes vibe only not so obvious but by their fruit you shall know them.
I have someone in my family that is
she is my cousin and she is schizophrenic and bi polar and if she doesnt take her pills
well lets just say its not good she will freak out its pretty scary
she is my cousin and she is schizophrenic and bi polar and if she doesnt take her pills
well lets just say its not good she will freak out its pretty scary
Yes. I grew up surrounded by them. It was not fun. Not even a little bit.
Back then, it was all swept under the rug. If you were a kid, you had no value, and any abuse did not register on the radar of society.
Back then, it was all swept under the rug. If you were a kid, you had no value, and any abuse did not register on the radar of society.
...at the prison, I work around a horde of lunatics...and don't EVEN get me started on the inmates!....