Reboot

A woman's struggle to deal with bipolar disorder as it affects all of her life's aspects; her jobs, her relationships, her ability to live her life normally. She is not diagnosed until middle-age; her diagnosis is not the end of her quest to find out what is wrong with her life. She has to then find a doctor and medications that will work in her individual case. The journey is long and the destination is in doubt. Bipolar disorder is a common, often undiagnosed mental illness that affects about four percent of the population. It is a challenge to get diagnosed, to find a doctor who understands and is able to treat the disorder, and to find the right combination of medications that will balance the mania and depression that are the hallmarks of the mental illness. A person with bipolar disorder cannot control his or her moods and consequently their lives spin out of control as they self-medicate with alcohol and drugs and make poor judgment calls. Many do not recognize that they have an illness and do not seek treatment. This book is an introduction to some of the problems and some of the solutions that can be found for bipolar disorder. It is fictional, but the situations are often found with people who have the disorder.