OH! THE MADNESS!!!

I have to admit it. My life has not been too groovy lately, especially the last couple of days. As I mentioned before, my husband, Kevin, suffers from mental illness, a genetic trait he inherited from his mom's side of the family. Kevin's grandmother was schizophrenic. She spend several years at Bryce Hospital in Tuscaloosa. Most of those years were before he and I even met. But, I do remember us going down there to pick her up once for Thanksgiving. She was finally able to come home. She was a precious lady. Kevin's mother was diagnosed, later in life, as manic depressant/bipolar. I remember the onset of it. Kevin and I went to her house to visit, and she was talking off the top of her head...just saying weird things. We knew that something was up. Thankfully, the doctors were able to get her on lithium and some other meds that controlled it. Actually, the list of family members goes on. There are other members in Kevin's family that have suffered from some form of mental illness. One has recently had shock therapy. It's not just a thing they used to do! There is some short-term memory loss immediately after the treatment, but eventually, it all comes back. It seems to help the illness in some twisted sort of way. Kevin was diagnosed with major depressive disorder several years back. I think he needs a new diagnosis. I'm afraid that it has progressed to a more serious one. It is hard living with someone who has a mental illness. I have had to remind myself several times that his mind doesn't work the way mine does, or the way I think it should. I have learned a lot about what mental illness does to people, just by living with him. He has his good days, but his bad days outnumber them by far. He is on medication, but I am thinking that his body has built up a tolerance to it. He had a breakdown yesterday. I took him to his medical doctor. She is very understanding. She adjusted his meds and has him scheduled to speak to a psychiatrist. I think this will help him a lot. I mentioned in an earlier post that Kevin's mother passed away in May, and he has taken it very hard. He is the baby of the family and was very close to his mother. She understood him. She understood what he was going through when he would have his bouts with the depression. I try to understand him, but I don't have the insight that she had, having dealt with it herself. So, I think that speaking to a therapist may help him better than anything.

Sorry to bring you down. I hope to be able to turn this blog back around and start telling you about my "groovy" life. It will get better. Just bear with me. This is just something that we are going through right now, and I find solace in writing about it. In the meantime, let me know if you or someone you know suffers from mental illness and how you have dealt with it. I appreciate all your comments.