The Bipolar Writer (Work In Progress)

The Bipolar Writer is a non-fiction memoir told from the point-of-view of James Edgar Skye (my pen name)  about a man named David (who are one and the same because I am David). The memoir itself will mostly be written as if James was living the life because I think using my pen name would be best for this piece.

Any and all names of the people in my life will be changed to ensure anonymity.

My memoir chronicles my experiences from the early years before my diagnosis and the years of 2007-2017, a ten-year span of my diagnosis with Bipolar One with depressive and manic episodes, along with anxiety,  and insomnia.

The context of the memoir will include journal entries, various chapters on my experiences living with the mental illnesses that I suffer from, poems, and other musings that have happened in the ten-year span.

The subject matter includes but not limited to:

Stories about three different suicide attempts over the years. I will share my experiences with social anxiety, insomnia, and mania. I will talk about what helps me with my mental illness awareness. I will talk about how much my experiences have changed me both good and bad. How over the years I found solace in my writing, mediation, and music.

Other Topics

• Medication and how it changed over the years.
  • How Ativan has changed me. How it can be addictive and how without it my anxiety spirals. Also about the ups and downs with dosages.
  • How Seroquel is the only way I sleep.
  • How Anti-depressants have changed over the ten year period.
  • My experience with the mood-stabilizer lithium.
• Psychiatrists, and how over the years I have gone through many different ones that have brought different aspects to my diagnosis.
• Different types of hospital visits.
  • How the ER has never been effective for me.
• How therapy changed the course of my diagnosis.
• Insurance and my difficulties over the years.
  • How Obamacare changed the course of my diagnosis.
• Depression (which will cover many different aspects)
• Anxiety and social anxiety and how I have dealt.
  • A whole series about my social anxiety life.
• I will talk about living with Manic Episodes.
• Trips to the psychiatric ward.
• My experiences with the American Healthcare System.

My memoir The Bipolar Writer is an extension of my blog but it my story, complete, over a ten year period of a Bipolar anxiety insomnia that filled my life.

This project is currently underway so this list may grow or shrink as I continue to write!

Photo Credit:

unsplash-logoStefano Pollio