My Friend

I have recently made a new friend, however it feels like I have known her all my life. She is sweet, funny, caring, fun, all the admirable qualities you want in a friend. But she has a problem. She suffers from Bipolar I. I have only known her for a few months, but she has a heart of gold. I can see that she is a good person, full of life and love.

This weekend she was admitted into the hospital. She had become, "psychotic" and violent. I can see it in a way, she seems to be a spitfire! But again, she has a heart of gold. There were signs, signs that I only see now. Comments she made. Thursday she called me. She was out of town and we had spoken briefly on Tuesday. When she called Thursday I was at work and couldn't talk. I asked if I could call her back on my lunch hour. She said yes, and I asked if she was okay. She said yes and I took her at her word. However, she reassured me that she was okay even though I hadn't asked again. I think she was trying to reach out.

I think she has been reaching out for a while. She would give me indicators as to what she would be like when she was in her mania. She will talk faster, I thought to myself, "Could that be possible?" What I didn't see was the way she was talking was faster then normal. Remember the I have only spent a few hours alone with her outside of practice. In this time she has been very open about herself and what she has been through. She was diagnosed with this a couple of years ago. I think it was shocking to her to find this out.

Apparently if you are Bipolar, it usually presents itself between the ages of 18-24. And if you have a parent who is Bipolar the likely hood of the child getting is passed to them is increased. Her mother also has this disorder.

I want to be there for her and her family. I want to help in anyway that I can. When she had to leave school because of her first episode (that what she calls them) a lot of her friends disappeared. I want to be someone she can count on, I want her to know that I love her and will support her in any way.