I'll start. I have Asperger's Syndrome (mild case). See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asperger_syndrome for a layman's explanation.
I should warn you that this thread may be closed because of the subject matter.
Bipolar is a chemical imbalance in the brain that keeps the left and right hemispheres from communicating properly. Symptoms include but are not limited to severe mood swings, spree shopping, sexual promiscuity and being easily addicted to drugs, sex, or gambling. It is very treatable with medications but some cases are so severe that medications only are helpful for short periods of time and require rapid med changes.
PTSD is a mental disorder one develops from trauma suffered. Not everyone who has had some kind of trauma develops PTSD. PTSD is characterized by flashbacks which are so vivid that the person is continuously reliving the traumatic experience. It is treated through a combination of therapy and medications.
A friend of mine claims to have ADHD, and I have several friends who claim to be bi-polar, but I don't actually believe any of those are real neurological disorders.
Oh, and for the record, I'm fairly certain I am, indeed, crazy.
I hope that is what you wanted Astromath.
It's not unusual for me to have long periods of actually fairly good mood, but it tends to be kind of fragile, and I live in fear of the next depressive episode coming at any time (I've been wrestling with one for the past several days). Furthermore, even when my mood is good, I tend to have poor energy and initiative and a limited range of interests and dreams.
. Because of my literalness, I can see things in a different way and comment accordingly (usually by punning). I have a complete lack of common sense, but on the other hand, that helps me think before I act which helps in RPing leader types. My DMing style also reflects my Asperger's in that if it's not in the book, it's not in the game. If it's a grey area, then I make a judgment call after hearing both sides. Also, if it takes more than 2 minutes to look up a rule, then I make a judgment call and look it up later. I guess what I'm saying about me is that I'm as normal as my disability allows.I'm about as normal as anyone really can be, though no one is truly "normal". My brother has Type 2 Down Syndrome, however.
A friend of mine claims to have ADHD, and I have several friends who claim to be bi-polar, but I don't actually believe any of those are real neurological disorders.
I don't believe half of the people who think they have or are diagnosed with ADD actually have...its called a short attention span! Although saying that my cousin does actually have it, quite severely; but for a lot of people its a way of being in this crazy is popular society, as if having a mental disorder makes them cool and different.
But I disagree with you completely on bi-polar, it is very real, my brother has it and my granny had it.
Myself, I'm normal as far as normal goes.
I don't believe half of the people who think they have or are diagnosed with ADD actually have...its called a short attention span! Although saying that my cousin does actually have it, quite severely; but for a lot of people its a way of being in this crazy is popular society, as if having a mental disorder makes them cool and different.
But I disagree with you completely on bi-polar, it is very real, my brother has it and my granny had it.
Myself, I'm normal as far as normal goes.
Bipolar exists and any claim to the contrary only indicates that you've never actually met somebody with bipolar during a manic or depressive phase.
ADD was overdiagnosed in the '90s, so it's possible that a lot of people who were diagnosed and given meds wouldn't be considered ADD today, but I think the trend has settled down quite a bit. Since so many psych conditions are spectrum disorders, it's inevitable that borderline cases are going to be misidentified until the most reliable indicators are isolated. Better to give people help than not (and pocket their bill for the visits and meds, and you're a shrink on the cutting edge so you're probably conditioned to see cases whether they're there or not, and all of those other human reasons that people, including doctors, make mistakes).
I have ADD, (I am almost a non functioning individual without ritalin. I can't stay on one task very long) I've gotten alot better at focusing over the years but without the ritalin I still don't focus as well as most people do. With it I am much better at focusing and alot less likely to make costly mistakes.
My first wife had ADD, bi-polar, manic-depression, SRA, PTSD, and a laundry-list of other things (none of which were true, except for the ADD). She was on ritalin, and she said it calmed her down. She told me that for someone without ADD, ritalin makes them very hyper. We were once on a 1500 mile road-trip, and I was exhausted. She told me to take a ritalin, and it would wake me up. Actually, she told me to take half of one pill. I took 2 whole pills, and I swear to God, I thought I could see my heart beating through my shirt. It's like my senses were on overdrive. It was better than some of the illegal speed I used to take back in high school. It actually kind of scared me a little bit. I left that stuff alone after that.
My first wife had ADD, bi-polar, manic-depression, SRA, PTSD, and a laundry-list of other things (none of which were true, except for the ADD). She was on ritalin, and she said it calmed her down. She told me that for someone without ADD, ritalin makes them very hyper. We were once on a 1500 mile road-trip, and I was exhausted. She told me to take a ritalin, and it would wake me up. Actually, she told me to take half of one pill. I took 2 whole pills, and I swear to God, I thought I could see my heart beating through my shirt. It's like my senses were on overdrive. It was better than some of the illegal speed I used to take back in high school. It actually kind of scared me a little bit. I left that stuff alone after that.
Yeah, I'm told it makes people insanely hyper if they don't have it.
It doesn't so much slow me down as let my ability to concentrate stay on one subject. I'm not hyper (that's ADHD) I just have an attention span problem without it. Ritalin's some powerful stuff really.
My mother was a really severe case and when I was younger I displayed a similar form. Bi-polar is real. Trust me, I wouldn't have undergone ECT (Electroconvulsive Therapy or Shock Treatments) when I was in my 20's and had most of my short-term memory obliterated if it wasn't.
Being crazy is not cool or hip. In my case I feel seperate from the rest of society and have difficulty making friends. I feel it has more to do with the PTSD than the Bi-polar though. Rambling in reaction to a flashback kinda puts people off.
If my mind is occupied with a task though, the flashbacks come less frequently and I can function normally. Still, its hard when I'm reacting to a flashback and my wife thinks I'm talking to her. It's really awkward when I curse and she thinks it is directed at her.
This is not an attempt at sympathy. I am relating my experiences to illustrate that mental conditions such as Bi-polar are real. A manic episode combined with anger can quickly change to an episode of Manic Rage which can result in a person doing something they would under normal circumstances never do. However, Manic Rage is an infrequent symptom.
Medications like mood stabilizers make bi-polar manageable and the recipient can live a normal life. Only in untreated cases can Bi-polar be dangerous.
Oh, look at the kitty.
It's a very rare exception to find someone who roleplays with a mental illness so much that it becomes unhealthy or dangerous. In the famous cases in the 80's, D&D was just one of the many warning signs that were ignored.
Bipolar and ADD/ADHD are both very serious, very real conditions with physical causes, however I believe that they are heavily overdiagnosed, that doesn't make the conditions any less real.
Medications like mood stabilizers make bi-polar manageable and the recipient can live a normal life. Only in untreated cases can Bi-polar be dangerous.
I wish that were always the case, but sadly treating bipolar disorder is a matter of longterm trial and error, and even once mood stabilization can be met, stresses and outside factors can disrupt the balance. All of the most dangerous bipolar patients I have dealt with have been undergoing treatment for the majority of their lives. That said, with treatment, most cases of bipolar become manageable, although there is always a risk. Mood stabilizers and anti-depressants, depending on the person, are a critical part of this process, but individual therapy is just as important (although not as critical at the onset) in preventing behavioral concerns.
Bi-polar is an inherited trait. I inherited it from my mother but it skipped my brother.
Bipolar certain does this...it is both a genetic disorder, and learned pattern of behavior. In most cases, one or both parents have bipolar symptoms, although having bipolar is not a guarantee that your children will. There is also, however, situations that someone with bipolar disorder can raise an otherwise healthy child in situations where they learn modeled behaviors from the bipolar parent.
My first wife had ADD, bi-polar, manic-depression, SRA, PTSD, and a laundry-list of other things (none of which were true, except for the ADD).
It's cases like this that make me doubt some bipolar diagnoses. I don't know the specifics of this case, but I find a lot of people like to "illness shop" and for whatever reason try to claim a number of conditions. Other times I think doctors are quick to slap on a bipolar label on anyone who has fluctuating moods (which includes 100% of the non-lobotomized population). Of the illnesses mentioned, they conveniently overlap with similar symptoms, and I've seen multiple people with the same laundry list before. Simply PTSD and ADD could explain the bipolar diagnosis. I'm a bit sorry you had to live with all that, honestly. Generally, the more overlapping mental disorders in a person, the less likely I am to take a bipolar diagnosis seriously.
As for Asperger's, I have a close family member who is part of my gaming group with it, and although his worldview is frustrating, he brings a life to the game with his fleshed out characterizations. Although it is often treated as another face of autism (and thus viewed as a mental impairment), I find that people with Asperger's have a capability for being both highly intelligent and very functional in society. It has been interesting, looking back at the evolution of this person's diagnosis, from originally "brain dead" to "mental retardation" to "high functioning autism" finally to "Asperger's" as mental health sciences have evolved over the years.
It has nothing to do with why I play warlocks, necromancers and death knights.
Also I like black...
The worst I have is anger problems, anxiety and depression. Nothing that is considered a disability.
And I've liked black since I was like 3.
It's cases like this that make me doubt some bipolar diagnoses. I don't know the specifics of this case, but I find a lot of people like to "illness shop" and for whatever reason try to claim a number of conditions. Other times I think doctors are quick to slap on a bipolar label on anyone who has fluctuating moods (which includes 100% of the non-lobotomized population).
Oh, her shrink was real quick to label her all those things. It was the perfect excuse to keep her as a returning client. One symptom shows improvement, diagnose another one. I knew that 99% of it was all crap, and was able to prove it with her MPD claims (I caught her practicing in the mirror with different voices and facial expressions). It was nothing more than a great reason to keep a pharmacy's worth of potent drugs on-hand at any given moment, and it allowed her to get a Handicapped thingy to hang from her rear-view to get better parking.
Oh, her shrink was real quick to label her all those things. It was the perfect excuse to keep her as a returning client. One symptom shows improvement, diagnose another one. I knew that 99% of it was all crap, and was able to prove it with her MPD claims (I caught her practicing in the mirror with different voices and facial expressions). It was nothing more than a great reason to keep a pharmacy's worth of potent drugs on-hand at any given moment, and it allowed her to get a Handicapped thingy to hang from her rear-view to get better parking.
It's people like that who really **** me off. Some of us have actual problems that we are dealing with. When people start faking illnesses, those of us with actual problems have to deal with that too. It makes it harder for those without the problems to understand. I know many people that simply don't believe that someone can have these disorders because they knew or knew of some jack-hole who faked it.
What I find interesting is that many of us who do have these problems do everything we can to get off the medications, avoid the handicapped placard, and actively try to get better. We don't want any more problems. These issues are enough to deal with without having to pile on more.
It's people like that who really **** me off. Some of us have actual problems that we are dealing with. When people start faking illnesses, those of us with actual problems have to deal with that too. It makes it harder for those without the problems to understand. I know many people that simply don't believe that someone can have these disorders because they knew or knew of some jack-hole who faked it.
What I find interesting is that many of us who do have these problems do everything we can to get off the medications, avoid the handicapped placard, and actively try to get better. We don't want any more problems. These issues are enough to deal with without having to pile on more.
It's really my own fault. I knew she "had" these different conditions when I married her. I talked with her shrink (whom I had no reason to doubt at the time), and she told me it would take a "very special person" to maintain a marriage with her. It was only a few months later when I began suspecting things were being...exagerrated...to say the least. So, I began my own research. I read everything I could find about MPD, SRA, etc., and realized the startling amount of fake or mis-diagnosed cases. I know these conditions exist, and feel for those who ginuinely DO have them, but to fake such things for sympathy, attention, drugs, etc. is just pathetic.
Oh, her shrink was real quick to label her all those things. It was the perfect excuse to keep her as a returning client. One symptom shows improvement, diagnose another one. I knew that 99% of it was all crap, and was able to prove it with her MPD claims (I caught her practicing in the mirror with different voices and facial expressions). It was nothing more than a great reason to keep a pharmacy's worth of potent drugs on-hand at any given moment, and it allowed her to get a Handicapped thingy to hang from her rear-view to get better parking.
My wife and I just recently concluded (well, other than dealing with the financial fallout because the insurance companies are, to put it as kindly as I can, evil) a three year long odyssey that resulted from exactly this kind of behavior in a doctor, and culminated in surgery for a life threatening condition that was a lot more invasive and a lot more dangerous than it would have been if he hadn't been diagnosing her with every chronic problem he could think of to keep her coming back, and prescribing every drug he could think of to make her feel like he was doing something about it. I finally convinced her to go to another doctor, who diagnosed her correctly in their very first appointment.
I want to sue the bastard until he can never touch another patient, but we have been told we should expect it to completely dominate another three years of our lives, and we may not get anything out of it anyway, and, worse, that warning people in the community of others suffering from my wife's condition about him by name could be considered slander. We're so tired we mostly just want to get on with our lives now.
So while I know that patients can be the problem by insisting they have a condition when they don't, I have mostly pity for them that they need such an outlet in their lives.
I have nothing but hatred and rage for the doctors who encourage such behavior.
It's people like that who really **** me off. Some of us have actual problems that we are dealing with. When people start faking illnesses, those of us with actual problems have to deal with that too. It makes it harder for those without the problems to understand. I know many people that simply don't believe that someone can have these disorders because they knew or knew of some jack-hole who faked it.
What I find interesting is that many of us who do have these problems do everything we can to get off the medications, avoid the handicapped placard, and actively try to get better. We don't want any more problems. These issues are enough to deal with without having to pile on more.
Exactly...and of course, there's the people who brag about their "crazy money". There's enough stigma out there without their help.
And then I have Tourette's Syndrome. For the record, however, I would like to state that I have never experienced an uncontrolable urge to swear.
Though it did give me some really cool (bizarre) ideas for my 3E campaigns.
Exactly...and of course, there's the people who brag about their "crazy money". There's enough stigma out there without their help.
I have crazy money. One week it's all like "Let's play" and then when the weekend is over it's all like "We were friends but I need my space. I'll see you in two weeks." It's crazy as all hell.
I have crazy money. One week it's all like "Let's play" and then when the weekend is over it's all like "We were friends but I need my space. I'll see you in two weeks." It's crazy as all hell.
That has to be the funniest and most true statement I've read on the boards in a very long time!
My money keeps telling me it loves me and wants to stay with me, but then it leaves the first chance it gets to go hang out with some people in the "Citi".
And if I ever find that Sallie Mae chick, I'm going to punch her right in the face.
Meh. Nothing serious in this day and age, just a mild case of Paranoid Schizophrenia, Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder, and ADD.
Ne need to start edition wars here. :D
I'm not complaining about people who get money for their disability (I considered and decided not to myself). It's people who brag about it, make of show of how they don't have to work, and just sit back and chill. The ones who call their benefits "crazy money".
I have never heard it called crazy money. The people I know with mental disabilities really work hard to overcome them. I know a few who could get state assistance but they would rather make more money than live off the tax-payer.
There are some people who's disability is so hindering that they are non-functioning. I have no problems with them getting assistance.
Basically, I agree with you completely. I was trying to make a joke at the "crazy money" term.
It doesn't seem to bother me too much, but sometimes my short term memory is shoddy, and I have noticed that my grammar isn't nearly as good as it once was. The weird thing about the memory is that my normal memory and my long term memory still work perfectly fine, so I might completely forget something that you tell me for the short term and then suddenly spontaneously remember. How? I don't know, but that's how my memory is sometimes.
Supposedly (according to one of my doctors) I also suffer from PTSD a little bit, but I'm not sure if I'm fully convinced of that. There really doesn't seem to be a right way to answer some of the questions that a mental health physician asks you. I fully admit to being somewhat uneasy in certain situations, but, after spending a few years doing what I used to do at my old job, I don't personally find it to be abnormal that I would feel uneasy in some situations.
Overall I do notice that there are a few things that I have trouble with, but I think I handle everything well enough that most people wouldn't notice.
I have never heard it called crazy money. The people I know with mental disabilities really work hard to overcome them. I know a few who could get state assistance but they would rather make more money than live off the tax-payer.
There are some people who's disability is so hindering that they are non-functioning. I have no problems with them getting assistance.
Basically, I agree with you completely. I was trying to make a joke at the "crazy money" term.
Well, aside from my mental issues, I was injured in Iraq, so the two compound each other in my case and I also receive 'crazy money'.
I don't brag about it, at all. I'd do/give almost anything to be able to not be broken. I'd be more then happy to live the rest of my life at war in the Army, if it meant that I wasn't broken.
It isn't funny, it isn't something I enjoy and, lucky me, I'm never going to be able to be anything more then a burden on society.
The best I can do is try and teach my kids that I am not the norm and they can, and should, do better then me.
Well, aside from my mental issues, I was injured in Iraq, so the two compound each other in my case and I also receive 'crazy money'.
I don't brag about it, at all. I'd do/give almost anything to be able to not be broken. I'd be more then happy to live the rest of my life at war in the Army, if it meant that I wasn't broken.
It isn't funny, it isn't something I enjoy and, lucky me, I'm never going to be able to be anything more then a burden on society.
The best I can do is try and teach my kids that I am not the norm and they can, and should, do better then me.
I know all too well what you mean. Unfortunately, for me personally, I've found that the VA hasn't been very helpful when it comes to needing help. I don't want to take the thread off topic though, so I'll just leave it at that.
It isn't funny, it isn't something I enjoy and, lucky me, I'm never going to be able to be anything more then a burden on society.
The best I can do is try and teach my kids that I am not the norm and they can, and should, do better then me.
This is why you will not be a burden on society.
I used to take Riddlin for my ADD, but currently I can't afford it....
But otherwise I'm completly normal (oh, there is the part about six brothers, but that's not too uncommon)
If getting medication is a problem, you should contact the Partnership for Prescription Assistance. Their phone number is 1-888-4PPA-Now.
I did a quick check for Ritalin using my own information and I qualified for at least two programs. I would still need to do some leg work on my own, but I believe that I could get the medication at no cost.
its effected me "negatively" as in losing at least a couple jobs directly because of mania, depression and anxiety attacks. i also feel i would have finished college if i wasnt going to through mania.
im on antipsycotics now and im trying to stay stable with working 6 days a week.
D&D and Mental Disease:
- Anxiety attacks keep person away from game
- Social anxiety keeps person away from game
- D&D provides focus to spend ridiculously with no judgement
I cant ever see anyone mixing up the game with reality under most of my experience with different people ive met.