Hi,

I have a VERY important bipolar disorder lesson
for you today.

Yesterday was the longest day of my life. I had to drive
10, that’s TEN hours yesterday. My friend competed in a
strongman competition which is a bunch of really big
guys moving heavy objects around.

My friend didn’t do well and it actually led me to
think about a VERY important lesson about
bipolar disorder.

Let me explain the deal. So my friend lost 14 pounds
in 24 hours. Imagine that. I am really serious.
Here’s why. My friend competed at 230 pounds
and did well. But then he had this great idea that
he would compete in the 200 weight class. BUT,
he only thought of the idea 30 days before he had
to be 200 pounds. He started extreme dieting
and eventually lost 16 pounds until the last 24 hours
and then he really had to do extreme things to
lose 14 pounds.

He had to do tons of cardio. He worse multiple sweat
shirts and rubber stuff under him all day and it was
97 degrees. He stopped eating and drinking for 24 hours
as well.

This was an extremely dangerous diet. This is NOT
healthy. What the heck is wrong with my friend
and why did he do this and what does this have
to do with bipolar disorder?

Let me explain. Here was the theory. He felt that
if he dropped from 230 pounds to 200 pounds that
he would be competing against people that were less
strong then the people at the 230 weight class.
He felt that he could drop the weight and then after
the weighins that night he could drink a ton and
eat a ton and gain all the weight back and really be
competing at like 215 to 220 pounds because he would
gain 15 to 20 pounds before the contest the next day.

Just so you are not confused, they weigh you in for
these competitions the night before and you compete
the next day. So the theory was to weigh 200 pounds
Friday night and gain 15 to 20 pounds for the
Saturday competition.

That was the theory. On paper it looked like a perfect
plan. He would drop the weight, make the 200 pounds,
compete against people who were weaker and at 200 pounds,
he would gain the weight back, get back to his old
self and do super well in every event.

The reality was different. Guess what happen?
His extremely dieting destroyed his energy level
and his strength. He did drink a ton and eat
a ton after he made weight. But guess what? He
got sick to his stomach. Had to stay up all
night because he was sick and the next day
was all messed up from losing 14 pounds and then
gaining like 15 pack immediately.

So he wound up placing 5th which is less than
he would have probably if he just stayed at 230 pounds.

What’s this have to do with bipolar disorder? Great
question. I call it theory versus reality.

What’s this mean? When you are dealing with
bipolar disorder, there’s a lot of theory but then
there’s the reality.

Let me give you an example, theoretically all
doctor should be ready to help you or your loved
one because they took an oath to do so and they
want to help either you or your loved one. However
the reality is, not all doctors function like
this. You have to actually persuade or “sell”
doctors into providing great
care for either yourself or your loved one.

Here’s another one. Theoretically there are laws
that say a person with bipolar disorder can not
be discriminated against in a job. The reality is,
people with bipolar disorder and even people who are
caregivers of those with bipolar disorder are discriminated
against every single day all over the world. If you
let people know, you must think carefully about
a plan on how to do this AND what to do if
there are problems.

Here’s another one. Theoretically your medical
files and history should be kept from doctor to
doctor. The reality is, more often than not,
many parts of your medical history related to
bipolar disorder are lost or totally inaccurate.

When I was talking to my friend about his strongman
competition I told him about this concept about
theory versus reality and how most of the times
there’s a huge gap. I told him how his theory of losing
weight and then gaining weight didn’t work out in
reality and he should have tried to find someone
that tried this so they could give him the real
deal and he didn’t have to experience it himself.
He said he learned a very valuable lesson.

SUPPORTING AN ADULT?
Visit:
http://www.bipolarsupporter.com/report11

SUPPORTING A CHILD/TEEN?
Visit:
http://www.bipolarparenting.com

HAVE BIPOLAR DISORDER?
Visit:
http://www.survivebipolar.net

When he said this, I said to myself, “I really
need to remind everyone on my list that you have
to watch out for theory versus reality with
bipolar disorder.”

So the message for bipolar disorder is, you have
to be careful about things that should be theatrically
actually turn out to be in reality.

Many times you will hear stuff from “experts” like doctors
and therapists that is outside of their scope of knowledge
and then they start talking theory but it’s not reality.
Unfortunately people wind up listening because these people
are good with one thing (i.e. a doctor with medication) so
you assume he/she knows what they are talking about
when you ask them, “how do I get on social security disability.”

So they start telling you things that sound good theoretically
but don’t work in reality. This is just an example there are dozens
of examples I could site. You have to be really careful when
you are figuring out who to listen to with bipolar disorder.

The reason why you read my stuff is probably because I have
lived it and I am telling you the reality according to my
own personal experience or someone else on my team’s personal
experience. Our stuff is reality based.

I will give you one more. Theoretically if you call the
police if your loved one is out of control with bipolar
disorder, they should come, and take your loved one to the
hospital. They should not come and shoot and kill your loved
one immediately–which if you check the news has happened
again and again. The reality is, if you call the police
on someone with bipolar disorder, you have to prep the
police so when they come, they don’t start shooting
at your loved one and kill him/her.

Anyway, I could go on and on but I think you get the idea.

Well I have to run. I have a bunch of things I have
to do today. Have a great day.

Your Friend,

Dave

P.S. Check out my F.ree blog with copies of emails
that I have sent in the past and lots of great
information for you:
http://www.bipolarcentral.com/supporterblog/

P.P.S Check out my F.ree podcast. Hear me give
mini seminars designed to teach you information
you can’t learn anywhere else.
http://bipolarcentral.libsyn.com