Bipolar Lesson: Are You This Kind Of Fool?

Hey,

I was talking to my friend yesterday about people who
represent themselves in court.

There is the old adage, in legal field that describes a person who represents himself in court trial: "Has a fool for a client."

Attorneys strongly recommend that they should handle all legal matters
for their clients and that clients shouldn't attempt to be their own
attorney and handle legal matters on their own no matter how simple
they may be.

If you believe this, and you should, have you ever heard of or seen:

The person who tries to diagnose and treat him/herself with bipolar
disorder.

If you try to be your own doctor, you have a fool for a client.

I have seen this rather disturbing trend at support group meetings.
It goes like this. People jump on the internet and maybe get a
book or two. then all of a sudden, they believe they are experts
at diagnosing bipolar disorder.

Then, to make it even worse, these people go support groups
and diagnose each other and offer medical advice. Even though
NONE of them are doctors and have any training.

It's the most unbelievable thing I've ever seen.

At meetings I hear stuff like: "Hey I took whatever medication and it
worked." People will crowd around and say, "What medication was that?
I need to get on that. I need to get my loved one on that. Say
that again so I can write it down."

Or, and this is even worse, people say: "I took this medication and
it did horrible things to me, my hair fell out, I gained a ton of weight,
my arms and legs fell off, I had all this bad stuff happen."

If you've been to support group meetings, you know that people exaggerate
wildly about these things. That's why I said the arms and legs part.
You know this is true if you've been to these groups.

If you find what I am saying offensive, remove link is at the bottom.

Then the same people crowd around and say, "Oh, my, I have to get off this medication." Or something like: "Gimmie my cell phone, honey, I have to call so and so and warn this medication is bad. How do you spell
that medication again??"

When I hear this I am so disturbed. I do a ton of volunteering and I
hear this soooooooooooooooo much it makes my head hurt. I wish they
would BAN talking about medications at ALL support groups which
they can't because we have the freedom of speech.

Well now that I think about it, that was dumb what I just said. I don't
want "them" taking away freedoms. So I take that
back, I just wish people would stop treating and diagnosing themselves
when they have absolutely no clue.

Correct information is almost never passed at these meetings in regards
to treatments. And if some information is correct, the person who is
hearing it, isn't good at taking notes, isn't good at hearing what is
really said to write it down or isn't organized and won't be able to find
anything written down at a later date.

And remember, I am NOT doctor and I don't play one on TV, and I am NOT
offering medical advice at all but, every one is different, what
works for one person might or might not work for another. You
can NOT treat and diagnose yourself. You or your loved one
MUST GO TO A QUALIFIED DOCTOR for a proper diagnosis. Period. End of story.

My mom's doctor has told her she takes a combination of medication
that no one other client takes and that she has never seen this combination ever successfully work on anyone except my mom.

I hope you get the point that I am trying to make.

Only a QUALIFIED doctor can make this determination. One that went to
school, studied and graduated, (a real school, not a mail order school) should treat and diagnose. Not someone who went on the internet and spent
a few days "researching" bipolar disorder and picked up two books
at Barnes and Noble.

Unfortunately, you hear a lot of nonsense at support group meetings.
Now before anyone gets mad at me for making such a statement, I do
volunteer at them and have done so for two years now. I volunteer
WAY MORE than 99.9% of people so I think I have earned the right
to make these statements.

How many people do you know who volunteer at THREE different groups
for two years?

NOTE-I am not saying all support groups are bad and there is
no value in them, what I am saying is that many people are trying
to treat and diagnose at them and that's not good.

If anything, when you are at support group meetings, you should be asking:

How to find a QUALIFIED doctor

How to interview a doctor

How to determine if a doctor is a good fit for you or your loved one

How to find the money to pay for a doctor

What you can do to help a doctor treat you or your loved one better

What kind of information you can provide a doctor to help with you
or your loved one's diagnosis.

The material you will find in my course and system at:

http://www.bipolarsupporter.com/report11

Now, I am not telling you to get my material. You don't have to,
I am trying to point you in the right direction. You can go
get a bunch of books, interview people, and do what I did to
find the information yourself without getting my course.

Do whatever you think is easiest, fastest and would be most
beneficial for you. I don't want you to think that I am "pushing"
my course on you.

You know what? In two years of volunteering in three places, NOBODY
has ever asked any of those questions. I can't even believe it.

I hope you get my point. You can tell I feel strongly about this
stuff. If you worked for me and were one of my writers, you would
know how strongly I do feel about this. I harp on it almost
every day. If you ever talk to Michele Soloway, one of my key writers,
ask her, and she will tell you.

Well, hopefully you aren't a fool for a client?

If you want a diagnosis, find a great doctor and pay him her. Don't
be cheap either and focus on cost. That is, if you find a qualified
doctor and you feel he/she is expensive. Do something to afford him/her.
Don't get all mad and say it's not fair, the system is against me,
so on and so forth. Do whatever it takes

If you had brain surgery, would you be looking for a "deal" with the
doctor? No, you would want the best and do whatever you could to
afford it. And the good news is this, bipolar disorder is NOT
even close to the costs of surgery. So anyone can afford it. That's
right anyone who is creative.

If you read through all my materials, you will clearly see that.

Oh by the way, people have written to me what a blog is. Go to
google and type in blog and you will learn about them. I am low
tech myself. I don't even have an ipod :)

Dave