This was written by Sue Lande, the mother of Michelle Hughes aka Bipolar Bandit.
Michelle has asked me to write about some times she was manic and how her dad and I had to bail her out. She said that there were so many that I could break them up. I try to forget the bad things Michelle has done in the past while she was manic. In fact , it took some thought to come up with these.
The first time Michelle became manic she was at a friends and the friend called to say please come get her as she was in bathtub and wouldn’t get out and had gotten into a cleaning frenzy and had made quite the mess.
This was so heartbreaking. Both her Dad and I went to get her and it resulted in her first hospitalization.
I remember her Dad and I crying as we left her and headed home. We were relieved that we knew where she was and that she was safe, but it was so hard to see our oldest daughter who had always been so confident,smart and mature behaving in such a different way.
When we went back to visit her later, she was so child like- coloring in a coloring book and wanting us to take pictures home to her younger sisters. Then her mood would change and she would be Jesus Christ. (In all fairness to her , she had been attending practices for the performance of Jesus Christ Super Star at local playhouse.) How quickly her mood would change. By the time of our visit she had been medicated for the mania but was still flying.
I must interject here that as a parent of three smart good daughters, I felt so overwhelmed wondering if we had done something wrong, or if our sweet Michelle would ever be the same.
We worried about our other daughters and how they would cope with all of this. I always worked hard and researched things and together with my husband we handled everything that we encountered.
My words of advice… share with those you love and everyone who will listen what you are going through. Do not be surprised that your help will not necessarily come from those you thought would be there for you.
Grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins,friends, and parents are are all dealing with what is happening on their own way. THEY DO NOT UNDERSTAND. Be forgiving. Know YOU did nothing wrong – neither did your child or loved one. It is a chemical imbalance.
Many brilliant and or gifted people are afflicted with this terrible illness. So kudos to you for having such an intelligent or gifted loved one.
Until next time- Gods blessings.
Sue aka Michelle’s Mom
Mental Health Advocates United 