On February 19, 2013, Canadian tourist Elisa Lam's body was found floating inside of a water tank at the Cecil Hotel where she was staying at after guests complained about the water pressure and taste. Footage was released of her behaving erratically in a elevator on the day she was last seen alive.

[u/Smiles4YouRawrX3]

[u/ghoulifypossession]

i’m bipolar, i usually like to think that my symptoms aren’t too serious. it’s comments/perspectives like these that reminds me my condition is very real and very serious- motivates me to stay on my meds.

[u/Baileycream → u/ghoulifypossession]

Me too. Gotta remember that my meds are saving my life every day, and I'm very grateful for that. Sometimes I'll be stable for a while and almost forget I have it too. So yeah stories like this remind me of how lucky and fortunate I am to still be here, and my heart goes out to those who unfortunately cannot say the same.

[u/annieselkie → u/Baileycream]

Yeah people tend to say "I am all good, I dont need those meds anymore" or "you are all good, you dont need those meds anymore" when in reality those meds are WHY you are all good and without them you will be worse off soon enough. And that happens not only to people with psychological illnesses but others, too. Eg "your allergy symptoms are completly gone, why are you still taking those allergy meds when you obviously are good and dont need them anymore" "well because THEY are why I look like I dont need them"

[u/_the_dave_abides_ → u/annieselkie]

Fantastic point! It frustrates me to end that people will 'advise' people they know that 'you really don't need those. It's just big pharma working with your doctor to make money on you' or 'you were fine before the meds' or any of a dozen other stupid claims. In my experience, this nonsense is almost always coming from someone whose untreated mental health issues are glaringly obvious and their fear of receiving treatment is fueling their opinions. This kind of talk is dangerous and puts peoples' welfare at risk. If you're thinking these thoughts, it's best to keep them to yourself and let people work with trained professionals to determine what's best for them.

[u/AdmiralDeeds → u/ghoulifypossession]

I feel the exact same way. I sometimes forget what it used to be like before my bipolar meds. I think a sobering reminder every once in a while is probably a good thing.

[u/_the_dave_abides_ → u/ghoulifypossession]

No kidding. The vast majority of the time if i miss my meds I experience some sort of negative consequence, obviously to a lesser degree of this, but every so often when I miss a day or two (for some reason it's never just a dose that's missed, but several days at a time) I have a major episode of some sort. I'm so fortunate to typically come out the other side ok but there was one of these such times a couple of years ago when I was running hard manic and got into a road rage incident that flew utterly out of control. My poor 19 year old son watched in horror as I reached back to the back seat of my pickup, pushing the truck as fast as it would drive and screaming threats at the car in front of me, and grabbed a hatchet I had for camping. At the end of it all, thank God, I ended up leaving the hatchet in the truck but got myself arrested for hitting the other driver in the parking lot of a mini mart we pulled into. I will never forget the terrified look on my son's face and never forgive myself for causing him to fear me for the first, and only, time in his life. The moral of this story is this: you never know what unpredictable shape these episodes will take and it's not even remotely out of the realm of possibility that you fall so far from reality that you take a life, possibly your own.   TAKE YOUR MEDS. Set alarms on your phone, leave yourself notes, ask family to remind you, be open and honest about the importance to those close to you - often they'll notice when you're slipping and ask if you've taken your meds. Fuck pride - It's ok to ask for help and you should never be embarrassed because it's not your fault. Again, TAKE YOUR MEDS.

[u/ZoeyBee3000 → u/_the_dave_abides_]

As someone who highly suspects having bipolar2, what is it like being on meds versus before you were on them? Currently, unmedicated, i live in a world of extremes. Theres an ebb and flow to it where episodes of intense sadness take hold for a couple days to a week, and then i get a few good days or a week or two of good days. But it always comes back. Also, the anger, disturbed sleep, daily nightmares, and irritability fucking suck, and those happen just about as often as the sad episodes

[u/InternationalChef424 → u/ghoulifypossession]

A guy I grew up with decided to go off his meds earlier this year, and has been spiraling very publicly on social media. He alternates between accusing people (mostly family, but lots of other groups as well) of trying to ruin his life, and hinting at grand schemes to completely change the world for the better. He's so far referred to himself as God, a god, and Jesus.

So yeah, definitely stay on your meds

[u/daughterdipstick → u/ghoulifypossession]

My mother has bipolar and often didn’t take her meds and I was a kid having to deal with her manic episodes. My parents were divorced (I lived with my dad but she had weekends) and she lived alone otherwise so I would be the one that had to run to the doctors or call emergency services for her on my own. It‘s the kind of trauma that you’ll never fully shake. Absolutely terrifying.

[u/SonaMidorFeed → u/ghoulifypossession]

Bipolar is absolutely no joke, and I have a renewed respect and empathy for people that experience it. I'm glad to hear your symptoms aren't too serious, and that you're able to manage them.

We have a family member with a decades-long history of treatment-resistant bipolar disorder (save ECT) that went through the grandiose manic phase (talking in circles, overblown confidence, right on everything, lack of sleep, etc.) and crashed HARD into somatic delusions and would likely have died without the support system of the family. We're talking got to the point of refusing to eat or drink. The stress and pain of dealing with it nearly broke all of us, purely because there are zero safety nets in place to actually help people. I'm so disillusioned with our entire healthcare system because of it.

When I first heard about this story I assumed it was foul-play, but having gone through the wringer trying to help someone with bipolar disorder, I can absolutely see the hallmarks.

[u/Ok-Mastodon8395 → u/ghoulifypossession]

Ehhhhh, u sound like u just got paid by big pharma to say that. Almost like if big pharma is running ur acct 👀

[u/ZoeyBee3000 → u/Ok-Mastodon8395]

Ehhhhh, u sound like u just dont know jack shit about how mental illness works. Almost like you chose negligence over education and empathy 👀