[rjathon]

Thank you Island Texan for your thoughtful and professional response for JDoug.

JDoug, you need to find a doc like Island Texan who is compassionate and can treat your problem. Psychiatry has come a long way and in addition to advances in medications there are treatments like Neurofield, LENS, etc that can be of great help. Changes in nutrition can also be helpful. Because of over fertilizing and wearing out soil lots of our food today lacks the nutrients that they had in the past.

Instead of shame, embrace it. Most of history’s great leaders were either bipolar or had hypomania. When “up” it is like a super power.

I suffer from Intracranial Hypertension and it has been devastating. I took up guitar as a form of rehab. While it has helped me to cope immensely it has been hard on those around me. My musician wife says that she has never seen someone work so hard for so little gain. I have actually gained a lot, just not musically. It is hard to focus long enough to play a song straight through from beginning to end and it is never void of mistakes. Some days are better than others but none are good.

Since you are on these forums hopefully guitar helps you too. I hope that our responses raise your spirits and let you know that rather than feeling shame you should be encouraged by our acceptance and appreciation of your challenges. Life isn’t about our trials but about how we deal with them.

Russ