I was 9 years old when I have the first memory of trying to shake my mother out of a seizure,
her seizures aren't like others, they are caused by electrical destructions in the brain due to chemical imbalances. Things like quick mood changes, loud noises, flashing lights, and anxiety could trigger them. But that was not all of it, my mother also suffered from multiple different mental disorders, but I didn't realize this until I was older. I remember when I was 10 years old my mother took off, leaving my father and I behind, because of her condition we were really worried about how she was doing. It wasn't until later received a phone call from my grandmother just about 3 hours away that she had taken the Greyhound to her and left her pills at home. I was 12 years old when I had to help my dad break my mom out of the manic state, her twin sister lived with us at the time and they had the same mental disorders. There was one time I had to drag my little cousin to my bedroom as both my aunt and my mother were in a manic state and fighting with each other in the kitchen and it was not pleasant. We had dealt with a lot with my aunt and my mother, lots of hospitalizations, and doctors turning them away from the hospital because they weren't "suicidal enough" which ultimately lead to my aunt's suicide. After that I had witnessed my mom take pills, and cut herself in cries for help and in attempts to kill herself. And listen to her cry at night saying how she wishes she was with her twin sister. Granted a lot of the things that happened to me as a child or around me have shaped me into the person I am today, I am a health care aide and look after people in the same kind of states, with my past I learned how to deal in a first-hand way and how to have patience. It was very hard on me and I do have some issues because of it, my mother and I would get into arguments and fights because I was trying to help her and I didn't know how most of the time, my mother is doing better now, she still has her moments but she is more "normalized" and we don't have as many arguments at all. I'm not saying that I'm thankful for the experiences, I'm thankful that my family was able to make it through, and I still have my mother. Signed, Raised around mental illness.
