When bipolar destroys

http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/news/stories.nsf/stcharles/story/5030156D01A4CE0E862573FB000DFC4B?OpenDocument

Bipolar disorder shatters family, ends in death

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For more than two years, his service record was clean; his superiors even wrote him several letters of commendation. Fink wanted a career in the Navy, but a conflict of highs and lows was escalating inside his head.

"Something happened to him in the Navy," Heather Gentles said. "He just was never going to be the same."

Fink's illness developed quickly and was brought on in part by stress and lack of sleep, said his psychiatrist in St. Charles, Dr. Greg Mattingly. Fink's condition emerged about the same age as most bipolar patients, Mattingly said, and was not spurred by any specific traumatic incident.

"With bipolar, you can go from pretty much normal one day, to the next day being very, very, very sick," Mattingly said.

Fink mouthed off to his commanders, stopped eating regularly and lost 20 pounds. He grew increasingly paranoid, and in September 2005, doctors at the Naval Medical Center in San Diego diagnosed his condition as bipolar disorder, which often results in episodes of severe depression and mania. It affects more than 5 million Americans.

Most people who develop the disorder are genetically predisposed to it, Mattingly said. Along with stress and sleep deprivation, he said, substance abuse is another common trigger. Fink had begun taking legal stimulants as part of a body-building regimen.

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Notice themes I have warned about in my depression and other disorders articles. "Stress." "Sleep deprivation." "Substance abuse." "Irregular eating habits."

Notice also the substance abuse was legal stimulants. I'm telling you all again that "even" "occasional" dope use can trigger severe and one-way mental illness. Why do you think 5 million Americans suddenly have bipolar? Eating crap, living like crap, stressed like crap, getting no sleep, and using dope crap.