Mum sets up support group for others with bipolar disorder
8:50pm Tuesday 6th September 2011 in News By Katie Bond
A YOUNG mum whose life has been transformed after being diagnosed with bipolar disorder has set up a support group for sufferers in the town.
Kayleigh House, 24, of Haydon End, who was diagnosed with the disorder four years ago, wants to raise awareness of the illness and find other people in a similar situation to herself.
Kayleigh, who has two children aged eight and two, will start the group next Wednesday through the MDF Bipolar Charity.
She said: “I’ve suffered with bipolar since I was a teenager but I was only diagnosed four years ago.
“Being diagnosed made me feel better. At the time I thought I was going a bit mad so it was good to have a diagnosis. It was hard trying to control the symptoms.”
Most people with bipolar disorder experience ups and down which become so extreme that they interfere with ordinary everyday activities and cause the person to behave in uncharacteristic ways.
It is often triggered when work, family or emotional pressures are at their greatest, and in women, it can be triggered by childbirth or during menopause.
Kayleigh said: “I had a child when I was 16 and doctors think that could have triggered it but my mum also suffers with bipolar so it could be that it’s hereditary.
“It has affected my life quite a lot. I want to be normal and go out to work but I can’t because it changes from day to day.
“It has changed me in a bad way, but I am thinking more positively now and looking to the future. I want to help other people and raise awareness.”
The group’s first session will be an opportunity for bi-polar sufferers, as well as carers or family members, and those who have the symptoms but don’t yet have a diagnosis, to come together and discuss how they want to take the group forward.
“It helps talking to other people in the same situation,” said Kayleigh.
“I’ve met a few people in Swindon who have bipolar but this would be the first support group. I’ll meet everyone and see how often they would like to meet, whether it’s once a week or once a month, and what they want to get out of the group.”
The meeting will be from 7pm to 9pm on September 14 at the Haydon Centre. No need to book.
