Our Stories
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Our Stories
Christine Alexander
Hello, my name is Christine. I've been in the mental health system since I was 15 years old. I am bipolar. I am now 31 years old and have managed to keep it under control by taking my medications, but between the ages of 15 to18 years of age I didn't. I instead used drugs and drinking to self medicate which did not work.
When I was 19, I started taking my meds; no drugs and no drinking. Then at age 25, after having 2 kids, me and my husband found out I was diagnosed with (CML) leukemia of the blood. I was heavily depressed. They caught it early and for the last 8 years i've stayed at stage one thank god, but during the time I found out I had lekumia I went back to drinking and off my meds again. Well, after a year of depression and drinking, I snapped out of it with the help of my husband and went back on my meds.
The past three years I have been clean and sober. I have been on medication and chemotherapy during that time. I went through family deaths and other tragedies and have been able to deal with them. I would love to speak to other kids and adults about how important it is to take your medication. This is a disease, your not crazy and all the other terms people use that dont understand it. Thank you for letting me tell my story.
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