“During my teenage years I would say I had low mood, but I just got on with things. In 2011 I was living in Egypt; I took an anti-malaria tablet and experienced every side effect including psychosis. I was then well for ten years – I had my own business, my daughter, work – and then 2020 came, and as a result of stress I went into mania and psychosis quickly and was admitted to hospital for a month. I was back in hospital again in 2021 with elevated mood, and then back again in 2022 where I went from very low mood to psychosis very quickly. I got my diagnosis of bipolar at age 36.

My mood is very low,  but I have not been in hospital for two years so that’s something to be thankful for. I’m hoping to speak to a doctor about medication to see if something can take to lift my mood a little.”