We were led to believe that David was bipolar and had been medicated incorrectly.  I knew nothing of Bipolar as there was no indication of that diagnosis in the past.  Our family set on to learn what this meant for all of us especially David.  This assessment made even less sense visiting David in prison and trying to understand why he had done what he had done.  Also, he was so content with the outcome of the criminal case which made no sense as well.

 

When a nightmare of this magnitude occurs, there is generally not a task force that can get to you to tell you the real truth especially when the truth is inconvenient for powerful entities.  That truth took years for us to uncover and played out in the major media events and in trying to care for all of us during the post traumatized days/months/years living with this nightmare.  Our experience with the Media was that we tried to help too soon without understanding what had really happened to us.

 

After the nightmare episode of violence occurred in January of 2006, we began to think that the prior episodes must have represented a ticking time bomb.  We as a family were led to believe this but that did not make sense.  David had never showed signs of violence before.  The change in this episode was 7 days of Prozac and 1 night of Lunesta.  Still, the defense was not asserting that with their experts so we as a family were trying to understand.

 

What we know now that we did not realize then is that David was not suffering from severe mental illness.  In light of the tragic events of January 20^th, 2006, the details of the various episodes seemed to indicate that each medicated episode was a precursor of an overall mental illness.  But, after really analyzing the time line, he was suffering from anxiety and the medication treatment transferred him into depression.  The medication’s side effects created a new level of symptoms that, without realizing it, created more harm than good.  The talk therapy he so willingly engaged in could have ultimately helped provide tools for coping with anxiety if not for the damaging medication side effects heightened during the process.  This awareness would not come to light until the summer of 2008 as in noted later in this narrative.

 

It took about 2 ½ years before realizing that David was not mentally ill after being told that David had a severe mental illness – Bipolar disorder.  In our much traumatized state of loss, we believed the chemical imbalance theory but it was not that easy to understand.  We now realize that chemical sensitivities run in families and we must proceed with caution when medication is considered.

Onward to Medication-Induced