Jane Thompson
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Sugar & Salt: My Life with Bipolar Disorder is the story of an ordinary person who lived with and ultimately overcame bipolar disorder (manic-depression.). She was not diagnosed until she was 37. She describes what it is like to be raised in a family overshadowed by the illness, and to try to fit in in school and to function at work with the undiagnosed disorder. The failure of a marriage and relationships are detailed, and she struggles to understand why her life is so different and so difficult, until she has a sudden revelation that something is wrong with her and that she needs help.
Then comes the long fight to get treatment as she tries medication after medication after being misdiagnosed as psychotic. For five years she seeks knowledge and understanding of the disorder that makes her suffer. In a dramatic turn, Jane realizes she must enter a mental hospital to get the treatment she needs. She describes life in a locked ward, and how her doctor finally finds the medication her disorder responds to. She feels she has been given the key that lets her out of the hell the mood disorder has kept her in all her life, and for the first time, she feels “normal.”
After the hospital, Jane has to face the world again and start a new life. She is able to work for years without her employers discovering her secret. However, after ten years, she develops an allergy to the medication that has served her so well and must start the process over again. During this process, she loses her dream job and falls back into depression.
A story of ultimate triumph over bipolar disorder; find out how she did it and how you, too, can manage the disorder through medication and therapy.
Jane Thompson is a person with a breadth of experience. She has worked as a social worker, a teacher, as a paralegal, and, of course, as a writer. For years she wrote for the publisher of a political encyclopedia and served as a medical writer for a training corporation. It was in these positions that she learned to express herself with brevity and clarity. When she decided to write her own story, Sugar & Salt: My Life with Bipolar Disorder, this experience aided her in getting the story on paper. Just as, when she worked as a medical writer, her knowledge of mental health issues helped her in that position.
Jane as had twenty short stories published. This is her first book.
It was a big night at our house because my oldest sister was getting married. She was the first to leave the nest, and would be marrying in a simple church wedding the next morning. We had been planning for weeks and the big day was finally here. The house was cleaned and polished and full of guests. All four of the girls were in my big sister’s bedroom, trying on pink dresses with American rose sashes, checking on hairstyles, and just generally having a giggling good time. We were all excited; this was unprecedented in our lives. Suddenly, without knocking, my father opened the door and stuck his head in. He had a last word for my sister. He didn’t want to wish her well or give her a last piece of advice. He just said, “I’ll be glad when you’re gone. You are the one who causes all the problems around here.” Then he left. Our party over, we slunk off while my sister had her cry. It was typical of my father; he was not the center of attention and the wedding had upset his life, so he took his hurt feelings out on the person he perceived to be the cause.
