Bipolar Survivor Ken Jensen Explains Why It Takes Guts To Be Him
May 8, 2008 by Alicia Sparks, Mental Health Notes
Filed under Diseases & Conditions
Last Thursday, Chato B. Stewart rocked our funny bones with his mental health humor. This Thursday, Ken Jensen puts us through psychiatric boot camp with his system for surviving bipolar disorder.
As if my nauseatingly incessant play on words didn’t give it away, 39-year-old Ken Jensen is a former soldier – not just any soldier, but a Marine. (“A MARINE!” I’m reminded of Marty Maraschino in Grease every time I say that. What can I say? I’ve always been partial to the devil dogs – ex-husband aside.)
Add to his resume author, speaker, motivator, and entrepreneur (as well as self-proclaimed former bipolar disorder victim), and this Tillson, NY resident may just leave your mental muscles begging for rest, yet ready to take on your own brain and shouting ooh rah the entire way!
Enough of that. Ken truly is an amazingly down to earth, no bull, bottomline kind of guy. Let’s let him tell his story!
I own www.ittakesgutstobeme.com, and I offer a system to people to relieve themselves of their bipolar or depression disorders. My system was tested on myself as I struggled to survive my bipolar. I was dying from it as my mind and body were failing. Prison, lockdown ward, and death were my coming future. I’d already lived through all three, to include death, but I was running out of juice to keep up the fight.
I followed all doctors’ instructions to a “T”. By this, I mean I ate every pill they prescribed me for a six-year period. This equated to thousands of pills; over 100 individual prescriptions for almost every psychotropic applicable. I only got worse with each passing month.
During my last psychiatric visit, the doctor told me he was just about out of options and he wasn’t hopeful. This news terrified me like nothing had before in my life. I was going to die, horribly insane. I decided to look elsewhere for help and luckily, I found it.
I then began weaning myself off my meds, with the help of professionals, (NEVER just stop your meds!) while replacing them with nutrients I was lacking. I improved rapidly and for the first time since I’d been diagnosed, 6 years ago, I began to hope I’d be OK.
I improved enough to realize I needed even more help to sort out all that was wrong with me. I’d been through too much trauma in too many areas to get away with just addressing nutrition, powerful, though that step was.
And that’s where the rest of my system came from. I experimented on myself. I got ripped off and misled, frequently. Some tools were good but not meant for me. The items that worked, I kept. Now? You’d have to put a gun to my head to make me stop doing these steps that keep me healthy to this day. I have been meds-free for over two years.
Just so we’re clear: I am no doctor but my system works. Thousands have proven many of the individual steps I espouse to be effective. This is without the addition of the rest of my steps. The testimonials of those who’d gone before me are what gave me the faith to try what I did. I simply combined the best of the best.
My reversal back to a “normal” individual, and my consequent bettering of myself to a level never before experienced, caused all who knew me to suggest authoring a book about my journey. The change was strikingly profound. That led me to some pros who helped me get to where I’m at now.
I have two books written, and I’ve produced multiple articles, videos, and audio sessions all aimed at bringing others to what I know to be true. “It Takes Guts To Be Me: How An Ex-Marine Beat Bipolar Disorder” is going to the printing press as I write this. “What Does Bipolar Disorder Look Like?” is a collection of articles describing the world of the bipolar mind. I wrote it so that supporters will better understand the daily battle that their loved ones endure.
This entire project has recently morphed into a much broader goal of motivating people to do better in this life; to give hope to those who hear my story, no matter why they suffer. If I don’t maintain my vigilance, which is not hard at all, my bipolar will come back. I know this. But it is just one part of who I am and it is in my past. I work hard to build the life of my dreams and I want to take as many new friends with me as I can possibly fit in my metaphorical car!
Please have a look at who’s talking to you: http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&videoid=23590024
And thank you, Alicia for the great work that you do!
Thank you, Ken!
If you’d like to read some of Ken’s work, check out this article (in addition to his Web site, of course!), and be sure to thank him for sharing with us why he ROCKS!
This post was part of the Mental Health Notes This Is Why I ROCK! series. If you’re living with mental illness and rocking out at whatever you do, sign up to show off!
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