Bipolar disorder is a costly disease
The Oct. 5 Personal Journey featured my son Sean Costello, a stereotype of a talented, troubled soul. Missing was Sean’s personal journey. After 15 years of professional help, Sean was diagnosed at 27 with Bipolar Disorder Type II (BD), characterized by depression and hypomania. Sean fought a hard fight with admirable courage. He died trying to sleep. Before entrusting his life to an ill-prepared program, he said, “If this doesn’t work, nothing will.”
According to the World Health Organization, BD is the fourth-most-costly disease, occurring in 3 percent of the population; creative people have 10 times the incidence. Diagnosis takes 8 to 10 years, with self-medicating used to cope with panic attacks, social anxiety and depression. The psychiatric disorder with the highest mortality rate of successful suicide and genetic connection, little is known about treatment. There are virtually no research monies.
I was hoping for this backdrop to Sean’s story: Beloved son and brother, generous soul, successful professional, evidencing that there is no stereotype. Seeing BD in this context, maybe we would be motivated to investigate real journeys and be impassioned to make a difference.
DEBBIE COSTELLO SMITH, JASPER
Hard truths about cancer diagnosis
I certainly hope Dr. Jennifer K. Litton was misquoted in “Outsmarting breast cancer” (Living, Oct. 11). Her assertion that “there is no right or wrong decision, as long as patients are well informed and choose what is best for them,” is misleading and dangerous. Of course there are right and wrong decisions when deciding how to manage breast cancer. It is the obligation of the physician to discuss the benefits and side effects of treatments and make a recommendation to guide the patient. If the patient decides on an ill-advised choice, that may be the patient’s right, but in no way should it be considered correct. There are many tragic cases in any oncologist’s practice that testify to this fact.
ALLAN FREEDMAN, M.D., SNELLVILLE
What happened to college football?
I have loved college football for most of my life. Indeed, one of my earliest memories in rural Sylvester, Ga., was arising early to read the Sunday edition of this paper — to learn the scores of the Georgia Tech and Georgia games. Then, television brought Curt Gowdy and live images on Saturday afternoons. Later, I was fortunate to play the game, although I was no marquee player.
Fifty years have lapsed since I first played at Georgia, and there have been many changes in the game. Some changes are very positive: better equipment and medical care, more racial diversity, and limitation of two-a-day practices, to name a few. Yet, some changes, I just do not know: Head coaches making millions of dollars more each year than university presidents; universities in the entertainment business; teams comprised of many athletes who are not genuine students; colleges serving as “minor leagues” for the NFL; players’ DUI offenses and marijuana use being punished with only partial game suspension at School A, but multiple games at School B in the same conference.
I certainly do not have all the answers, but honest and open discussion at the NCAA and the Big Five conferences could be a stimulus for positive change. Is college football primarily a game for kids, or a business for adults? Please … the little boy in me still wants to love college football.
TOMMY LAWHORNE, COLUMBUS
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