24, F. Bipolar narcoleptic. Both conditions are highly degenerative, and my cognition is atrophying now in a very painful fashion. I've seen what happens to people like me, and the realization that I'm losing my mind is a bitter pill (no pun intended, ha) to swallow. I'm in physical pain and lethargy throughout the day, and at night I'm tortured in my sleep by my REM cycles. I'm talking nightmares with physical, visceral pain, and other things that are so outrageously disturbing and shameful that they sometimes make me weep when I wake up. It's inescapable, and not even top-line treatments can put a dent in it.
I've had all the medication classes, as well as top-tier treatments (ECT, Ketamine, Xyrem)...everything. Ket infusions helped manage for a while, until I realized they were only making me manic, and that my feelings of improvement were really just me being high for weeks at a time.
I wouldn't wish either of these diseases on anybody. Either one is hard enough to try and live with, and together they're insatiable in what they will destroy.
My only regret in leaving is what it's going to do to those who love me. But I think it's more responsible to cut out cleanly and early (while I still have enough control over my faculties to do so) than delay it any longer while giving false hope to those who care about me. There's no cure for either of these diseases. I can't and won't delude myself.
Sorry if this was ranty, I'm just so exhausted. In every way a person can be.