Greetings friends,

I am proud to be me.As a creative awareness artist I use many things to bring awareness and a voice to the labelling of individuals as being mentally ill.wmalay.blogspot.com

I would appreciate feedback on a blog I am building.Be well my friends.

Once upon a time I thought it would be interesting to talk to a doctor about emotional problems. I thought, they would be good because they could listen confidentially and would know ways to direct me that would help me out of the bad feelings I had. I was so young and self-centred I forgot to think about what they were actually thinking. I only thought of my own story.

Reprinted from HIV Plus, May/June 2008. Copyright 2008 by LPI Media Inc. All rights reserved.

By Bob Adams

Learning you're HIV-positive is upsetting enough without having another bombshell accompany the news. But that's what happened to Cliffside Park, N.J., native Stephen Puibello when he was also diagnosed with bipolar disorder, also known as manic-depressive illness. But he didn't let the dual diagnoses drag him down. Instead, he focused on improving his overall health and has dropped 80 pounds in the past eight years. The 49-year-old is in such good shape that he's completed several cycling fund-raisers, including last year's 545-mile AIDS/LifeCycle.