Paul Aloyo is a man of many titles; a super dad a PhD holder
in architecture, a lecturer in one of the universities in Kenya and a mental
health champion.
When he narrates his life in Alliance boys back in the day,
you may start to wonder if it was the pressure to perform well in school or was
it the burn out from the growing responsibilities he had much later in his
employment that saw him being treated with a nervous breakdown later on and
much later a diagnosis of bipolar.
Paul started noticing some changes in himself when he started
feeling too tired to socialize, he would leave work before time and often use
the back door to avoid meeting people, he was also irritable to a point where
he once threatened to resign from work, it had become his style to always burn
bridges.
In his good days he would enjoy long spurts of creative
energy taking on ambitious projects but instead of enjoying in the success of
the projects, he would fall into a long episode of depression that he could not
explain.
Luckily for him he had not only a very understanding manager
but the side of his family who understood he had been having a hard time were
very supportive.
Paul recalls that some family members thought he was okay
since they could not see anything that was wrong with him. After a long search
for treatment from radiologists, endocrinologists and others he was later
referred to a psychiatrist where he could finally start finding some answers.
Bipolar is a mental health condition characterized by bouts
of energy at one point followed by lows (depression). At some point after going
down with chronic depression for 3 consecutive years Paul underwent
electroconvulsive therapy (a brief electrical stimulation of the brain) and now
takes medication to control mood fluctuations.
Paul is very thankful for all the support he was accorded
when he was at his lowest moments even though there were some hurtful comments.
When he was finally able to share about the struggles with
his mental health, some people came to him with their own stories and others with
what they had seen their family members going through, he was very happy to identify
with them and to help them where he could, it is from there that his passion of
sharing his story to help other who may be struggling in silence grew and now
he anticipates to instill some hope in sharing.
“people stood by me, so I must help others, it doesn’t take
anything from you”
Paul likes to make it very clear to anyone who thinks about
quitting that it was after his worst moments and even the treatment with ECT
that he undertook his PhD.
What is your story? You can use it to helps someone. Start
today.
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