Understanding what exactly my antidepressants were doing within my brain helped me to process the differences that I had been experiencing. Once I fully grasped how they were helping, I did not feel any shame towards myself in needing to take the pills.
However, I remember always being worried about my friends and other students judging me for taking the medicine. Furthermore, I was even more anxious about people finding out I was going to weekly therapy.
Being in high school and going to therapy weekly isn’t exactly the easiest thing in the world to hide. I was constantly missing school for appointments, and eventually my friends began asking me why I was never in school.
I usually said that I was seeing a doctor, but this ended up leading to more questions. Afterall, I didn’t outwardly appear to be sick. I don’t recall exactly, but I am pretty sure I made up having various allergies and digestive problems to cover why I was frequently visiting the doctor.
I would rather have people think that I couldn’t control my bowels than let them realize that I was getting mental health help. Looking back, that seems like a kind of crappy idea, but I didn’t know any better then.
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At age 25, Justin Birckbichler was diagnosed with Stage II testicular cancer. Now in remission, he committed to getting the ball rolling on raising awareness of men’s health and testicular cancer through his website A Ballsy Sense of Tumor. Though he no longer has the pair he was born with, his new favorite pairing is humor and education. He was recognized as one of 15 People Who Raised Cancer Awareness in 2017, awarded Best Advocacy/Awareness Cancer Blog in 2017, selected as the Hilarious Patient Leader in the 2018 WEGO Health Awards, and recognized as one of “40 Under 40 in Cancer” in 2019. Justin shares how we can stop dropping the ball on men’s health and how to use humor in awareness, even if it makes you sound like a nut.
