A supermum blogger has revealed her life was devastated by a rare mental illness that prevented her from sleeping.
Mum-of-two JoJo Fraser – dubbed the Queen of Positivity – was admitted to a psychiatric ward suffering hypomania, a reverse depression
She had been working for up to 21 hours a day for six weeks.
The Edinburgh-based bestselling author behind wellness blog MummyJoJo.com spent six weeks in hospital after collapsing with exhaustion.
It took JoJo a year to fully recuperate and now she is warning others.
Hypomania is characterised by euphoria in which sufferers have an excessive amount of energy and believe they can do anything.
Former actress JoJo, 38, said: “It just takes hold of you and, before you know it, you’ve lost touch with reality.
“Most people think that if you have depression you are low and introverted. This was the opposite – I felt so elated I was on top of the world, giving 100 per cent to everything that was thrown at me.
“I’m known for being a high-energy, motivational coach and so the people around me didn’t spot what was happening.
“It was after the festive break and lots of things were happening for me. It seemed everything was happening at 100mph.
“By the middle of the month, my mind started to speed up and I felt permanently elated, like I was capable of conquering the world.”
JoJo said that after a full day’s work she began to stay up all night writing and planning.
She’d nod off for a couple of hours but would then be wide awake again and raring to go.
She said: “Whatever I thought about, I was convinced it was going to be the best project ever.
“I got an email from a producer, who’d won an award for an indie film, who wanted to meet up.
“Then a coach I was working with told me he had a connection to Jude Law and, in my head, I’m thinking, ‘Jude Law and I are going to be in this film and win an Oscar’.
JoJo became addicted to the buzz of positivity but, as the days passed by without sleep, paranoia began to take over.
She said: “I became very suspicious of those closest to me if they challenged me. I started to become quite delusional.”
At the insistence of her family, JoJo was admitted to a psychiatric ward and prescribed mood stabilisers, sleeping tablets and sedatives.
She was away from her kids Bonnie, eight, and Charlie, six, for weeks until being released on March 23 – the first day of lockdown.
JoJo added: “I just took it easy and enjoyed time with the kids and the family. I’ve now learned myself where the mind can go.
“I love being known as Scotland’s Queen of Positivity but, moving forward, my goal will be to find balance between the excitement and keeping my feet safely on the ground.”
