Bipolar disorder

Murrow says hers is mild: She tends to "get excited" but doesn't suffer the lows that often go along with the highs.

She continues to take medication for both illnesses, and she still has some symptoms: "To this day, if something isn't adjusted right, I'll go to adjust it," she says.

For several years, Murrow has led a support group for people with obsessive-compulsive disorder.

She says it gives them a safe place to talk about their disease.

The symptoms vary, she says.

For one woman, gardening is a reprieve from the disease.

Another confessed to having 600 pairs of shoes, not because she wanted them but because of a compulsion to buy them.

"It's so interesting and so strange what's behind closed doors," Murrow says.

"All these people are out there - people just don't know about us." She jokes that she has become the "poster child" for obsessive-compulsive disorder by being able to talk about it.

"If I didn't fight really, really hard, I'd never be where I am," she says.

"I want to keep moving up, not just standing still." People ask her whether she worries about the long-term effects of medication.

No, she tells them: Would someone with diabetes worry about the long-term effects of insulin?

For more information The support group for people with obsessive-compulsive disorder meets the second and fourth Tuesdays of the month at Westlink Christian Church, 21st and Maize Road.

A light supper is available at 6 p.m.; small group discussions usually begi...

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