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Service Dog for Kaitlyn

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Hi Everyone! My name is Kaitlyn Hudson and I am 21 years old. I am a senior at Austin College and plan to graduate in the spring of 2019 with a major in Psychology and a minor in Neuroscience. Since middle school I have struggled with symptoms of Bipolar disorder that were undiagnosed; therefore, I internalized everything I was feeling. This continued until I was finally diagnosed with Bipolar Disorder in the spring of my sophomore year of college. I was hospitalized and continued to struggle for months, changing medications and dosages as needed, until my psychiatrist and I found medications that seemed to help my symptoms. I am currently on a good combination of medication that does a fairly good job at neutralizing the depression and mania; however I still struggle with both of these and more. Being Bipolar my mood is constantly on a rollercoaster of high and low and sometimes the high gets really high to where I cannot sleep for days and the low gets so low to where I cannot see any hope for the future and consider taking my life. I can cycle though this for days and not have a day of feeling “normal” for months. I also hear voices inside my head that are not my own on almost a daily basis. They tell me awful things such as “People are coming to get you or kill you” or “Someone has been in your room and is still here”, and so on. These paranoia voices permeate my thoughts when I am in the shower, trying to study, or especially when I am trying to go to sleep. Coupled with the voices I hear, I experience extreme paranoia as I walk around campus; leaving me with that feeling of being followed or watched all the time. Another battle is struggling with extreme anxiety to the point of sometimes being non-functioning. One type of anxiety I have is social anxiety which makes it hard to go to class on a daily basis or be a part of my sorority. I also have extreme anxiety about school and performance anxiety. Tasks like cooking studying, showering, or getting out of bed some days are difficult. Mania, depression, voices, paranoia, self-harm, and anxiety prevent me from functioning well in society and hinder me from living a full healthy life. Much of my freedom has been stolen from Bipolar Disorder and I yearn to get it back. A way that I and my psychiatrist believe this can happen is a psychiatric service dog trained for people with Bipolar disorder.
A service dog could be trained to alert me to when I am having my daily anxiety attacks or hearing voices and having paranoia and taking my focus away from the attack or voices and thus the dog ultimately soothing the symptoms. A dog could also be trained to provide deep pressure therapy when I am having attacks as well. A service dog could go to class with me alleviating anxiety and paranoia by alerting me to them allowing me to stay in class longer. A service dog would walk around campus with me allowing me to feel safe and assured that there are not people following me. A dog could sit outside of the shower and alert me to when people are coming so I could feel safe in the shower and know that people are not going to come harm me. A service dog would also sleep with me to alleviate the voices I hear at night and could also alert me to when I am having nightmares or in distress, thus calming me when I am having mania so I can sleep when this happens. A dog could remind me and encourage me to eat by having the same eating times as me. By having to walk the dog, getting exercise would alleviate my depression. A service dog could also decrease my habit of self-harm by providing love and support when I need it most. A dog would also help me to take my medication in the morning and at night which is something I struggle with but is so vital. Finally, studies show that the overall presence of an animal is beneficial to mood and mental health.
Any donation toward my cause could help me to regain my freedom and live a healthier brighter life and hopes of happier future!
Thank You,
Kaitlyn Hudson
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Donations 

  • Bruce Farrow-Smith
    • $20 
    • 6 yrs
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Organizer

Kaitlyn Hudson
Organizer
Dallas, TX

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