It took Mabank resident Robyn Wheeler 44 years to discover she suffered from a treatable mental illness that caused her to wake up mad in the morning and to spend the rest of the day creating chaos in her life. "I think I had been living with it my whole life and didn't know it," said Wheeler in a presentation this week about her book, "Born Mad," to the Literary Club of Cedar Creek Lake. Wheeler told the audience she finally sought help for her anger from a counselor when she became suicidal, but the therapy was unsuccessful. She didn't find relief until she was referred to a psychiatrist who quickly diagnosed her with dysthymia and prescribed medicine to treat it. There are several factors that can contribute to dysthymia and aggravate it such as genetics and environment, but it is basically a chemical imbalance in the brain. Prescrption drugs used to alleviate depression and anxiety such as Prozac, Paxil, Zoloft, Celexa, and Luvox can control it. "I was ready to do anything to find relief -- a lobotomy,an exorcist, even eating brownies," Wheeler said. "I had never done recreational drugs,but I was to the point I would have done it if it would have gotten rid of my anger." Prior to Wheeler's crisis when she began to feel so hopeless that she contemplated suicide, she apparently was in denial about the possibility she had a mental illness. Everyone around her, including her husband, apparently was also in denial and helping prevent her from finding the medical treatment she needed. "I just thought she wasn't a morning person," said Ron Wheeler, her husband of 13 years. "I knew how she was when we got married, but I loved her so much I was willing to put up with it." Up to a point, that is. Wheeler's husband acknowledges he had gotten tired of her angry outbursts. "I ruined relationships with friends and family members, I almost got a divorce, I wanted to move to another country," said Wheeler about the crisis that led her to diagnosis, treatment and recovery. Within three weeks of starting the medication Prozac, Wheeler said she began to feel like a different person she had never been before. "I didn't know people felt that way," Wheeler said. "I feel like I was shorted for 44 years." Wheeler is now going on 18 months of the remission of her mood swings associated with dysthymia, which can include moodiness, being overly critical, complaining, low self esteem, chronic anger, frustration, feelings of despair, insomnia, irritability, guilt, fatigue and poor concentration. Last year, she published her book to bring greater awareness to the problem. The condition apparently often goes undiagnosed. Wheeler said she found scant literature about the subject and no national support organization for it. "I decided to sit down and write the story of what happened to me," Wheeler said. "I'm not an expert, and I'm not a counselor. I'm just trying to raise awareness because I know there are other people who have it." Wheeler said she would like to see the creation of a "National Dysthymia Day" to help raise awareness about the emotionally crippling mental illness. For information about Wheeler's book and her efforts to raise awareness see www.bornmad.org. The book is published by Balboa Press, www.balboapress.com. "