ABBY Kedwell was just three when her mother was hit by a car and died.

She developed a severe eating disorder, was the victim of bullying at school; “They’d say my mum deserved to die,” and while still a young woman she witnessed the death of her beloved grandfather, who’d helped care for her, on the anniversary of her mother’s death.

These are enough battles to last a lifetime but for Abby, 35, who lives in Moordown, the greatest has perhaps been bi-polar, the mental health disorder that leads those who develop it to suffer monumental mood swings; from manic excitement and joy, to hideous, depressing lows.

Not that Abby’s complaining.

Irked by the lack of assistance for women like herself, who have suffered the kind of anxiety and difficulties that afflict those with bi-polar, she’s started a website and a Facebook support group and is now preparing to launch a subscription magazine, Inspire Me.

“For me, a normal day would be to wake up and know as soon as I open my eyes what mood I’ll be in,” she says. “If I get that horrible feeling in my diaphragm, a flood of thoughts will just enter my head without any reason and spiral into terrible negativity.”(And here we’re talking right down to suicidal.) “On other days I feel so happy to have woken up.”

On the worst days, she says: “I feel as if I have the weight of a house on my head or like a cloud over me, zapping me with every single negative thought and emotion which can feel impossible to get out of.”

Many people with Bipolar 2, which she’s been diagnosed with, can take medication but Abby cannot because she has stage 3 kidney disease. It’s lead to difficulties at school and at work where, she says, she hasn’t been able to hold down a job.

“Believe it or not, it’s only recently that it’s dawned on me why that is,” she says. “People like me can be accused of being lazy but if you’re in a low it’s so hard to interact with people or to do anything. If I’m in a manic mood I’m the best employee ever.”

Abby found her bi-polar intensified after having her baby, Oliver, five years ago. “I think I suffered post-natal depression as well,” she says.

But the love and support of her partner, and a positive attitude passed down by the grandparents who raised her, helped Abby to formulate a plan.

“Ever since I could hold a pen I enjoyed writing; fiction, journaling, everything,” she says. “I wanted to show my own journey, what I was going through, and also pass on the tips I had picked up along the way because I’ve had to dig deep.”

Abby started blogging and posting articles on her own website PsYoureBeautiful. “I started it because I wasn’t getting the support I needed and I knew there were women out there who were like me,” she says.

“PSYoureBeautiful is not your average anxiety and depression site, it’s exactly like me,” she says. “I’m not in victim mode, I’m moving forward, I’ve let my past be my past.”

The site contains articles by Abby about coaching, personal challenges, anxiety and manifesting – the art of creating a vision for all the good things you want to come into your life - which she has found especially useful in combatting the bi-polar lows.

“I am going to start doing vision board workshops,” she says. “They are a creative was to set your goals and intentions and I am hugely excited to get the word out there because I believe they have really helped me.”

She’ll also be launching a monthly online subscription magazine, packed with hints and tips, and hopes eventually to include recruitment and signposting to other services, plus input from other inspiring women.

She’s already welcomed the 1,000th member of her Facebook Group Mindset Magic, for whom she does a live session every Tuesday where she talks candidly about the issues in her life and the ways she’s tackled them.

“I plan to do (Facebook) Lives with these women, share my tools and techniques, hold workshops," she says. "I want to be that person in a hotel meeting room, with 10 or 20 women listening to me explaining how they can do it too.”

She’s planning to do all this on top of looking after her little boy, and while writing fiction – horror is her favourite.

“With bi-polar every day is a struggle, it’s an internal war, you can look so normal, the happiest woman in the world but inside it’ll be a different story,” she says. “I’m coping better because I’ve flipped it. Now I want Inspire Me and PSYoureBeautiful to help other women too.”

*psyourebeautiful.co.uk