James Wade has revealed his results in the first half of 2024 have been adversely affected by a health scare and his Bipolar disorder.
The 41-year-old was diagnosed with the mental health condition in 2009 just as he had made his way to the top of the sport, having won a raft of major tournaments over the previous two years.
He has learned to manage the symptoms but has struggled over the past few months and it has had a negative impact at the oche, particularly while dealing with an additional health issue.
The 10-time major winner has won just 11 matches this year after a “chaotic” period and exited the Dutch Darts Championship early at the weekend.
“I’ll be honest with you, in the last four months I have been up and down with my moods and very chaotic at times,” Wade, an ambassador for Bipolar UK, told the PA news agency.
“I think I am still there on the chaotic side but my moods seem to have levelled off a bit.
“I’ve had a tough kind of four months, but that’s part of it.
“And I’m lucky enough now to know how to make the best of it when I’m like that.
“So, I haven’t done anything silly, not upset anyone too much. And I’ve done all right. I’m quite proud of myself actually. Because for the last four months, I’ve been feeling pretty low I would say.
“I haven’t had that killer bit in me, that desire for the last four months.
“It was a health reason, I thought I had something and I didn’t get checked and recently I did get checked and I’m all right, so that’s all good.
“But I kept it to myself, being silly like men are and I didn’t think to get checked for probably two months.
“Then I told my wife about it and then obviously, she held my hand and booked me an appointment with the specialist.
“So I’ve been catastrophising for the last four months over that until about two weeks ago and that has affected my other bits and bobs around me, definitely.”
Wade’s love of cars and motorbikes has been a key factor in managing the condition as he likes to buy and restore old models.
“Cars really do take my mind away it, even though I’ve obsessed with that at the time,” he said.
“But it’s one of my escapes, that and fishing are probably the two things that really do take my mind off things.
“Sadly, I haven’t got a decent car at the moment. I haven’t got anything that floats my boat or anything exciting.
“I’m not even going to admit to what car I have got because any car fans out there would think I’m not one if I told you what car I’d got.
“I actually mentioned I’d like a new motorbike recently to my wife, I think I would like a new one and she said, ‘I think you should need to win some prize money before you think about spending any money on a motorbike’. That hurt didn’t it?”
:: Bipolar UK offers support to anyone affected by bipolar with their free UK-wide services – peer support line, peer support groups and eCommunity – and resources, including their Could it be bipolar? information and Mood Tracker app.