Anyone here living with someone with bipolar disorder/serious mental illness?

I mentioned in another thread I once suffered from BDD, which made me angry a lot. I changed moods, from being happy to sad at a moments notice.

I am through that now, I was young, but it is worth to hang in there with people who are ill. I can't assure people will ever become cured, but I can insist they can get better.


If you love her, stick it through. That's just my advice, from personal experience. I met someone who did for me at the time, and I really did appreciate her and still do to this day.

 

i have bi polar it is horrible and everything that has happened to Archane has happened to me 1 minute u are fine the next u wanna hide away from the world it is so unpredictable

 

This makes me think theres more then just bi-polar personality disorder. That is disassociation.

 

so sorry for upsetting you

 

yes me, so sick

 

Hey, I read your post and I couldnt help but want to respond to you. I am currently going through similar things myself, however, it is me on the Bipolar spectrum. I am in a loving relationship, the first one and hopefully no other. We have been together for about 14 months now and the last 4 months have been particually worse. I was treated for depression for about 8 months, had 3 different types of meds, all of which made me worse in different aspects. All I can say is, is that after so much pain, mood shifts, ups and downs and stupid things that get said, its all down to being ill and the lack of control over not knowing where you stand in your own head is damn right difficuilt. I write this post as I have sat there many times and watched my partner watching me and can't help feel every emotion possible. I have constantly told him he would be better off without me, I have been stupidly paranoid at the most silliest things and the suicide tendencies, well they're being kept at bay. I will say is, if you and your partner love each other and she is getting the right help/support then you guys will get through it all. It's tough, on both sides but believe me, no matter how shite I feel and want to end it all or how much i lose control over myself, my partner is always there for me. Also, my partner suffers from bipolar with skitzoeffective symptoms - you would think thats one "mental" complicated relationship, in fact, it makes us both stronger, even when we are on our lows. Good luck with everything and try to stay strong and positive.

 

Im on the so called "mind zombie" medications myself and actually they Allow me to be my self once more......anyways wtf is "normal" anyway......no offence like.

 

I feel so bad when reading these stories. I don't have any of these problems,but I did live with a girl back in the 60s that was diagnosed with manic depression when I took her to a psychiatrist and he prescribed lithium to level her moods. For her ,it worked very well and she was able to function without making our lives hell. She was really helped by it and our lives became happy and fun.One day she said she didn't want to live on medication for the rest of her life and stopped taking the lithium. 24 hours later her behaviour returned to its former state. I put a couple of years into the relationship ,but I couldn't take it any more and I just had to go. I don't pretend to know anything about the meds people take in the instances mentioned and I'm not recommending anything at all--just relating my experience.

 

Well said Bluey85, I agree with what you say and Also feel for you,Because Im in a very deep Loving relationship and we both suffer mental health problems.
At times it can be difficult sure but as you say it seems to bring my partner and I closer together....even on our lowest of moods/emotions.
It's a case of trying to be the strongest you can be and supportive too even when you are the one suffering at the time...I know I know that sounds a rather difficult thing to do but over time it is possible to muster up the strength to be there for your partner,and sometimes a little patience is reccomended too.
I wish all who are unwell the best and also wish the best for the familys and loved ones ....just be there and keep strong

 

Now that you’ve upset him watch out for that Cherokee Nose Job


H

 

archane... everything you described in your posts about yourself, i am dealing with the same exact things...

 

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I have vivid memories of standing out in the front yard with my wife, trying to physically restrain my bipolar teenage stepdaughter until the police arrived, as she repeatedly kicked us, scratched with her fingernails and drew blood, and spit in our faces. This was after I had removed her from the house because she was attempting to rip off her sister's scalp. Our neighbors got quite a show that day - standing out in their yards watching this whole drama.

And then there was the time a few years later when I got to submit to an investigation, because she had accused me of raping her after she was admitted to the psych ward. Of course, she had accused just about every other male she knew of the same thing...

Shortly after that the court committed her to the state hospital, where she stayed for almost a year. The only thing that made it possible for her to get out of there was that they finally found the right combination of meds that allow her to function normally, and she takes them consistently because she's strongly motivated to never end up in that place again.

She subsequently spent a couple years in a group home. Now she's back in our home again, and she's a pleasure to be with. The worst thing I have to deal with now is when she borrows my dvd's and promptly loses them.

 

I'm almost 16, and I was just diagnosed with bipolar disorder I about a week or two ago.
This past year has been one giant struggle. I was date raped and diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes, and went emotionally off the deep end.
Everything in my life was unstable and inconsistent. I couldn't do any tasks, or be in any relationships, without being bored or scaring them away. It takes a truly strong person to endure the ups and downs of a bipolar person's life.
I was admitted to an adolescent psych ward in april, and stayed for about 2 weeks after I had a psychotic episode at my school and had to be escorted out. They highly recommended that I get evaluated for bipolar disorder, and after I very thorought study, I got diagnosed with type I.
I just left my girlfriend of 5 months, it was impulsive and I still haven't figured out why. She has been strung around by me long enough.
I definitely agree with the people that say that the frequent meltdowns lead to constant apologizing. It always makes me feel like a burdern, and very guilty.
Sorry for the minor vent, I've just had a lot of things bottled up recently.

 

There are plenty of simpler explanations as to why people act wild, unpredictably, angrily, moodily, rebellious -- other than wrongly hypothesizing that the people were born with messed up brains or have chemical imbalances. Before you start taking the meds that the doctors prescribe to you, please read books such as Robert Whitaker's Anatomy of an Epidemic, and Dr. Tim Scott's America Fooled. Your health, your futures, your lives are at stake. Medical experts who are really in the know realize that the entire field of psychiatry has built a house with a very shakey set of cards, and that the house is finally starting to completely topple. Good luck.

 

IMO, change your nick. Sounds too reflective of your past, IMO.

I know what I have been through. Doctors told me I had BPD, put me on drugs, but then I found out they were wrong. Not just my opinion, but that of other doctors. I didn't have Bi Polar, I have Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. And it's even in the original doctor's notes. They just wanted to drug me up and call it good. Well it didn't make anything good. But I took a stand and took my life under my control.

I can't say that I'm doing really good right now, I have a load of crap on my plate that I have to deal with. But life is far better now than it was back then.

 

This makes me sad.

My boyfriend had Bi-Polar and I had to learn to live with it, how to talk to him, what would calm him when he would just flip out of nowhere and understand he just couldn't help himself at times. It wasn't his fault. I love him so much and beneath that maddness I recognized a soul akin to mine. I believe in soulmates because of him. I now understand what faith is becuase he made me believe, in just everything. I feel him in the breeze, and in my heart, and every once in a while I swear I feel alittle tug on my dreads, like when he use to spiral them around his fingers.

Me and his mother found him hanging in my bathroom a month ago. All I wanted was to die, keel over, but I managed to get off the necklace I had made him from around his neck and brought him back to this Earth with my breath. Somehow, I don't know how because he was gone, it was an awful sight, one I see everyday now. But anyhow, I didn't manage to save his life for long. I brought him back to life for another week but he had lost too much oxygen to the brain and his organs began to shut down. But I never lost faith in him. I prayed everyday for his life and his soul and our reunion, on Earth or in Heaven. He died in my arms as held and guided him toward the light and gave him one final kiss.

But I would not trade one second of our lives together. Love doesn't die just us and he visits occasionally. That helps to know he's just fine even if I'm trying my damnest to be. I no longer fear death. All it means is I will be the unwavering light of love. Help her if you love her. Have faith.

 

I promised him before he died (he was in a coma the whole time I saved him for a week, before this, before he chose to take his life anyhow, my promises were). That I would be there til the end (check), that I would never lie or trick him (check) and that I would search heaven and hell for him... again checked, though I haven't let off in that investigation even though he has made contact. I want all the answer's I can find. I asked his spirit to guide me in this life and I want to make him proud. He is so spiritually advanced but suffered from mental illness. I'm still finding the answers because i seek them. I love him as much today as when he was alive and I feel truly blessed to love, to speak to him, and to be there when he made the transition between lives. I would not trade one second, as painful as it has been. My whole life is dedicated is now dedicated to love, more so than before, or maybe as much with just more experience?. I want to show others what I know, scientifically and spiritually. It's real. And we must seek the positiveness in our lives that we want.

 

Gee, Crystal, You are an amazingly strong person. Your BF was lucky to have the time he had with you. I'm Bi-Polar and I've been close to that point myself.

 

I don't know if this helps but don't. In Josh's, my beloved lows he could not understand why I loved him the way I did, he didn't feel worthy and he couldn't see the great love from others because in his mind he just couldn't grasp it I believe, or didn't feel he deserved it? We were gonna get married and it hurts so much to know all of that was taken from me. Our future, our children we would of raised, the engagement ring he was planning on buying me, the house we were gonna build together, our lives together, growing old together, watching the sun set and rise again in each others arms, all gone, in an instant. I would of gladly died to save his life and it hurts everyday to go on without him. But I don't blame him. He was sick and needed help and we were trying to find it. But he was so loved, by many, and still is. I'm now taking care of his little brother, who has become mine as well since Josh can't be here for him to deal and accept what he did. He started writing suicidal things last night on his FB and it scares me (just like Josh did before he took his life). There is so much pain left behind, especially when it comes to suicide. I never saw myself being a widow but now I am. I cry everyday but most of all I pray. Life doesn't end with death. I know this. I've seen him since. But I prayed today he would come to his brother and give him a definite sign. He's not as open as I am spiritually so he might need a good knock in the head from Josh to believe. Life is hard and thats the point. What would we learn if it was always easy. We're here to grow and then one day die and review our lessons in the afterlife. Successful or not we all for the most part are taken into the arms of God so we know things, everything, truly matters and we were never once from the graceness of love, we only lost sight of it. Suicide is not the answer and if I didn't let him walk away from me for that one minute, maybe two, i would still be joyously waking to his face everyday, planning our wedding and our lives together. But he's dead and there's not a damn thing I can do to change that. But hopefully maybe I can find meaning in changing someone else's outlook. Have faith