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

well i could sound like a broken recored here, and just repeat what everyone else has said here.

the bi-polar one in my family was my sister. she killed herself almost 23 years ago. she od on heroin.

 

I'm Bipolar. They have very effective meds nowadays and they are non-narcotic they just help restore yourself to sanity. Bipolar is not always a permanent state of mind, Usually depression & mood disorders go along with this. They are curable problems. If you can treat your depression, and mood disoders, along with a few other steps most people (the ones who usually commit suicide cuz they think they are going crazy(like i did)) can live a very normal & good life. The other bipolar(i don't remember which one is 1 & 2) untreated or untreatable often leads to schizophrenia and of course suicide or death in some manner. It's sad, but I hope people will with it will at least reach out for help most people with bipolar Just "live with it" & hope for the best, this is the worst thing you can do. My heart goes out to all who live with or around this problem, but theres a lot you can do nowadays. GL

 

I was diagnosed as bi-polar, but found out that even the doctors knew I wasn't. Instead complex PTSD. Just because a doctor says it is does not mean it really is. Get a second opinion whenever you can. IMO.

 

I'm bipolar. I have a lot of things that go along with that too.

 

I have schizo-affective disorder, and to those who don't know, that's a mood disorder and a psychosis at the same time. Basically I have mood swings and hear voices. It's hard to deal with at times and medication sucks, but I get though it.

 

I have severe Bipolar I, like your partner. Send me a message if you have questions, as I have been through a hell of a lot of things that would be relevant.

 

Hey Cherokee, Bi-polar is a common misdiagnosis of Borderline Personality Disorder. Was she abandoned as a child (father or mother dying early, divorce early with no interaction with divorcing parent) or was she sexually abused in some way? The crazy-making behavior sounds like my wife a lot. It can be genetic and/or environmental. Please PM me if you want to keep this discrete. In completely understand what you go through, trust me.

 

i found out working real hard relieves much stress and so there is no need for meds and i stay away from cities as much as possible..

 

Sounds like some problems with some shit i wouldnt be a dick back about it but i would be like nah nah i cant have dat

 

I'm glad I found this thread. My fiancee has bipolar disorder. Right now we are fighting. She is on disability for her BPD and they are telling her she is too High Functioning.

Now she has decided that she want's to be a phone sex operator.

It all started when she started "Sharing Fantasies" with people online (just fancy talk for cyber sex). I figured that it was a good outlet for her hypersexuality so I didn't have a problem with it. The problem is that she has Dysphoric Mania. Her mania makes her paranoid and agitated. So something happened combining cyber sex, paranoia, and agitation and she had a breakdown.

Then she decided to have cybersex with this girl that she has known since highschool. I actually joined in. It seemed to go well. But then she got paranoid and agitated. Everybody is still friends but it went into her having a breakdown.

She started having cyber sex with another dude. A couple of weeks ago she turned over our apartment and screamed racial slurs at the top of her lungs (we are the only white people in our apartment building and she was convinced that we were all spying on her and that somehow her having cyber with this guy got her banned from a website).

No she is on colonapin which is a mood stabilizer and is convinced that she should work as a phone sex operator. I see a blow up coming and she is dead set on doing this. The thing about the colonapin is that it is just slowing down the blow up and instead of it being a rocket trip it is her riding towards it on a bicycle.

If we discuss it she calls me a controlling bastard and calls the police if she doesn't like the tone of my voice.

Not to sound too mean but there is a part of me that wishes that she would just fucking blow up already. I have been with her for 4 years and recognize the cycle of her breakdown and can predict how much longer until it is over by the things that she says. It is amazing that it almost follows a script.

And her wanting to do phone sex is like watching somebody with a peanut alergy repeatedly eating pad thai going "This time it will be different because it has less peanuts".

Long story short I'm going through some heavy shit.

Stay Brown,
Rev J

 

Rev...

There is nothing you can do to help a person who is in the midst of a mania... getting in their way will cause extreme agitation, paranoia, anger, fear and all sorta of other... twitches...

Nothing besides wait it out and be there for them on the other side... Which is something you have to decide for yourself.

None of the drugs (including weed) will help stop the swings... no matter what the 'professionals' think... Some will kill them off and turn people into zombies, but only for a while, and it is almost gaurateed not to be very long before the person snaps and goes on a huge rollercoaster coming off the wrong ones...

Weed for me anyway, helps keep the worst of the swings off. But even that, doesn't make a person 'normal' and never will...

You have to decide if you want to accept it and be there for her, or not... not from a point of view of guilt or anything like that... each person has to decide if they can accept each others quirks, regardless of what or how bad they are...

Now, for the reason I actually came searching for this thread...

Music... I keep forgetting and re-learning this about myself...

Having music playing is one of the most helpful things in keeping me from falling to hard... Mostly it seems to be based on it having a beat that I can enjoy...

 

I have to respectfully disagree with this statement ChronicTom. I was first diagnosed with BPD-II then it was changed to Major Depressive Disorder; which in a lot of ways, mirrors BPD-II. My mood swings were wicked and ruined a lot of my relationships. Now that I have finally found the right combination of meds plus the fact that I saw a great psychologist on a weekly basis for about 2 years, I feel wonderful. Other than normal PMS (ha!), my mood stays stable. Of course I get angry and sad like everyone else on the earth, but no more than any "normal" person. I hate to hear people put down medication because for those that are fortunate enough to find a good doctor that really wants to help and not just throw the drug of the day at the problem, the right meds can literally be a life saver.

 

What is with people not reading posts and then arguing against them?

Read what I said, the very first line of what you quoted...

and then tell me how reasonable your drugs make your thought process.

In case you miss it, let me point it out so it can't be mistaken.

Just what do you think a mood swing is?

It is... get this... a swing in the moods... something that EVERYONE goes through... people with bi-polar disorder (which major depressive disorder only mirrors half way, as indicated by the 'BI' part) just have mood swings that are out of whack...

There is no drug that STOPS mood swings, AS I SAID.

 

Thank you so much for enlightening me as to how wrong I am. Now all is right with the world. Your superior intelligence and insight are a gift to us all!

 

i have ocd, that's about it. it's not even that bad.

my friend has been to mental hospitals battling bipolar. she is lovely and i wish i could help her, but it seems like an extremely difficult thing to live with.

 

my cousin is battling bipolar disorder as well. it has been very hard for her family especially her significant other. but they never leave her because this is the time when she needs them the most. i remember, though, that her mom did research of her own about bipolar disorder and alternative medicine that can help. apparently, fish oil can alleviate symptoms so she discussed this finding with her doc. she's doing okay now and she's still on fish oil supplements. i think maxalife is the name.

here's hoping that your friend manages her bipolar disorder too. it's very tough on her and people around her.

 

Regular sleep really helps also exercise. It dosen't have to be intense exercise just something that she can center her mind on for a while.

 

There are so many aspects to Bipolar Disorder that the specific symptoms seem endless. It sounds like she was going through a severe manic episode and she is possibly a rapid cycler, but i am not qualified to make a diagnosis.

Many people that have this disorder do live relatively normal lives. I know of professors, doctors, and lawyers that suffer from Bipolar disorder. I also know people that are profoundly affected to the point of total disability.

If you have any questions just PM me or leave a message.