Hi,
How’s your day going?
I hope it is a good day for you.
They say that life experiences change people.
Remember Hurricane Katrina?
Those people’s lives were forever changed by a natural disaster.
It was a horrible life experience for them.
But now they have a chance to start over and make changes.
Divorce changes people.
Have you ever known anyone who got divorced (or gotten divorced yourself)?
Then you know that divorce definitely changes people.
Two people that may have been in love at one time now may hate each other, or at least have nothing good to say about each other.
They’re different people now.
They may be bitter.
Changing careers can change a person as well.
They may have to adapt to a whole new way of doing things than they did at their other job.
And aging definitely changes people.
All their life experiences combined change them from who they were at one time to who they are now.
We are all the result of our life experiences.
Good and bad.
Having children, for example.
Somehow, being responsible for a small baby changes people.
For one thing, it makes them more serious and responsible.
They want to be a good parent, so they change into one.
Other experiences change people, too.
Finding out that you have an incurable disease can really change you.
Like bipolar disorder.
In my courses/systems, I discuss how a person changes when they’ve got bipolar disorder.
SUPPORTING AN ADULT WITH BIPOLAR DISORDER?
Visit:
http://www.bipolarsupporter.com/report11
SUPPORTING A CHILD/TEEN WITH BIPOLAR DISORDER?
Visit:
http://www.bipolarparenting.com
HAVE BIPOLAR DISORDER?
Visit:
But what I do in my courses/systems is encourage change for the better.
Okay, let’s talk about the down side first.
Your loved one may become a different person because of the disorder.
They are definitely different when they go through episodes as opposed to when they are in a normal period.
If your loved one gets depressed, they are not the same person you usually know.
They may be sad, lose interest in things, feel helpless and hopeless, or even talk of suicide.
Of course this is a bad experience.
If your loved one gets manic, they also experience changes.
They may be more energetic and/or be excessively happy, which sound like they would be good things, but for someone in a bipolar manic episode, they aren’t.
They may become very impulsive, do risk-taking behavior, and make bad decisions.
So a manic episode is a bad experience as well.
However, let’s look at the other side of the coin.
Yes, bipolar disorder does change a person, but sometimes it’s for the better.
For one thing, now you have a reason for why your loved one said and did the things they did.
Bipolar disorder can make a person more determined.
Many people refuse to let the disorder rule their lives, so they do what they can to be in control of it instead of it being in control of them.
Bipolar disorder can make a person take more responsibility for themselves.
Many people, bound for stability, will make the necessary life changes to insure that stability.
They will take medication, go to see their doctor, psychiatrist, and therapist on a regular basis,
learn stress reduction techniques, eat a healthy diet, get better sleep, exercise, etc.
Bipolar disorder can also change your loved one into someone who may have been a pessimist
before, but now is an optimist, believing that they can recover from the disorder.
All our life experiences change us.
But it’s up to us whether they change us for the better or for the worse.
How has bipolar disorder changed your loved one?
How has bipolar disorder changed you?
Post responses below
Yes I Have definately changed for the better! it had made me alot stronger and knowing that if I can control this anything is easy!! alot more compassionate and the knowledge I have gained by looking deeper and realising how life how be a living hell if not managed that I will do absolutely anything I want to help ppl do the same and realise it can be done.
When you said I now have an answer for the things my husband did is correct. Because of my own insecurities I blamed myself for some of the things that went on during our marriage. My husband being diagnosed with bipoler has given me my confidence back in myself. His illness has destroyed our financial security for retirement and many other thing but I know why all of these things happened now.
sometimes my bestfriend can go manic for 2 weeks and come back to earth like nothing has happen. It is very hard not to take his actions personal when he is in this manic state of mine. I found out that all I can do is wait it out…like a bad storm
Bipolar disorder has changed me for the better. One reason is that doctors finally figured out what was wrong with me. After prescribing medicine that was hurting me rather than helping me. Another reason is that I can understand why I do what I do, after doing research on bipolar disorder.
my loved is biopolar he has it for 5 yrs on. We been married 27yrs. we have three kids their are all grow up on. my son sometime wonder can he get this disease. he sometime wonder. Yes this does hurt a relateship very much. some time i feel all along because you really cant talk to them them get really up set very easy. sex is another thing to. he is totol differ person for a normal person it is hard.
Yes, I am a CHANGED person with the diagnosis of bipolar disorder. Where before, I was ambitious, hard-working, sexually promiscuous, spending money I didn’t have, and had delusions of grandeur.
During my last manic episode, I flew to San Francisco from VA for a week’s vacation. Needless to say, everything that happened to me was GLORIOUS, as only a manic episode can be. I had a BALL, flitting here and there, completely taken over by mania.
It wasn’t a week after I got back, that I was hospitalized in a full-blown manic episode.
Since that last time in the hospital in 1977, I have worked VERY hard for stability. I am much more compassionate and empathetic to all people, those less fortunate than myself, as well as peers. I’m more spiritual (though not religious), and thank my Heavenly Father for EVERY day I don’t have bipolar symptoms. It IS true that I’m constantly looking over my shoulder for the next episode to present itself – I’m back in “mixed episode” mode now, but the extra Klonopin helps. Too much month at the end of the money…
Embrace your changes, fellow survivors, if they are positive, and fight to win if they are negative. You CAN’T “lick” bipolar, but you CAN put it in its place.
BIG HUGS to all bipolar survivors and those who love us. May God bless you real good. I pray for my country.
Yes! Being one who loves a man with bipolar. It has changed me. And he will go into one of his moods and not even remember it? I can go days and even months and not see him. See we live 3 hours away from each other. Which I do not think is a good ideal. I have been thinking of moving closer too him. Since he told me how close he had been to committing suscide. Now I live in constant fear. Every time I leave or he leaves
I am so scared he will do something. He has been off his meds now for over two years. It does scare me. But he is one of those who thinks he can control it and wants to do things all natural…….I am trying to let him figure out on his own. He needs to get the help on his own. And he knows what he has to do to make life better. I do continue loving him and I will not leave this journey with him. I am here for the long haul….
No matter how hard. I just do alot of praying and letting the LORD take care of him. I know in time he also knows he will have to go back on his meds. He talks now that he needs to go back to his Dr’s. Hope he does soon. I hate being scared all the time and do not know what I would do if something did happen to him.
I do not know if his family even knows how serious his condition is? I can not help but love this man even tho I only get a glimpse of the man I love every now and then……….it is worth it….I know in time he will get the help he needs. I have not waited all this time for nothing.
My husband has not been living with us for 5 years. He has been diagnosed with Bipolar Disorder (I believe….Dr. cannot tell me/patient/dr confidentiality) but his medication is for this diagnosis & my Mom was Bipolar….very similar in many aspects. He goes off his meds periodically and it scares the heck out of me because we have a young child. I never know when he is just going to show up and not be himself. Currently, I believe he is not taking his meds as he has been acting inappropriately and I am his “lashing out” choice of a person. He called in the middle of the night because he was worried that he hadn’t heard from me yet he did not show up to something for our son’s school that night (which was a good thing). He is totally irrational and I called his psychiatrist to let him know. This is what I do when he is acting in such a manner. I asked the Dr. if he would “check in” with him….it seemed as though that was a foreign concept…he said he would later in the day???? I am so frustrated!!! I also let his current friend he is living with know what was going on because there is a young child living in the home. I just wish he would stay on his meds and remain somewhat stable!!! There is also a possible substance abuse problem!!!
Hello Dave…….
been a long time since I have posted something, again this one cought my attention, {as all your posts do} I have to totally agree with you here, Bi-Polar does change people, I have changed a lot since I was diagnosed, totally changed me, in the beginning, it devistated me, and developed a bad attitude, thought I was damaged goods, over the years it changed me again, learning about BP, and your web site, and posts have helped me in my education, I accepted it, and grew with it, and adjusted my life around it, my attitude, the out breaks, everything. It has been a hard struggle for sure, so yes, agree it does change a person for sure, being labeled with something, anything changes a person.
Just another foot note, my husband to be, we have been living together for almost two years, he has noticed a lot of changes in me, some of them not so great changes, I did not have a real idea to my changes, but he did, he brought it to my attention, then realizing how I changed…I could work back to the person I was when I met him, and the extra support needed.
I was diagnosed with Bi Polar disorder Type 1 about two years ago. Those close to me had noticed mood swings of extreme highs and lows for quite sometime but as I was a heavy drinker this fact was attributed to alcohol till I visited my present my present Doctor.
Though I did go for rehab several times nothing seemed to work till now. After I started taking Sodium Valporate over a period of time and understood what was wrong with me it has become a lot easy for me to cope with the the problem and I find now that I am more stable and better equiped to deal with my life. Of course the damage done to my loved once will take sometime but I have been very lucky that I have a family that has stood by me all these years. There are still afew other areas that I need to work on but I am very confidant that I will be able to emerge out of this experience a better human being and get back to a productive life.