Dave
as being a supporter of yours I have just read an article where the
increase of new “antiphychotics” drugs released by Big Pharm has shown an increased in rx’s for them. I have read about FDA clinical studies and about how few
really drew hopeful conclusions.
And who hands are we at the mercy at? Big pharm.

Col

Two things:

Look up on the web Bi Polar Type III. This is the unofficial label given to patients prescribed anti depressants who develop Mania similar to that showbn with real Bi Polar.

I read on the web yesterday that any people are misdiagnosed as being Bi Polar when they are actually Borderline Personality Disorder. Allegedly this condition is probably more common that Bi Polar.

David;
For several months now, and actually every day, I take interest in the comments of people who accept their malady called Bi-Polar Disorder, and some apparently heed the advice to seek help from a qualified Doctor, per your suggestions.Others, do not want to accept the fact that they have a mental problem, and find themselves fighting the urgings from a caring person like you, to get help to lessen the pressure of the problem they have!! Pride and insecurity can be a deadly combination for seeking help when they are told by experienced ones what they can and should do to help themselves and those around them!! It may take time, but the continual help offered to those who are affected, by your notes regarding the problems you relate to us as readers, cannot be truly measured by imperfect people. There are many doctors who simply do not qualify to adequately help some who have a serious need for the consoling words needed, and of course, the all-important need for the medication necessary to help with the delicate balance in the brain area, and the nervous system we all have. Diet is very important, and if people don`t watch their sugar in-take on a daily basis(food or drink),the un-healthy reaction coming from a poor diet containing far too much sugar for that individual, can cause close friends or family members to feel that they are seriously ill, and a relationship can be tarnished as a result. Too much sugar in a diet can and will, make a person act crazy, and if that individual is Bi-polar, the condition is only going to get worse!! The same thing goes with the consumption of alcohol,—it is deadly with a Bi-polar Disorder. The need for self control becomes even more important and more-so if they happen to be Bi-polar!! The people who monitor my physical health, have told me for years, that too much sugar in the diet has put people in Prison, for beating their wives and/or children to death!! Was it the sugar alone that caused the person to beat his family to death?? Nobody mentioned the possibility of the person having a Bi-Polar Didorder, so the probable combination of poor diet, and maybe Bi-Polar Disorder, and the possible condition of the added Malady called Schizophrenia, can cause many sad situations to develop. I am not a Doctor, but I know enough about nutrition to be helpful to those who do crazy things almost daily!! David comes along here a few months ago in his e-mails, and convinces me that the woman I was married to for 30 years was indeed stricken from childhood on up, with what I think is a Bi-Polar condition, and until I got to read the daily reports on the probable identity of this malady, I am just one of probably millions of people who have tried to live with un-believable situations each day, and not able to do much, if anything about it. Unless there were drastic changes in my wife`s thinking, she is not one to ever accept the fact that she needs help, because it is physical!! I still call her my wife, even though she filed for divorce 15 years ago, I still try helping her financially, to get along each day, but the months of November thru January are here and approaching, so it is still difficult to handle. A credit card debt of $40,000.00 doesn`t help at all in her case!! This is why I appreciate the wonderful points of interest in David Oliver`s program of help, even though he is not a Doctor!! What I`ve learned from David`s notes each day, gives me more caution as to the possibility of the wrong Doctor, and the waste of the time and money. David Oliver`s honesty concerning his experiences with his Mother and her obvious problems, has had a profound affect on the knowledge I have come up with. Your readers comments sure do help me understand what goes on in their lives, and that without having to seek the services of someone called a Doctor who quite possibly does not care about needed help, nor qualified to give it, but to know that payment for poor service and/or advice would be there!! In conclusion, I do appreciate the kind offering of understanding, and what is real comforting, is knowing that without the aid of help from a caring person like David Oliver, and the comments from people who feel good about telling him their feelings, my knowledge at this point in my life, would be nowhere what I think it is today. I do thank him for sharing his knowledge with us who read his articles, and all that, I feel, is coming from his heart, and not pretending he is a Doctor or a know-it-all, at any time. Thank you. ~Contributed ~

James, you CAN get through this. If the waking hours are too much for you, sleep through them. If you can’t sleep, exercise until you are tired and then sleep. All you need to do is get through to Monday. You can do it, buddy. You can do it!

THANKS GRAHAM FOR THE HEADS UP. I NORMALLY WEAR MYSELF OUT WALKING BUT I WAS JUST IN NEED OF A NAP. I HAVE THREE CHILDREN AND ONE WIFE WHO DOESN’T THINK VERY HIGHLY OF ME BECAUSE OF THE BIPOLAR DISORDER. I’M NOT VIOLENT ALTHOUGH I BELIEVE MY WIFE WISHES ME TO BE SO. THERE MUST BE SOME KIND OF CRIME TO TRY AN PROVOKE A PERSON WITH BIPOLAR. I USUALLY AM STABLE WITH MY MEDS. ALTHOUGH EVEN UNDER HEAVY DOSES OF MEDS. I SLIP INTO SOME NASTY FULL-BLOWN MANIAS. I COME TO ACCEPT THIS AS A GENERATIONAL CURSE. I HAVE MET SOME NEIGHBORS AFTER AN EPISODE AND IT IS REALLY SCARY. I SEE MY SHRINK ON 11/19/2007 AND I AM PRAYING THAT HE IS NOT GOING TO PUT ME IN LOCK-UP. MY WIFE IN ORDER TO PROTECT HERSELF TELLS SOME AWFUL LIES. SINCE I HAVE BECOME DISABLED FROM MY OLD JOB I REALLY FEEL USELESS. MY MAJOR JOB IS TO DO CHORES. I DON’T MIND DOING THEM UNTIL I GET CRITICISM FROM MY WIFE. I THINK THIS BLOG IS REALLY HELPING WITH MY MOOD. IT IS NT THE MOOD THAT GETS ME ITS THE SWINGING OF THE MOODS. I WOULD LIKE TO THANK GRAHAM AGAIN BECAUSE HE REMINDED ME OF A CARDINAL RULE SLEEP,SLEEP,SLEEP. JAMES

James, you must remember that partners react in different ways to living with someone who suffers with Bi Polar Disorder. Some can switch into caring mode and be the best nurse you can find. Others can’t cope with it and they out up a wall, seeming cold and uncaring, of not understanding. It might be that they really don’t care (“this is not the man/woman” I married …”) or it might be they really don’t understand, and maybe believe their ill partner isn’t really ill, that they are sing a bit of depression to excuse bad behaviour, like laziness and not working to bring in the food for the table. But they may well understand completely and seeing you in that state may make them feel uncomfortable for many reasons, one of which might be recognising symptoms in you that they’ve recognised in themselves! But they don’t want to see themselves as being ill, or as potentially as ill as you. Before I was diagnosed I had a girlfriend who had a major major episode, with highs like I had never imagined possible and lows like I’d never seen before (or probably since.) One week she was the new Jesus and the next she ha a more realistic view of herself but she was VERY low and her psycho motor left her moving like she was a slow motion film. She and a fellow schitzophrenic recognised in me my Bi Polar and that freaked me out because I couldn’t accept (then) that I could be mentally ill! I ran away from them, leaving them in the hospital and never returned to find out if they recovered or if they lived. (I still feel guilty about that, although I know I shouldn’t.) That’s just one example of how people react. Then there is my partner: She assumed the depression I had with the Bi Polar was just a result of working in a job I didn’t like. Well, that didn’t help and the job did give me major stress, but that stress was in part self made because my Bi Polar episodes encouraged me to be more challenging of my senior managers than I ought to have been, and I felt their wrath as a consequence! Anyway. When I was retired early, my wife expexted the depression to vanish and me to get back to work to support the family. After all, that is a an’s job, so she said. She could not understand why I DID not! The psychiatry? Unnecessary in her view – there was nothing fundamentaly wrong with me that a kick up the ass wouldn’t cure with a new job!!! Finally, she got so p###d off with me SHE got a job abroad and now she only comes home for 6 months in the year leaving me to cope with the kids on my own, which isn’t easy when you’re trying to keep aggressive moods in check! It’s just about as much as I can do sometime not to batter the boys when they irritate me! I don’t, I haven’t and I hope to God (if there is one) that I won’t! But it’s been a close run thing. However, now she s eems to be more understanding … or is it me being at home with the boys suits her better, so she can persue her career and have a good time without having to worry about HER family obligations? After all she’s already had one fling with some guy in Germany while she’s been away … Now, is that ME talkin, or is it Bi Polar induced paranoia? Your feeling about your wife cutting you out, being cold, embarrassing you in front of people … consider, is she really doing that or are you getting a wee bit paranoic? May be may be not, but consider this as a possibility and discuss it with your psychiatrist. Also remember, Dr Mike Scott, a clinical psychologist at Manchester University found in his research something like 6% of all the people we know like or love us, 3% don’t like us and the rest are ambivalent! It just isn’t true that “everyone thinks I’m a loser.”

my daughter in law is bipolar, in june she left my son and 2 & 3 yr olds. she has lived in 4 places we know of. went to her grandma’s for 2 weeks in oct. saw the kids, then left back to current boyfriend. hasn’t called to check on kids in 3 weeks, won’t stay on meds. her grandma and mom have done everything they know, we keep in close contact w/them. any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. how do u convince her to get the help she needs? coella

I am a fairly new supporter of my loved one and am currently on your mini series as well as bought your suppoters packet. My loved one has gambled all her money away and is at risk of losing everything. I am wading through your information to find out what financial options are available to us. Thanks for your unrelenting pursuit of information and resources for this mental illness and for sharing. Take care

Grace, you are NOT ALONE. We are all passengers in the same boat. We are all with you! You are not alone. We are Brothers and Sisters of Bi Polar!! A dysfunctional family of brothers and sisters, but that’s what we are and as best we can in this forum, we are here for each other.

Hang in there Grace – we’ve all survived or we’d not be here to write about it. You can survive this, too. Just go and see your doc a.s.a.p. because it sounds like your meds need to be adjusted.