my son….is bipolar..one day he just left…3 months later we found him in Edmonton..(we live in Ontario)..as he called..he only called because the police had put him in the hospital after being arrested for B&E…he said he was hungry and wanted something to eat so he thought it was o.k to bust the door down of a restataunt.

he said he may come back here…help!!!!!!
This is all new to me, i knew he was depressed…but this was his first epasoide of being manic..or so i think??
If and when he comes home i need to know what to do and what not to do for him…I feel so lost.
Lauren

I have had this happen alot in the past 5 years to my son and I. People just need to be educated on the disorder thats all. Most all the bipolar people I know are just misunderstood. I also have had to change Docs. and therapists a few times till I found one I mesh with. Some of them hang on to one issue even though you have moved past it. That happened with my last one so my sessions became nonproductive and so I found a new one. The one I have now is great. Not every Doc. or therapist is right for every one of us. It is always good to check around and find the right one for you. Thanks again Dave for what you do!!! It really helps me with not only my disorder but also dealing with my sons.

Hi Dave:

I’m 44, Female, RN, seperated from Spouce, family and frends. Diagnosed 1 year with Bi-polar, Dual Diagnosis and emotional de-regulation (like that one), it means I cry too much!!! It probably comes from losing my life in a short perod of two years along with my $80,000 income,my house and cars.

I was a people pleaser, meaning I valued myself by how others loved me not by my own standards, which when I am sick (episode, cycle,)which is often. I have a very low self-esteem, and have very mxed standards, care or esteem for myself.

I have actually been bi-polar, since I was 14, but because I was adopted, my family just thought I was having abandonment issues or I was just a flaky teenager, or a brunette airhead, whore, or a druggy. (I remember these names quite dearly) I felt ashamed, a failure, and mostly isolated, I was a pretty girl, which lead me down a path of receving some attention, that I thouught was love but turned out to be little more than lust, which did not help matters in the best interest of how others perceived me.
Since I was 14, 30 years now, I have had 27 jobs, moved 28 times, have been married three times, have 3 children the youngest is 17. My
two older childrn are Bi-polar and are estranged. My Father has passed away. He was the only sane loving adult that I knew. My adopted sister is Bi-polar but is seriously ill, she is a elementary school teacher has 2 autistic children, and on multiple meds and therapy, though she is court-ordered to undergo anger management classes(something to do
with spousal abuse) she is very diciplined follows her Doctor’s care and s very loving and attentive to her children. We talk maybe once every 5 years. My mother is an alcoholic, have nothing good to say about her, she is a very unhappy, unproductive, fearful, miserable person, she only allows very co-dependant, controlling relationships into her life, she has never forgiven me for how I turned out, and that had a a friendship with my birth mother, who found me when was 18.
She has an allegance with my daughter by takng me out of the will, and promisng her lots of money to support her because of her terrble childhood that I had provided that caused her mental illness. My mother also has some mental illness,(constant mania) alcoholism,(to depress her symptoms) and pain pill addiction.
I have substance abuse issues when I am cyclng down, bcause I hate to be tired and depressed. I feel very unworthy when I am not doing a hundred things at one time, taking care of everything working 60 hours a week and etc.etc.etc.
My history s strong with Bi-polar on my birth mothers side, my grandmother was estranged from her family and dropped my mother and her brother off at an orphanage, when they were young. My uncle is, my mother put me up for adoption, and is very secretive about her life.

Stigma, and predjudice is a very larrge part of my life. I rebuild trust, belief, and love, and work so hard at trying to be good that I wear myself out and fall down, so fast destroying everything so quickly that I find myself alone again and again, not worth my husbands love and trust bcause of my behavior, and actions.

I’m agan starting over, I have no-one to talk to other than my weekly BP class, my doctor,and my celebrate recovery class(which are blessings), I am again moving to a new town, a new job)I am working at a State Mental Hospital as a Nurse. I defintely do understand stigma, on both sides of the fence.

omg. My husband is freaking out about this now. Please see my previous post about the unauthorized charges on my credit card. He thinks that because I am bipolar, I have probably authorized other charges also. I have not. Now he has taken away my credit card, all because your company “Leverage” has charged my account without authorization. You have to fix this right now. I don’t know how you can do this kind of thing to someone you are supposed to be helping. I have posted this information on another of your blog infos this morning and no response. I have called Leverage and got a very bad feeling because all it will allow me to do is leave a message. I can’t get to speak to a person at all. I really feel now that I have been the victim of a scam. I never expected that the same David Oliver who has been helping me with his emails every day for so long would be involved in something like this. You have the information to contact me and make this right. Since this is causing me not just money, but a huge trust problem in my marriage, I will not give up until it is fixed. Please reply asap

I have had bipolar for along time and it has caused alot of heartach for me, right now in my life I just want my life over and think it would be best for everyone who knows me, that the world would be better off without me, I am doing my best to keep my head about water but the bipolar it seems is winning the war, I have lost my husband who has left me for a younger woman and I have lost my 2 older kids and the one won’t even talk to me now. My heart is breaking and the bp is out of control, I am doing the best I can but doesn’t seem to be enough, thank you for allowing me to join. hope you all have a good day.
ringlady

I AGREE 100%. PEOPLE JUDGE ME OR BACK AWAY FROM ME. THEY DEFINE ME BY MY DISEASE. I KEEP SAYING THAT I AM NOT BIPOLAR–I HAVE BIPOLAR DISORDER. I AM NOT MY DISEASE.

This goes back to Ignorance again. Conventional people tend to be prejudiced against what they don’t understand. If you dare to be an individual the general public turns against you, because of fear and also because of jealousy. They envy you when you have the nerve to be different, which they haven’t.

I have had to put up with the conventional “norm”s prejudice and misunderstandings all my life for being individual, especially for being nocturnal. That’s why I can relate well to bipolar people.

It’s interesting to see a good number of “night people” on this blog, more bipolar survivors than supporters.

I can fully understand why anyone hates having to take prescription drugs with horrible side effects, but accepts taking them as they are the lesser evil compared to the effects of the illness. My boyfriend had been taking his medicine every day and except for a screwed up sleep pattern (same as mine) he was stable. Then suddenly last weekend he decided to “try out and see what happens” and not take them. First seemed to be going into an episode going higher and higher – full of sexy and creative energy. Although we were very happy and had a lot of fun I was concerned and worried that he may crash. He didn’t contact me for 2 days. Yesterday I saw him just before he was going to the doctor. All that positive energy had turned into anger and rage. I had never seen him like that before. He looked terrible and kept swearing and shouting, being so angry with the world. I can now see what someone with a violent tendency (which he hasn’t) maybe capable of – more than yelling. Then he had a go at me for “always quoting clever stuff from the internet” to him. He is not into computers, but knows I go on this site and I only tell him what I think may be of help and usually he has been quite interested. I’m glad he saw sense before it got worse and went to the doctor. He is now taking his medicine again and didn’t come over tonight as he is feeling a bit down (or maybe confused). I was really quite horrified when he told me he had stopped taking his meds. Seems my prayers have been answered and hopefully we are gradually getting back to normal.

SUZANNE, What is it with psychiatrists that some of them seem to have mental conditions themselves? Are they aware of having a mental illness and go into psychiatry to learn about it and hope to help themselves? Or do some of them develop a mental problem from working in that field day after day? I have heard too many horror stories about psychiatrists. There was one at the same hospital where my boyfriend was a patient a couple of times. Mental illness ran in her family. Her mother had committed suicide, her daughter had an eating disorder and the psychiatrist was still working full time a week before she killed her own daughter. Several months later the court found her not guilty of murder on grounds of “insanity”. They committed her to the psych ward where she is undergoing intensive treatment.

Of course there are a lot of good psychiatrists too, but they don’t make the headlines.