==>>Help with ALL aspects of bipolar disorder<<==
Check out all my resources, programs and information
for all aspects of bipolar disorder by visiting:
http://www.bipolarcentral.com/catalog.asp
Hi,
How’s it going?
I wanted to drop a quick note about today.
Do you know what day today is? Well it’s
Bipolar Disorder Awareness Day (BDAD).
What the heck is Bipolar Disorder Awareness Day you
might be asking?
Bipolar Disorder Awareness Day was created
by NAMI and Abbott Laboratories to increase
awareness of bipolar disorder, promote early
detection, and better understand the impact on
the more than 13 million Americans presently
affected by the disorder.
BDAD activities focus on encouraging the community
to:
-Learn more about the symptoms of bipolar disorder
and mental illness and understand its impact on society.
-Participate in a f.ree mental health screening held in
many communities.
-Reach out to individuals suffering from bipolar disorder
or mental illness.
-Encourage individuals with bipolar disorder to seek treatment.
You should check around in your area and see if anything
is going on. There could be good speakers in your area,
events and f.ree stuff that can help you with bipolar
disorder or mental health in general.
Every community is different so I can’t tell you
what’s going on in yours.
One thing you should do on this day is be grateful
that you know what bipolar disorder is. Even if
you don’t fully understand it, if you are reading
this email, you at least has some idea.
I am not sure how many people there are, but I would
have to say millions of people through out the
world that have bipolar disorder and don’t even
realize it.
In my courses/systems below:
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:
http://www.survivebipolar.net
A common theme that you here is that many people
who are a success today with bipolar disorder
or are successful bipolar supporters had no
idea what was wrong for many, many years.
So really if you have an idea that bipolar
disorder may be the problem you are on
solid foundation for success with helping
yourself with the disorder or helping a loved
one with it.
Well I have to take off today. Make sure
you check your email tomorrow for the
bipolar news.
Bye for now.
Your Friend,
Dave
P.S. Don’t forget to take a look through the
different programs I’ve put together… each one is designed
to help you with a different area of bipolar disorder whether
you have it or you are supporting someone with it.
You can see them all and get the details by visiting:
http://www.bipolarcentral.com/catalog.asp
P.P.S. Check out my F.ree blog with copies of emails
that I have sent in the past and lots of great
information for you:
http://www.bipolarcentral.com/supporterblog/
P.P.P.S Check out my F.ree podcast. Hear me give
mini seminars designed to teach you information
you can’t learn anywhere else.
http://bipolarcentral.libsyn.com
this has nothing to really do with the email that you sent me this morning, but i need advice. I am in a relationship with a bipolar man, resently he cheated on me. He said it was because of the BP. I’m trying to cope with this, and i’m trying to understand. i can’t leave him out in the cold with this disorder, I love him and want to support him with this. But i don’t know how to handle it myself.
what do i do?
Sam,
One person can never tell another person what to do. This is what I’d do:
If it was the Bipolar that caused him to cheat, I’d make sure he went and got a check-up from a doctor came out with a clean bill of health before any intercourse (if it was a bipolar motivated action it likely wasn’t a protected action) and I would INSIST he get a treatment plan and stick to it. If he doesn’t, that would be a deal breaker. For you find someone to talk to about feelings of broken trust and anger.
Good luck to you. IF he is willing to take care of himself you can likely get through this.
“Today is an important day for bipolar disorder…”
I laughed out loud when I saw that because it was a year ago I today I took my fiance to the hospital. Bipolar awareness indeed!
My daughter is bi-polar, and she is 38. I tried telling doctors, this is what she had, but no one would listen until she was 30 years old. I had heard the actress Patty Duke, on t.v. telling about her having the disease, and it was like listening to my own life. That is the problem, it, sometimes takes quite awhile to get help, from the doctors. Be persistent, with your doctor, and if you don’t like what you hear, get a second or third opinion. Mary Ellen
I have bipolar 1 and sczophrenia. I am under a doctors care, my family are my support system. I have been prescribed an aray of meds, taken morning, noon, and night. I have always been holding stressful jobs. Now I can do nothing. My memory of all the jobs is gone, I cannot work anymore. I felt it absorb me in 1997, but I just figured it was just another stressful job. In 2001 I tried to commit suicide and again in 2002 and 2005. Each time I was commited to the hospital, but it only protected me for a welcome escape from reality.
I have days that are simply unbearable. My mood swings back and forth like a yoyo and I see things that are not there.
In 2007, I went to my SSI hearing and was granted disability. I was preapproved by the judge before my hearing.
My wife is witness to all the things I did, sometimes, she says I would be totally controlled by my illness for days that I cannot recall. If anybody knows how terrible this illness is, it’s my wife.
It is the illness above anything I have ever felt. I cannot even concentrate most all of the time. It took almost an hour to write this, because I get so confused and manic when I can’t think. My mind is racing with thoughts swirling around like a merry go round, that never stops.
I read articles from alot of sources, but mostly those on your site.
Thanks for giving me a chance to read about others with the same mental illness.
Michael M.
Kansas, USA
I am so happy to finally discover some information on this illness. I feel I have been troubled with this for many years. I am now under treatment my doctor has given me porzac and it seems to help me.With the loss of my husband I just had to seek help when my husband died. He passed away in 2004 and it has been very hard for me to cope. We were married 27 years. Now I have a job
and I am ready to atleast have a friendship relationship and it is so very hard for me. Please give me some adivice on how to start over again. I feel very lonely at this time.
Dear Sharon…find a friend someone you can talk to and trust. Do not keep your feelings bottled up inside. It is not good for you. Best of luck! ~Sher
Hi I’m Cheyenne and I’m greatful that you have days like this called BP DAY it makes it really easier to know that sociaty is starting to realize that there is such a thing called manic depression and mood swings that cause a person to go off the handle sometime. I didn’t know what was wrong with me and why I couldn’t control those impulses that plagued me so many years. But now that I know, I’m trying to also control them myself with help from my god Jehovah. So far I’ve been successful once, I just hope to continue to control the impulses more frequently when it flares up. I don’t want to give into it like I use to anymore cause all it does is get me in trouble big TROUBLE!!! I didn’t know until I was an adult that I had Bipolar. BOY!!! was I relieved that I wasn’t crazy. Thank you for having Bipolar Day in our honor so that there may be a cure or a better way, that we can live a more peaceful life with this illness.
First of all, to SAM – I am bipolar, and I DID cheat on my boyfriend of almost a year. He DID attribute it to my bipolar, and felt I was in a promiscuous episode when I did it. He has since forgiven me, and our relationship is stronger than ever. We are COMPLETELY exclusive now, as I have broken up with the other guy (even though he was a better match for me sexually). As long as he BELIEVES I was in a manic episode when I cheated, he is OK with it, but he is still jealous, and watches for any sign of my cheating again. All I can say is, you can show this to your boyfriend, as it is validation for his straying. Sometimes, a bipolar will experiment with someone other than his partner for purely sexual thrills, but will return to his partner for life. I’m asking you now to forgive him, and carry on as if this never happened.
To SHARON: I lost my first husband in 1989 to a sudden heart attack at 35 years old. It was devastating, but I was cared for by the local Community Mental Health Center here in my town. They changed my meds, and I saw a therapist twice a week for over a year.
I lost my second husband in 2003 to a perforated ulcer that caused peritonitis at the age of 74. I was already on Social Security disability and had not worked since 1991. This was a more devastating loss, as I loved him more than life itself. I again followed all the treatment plans the Community Mental Health Clinic gave me, and came out the other end. For awhile, there, it seemed as if I could not see the light at the end of the tunnel. I went into a depression – blaming God for taking him, and being angry at my husband for dying and leaving me behind. I would gladly have died in his place, as he was a very intelligent man and had a lot more to give to life than I did. It took me nearly two years to be able to function normally again.
I have since moved on. I live in a condo a couple blocks from where I did live. The main reason I moved from the apartment house I owned, was because it held so many memories of my husband. Every where I looked, I could see him there. It was very hard.
I have a part-time job working as a mystery shopper, and answering surveys on the Internet. It hasn’t made me an “overnight millionnaire,” but it IS something to fill up the days. I never was able to have children, so I don’t have any support system other than the Clinic. My boyfriend, when he found out I was bipolar, did research and investigated the illness, so that he could help me resolve some of my issues. Without him, I would be floundering.
I suggest you try online dating. That is how I met my boyfriend in late 2005. During a minor break-up this year, I went back on a couple of dating sites and met three, very interesting men. Unfortunately, they did not meet my expectations, and I took my old boyfriend back again. To my complete delight, he seems to love me even more than he did before. Try “Match.com,” “True.com,” “Yahoo.com,” or “Chemistry.com.” These are very reputable sites, and I guarantee you’ll find at least a couple gentlemen who would be glad to have a woman like you to take care of!
To DAVE: When I was first hospitalized in 1968, I was diagnosed with schizophrenia. Fortunately, they did not give me ECT, or I would have become even more confused than I already am! By my third hospitalization, they diagnosed me with manic-depression, and gave me Lithium, which has since caused bilateral neuropathy in both legs, so they took me off of it. In 2001, I finally got the diagnosis of bipolar disorder, and am on Depakote, Zyprexa, PaxilCR and Valium.
So, you see, psychiatry has come a long way since the middle 60s. When more people in society become aware of bipolar disorder, perhaps the stigma of having such a mental illness will lessen, and we will be able to act like more “normal” people.
BIG HUGS to all bipolars, and the ones who love them. God loves you, and so do I.
Dear Dave:
Just wanted to take this chance on Bipolar Awareness Day to thank you again for the time and energy and caring you expend to help us and our families or significant others manage this disease better. Just want to be sure you know that you are REALLY appreciated!!
And to my fellow bipolar sufferers (that’s not exactly the word I’m looking for, but it will have to do for now) – my prayers are with you and I hope that you will find all the tools you need to handle our disorder… and use them!!
Thanks also to those of you who hang in there with us, love us and support us. There is a special place in heaven for you loving people.
-Sue
My boyfriend is bi-polar. He has cheated on me in the pass. We were having sex and he gave me an std before I knew he was cheating. I forgave him the once, but if he ever does it again I’m gone, he would be breaking one of the biggest deal breaker we have. I don’t agree with the person that says a by-polar will go to other people for sex, but will alway come back to there partner for life, the partner for life shouldn’t have to live like that!
To Suzannewa,
Even if a bipolar will cheat for sexual thrills, that doesn’t make it okay in an exclusive relationship. If you want to do that you shouldn’t be exclusive, you know? Find someone who wants an open relationship. It’s probably easier for women to find a man like that than a man to find a woman like that. I second what Bernice has to say.
Hi Dave, I like your email support. Don’t stop.
Now, my question is… my husband is in the early stages of BP diagnosis, the lithium has not kicked into his system yet (5 weeks) and he is lying compulsivly, it seems to get worse everyday. Can I expect this to change when the meds kick in or am I stuck with a liar for life?
Hi, David,
This is actually a response to the email from yesterday, where you mention that you are going to be looking for a research assistant. I enjoy research (especially now that the Internet is so readily available, it’s like being hooked up to tens of thousands of libraries, literally at my fingertips) and I said just last week to someone that I have been looking for years for a work from home solution, and also that I would like to do research from home for people….and then you said you need someone to do just that. Your mention of this was just amazing, right now! Like the Universe answering me, once I put my desire for exactly this opportunity “out there”, by saying it out loud to someone! I am looking forward to the opportunity to apply for the position, and eagerly checking your emails for the information about how to do that.
I was told by someone who has a Bipolar partner about you and your programs, and signed up for your emails. My family members suffer from schizophrenia, but I went through a lot of the hurt and confusion that people here express when they write and share their experiences. I am a social worker and deal with many people every day in my job that suffer from bipolar or other mental illnesses, so your information from your emails help keep me focused on what is possible, and not possible, what I can do to help, and what I should say and not say to people when I am talking to them about how their disorder plays into the problems and life challenges they are dealing with. Your suggestions help keep me more positive and I appreciate them so much.
Thanks, Peggyrose
I would like to state as a bipola suffer i think more should be done to help those that do.