I was unable to post a comment on your email regarding the ‘make fast cash’ book, so I’m going to do it here…… Are you SERIOUS?? If I had 20.00 for a book, I wouldn’t need to send away for the book!! You’ve done all this ‘not for profit’ work (and I DO appreciate your work, please don’t misunderstand) but now, suddenly you want to profit from something when most of us are living ‘hand to mouth’…. I’m so disappointed in you and very disillusioned.

I understand you have staff to pay, etc and you have a money back guarantee….and, granted, 20.00 is a wonderful price for such information but I wonder how many of us have 20.00 to send for book in the first place?

I’m not sure what I would do,if I were in your shoes Dave, but possibly try to find some investors?…(someone who’d put up the money to pay for the printing, etc.) I know some other pastors who have printed up books and pamphlets and gave them away because of investors donating the money. I admire the work your doing, dave and I agree there’s no need to debate this. We can ‘agree to disagree’. Thank you, again for your time.

My husband was diagnosed bi-polar butafter much reading I really feel his real disorder is narcissistic personality disorder. Do you see any connections in between these two personalties disorders and how do you handle them?

I was reading the e-mail that you sent to my e-mail. I agree with you on the meds. I can see the diffence in my life.

Dave

With regard to supporters input into the pDoc treatment regime for the patient, I am surprised this is (or seems to be ) so easy. In the UK, the patient-doctor confidentiality thing is so strict, the Doc’s won’t even tell the supporter what it is they are dealing with! A friend of mine was dealing with an oddly behaved, often irritable, aggressive, and frequenty violent husband. They all knew SOMETHNG was wrong, because of his behaviour and because he was hospitalised for a period in a psychiatric unit, and they knew he had meds. They also knew he didn’t usually take the meds! The pDoc would listen when she told him about the meds but he said he was powerless to do anything unless the guy did something spectacular that warranted him being forcibly taken into hospital!

He finally killed himself. It was only at the formal Inquest into his death (that’s a legal court, where a Corner rules upon the cause of death – e.g. accident, unlawful killing or suicide) that she found out what wass the illness (s) husband was dealing with! The doctor wouldn’t tell her, and he still didn’t then! The facts were only revealed in open Court as evidence for the Coroner. In other words, she ony got to know when any other John was in the public gallery, too! In fact, he had a cocktail of problems, including psychotic BP and schizophrenia. What a mess! How could she have a clue to what to do for her family or how to help him without knowing what was the problem? And she couldn’t find out because the Docs were bound by their duty of confidentiality, when a patient’s illness can only be revealed if the patient gives permission for this to be done. Obviously, he didn’t.

Do you not hit this kind of probem in the US, or are your docs a little less strict with their standards of confidentiality?

i was greatful to you mr. david oliver… i’d never been to medication with a doctor or pyschiatris… i just read your stuff on my email and it help me out…

thank you very much god bless you! your such a nice person….

now i can see a little change onmy self… i can say that i’m a rational thinking now unlike before…

GRAHAM, While I believe that there should be doctor – patient confidentiality, I agree with you that it’s too extreme in the UK. My ex-husband and I had the same GP, a very nice man who took the time to listen and occasionally acted as a counsellor. However, when I told him about a variety of bipolar type symptoms my husband was displaying and urged him to test my husband. The doctor said he could only do those with my husband’s consent. As he never gave his consent and insists that there is nothing wrong with him, he never received the help i believe he needs.

This is slightly different here in Ireland. As a wife (or next of kin)I would have the right to “send the doctors after my husband” and get him assessed. As a girlfriend I would only have those rights if he did something dangerous to someone or himself. Confidentiality is much more loose here, which isn’t always an advantage.

Thanku for the help extended so far. I Live in a country where your book is not available so i have asked someone else abroad to order it for me. I think people go to your site because they believe that u will selflessly help them and not because they think you r making money out of peoples illnesses…therefore because u understand there situations. because of ure mom i expect u to be compassionate, understanding, and helpful. Ive been reading ure mails for a long time now and i thought i ought to say sumthing now. at the end of the day one has to be answerable to ones own conscience. even if one is effected by the illness one has to sometimes become ones own caretaker aswell. so it does not matter whether one is a sufferer or a supporter at times its one and the same…i look forward to sumthing substantial in ure book. thanks..naveed

Suzannne wrote: “What I’d like to know is, what is the difference between a “normal” mood and a bipolar mood?”
My pDoc said of this, “Let me be the judge of what is normal and what is not.” Arrogant b####! This arose because I have long noticed in myself a slow, creeping, but sure tendency to become increasingly quick tempered, sometimes very aggressive. This was normal, he saud, because I have 9 year old boys … what a prat! Sure, the kids sometime press my buttons but I KNOW BEING THAT ANGRY isn’t the real me. I have always been a passive kind of character, generally patient, slow to anger. I sometimes tyhink, what will it take for him to realise what’s happening is NOT just because I have kids. I now in myself what has been happening is something other than just being a Dad.

Suzanne also sid: “I’ve never thought of myself as a “rapid cycler,” but perhaps I’m “maturing” into one. When I don’t know where a mood is coming from, I can’t analyze it. I “live” in my brain; I am somewhat cerebral in that way. Things HAVE to make sense to me. Unfortunately, the “illness” DOESN’T make sense. It’s kind of like the old joke about the weather: If you don’t like it now, wait a minute – and it will change.” One word repsonse: SNAP! Same thing is happening with me.

BTW< that self analytical stuff, that just might be Dysthymia. It's typical for Dysthymia to be very cerebral, self analytical because Dysthymia makes one more of a watcher of social occasions than a participator in them.

Hi David, It would be nice if the doctors had bipo or someone they live with had it. So they had to deal with in a more intimate level, perhaps they would care more. Thanks, Karen

Danielle.
Remember, you are an expert about your own illness. You know it better than anyone, even your docs. You describe to them as best you can what you feel and they react to that with meds and/or therapy. But they don’t know what it feels like to be you, or how you feel. They do not know how strong or mild are the sensations you have, the depth of your depression or the heights of your mania. They c an observe them but they don’t feel them. Only you do that. All they can do is make an educated guess judging from their observations ad what you tel them. Therefore, only you really know if meds are working. You know if you are feeling better or worse. They may suggest “give it more time” if the meds don’t hit the spot immediately. But when you HAVE given it more time, you know yourself if they are working. A guy I know on another site had mood swings up and down. He liked the mania. He wasn’t so keen on the depressions! His pdoc changed the meds and dose. Now he doesn’t get the mania but he’s perpetually depressed and suicidal. The pdoc thinks he knows best and won’t change the meds, not even the dose. So, the guy resorts to booze, and he’s now alcoholic. He really ought to have changed pdoc ages ago. But he didn’t and now the spirit has been knocked out of him. It wouldn’t surprise me if he checks out any time soon. And all because he didn’t accept that HE is the expert about his personal illness. Take control of this situation!
To start, you feel the Lamictal, or the dose of it, isn’t working for you. That’s for you to say. Your doc should listen to what you think because it’s you who knows how you feel, not him/her! You are the expert on how you feel! So, what to do?
Your decision. Personally, I’d have one last shot at (I mean, last word with!) the doc. (Don’t shoot him! Okay?!) Maybe even speaking to your family doc about your concerns. Failing that, you might consider seeing a different pdoc. After all, if your current doc isn’t listening to you, s/he isn’t working FOR you. You are (I presume) paying him/her; therefore, he SHOULD be listening well! You are not just the patient, you are also the CUSTOMER. As such you can choose your supplier of psychiatric services, just like you can choose your dentist or who mends your car when it breaks.
You will find pdocs all have their own ideas of what works … change pdoc and the meds, or dose, often changes with them! So,
As it happens I’m in a similar situation. I find Laprogine (Lamictal) is not working so well. That said, since the dose was put up from 150mg to 200mg, I’ve been significantly better for the most part. Having said that, last November, I had the worst hypomania I’ve ever had! Into Type 1 territory, I think. And THAT was on 200mg. But then, we can’t expect the meds to work for us all the time – there will always be breakthroughs from time to time.
BTW, May I ask, what side effects have you experienced with the ECT? I understand memory loss is common. Is this your experience?

Danielle
Thanks for the feedback about ECT. I think I’ll a void that if it’s ever suggested – it’s memories further back than 6 months I’d rather forget! ;o)
I know what you mean about “body that gets use to medications”. This is how it was with me and Prozac. It was while I was on these for about 10 years or so, I found my anger levels increasing to levels that scared me. That was whwn I switched to Cipramil, and that cured the problem for a while … Of course, (Of course?) I’ve not been taking Cipramil for quite a while.

Danielle,
You may not know but some docs now believe anti-depressants on their own (like Prozac) can trigger mania in people. (This phenomena is unofficially called Bipolar Type 3.) When they stip taking the anti-depressant, the mania stops. (Trouble is, they become miserable again!) A theory about this goes that this effect only occurs with people who may have the inherent genetic “weakness” that causes BP, that these manias are signs that the BP may be emerging. Of course, some anti depresants are dangerous to people with BP anyway, because they can trigger mania or serious mixed episodes. Indeed, apparently even St John’s Wort is can cause mania.