Hi,

Pretty much everyone is concerned about saving money these days. I know the economy is supposed to be on the upturn, but that doesn’t necessarily trickle down to “everyman,” does it?

It still seems as though everyone is still struggling to make ends meet. Especially those people who are trying to cope and deal with bipolar disorder. The other day I was talking to someone who has bipolar disorder and he was telling me how he was saving money by cutting his medication. He was actually sort of vague about what cutting his medication meant exactly.

It could have meant that he was taking it every other day or that he was taking it in half doses, he

wasn’t exactly clear (he said both to me). His reason was that it was too expensive. But playing around with your bipolar medication can be so very dangerous, and I told him so. I actually told him that he was crazy! I know that may not exactly be politically correct, but I just got so upset about what he was doing! I also told him that even though he thought he was saving money by doing what he was doing, that he would actually cost himself more money in the long run.

He looked at me like I was crazy and even called me crazy! I explained how ultimately he was not that stable and he was adversely affecting his job not being stable. So the savings that he saved from the medication was lost in the money he lost when he couldn’t work! I think that he finally listened to that. It actually makes sense when you look at it that way. Your loved one may think that they’re saving money the way that this guy did, but they’re actually not. It’s the WRONG way to save money with their bipolar disorder. And it can ultimately hurt them so much more in the long run. Instability costs you so much more money. Look at how much money it will cost this guy I was telling you about.

For example…When he does want to fix his medication situation, he will have to have help, obviously. And the psychiatrist will need to either put him on perhaps another starter dose of the medication, needing more medication, or even a different medication to get him stabilized again.

And that can actually end up costing him MORE money for more medication. And more visits to the psychiatrist as well, while he is trying to get stabilized on that medication. Whereas, like for your loved one…If they stay on their medication, they will actually SAVE money if they don’t mess with it, because they won’t have to pay more for more medications, and they’ll be able to stay on their present schedule of seeing their psychiatrist and won’t have to see them more often (costing more for more visits). Then they’ll be saving money in the right way with

their bipolar disorder, and not in the wrong way, like this guy I was telling you about.

So actually, there is a right way and a wrong way to save money with bipolar disorder. And the right way is to definitely NOT mess with your medication. You really want to stay stable, as you will save more money in the long run when you’re stable. Like I was saying, because you won’t have to see the psychiatrist as much for management of medications, for one thing. But you also save the cost of therapist visits as well, for another thing, because you’re stable, and don’t need as many visits as often. In other words, stability is just not as costly as instability is. And you can save money by being stable.

Well, I have to go!

Your Friend,

Dave