Being Bipolar

For me the most difficult part is seeing the person I love so very much going through so much pain and confusion and being completely unable to help him. There are points when I begin to feel hopeless and depressed and know that I have to stay well or there will be no one to care for our children. I won't ever divorce him, because I see it as an illness, and I know how much he needs me. But sometimes I wonder if it's too much for our children to live with. All of these thoughts do add a lot of stress to a relationship. Try to hang in there, talk to each other about your feelings, and see things from each other's perspective.

Hi Punky - I'm not an expert on bipolar, but I do have a lifetime of experience living with a person who suffered with this disease and I have come to know a great deal more about it recently which has helped me a lot and to assist me in my own recovery. My dad had bipolar I with psychosis. He was also an alcoholic. I will tell you what I know about his disease and hope it helps you. He would act out, really treat his family horribly, say cruel things, etc. you get the idea. Strangly enough, the next morning while we as a family were traumatized because of what we had been through the night before - he would be calmly, even happily at times it seemed,sipping his coffee, reading the morning paper and just generally acting as if nothing at all had happened. To us it just seemed that he could really care less how he treated us.From what I understand about psychosis this is a part of it. They can't remember what happened during their episode. This was a big part of his pain with his own disease, not understanding that we weren't just being cruel to him, we were suffering. Anyway, hope this helps. Good Luck to you and I salute you for looking for answers - it shows a lot of strength on your part!

Like my doctor. She seems to be loooking at it from my husbands point of view. She says if I don't make changes then my husband will get the children if we divorce.

But I think every case is different and shouldn't be grouped together as saying all bipolar people are bad in relationships. I think it's important we try not to do this 'cause the people that have the disorder start feeling like there's no hope.

Thank you for the salute I try to be strong even when it gets rough but my children have alot to do with it. I love them so much.

silly, socially unacceptable behavior : road rage, etc.etc,. on a CONTINUING basis. Refusing to accept the opinions of family and Dr.

I told him point blank every huge crisis our marriage has endured has been because of some bizarre something he has done. He just does not see the connection ( the coomon thread of bipolar personality) He treats EACH separate incident apart from each other rather than it is a continuing problem. Well that is why our marriage is on the rocks. Laur

The forgery, shoplifting, and verbal abuse nobody should live with and if children are involved it makes for a sensitive situation. I'd be careful.

But not ALL bipolar people are prone to such acts. He could not be bipolar and still do those things.

He hasn't always been this bad. I can see he is getting worse and it breaks my heart. His drinking is way worse as the years go by. He used to grab a six pack when he was mowing the lawn, then it was a 12 pack for the weekend, now it is a 30 pack for the weekend and another one for the rest of the week after work. I agree with something you said earlier blog that the dringking is making things worse. He has blackouts or something. He will swear he said something that he didn't or that he did not say something that he actually did.

It is in his family too. He is one of 6 kids and 4 of his siblings are on meds for either depression/ addictions/ or bipolar.

He very clearly sees what is going on with his relatives but refuses to admit he has the same problems.

Laur

I am back in therapy....Have a tentative Dr. appt. for my husband with Another Dr....getting therapy for our daughter...etc. etc. etc.