Bipolar Teens Support Group

Hi my name is allie and im new to this whole thing! About 7-8 months ago i just found out that i was bi polar but my parents had an inkling ever since i first took medication. I was only 7 years old. I have been on many different types and not all have worked so well. Ever sinice i had a very tramatic experience my second year of high school and this situation has stayed with me. I am now a senior and am dying for some friends like me so someone can understand what im all about. I have always been very "popular" but never did i think that one day all my friends would drop me. Now I struggling with fighting with my family and not getting along with anyone and being on the defense to everyone and everything! I dont know how to calm down and stop fighting?! i need some advice!!!! I was always a very emotional person but ive gotten worse. I just need to know that somewhere in the world others feel like i do! SOMEEE ONEEE PLEASE BE THAT FOR MEEE!

You are not alone, Allie. Even though I am not diagnosed as BP, I have been through much of what you described. I've been through the process of trying to find the right "one", the right pill, for my depression. I've also struggled with calming myself down and fighting with my parents - to the point where the cops have been called, or to the point of violence and verbal abuse. A few ways that helped me survive throught these "episodes" was to find my space - a place to call my own, practically. When I was younger it was the public library - my own corner, and I stayed most of the time reading books or doing homework. As I got older, and being a senior myself, I found driving with or without friends helps calm me down as well as listening to a good CD. When you can't find your space, take a few deep breaths. I know you've probably heard this before - the breath thing - but it does help, and then try to talk to them, again. Sometimes it's better to levy off the steam for a while, write it out, or talk to someone else, and then going to talk to your parents. I know my mom, being a single-parent and all, was having a hard time dealing with my ups and down, my "changing" orientation, and my ideas evolving - your parents may be confused with these changes. Mine was and once we actually found an off-time of not yelling, things went really smoothly. Hope I could help.

With hope and patience,

A. Stone

Thank you soooo mcuh for that response and i really needed to hear that! everything you said, i am going through right nowww!

I'm glad I could help. If you ever want to talk, I'm here. You can mail me here or at alexandra.stone@rock.com.

my name is alexandra also! i hate itt! lol and thank you

I'm a mom of a 15 year old son with Bipolar. I can't say I understand how you feel, but I do know how difficult things can be. My son is now on homebound, mostly because the schools(teachers/staff) do not know how to deal with Bipolar. I think it's important to talk to people that understand, I that's why I'm here. I new here too, and hoping to get my son on here, so that he can talk to others that may understand him. It's so important to me that he doesn't feel like an outsider, and all alone. That's the biggest reason the homebound education is an option, because he was feeling that way at school. He knows that I have been behind him and always will be. He's a wonderful son, and I'm proud to be his mom. Anyway I hope things work out for you, and if you ever need to chat, feel free to contact me.

Have a great day!

Catherine

Hi Catherine !!! I think it's wonderful that ur so understand and supporting your son that's one of the things that really helped me my parents being behind me 100% through all of the struggles and hard times that I went through. There were many times that going to school were one of the hardest things to do. There were even days where I couldn't even make it to school. But and it messed up my school year after being hospitalized plus missing school because of not even being make it out of bed most days. But I decided to take charge and researched my disorder because I always have this constant urge to read and know things ~_~ and researched my mental illness and found out what I can do with school and I went to guidance counselor to see how they can work with me help me. I explained to them the situation and I asked them to write a note to each teacher that if I were to walk out of the classroom in the middle of the class it was okay because I was having a breakdown and it was excused and I would go somewhere "safe" like guidance or the nurse and talk it out and if I felt alright I would go back to class and not have to explain it, but I wouldn't abuse that privilege of course. thank goodness I didn't have to use it.( I looked it up a Bipolar child is actually entitled to this). I also had a therapist given to me by the place I was going to after I was hospitalized because of one of my lows and if the school didn't listen I would have her go in but the school was so understanding. I also explained it to my friends. And they were understanding. It's important that you and your son get educated not only on the disorder but on the different types of medications it's important to know what is going into your body and what is going on. I explained and educated friends that didn't understand and as far as strangers went it didn't matter to me what they thought all that mattered was the ones close to me. They were the ones that mattered my safety net the ones I called in the middle of the night if I needed someone to help get me through it when I felt I didn't have anyone the ones that understood. They're the ones that mattered not strangers. It's important that the school gets educated it's ridiculous that a school doesn't know what's going on(it makes me upset. Some things that helped also during my lows was going outside even keeping windows open sitting in the dark BAD IDEA light just helped me more for some reason but everyone is different. Staying active for me and keeping me busy was always good. not all the time but most of the time when I started getting better. My highs their was no stopping them but their was a good way to keep them lower was the medication I finally found a good combination with my psychologist. After trial and error, but it helped that I did research and I worked with her to help find it. I had a very understanding one and she let me help find it as well and when I said no I didn't like it she respected that she respected me. I hope what I said helped you out a bit. If you ever need advice I'm always here. I may not be on all the time but I am here if you need advice.

~Linda

Cool, I know few Alexandra's. Yeah, and the long version does seem a bit trivial.

hi allie!

I can relate to you. i constantly think that Im always doing something that will make my friends want to not be friends with me anymore. I've been really sensitive for my entire life, but it seemed to get worse when I started middle school. If you ever need it, Im here to talk to you!