BellaOnline Forums Health and Fitness Mental Health Bi-polar

Hi Diamond,

I am interested in where you found this information. I work with kids who take psychotropic medication and I believe this information would be very valuable.

Lala,

As hard as it is you have to have a certain loving detachment. You cannot make him take his meds. He knows how bad life becomes when he stops taking his meds correctly. No one can be changed. No one will change unless they want to change.

Unless he becomes a danger to himself or others you are doing everything you can by being there for him, yet you cannot do it at the expense of your own health or mental wellbeing. It is ok to step back and tell him you need a break.

Bipolar Affective Disorder [BAD] is a vicious circular cycle, even when the right medical regime is being followed.

Impulsively, poor judgment/poor insight, high risk taking behavior, substance abuse issues and difficulties with social skills or interpersonal relationships are all very common to Bipolar Disorder.

This is why it seems people with BAD do not seem to learn from there past mistakes and seem to repeat the same behaviors over and over.

A great site to check out for better understanding for anyone who happens on to this thread and wants to know more about BAD is linked below:

National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH)

For those with kids who might be Bipolar:

Child and Adolescent Bipolar Foundation

Finally, take care of you.

Hi lala and the rest of you fine people. I know I'm new here but it would have been nice to receive a response from you/any of you, regarding my feelings & my thoughts about your situation with your Dad & bipolar disorder.
I can't seem to shake the feeling that it's because I'm bipolar myself, and new and unfamiliar. I hope I'm wrong about that?

I joined this chat room because I need & want to meet new people and get some
advice and suggestions for my own problems as well as helping you guys out
with yours. What do you say? Give me [BeReal] some time and some patience
while we all get to know eachother? I really hope so because I've never experienced
this type of forum and look forward to getting involved and getting to know all of you.

Thanks for listening, and again, I hope to hear from you, especially since I am bipolar and therefor have a wealth of experience and knowledge about this subject under my belt. Maybe something I have to say will help? Please give me a chance. Karen.

I havent been on here for awhile (was away for the weekend) Thanks for posting Karen, Ericka, and LisaLove.

Unfortunately Im going to have to come back and post in a couple days. But, I read all that you guys said! Thanks you guys.

Hi everyone. How have you all been doing?

I don't know if I can explain this so it sounds right - it's hard to explain to people who don't know him directly.

First of all, when my dad doesn't have much focus in his life, he tends to have more of a personality. Example: When he is attending church regualarly, when he decideds not to swear, when he's taking his meds properly, when he decides not to do certain things he shouldn't be doing (drinking/drugs/women etc), he really doesn't have much of a personality. He always looks glum. He's very quiet. He speaks in a monotone voice. He doesn't really laugh. But he's doing the best things he can for himself, but he's not happy?!

However, when he stops going to church or starts swearing, or drinking or does drugs (which he hasn't in over a year), or doing other 'bad' things he just has so much more of a personality. He laughs and jokes with people. He smiles alot. He's very generous. He shows more emotion. But this is when he's doing the things he shouldn't be doing. He will spend LOTS of money constantly, and then he's very run down and doesn't sleep much or eat much because he's always constantly doing something. I just find it strange how his personality is much bigger and he's more interesting and fun to be around when he's actually not doing well!

It's like he can't seem to have fun and laugh and joke when he's doing good things for himself. When he's on his "high" he is alot of fun, but he can also get himself into a lot of trouble with money, women, etc. But when he is "low" he gets suicidal (which he says he hasn't been in 4 years) and when he is in the middle he has no personality, is quiet, kinda grumpy looking, sleeps alot more, eats less.

It's such a strange disorder. Lately, the last couple months he seems to be on a mini "high" but it seems to be a more controlled "high" than in the past. He's not drinking or doing drugs, he gave his credit card to his mother so while he is spending money it's usually on taking me or my mom or someone else for breakfast, lunch or dinner, he hasn't involved himself with women since Christmas (which is good for him because he tends to be come slightly obsessed with them, or he tends to go for prostitutes (sorry too much info!) So according to him he hasn't done any of this for quite sometime. Right before Christmas he spent thousands of dollars on women he liked. And then he started going to a 12 step program for that, but I haven't heard much about it. I've seen him maybe up to 10 times since Christmas. He's always very tired because he has 2 jobs. He works doing shipping and receiving from 6 am - 2pm all week. (mon-fri) then 7 days a week delivers papers to companies from 11pm-2 am so he sleeps usually from 4 or 5 pm until 10pm. So If I happen to see him past 3pm he is very tired, almost falling asleep.

Also, I got married last July 7 months ago, and then he was about 120 lbs. He was WAY toooo skinny, but since then he is back up to about 145lbs or 150lbs. Which is a good weight for him.

Just some things I've noticed with him over the last while.
Laura.

I've been sitting here re-reading everybody's posts and thinking about what to say in response. Then I started thinking about my dad through out the years, and I realized that where my dad is right now with this disorder is probably one of the best times I can think of. I mean, he's not drinking, he's not using drugs and he's not being suicidal. Those 3 things are among the worst things that he could do. So therefore, things are not as bad as they used to be, or could be. I think I just realized that because my childhood was so up and down with him, that NOW I just expect him to go that low again. When I noticed that he was spending lots and lots of money on these women, after a whole year of doing soooo well I thought, great, here's the beginning of another high and soon enough we're all gonna have to deal with his suicide threats again. It's as if our family just anticipates it happening again. But in reality, my dad hasn't gone that low since my parents separated 4 years ago. However, in the last 4 years my dad as gone through about 6 episodes of drinking for months and then not drinking, spending money and not spending money, women and no women, outgoing then shy... so there's still been alot of ups and downs and signs of highs and lows but he still hasn't hit rock bottom. I know this is a good thing, but I think because it's been so long, we are just waiting for it. He went a whole year without even thinking about women or sex etc then something triggered him and he spent thousands of dollars on them in a matter of 2 months. So when I see his old bad habits/addictions coming back I worry that ALL his bad habits will come back. But they don't. It's almost like he has mini relapses and is able to get himself out of it before he gets tooo out of control. As much as I and my family love him, unfortunately, I think we are still stuck in the "what's he gonna do next" way of thinking. Our lives (indluding his) were so up and down and you never knew which way he was gonna go so now it's like we still live with that uncertainty, as if it's ingrained in us, even when he's doing okay.

Hey Everyone, I was diagnosed with Schizoaffective Disorder. Im only 23 years old and im taking Abilify 30mg, Haldol (Halperidal) 4mg and Effexor XR 150mg. I highly reccomend if you are bipolar to take Abilify. It works wonders with my manic stage for my ups and downs. The Dosage forms for Ablify (aripiprazole): 2,5,10,15,20,30; 1/mL sol; IM. schizophrenia 10-15 mg PO qd Start: 10-15 mg PO qd; incr. dose q2wk; Max: 30 mg/day; Info: tabs equivalent to solution up to 25 mg, then 30 mg tab = 25 mg solution. bipolar disorder, acute mania 15-30 mg PO qd Start: 30 mg PO qd; Max: 30 mg/day; Info: may continue effective dose as maint. tx, periodically reassess need for tx; tabs equivalent to solution up to 25 mg, then 30 mg tab = 25 mg solution major depressive disorder, adjunct tx5-10 mg PO qd Start: 2-5 mg PO qd, incr. up to 5 mg/day qwk; Max: 15 mg/day agitation, acute9.75 mg IM x1 Max: 30 mg/day; Info: effective range 5.25-15 mg IM x1; may repeat q2h or longer if needed; switch to PO as soon as possible; for agitation assoc. w/ schizophrenia or bipolar mania. Abilify: Peds Dosing Dosage forms: 2,5,10,15,20,30; 1/mL sol schizophrenia 13-17 yo Dose: 10 mg PO qd; Start: 2 mg PO qd x2 days, then 5 mg PO qd x2 days; subsequent dose increases given in 5 mg increments; Max: 30 mg/day; Info: doses >10 mg/day not shown to be more effective; tabs equivalent to solution up to 25 mg, then 30 mg tab = 25 mg solution.
Abilify: Contraindications/Cautions
hypersens.to drug/class/compon.
caution if cardiovascular dz
caution if MI hx caution if ischemic heart dz
caution if heart failure
caution if hypovolemia
caution if dehydration
caution if orthostatic hypotension
caution if aspiration pneumonia risk
caution in elderly pts
caution if cerebrovascular dz
caution if dementia
caution if seizure hx
caution if poor CYP2D6 metabolizer
caution if diabetes mellitus
caution if diabetes risk factors
caution if high environmental temperature
caution if PKU (ODT form)

I'm taking 900mg of seroquel to treat my bipolar disorder. i took Haldol a few years ago but ended up in the er room at our local hospital with spasm of my vocal cords,facial grimmacing and spasm of my neck muscles, no more Haldol for me the seroquel is helping just fine
I guess its what ever works best for you

skyhaven, Im very sorry to hear about that. I get spasms alot but not like that. I took seroquel before for almost 6 months and i gained like 30 lbs from it. Im off it now and working on my weight. Take care.

Kara

Kara,lots of luck. i hear ya about the weight gain;o(