Topic : 08/01 Extreme Highs and Lows

My husband of nine years has been diagnosed with depression for years.  He has been through about every antidepressant known....But hated the side effects and always quit or changed. Last May we had to remove all hunting guns from the house because he had gone off all meds and was suicidal. He has gone from filing for divorce one month to wanting to renew our vows the next. He was diagnosed in May with BiPolar II and put on a mood stabilizer and Prozac.  For the last month he has quickly decreased both meds to just everyother day minimal doses.  He will come home and want mad passionate sex then walk in the next day and be angry and want a divorce.  I never know what to expect when he walks through the door.   He isn't as extreme as those on the show....but last Nov. took $10,000 he had hidden in our basement and put in a stock that he though was going to soar. He honestly thought he was going to be a billionare. (he also pulled $13,000 out of our college fund and cashed in two insurance policies and put in the same stock).  Yes we lost around $9,000.  No, it wasn't money we could afford to lose.

 

I don't know if these are truly symptoms of bipolar or not.   If someone thinks they are please comment. 

 

Grabbing at Straws.

 

i know how ur daughter feels about the whole school thing i am 18 years old and i was in the same boat as her about the teasing and looks.It's totally horrible i was put in the hospital for 2 weeks and my life has never been the same since..it's a horrible disease to live with and you just kinda have to take it like ok this is what god gave me now how can i make this work and try and get through this the best i can..I am a suiside survivor and you know life is more than you know i hurt so many people when i tryed to slit my wrist and i hit the bottom of the black hole at that time and never wanna be there again

Todays show really opened my eyes. I mean since I was 12 I have been battling depression. Finally about 3yrs ago I found this Dr. that was able to give me a diagnosses on what exactly I had He said that I am borderline bi-polar and will forever battle my depression.. I have since then run out of funds,am separated from my husband, lost my job and am on the verge of being homless.I am spiraling down the same path as before.. I am here to ask for anyone out there for information on where I can go to get my mental health in order. I am making this bold move for my 6 year old son and need to be healthy for him. So if anybody has any information on where I can call or where I can go please email me.

I wish the best for your daughter.  I was diagnosed with this awful desease at 12 I am now 29. It took them 6 years to get to it. I was told I had depression, and a lot of other things I can't think of right now. I do hear voices bad, telling me to kill myself and my cats. Good, a family that I have created who say I am fine. Sometimes I think I can talk to different people when i'm alone, including celeberties. I once told someone I knew where BIin-laden is. I lost that friend that night. It's hard for me to work because I go off on people, I never hit them just yell and swear. I lost several jobs over this. I do take my meds but it doesn't seem to help. I hurt myself and sometimes ( a lot) and try to commit suicide. I do hope you watch your daughter for any signs of problems.

My mother is Bi-polar and she has been I guess for along time. Also to make it worse she is addicted to prescription drugs, in the past there have even been illegal drugs. I wonder if her mind is completely gone. It is like she just checks out sometimes and goes to some other world. She is paranoid and rude and thinks everyone is out to get her. My father is still married to her but lives in another town during the week to be able to cope with it. My sister has completely disowned her and this has made my relationship with both of them impossible. I have not spoken to my mother in over a month since she hung up the phone with me over her last episode. I don't know how to handle her and balance to keep it from affecting my children and my husband the way it has affected me my whole life. Sadly this last month has been the most peaceful I have had in my entire life. It makes me feel guilty to feel relief not to have to deal with it but in the same way I feel like it is taking a part of me away from my children and my husband so it is very difficult for me to deal with my feelings. I have even had nightmares about the things she would be capable of doing to me and my children. I don't allow her to watch my children because of her moods and heavy medication that she takes on a regular daily basis, so I fear that if she is so desperate to prove she is normal that she would try to take the without my permission from school or something and then lose control and they would be hurt somehow. I have to tell their school that she can not be allowed to pick them up and explain why, it is so embarrassing. My in-laws have seen her at her worst at various events and it almost caused me my marriage because they judged me for her behavior at first. My husband and I have been through hell to convince them. I have to have separate holidays with them and my sister to avoid problems. I feel like I am being pulled from all sides and I don't know why I can't just throw my hands up, even though I feel very close to that point after this last episode with my mother. I have tried to talk to her about how her behavior affects everyone else but she says it's not her it's all of us that we are the one's who are hurting her and not the way it really is. I guess it just feels good to get this off my chest, I wish I knew how to better this situation but with her mind so far gone and her denial, I just don't see things getting better.

 

Confused and frustrated

I am a 60 year old single/divorced woman who has suffered with this disorder for over 50 years. I have just come to understand what has made my life a nightmare all these years....I have only been "sort of" diagnosed by a family doctor....He prescribed me anti-depressants last year, and they help so much, though I still live with the hope that I will not have to live much longer as that is the only way I will be sure to escape the "nightmare" as I have come to think of my life. I know I can not act on ending my own life and this causes me even more depression because I don't have the nerve to end it all. The only way I feel I can get thru the rest of my days is to completely isolate myself from everyone. I am almost completely homebound for the last several months, leaving only to go to the grocery store once a month. I do have an appointment with a Behavior Clinic next week which is suppose to be one that I can pay according to my income.....This will remain to be seen! I do hope that I will be able to continue to purchace my anti-depressants as the pain without them is unbearable.....

What reason would your daughter have for being mean?  Is she on drugs?  Did you raise her to value her bad behavior.  I doubt it.  She probably is bipolar if the doctor says she is.  It's more likely to get a wrong diagnosis of NOT being bipolar.

Call or go to your local crisis center (look in the yellow pages.)  They should know the resources for your area.

5 years ago I was diagnosed with Bipolar II.  The Dr. put me on Paxil for the anxiety and depression and a tranquilizer for the anger.  I was in the darkest part of my mind.  The only thing that kept me from suicide was my 3 children.  After going on the RX's I was feeling much better and decided to drop a few pounds.  I went on the Akins diet with no weight loss sucess, HOWEVER, the diet cut out all carbs....  Wheat, Barley etc.   All of a sudden my meds were too strong.  I found I didnt need them anymore.  I experimented with the exclusion of the gluten in my diet and found that ANY time I had any form of gluten, I would change from Dr. Jeckel to MR. HIDE!  ALL of my Bipolar symptoms would come back in force any time I ate any bread, pasta, malt, etc.  As a result of this finding, I went off all RX's and watched my diet very closely.  Stripped my kitchen of all gluten sources.  This has been a blessing!!!  I no longer battle my self for control.  I no longer snap at the kids for no good reason.  I have learned to love myself again!.. That in itself is a miracle.  Alergies are REAL.  Their symptoms don't always manifest themselves as hayfever.  I wish all of your guests would have food alergy test BEFORE they went on RX's. 

 

Sincerely,  Debbie Loveless

 

My mother has suffered from Bi-polar disorder for almost the 37 years I've been alive.

 

Growing up I have experienced pretty well every episode known, inclusive of my mother attempting suicide when I was six years old, and again at eight.

 

I feel for Cathy's boys since I have been through much, as they have. It is not easy living with a parent that is Bi-polar, considering you love them but can't understand why they act, say, and do the things they do.

 

It wasn't until my father passed away that my mother was finally diagnosed with a disorder. I remember shortly before my father's death asking him why he ignored my mom at times, to which he told me you'll come to understand....I surely understood.

 

During my fathers illness, I was incensed that my mother would rather be away from the house than with him, or that if I cried she'd show no emotion. I eventually learned that Bi-polar disorder causes various mood swings, inclusive of being evasive of serious issues such as this, or would at times show emotion, or in this case coldness. Please don't get me wrong, my father loved my mom and vise versa, but in the days starting in the 60's this diagnosis was barely understood.

 

At 27, the time around my fathers death, and my mom's diagnosis with Bi-polar, I was diagnosed with anxiety. I am now 37, and currently am on a drug for the same, although not for Bi-polar. One of my greatest fears is that I could end up with the same health condition as my mom.

 

My mom has gone through various medications, taking her from extreme highs to extreme lows, until they found prescriptions that seem to keep her condition under control. Unlike Cathy, my mom is willing to try different medications and stay on them or notify her physician if there not working, so something else can be done.

 

I truly believe that Bi-polar is mis/diagnosed and treated differently by numerous physicians with different drugs. In 2001, my mom was on 19 different prescriptions, and now down to 10, inclusive of medication for heart disease, high blood pressure, and Bi-polar. It took 27 years alone for someone to understand that my mom wasn't a hypochondriac or going through menopause.

 

I feel for all the children, and family's that have loved ones suffering from this disorder, since it is understandably hard to understand. With the right physician, and medication, this disease can be controlled to its best extent.