I have been reading what everyone has been posting and I am so grateful there are those of you out there not afraid to disclose something that is so personal and so scary. My son has been diagnosed Bipolar along with 5 other diagnoses at the moment and he is currently in an acute care hospital for being suicidal/homocidal. There are so many details and instances that I am not sure where to start and I do not want to write you a book so "just the facts". My ex-husband is bi-polar, ADHD, diagnosed with major depressive disorder, and an alchoholic/addict. I took my son and left when things got dangerous (emotionally and physically-not to mention mentally and verbally). My son was not even verbal yet and was banging his head on walls because of all of the "episodes" we had been through. His father disappeared from his life for a while and he started doing much better. He has been in therapy since kindergarten (and is now pre-teen). His father showed back up last year and decided to be a father all the sudden which completely pulled the rug out from under my son. We went to court and after a short supervised re-entry, he now has standard visitation . My x refuses to give him his medication (three days off) which puts him into withdrawal and completely turns him upside down. When he comes home, he does not know up from down and we start him on meds again slowly to get up to the correct dosage. By the time this happens, it is time for visitation again and he is in withdrawal. My son has completely disengaged from his life (school, friends, home, everything). He is not functioning at all. He came after my husband and I with a toy in his room which was a weapon when he was raging. We ended up at the police station. I could write for ever about the way things are now, he was suicidal and his psychiatrist admitted him to inpatient acute care. I had to hire a lawyer (with no funds coming in) and file a restraining order so his father would not take him out of the hospital. I have trial dates set and he is saying I have made all this up and put this illness into his head. I have doctor's wanting me to do whatever it takes to make sure my son does not see his father without supervision. My x refuses to admit his son is sick because that would mean he would have to look at himself and he refuses that as well. He says he is clean from the alcohol and drugs for years and that is good but it really does not matter when you do not do the footwork of the program. He acts the same way as he did when he was using, maybe even worse now.
I am happy someone mentioned the financial burden as well. My son's medication and therapy costs more than we make in a month. Our insurance has been maxed out this last week for the inpatient treatment and his doctor says he needs to be transferred to a residential treatment center with a school for a MINIMUM of 3 months. HOW??? Is there any assistance out there for these situations. You are all in my thoughts and prayers. I affirm we all are healthy, happy, successful, certainly loved, whole, perfect and complete. Blessings~
