nope....and if anyone tried l would shame them

Vickybea, I would go further.

No one can predict what you and your partner can "produce" with Bp related otherwise we would be to able to identify a gene. Although its has said to be heriditary.

Just statistics is what they base their research on.

More often or not we have a predisposition adn external circumstancdes can trigger it. But if one ws to lead a "normal" the symptoms may never of appeared.

YES. My psychiatrist when I had last severe mania.

While I understand why pdoc said this I already fucking knew I wasn't fit to parent (my personal sad conclusion) due to severity of my illness. I'm not a fool.

But having someone actually say it out loud to me just broke my heart so bad. It hurt so much and it still does. I hate bipolar I just hate it..I just hate that people can say such cruel things to you so insensitively.

By my own choose I choose not to have a bio child.
1st because: i won't tear up my body.
2nd. I wouldn't give up 20ty yrs of my life.
3rd and foremost I have thyroid disorder.
4th. my Aunt is double jointed.

Why would anyone even risk the slightest possible to pass on an illness or risk possibility of passing on illness that skips every other child or 1st & baby child in generations of family medical history. Unless their self serving and really don't care if child has or becomes to have family illness.

Hey as long as we do as others who we know in our close environment & use the excuse that their mind's couldn't over ride instinct to breed to pass it's gene & to do as all spies do - keep our healthy & strong offspring to protect it and to make sure only our healthy gene is passed on.

I wish people had to take blood test - mental evaluation every 5 yrs and go thur parenting class etc... and for Dr's be allowed to test the baby before it's born & after it's born and every 4 yrs for defect - illness after running an intense family medical history. That's actually the reason for looking up and keeping tract of our medical tree. ya it's nice to trace which cousin married who.

There are billions of baby's & children who may never be adopted. what a waste.

VickyBea.everyone has an opion. and intitle to thier option even if it differs from yours.
if your going to shame anyone. shame those who intentantly pass on illness to their offspring and to kids who off springs are born junkies. Has that working - shaming such people, right.

They tell you that you can have a 'normal life' with medication but oh, my don't they undermine that peachy pie in the sky bullshit with all the compromises they shove down your throat. Bitter, much?

(sorry, this topic is v. upsetting to me, obviously)

PS: I use to own a 3 shift day care only because I love baby's & children. Not because I couldn't reproduce.
Many yrs later after I had children tested and intence family medical history was done and blood test done on their brains etc... I adopted my 2 sons ( who are brothers).

I wish people had to meet finacial, mental evaluration etc... that people go thur inorder to have remote possibily of being able to adopt.

According to my Mother I had let her know at age of 10 & there after I had no intention of having off spring as liken to neighbor pets.

No...it would break my heart if someone did though, especially a physician or something.

I have thought about it myself though, I don't know how I would cope without my lamictal for 9 months(which is associated with cleft palate)

...I hope someone didn't tell you this not to have children with bp.

I had all three of my babies before finding out that it am Bp. I found out I was pregnant with my daughter a few weeks after my psychotic break and learned that I had been for a couple of months so was something I wasnt aware of.

But if I would have known about my illness before hand then I wouldnt have had children for the fear of passing it down or not being stable enough to take care of them. My daughter has been diagnosed with major depressive disorder and I blame myself everyday because of being highly psychotic while pregnant with her. It 's tough being a parent with bipolar.

two sides, I don't think you being manic at the time would have made any difference.

I don't think we currently know enough about the disease to say having children is a bad idea. I've not seen anything that says what the percentage of children born of BP parents that have BP. Or if BP1 parents automatically have BP1 child and so on.

There are so many other things floating around, predisposition to cancer etc etc that we don't know about either.

My pdoc just cleared me as pregnancy safe. I have not had psychosis in many years and all indicators are I am improving. I have a stable partner and am on stable meds which are also pregnancy - safer.

I had both my children a few years before my dx. Of course, if I knew then, what I know now I probably wouldn't have had children. My son has been dx'd with mood disorder since he was 5 and it is an every day battle. It's hard enough to deal with my own issues, never mind that of a now 6 year old with the same issues and no self control.

I even had my tubes tied before my dx or his dx b/c he was so difficult to deal with and I didn't want to have any more children like that. Don't get me wrong, I love my son dearly....but it's all right there, a constant reminder that I did this to my son.

I don't think anyone should have the right to tell you whether or not you "can" have kids. It should be whether you are ready to deal with the potential consequences.

I have bipolar and am high functioning. I have three beautiful daughters and an angel boy in heaven and I would not trade them for anything. I would not RETHINK having the. at any point. I am not the perfect parent, far from it. I knew about my illness before getting pregnant but I was stable for the most part. Sure I have my moments, but on meds I do fairly well. I work a full time plus job(44 hours a week) and have maintained employment for 18 months with the same company.
Go with your heart and stop listening to the Dr's. If you think you are ready and stable,and want to do this then I say GO FOR IT!

Yes and No.

A lot of doctors will recommend you don't have a child while on specific medications for bp. There are alternative medications out there that are safe during pregnancy. Some of these have nasty side effects for the mother, but keep a fetus safe. There are doctors out there who specialize in the treatment of women with mood disorders and women's health.

I hope this helps.

*HUGS*

After I was diagnosed w bp my pdoc and therapist both agreed with me that I should not have children.
First of all, I have never had any desire whatsoever to have children and mental illness runs rampant in my family so the chance of passing it down is even greater.
My parents are pushing us to have children, but neither one of us want to be parents and that is our decision and we are sticking to it!