I also know personally from experience that I could not go without my meds for nine months, let alone a week or I will wind up in the hospital.

Having a baby is a choice you must make.....Talk it over with your partner before you make that decision....I myself love children,but never had them....Never had a real relationship either...

Choice is the word of this thread. They warn you that you shouldn't have children if you have had or have any form of cancer for fear of passing it on: why would they not warn you about possible genetic mental disorders?

I have been diagnosed BP for almost 40 years. I have 4 children, all adults and all afflicted with some sort of mental disorder--BP, OCD, Alcoholism, etc.

I also have 9 grandchildren (aged 13 to 4), some of whom have been passed the mental disorder genes, some of whom have not.

I think it's a crap-shoot. I wouldn't give them up ever, but it hurts me to see them suffer.

Would I have NOT had them--------emphatically stating I would have done all of the same again---all 13.

I currently am pregnant and had been off conventional meds for a year before getting pregnant. I am much better off without meds. they gave me worse symptoms of bipolar than my actual bipolar did.

i am on a non conventional therapy and have been since july 2008. my reproductive pdoc only wants to see me every three months, to monitor me. though things arnt perfect I know now what to change in my regimen to offset and reduce any symptoms i'm having.

i also have a 2 year old who is the happiest kid i have ever met. though she has issues she is really well adjusted considering the hell we went through in her early life. and my med induced psychosis and postpartum depression.

I myself was told i should never have kids by my therapist in a group therapy program. i started to agree with her and two weeks after the group ended i got pregnant and wasn't able to bond with the pregnancy or the baby until she was over a year old. we worked hard at it as i knew that if i wasnt dealing with ppd i would be doing things very differently. I knew i loved her i just couldn't feel it.

as for passing on bipolar its hard to say but i know when the time comes i know that there are other options than medication to deal with it. both my parents had a mood or personality disorder my older brother had psycosis induced from the acne drug acutane and killed himself and my younger brother has bipolar ADD GAD SAD PTSD and i am sure a few more but he is getting better. and is on the same therapy i am on.

if we find what works for controlling the symptoms without comprising too much of ourselves with the slew of side effects on regular pmeds, or finding an alternative that works for us, bipolar is manageable and doesnt need to be a reason to not have kids. and a whole life.

I am glad I didn't know I was bp when I was having my children. I wouldn't trade a one of them for stability. My son has a diagnosis of bipolar. He is currently off meds because he wants to enlist in the military. I hate that he has the diagnosis and all the hell that comes with it but I am very much glad he is alive.

I didnt get my dx until long after my kids were born. In fact both girls were dx'd before me. I am sorry that I passed it on to them but if I had it to do all over again I would do it just the same. They, for the most part, have become well adjusted adults tho my oldest had a very hard time early on.

I believe it is our own choice to make, even if a pdoc or a family member, etc, suggests that we should or should not have children. I knew early on that I didn't want children because of my mental instability. I didn't know until a few years ago that I suffered from bi-polar, but I knew the constant cycling was not normal and I did not want to take the chance of passing that on to a child. Would they have had it? Maybe and maybe not, who can say? I just know that I would not have been able to raise a child and my life has been hell for the most part so I would not want to chance passing this on to a child. These are just my own thoughts. As I said, it is our own choice to make and I respect that.

I am 34 (old fartish) and have PCOS. I desperately want children but on top of the PCOS I divorced last year. I already talked to both my pdoc and therapist about having a baby and do see the bp as a problem. The actually getting pregnant part will be the issue for me.

All I can say is that while no one told me NOT to have children because of my illness.....even if they did it would not have made any difference to me. I have 2 beautiful children and I wouldn't change a thing. Maybe my illness will "affect" them some way in the future but as for now...it's not. Point blank----if they were not here, neither would I be here, so having them was a good thing for me. I don't regret it and I never wil.

solo you'll be happy to know that they recently found out recently that people with pcos become more fertile as they age. ~.^ if i can i will try and find the link...

Good to know!

At the age of 26 I was told I would most likely NEVER be able to concieve a child. I had numerous female problems along with cervical cancer in situ. I had also had two previous surgeries to have tumors and an ovary removed. I was diagnosed with bipolar disorder at age 18 and never did anyone tell me I should not have children.

At the age of 27, I became pregnant and stopped all meds. I went on to carry and deliver four healthy boys. I can honestly say that while pregnant I was the most stable even without meds.
While two of my sons now suffer with bipolar disorder, I feel taht my experiences over the last 35 years has helped them achieve things far sooner than I ever could.

I am not the perfect parent and they are not the perfect children but I love them and they love me. I would not trade them or change the way I did things no matter what the opinions of others might be. My children have never expressed to me that they are sorry they were born or faulted me for their disorders. We work together, we support one another and we make the best of our lives.

Our faith has made a huge difference in our lives and has sustained us through many trials. We have grown together and seek to always find our path in life that will most glorify God for the blessings He has given us.

It is a very important decision to have children and by no means was I being selfish in having them. I felt I was created to be a mother and have children and I did so. I will never regret my life or having them. All of them have already made a difference in this world for the better in many ways.

xo

I did for myself because I don't want to pass this on. I'm second generation bp so the chances are about 100%.

I didn't want to pass it on either. We have plenty of nieces and nephews to spoil rotten, so that makes us the cool aunt and uncle. We always catch hell for spoiling them so bad, but they enjoy us and we enjoy them. :)

My sis was diagnosed with symptoms of bp and schiz and the doctors never told her not to have any more kids but with some of the meds she was on, it could cause severe deformalities in babies. It was recommended she didn't, so she chose not to have more.