Family & Friends of Bipolar Support Group
This community is dedicated to parents, siblings, grandparents, other relatives and friends of someone who is Bipolar. The purpose of this community is to help families and friends develop greater patience and understanding, as well as maintain a positive, caring relationships with those diagnosed as Bipolar.
Hello! I am new to this group bu not Daily Strength. I found it wonderful to have a place like this while I was caring for my husband with ALZ. So I thought, why not check it out for bipolar issues.
I have read some of the posts but didn't go back to far. My 30 year old daughter was diagnosed with mental illness when she was a teenager. Then it took several visits and two in house hospital stays to figure what that illness was. Bipolar. She is on Lamictal and Cymbalta and they work really well for her. She understands that she will be on meds for the rest of her life. She accepts her diagnosis. Over all I would say she is pretty good.
Initially I think we in the family, Grandmother, sister, brother and myself all had the thought, "Ok, she's on meds. All cured." Lately, I have been thinking maybe not.
I think the meds definitely stabilize her. Her mood swings are not crazy, more moderate. She evens holds down a job. She graduated from college last year. She is doing a great job of being a mom. She is married. Over all her life is pretty good.
So why am I here? Because I had an epiphany a couple of days ago. She came up with a hair brained scheme to get a puppy. I won't go into the details of the scheme. Nothing, illegal, just not rational.
It occurred to me that she does this frequently. She sets a goal for herself, which is great. The goals are reasonable but her plan on how to achieve the goals can be very outlandish and not realistic. That's the problem. Trying to get her to recognize that the plan is not realistic.
When the goal and plan don't materialize she goes off the deep end. "My life is terrible!" "Nothing works out for me." "Why can't have this?" etc.
So this is my issue.... is this a med issue? Does she need therapy? Is this typical of other adults with bipolar?
Thank you for taking the time to read this.
I have read some of the posts but didn't go back to far. My 30 year old daughter was diagnosed with mental illness when she was a teenager. Then it took several visits and two in house hospital stays to figure what that illness was. Bipolar. She is on Lamictal and Cymbalta and they work really well for her. She understands that she will be on meds for the rest of her life. She accepts her diagnosis. Over all I would say she is pretty good.
Initially I think we in the family, Grandmother, sister, brother and myself all had the thought, "Ok, she's on meds. All cured." Lately, I have been thinking maybe not.
I think the meds definitely stabilize her. Her mood swings are not crazy, more moderate. She evens holds down a job. She graduated from college last year. She is doing a great job of being a mom. She is married. Over all her life is pretty good.
So why am I here? Because I had an epiphany a couple of days ago. She came up with a hair brained scheme to get a puppy. I won't go into the details of the scheme. Nothing, illegal, just not rational.
It occurred to me that she does this frequently. She sets a goal for herself, which is great. The goals are reasonable but her plan on how to achieve the goals can be very outlandish and not realistic. That's the problem. Trying to get her to recognize that the plan is not realistic.
When the goal and plan don't materialize she goes off the deep end. "My life is terrible!" "Nothing works out for me." "Why can't have this?" etc.
So this is my issue.... is this a med issue? Does she need therapy? Is this typical of other adults with bipolar?
Thank you for taking the time to read this.
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I find myself going places in the car and not wanting to get out of the car. I come back home and I don't want to get out of the car. I think it's the only time I spend reflecting. Chronic tiredness from Long Covid plus the immunosupressing meds for my Crohn's is slowing me down but everything just seems a massive effort. I am dealing with the paperwork following my father's death but it's not...
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Wow, it's the middle of the week already!Today is our 11 year anniversary, so we're going out to a nice dinner. I'm losing a lot of sleep these days, hence a wonky schedule and uncomfortable feelings. But I know it will pass, eventually.I hope all of you have a peaceful day, and may good things come your way!
Here's an analogy. Think of a big hot air ballon on the ground. To keep everything in place you need restraining ropes, stakes in the ground etc. In the wind the baloon starts to bob about a bit. Nothing to worry about.
But sometimes the wind blows harder and you need more ropes. Sometimes you find that ropes are wearing thin and you need to change them.
The baloon is the person. The ropes are meds. The wind iis external events - could be the change in season, a big life change (moving, childbirth).
So sometimes you need extra meds or for some reason the existing ones stop working and you need to change them.
Re therapy - it depends. Therapy is fine if there are complicating issues but chances are this is due to the organis disorder itself - so like if you have a cold you go to a doctor not a therapist.
I'm bipolar myself and I've gone through this.