Hopefully you OH will see that this new p/doc is good and that will alleviate his frustrations.

Change can be hard for anyone.

I think it's a good sign that he wants a longer appointment, maybe he's a thorough doctor & wants to do a good job of looking after your hubby.

Over here in New Zealand we have community key workers, my boyfriends one comes to our house & helps him to function again after being unwell & in hospital. She motivates & nags, it makes life a lot easier for me!
The worry is that she's 65 & won't be working forever, she's dealt with him for 10 years since diagnosis & it's going to be hard to find someone that he'll trust that much again.

Can you ring the hospital if he gets too unwell? We have a CATT (crisis assessment something or other) team who I can ring 24/7 if my man gets unwell again, they have my name on record & are under strict instructions to listen to me. Before this I tried to ring them & was told they'd need his permission to speak with them-what a joke, how can you talk a manic person into seeking help when they're enjoying riding the manic wave?

Ask every question you can possibly think of when you see the doc, especially the one about what to do when he's manic.Try to come up with a plan with your husband & the doctor so you know what needs to be done when things go wrong.

My mum has a careteam, comprising of Mental Health Social Workers, Advocacy and the MIND association.

thanks guys. you both are right to have a support group in place. easier said than done i guess. he's not really into going to support groups. i'm trying to get a casual group of people together just for coffee. it's a start. good point about bringing up talking about a plan. thanks.

My bf likes his psychiatrist but the problem is when he calls his psychiatrist and he is having negative thoughts or in crisis it's either "well come see me tomorrow" OR " go to the hospital". I have finally talked him into starting to see a therapist. therapists seem like they are more willing to talk to you when you need it. i have seen a therapist on and off for 3 yrs because of physical abuse in my past and when i call her about him being in crisis she will spent half an hour or more on the phone talking to me. the psychiatrist handles the meds but the therapist is there to talk.
I agree that a support group is really important though. i don't really have one either and i keep trying to tell my bf he needs one because i can not give him all of his support by myself.
i think that they need a family physician, psychiatrist, therapist, and then a close network of friends and family to help ideally.
getting all of that in line is hard though.

I definitely agree with "helpmeunderstand" find him a good therapist!! My daughters therapist is always there when we have a crisis. Even to the extent that she has met us on her day off and I have watched her baby while she met with my daughter and worked out all the logistics of getting her hospitalized. I had called both the therapist and the psychiatrist that day and didn't even get a call back from the psychiatrist until the next day and her message was, "if this is a crisis take her to the er, otherwise call the office and schedule an appointment".

As for the support group, I have also been trying to get my daughter to join one that is all girls 12-15 but she won't even hear of it. I think it would be really helpful for her to talk to girls her age that have similar problems but she wants nothing to do with it.

Well certainly do not be afraid to shop around for a Pdoc that fits your husband and you. After all his health is very important. Ask all those questions. And make sure that you get the answers you are comfortable with.

My wife's PDoc is very busy but we call in all the time and we have always gotten to see him if not the same day the next day in an emergent situation.

Here is another thing I was thinking about that you may want to consider. I read a book on bi-polar and it talked about having preset things set up for when they get manic or super depressed so you can take over and help out. Basically if they are heading that way you can ask a key question and they can respond telling you whether they are heading that direction or not.

This enables you to have some control and help them get help. It is also important to have preplanned out what you are going to do if situation A, B, or C happens. Having those plans already in place makes life a lot more easily managed when a person goes entirely manic or depression.

Oh, this sounds sooo familiar!! I agree that it is a good sign that the new doc wants an extended visit. Better that than wanting to read all the old records.
Alternative supports are great -- but the person with BP has to want them. My guy used to get completely psychotically paranoid when manic, which corroded him so that eventually he trusted no one. He certainly wouod not have used a therapist in any meaningful sense.
Having a plan for what to do in case sounds good in theory. We had that. Come the manic episode, it was denial, denial, denial. HE wasn't the one with the problem, I was, and yada, yada, yada. I thank God that he actually let me take him to the emergency room that last horrible night -- 35 minutes away on a foggy night, with roads coated with black ice.
I think your best bet is to talk with the doc about where YOU can find support in a crisis, and ask yourself who you would trust to walk through this with you.