Bi-Polar Disorder

LegacyUser

Hi all,

Have a close relative who was diagnosed with bi-polar disorder about 3 years ago-basically since the day he was diagnosed there has been little or no improvement in his situation - he rarely leaves the house and there have been extended periods of time where he has not left his own room. He has been in psychiatric units twice and neither have had any affect on him. He is under the care of a psychiatrist who is reluctant to put him on medication as once you begin these meds, it is important that you remain on them for life and my relative is unwilling to agree to this.

My family are at our wits end - I'm currently researching support groups and the like but since he rarely leaves the house, I'm not sure how they are supposed to help him.

So I'm here looking for advice, similar stories etc - how have other families coped? I feel if we could get him leaving the house regularly, it really would be a huge positive step because it looks as if there is a good bit of help out there - in Dublin anyway - but I need advice on how to get him up and out first. He is a young guy and his life is wasting away before him.

Thanks in advance

wexford1

Recovery group meeting are excellent. http://www.recovery-inc.org/. They take alot of time and effort but are worth every minute. The long term benefits are priceless if you speak to anyone who has been in it for some time. Unfortuneatly people with mental illnesses are guided by their own feelings, beliefs and thoughts rather than objective reality, and tend not to have too much patience with things that take time, but unfortunaetly these illnesses take time to manage. e.g. He may have the belief that this condition is hopeless and think attending this group is pointless, well entertaining that belief doesn't make it true. As we say in Recovery 'Helplessness does not hopelessness'. i have not had bipolar, just 'regular' depression and applying the techniques help me avoid relapse.

As he is young, there is a young person group on every Wednesday at 7.30 in mission hall abbey st. in dublin each week, but any group is very good.

Well done on trying to help this person, we can be stubborn people with our beliefs and not easy to sway. For me the turnaround came when i began to say to myself, 'what if i am wrong. What if these thing can be tackled affectivlly and i just don't know about it' Then I found Recovery meetings and its been the most important influnce in my life. I wouldn't exchange it for all the money in the world. 'Maintaining my mental health is my supreme goal in life'

RossFixxxed

I have seen some very, very severe cases of bi-polar etc, and I have seen people come out of seemingly hopeless cases. But it was through tooth gritting determination. It took trying different meds, treatments etc, and ensuring the people knew to keep taking them, to keep going and to keep working on it.

Get him to a new doc/psychiatrist etc until something works, but give each attempt time to work. It's not an exact science and takes a lot of work and luck.

PM for further if I can help...
R

CeilingCat

If he's reluctant to take medication, would he consider working with a nutritional therapist? They could recommend a diet and supplement plan that may (and I do stress may) improve things just enough to help him feel better about getting out to get some help, therapy etc.

Some people have had great success with it, others not so much but it's worth a try.

http://www.healthyplace.com/communities/bipolar/treatment/alternative/nutritional_supplements.asp

Monkey61

Hi,

The unfortunate thing with bipolar disorder is that it does not fix itself. It is one of the most severe mental illnesses and needs to be treated like any other medical complaint - such as diabetes, heart disease or something like that.

Both the depressive and the manic stages are highly distressing for both the sufferer and their families and need to be properly treated. Unlike depression, bipolar disorder cannot be fixed through changing of habits, nutrition. Obviously these things have a bearing on ones general well being - but they won't help the bipolar disorder.

I'd recommend they try a different psychiatrist. I'd be very wary of a psychiatrist that isn't suggesting they at least try medication. I have never encountered a person with bipolar disorder that hasn't tried medication - the illness is caused by a chemical imbalance that needs to be treated.

I think after three years, if your relative is getting nowhere you need to drag him to another doctor. This is not something he can be talked out of. He needs proper treatment.

Elessar

I know there is a least one psychiatrist on boards here, I think on the medical forums? The name begins with Sam....maybe she has some advice?

LegacyUser

A friend of mine has BP and she has only within the last year agreed to go on meds properly..... that's after over 10 years of mania and depressive episodes.

In the past, she'd take them after an episode and then come off them complaining about how they numbed her feelings and also problems with acne....

But, after the last episode she began seeing a new psychiatrist (private and very good) and is now on meds full time. The psychiatrist changed the types of pills she was on and she is back to her normal self.

The way I see it is this - if you had high cholestrol and your doc told you you needed pills to reduce it, you'd take 'em. Same with meds for mental issues. What would he rather - the position he is now in or the possibility of leading a more positive and productive life?

My friend can now lead a normal life rather than going off the rails every 2 or 3 years and putting us through hell and then going into a state of depression for a few months....

Change doctor and get him to

sam34

Elessar wrote: »

I know there is a least one psychiatrist on boards here, I think on the medical forums? The name begins with Sam....maybe she has some advice?

thats me you're talking about... not sure whether its a good or bad thing that you remember my name!

anyway op - i would recommend getting a different psychiatrist. i am surprised that a psychiatrist is not medicating someone who is as functionally impaired as your relative.

as someone mentioned above, bipolar is a serious condition and needs treatment. very few bipolar patients will manage without meds long term.

i obviously cant recommend a specific medication here.

what i think you should do is this - assuming your relative is seeing this psychiatrist through the public service.... he/she needs to write to the local clinical director (phone up the psych secretaries and ask for name and adddress) and say they wish for a change of consultant. if they want they can request a specific person (GP might be able to advise) or they can just ask for a change and take pot luck, as it were. (asking for a specific person is not a guarantee that that cons will take them on, but its worth a shot).

if its a private consultant- get gp to refer them to someone else.

good luck, hope it works out well

Kevster

To the person who started the thread: I am living proof of the fact that medication can help. I have been taking an SSRI (Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitor) called Lexapro for 4+ years now and it has helped me immensely. I have recently come off it and am coping, but it's certainly harder than with taking it.

So, I feel that this should be your starting point - i.e. getting him to accept that medication can help him. I mean, if he's just going to stay in his parent's house while they pay for his food and rent, then he should at least pay them back somehow. Perhaps promising to take his medication could be this 'pay back'.

Kevin

Thelikefaneire

I've heard a lot of things about alternative therapies such as exercise and sun beds, this might help as drugs are only for severe case's and once you start them you can not stop them.

Give this person all the encouragement you can and help make his own progress one step at a time. If his psychiatrist has not made progress with him maybe he needs to change doctor. Not everyone is the same or follow's the same school of thought and a new doctor may try a different approach that your relative may have more progress with.

Hope isn't lost, there are a lot of options. Not only for him but for those affected as well. There is support groups for the family's and friends of suffers of mental illness and they will be more than glad to help and give advise where ever they can.

sam34

Thelikefaneire wrote: »

I've heard a lot of things about alternative therapies such as exercise and sun beds, this might help as drugs are only for severe case's and once you start them you can not stop them.
QUOTE]

this is completely untrue.

firstly drugs are not "only for severe cases". most people with bipolar require medication,at varying stages of the illness, not just the "severe cases".

i have seen the mood-stabilising drugs literally transform peoples quality of life.

furthermore, it is totally inaccurate to say that once you start the drugs you cannot stop them. mood stabilizers are not addictive, and do not cause withdrawal effects.
of course, stopping the meds carries a risk of relapse... similar to how your blood pressure may rise again if you stopped taking your anti-hypertensive. but you wouldnt say that you "cannot stop" taking your anti-hypertensives, would you?

i've also "heard a lot about alternative therapies such as exercise and sunbeds" :rolleyes: . I have seen or heard nothing that reliably indicates that either are suitable, effective treatments for bipolar disorder.

CDfm

I had a friend that used to flirt with alternative therapies with a similar condition and her life is/was disaster area.

Most things in life need a plan - Paretos Law in Management speak the 80/20 rule dictates we achieve 80% of what you set out to do in 20% of our time.

So getting effective treatment and meds would be top of my Santa list.

I imagine that for some people who like looking good sunbeds are great and so is exercise -but we all do stuff to look our best.

I work in sales and marketing - most professionals in sales say keep it simple -the reason being that people only remember the basics of a routine.

BTW -my friend aggrivates her illness with cannabis etc- so she defies everyones attempts to help. So she has never reached her potential for normal living and people have given up on her. Sad but hey.

LegacyUser

Wow, thanks so much to all who took the time to reply.

Personally, I would love if he would just try the medication because I believe that once he started on a programme of meds, he would be able to see the bigger picture and understand that the way things are now, he isn't really living at all. Things might not be perfect on the meds (side effects and the like) but they'd have to be a darn sight better than they are now.

I think a new psychiatrist is on the cards, although convincing him to go to this guy in the first place was tough enough! I'm interested to hear that it is possible to come off these meds tho - I was led to believe that once on these drugs, coming off them is virtually impossible as relapses then result in even more severe symptoms than before? I think this is partially why our family have let this "no meds" thing go on for so long.

I was looking at support groups etc so thanks for that link to the Recovery meetings - it seems to be highly commended by some top people so we'll investigate.

Thanks again to you all.