Aa
no familly support
its been 6 years ago i found out i have bipolar disorder, the support i have in my life is my boyfriend..how can i get support from my family?
Having Bipolar Disorder does not make you a freak. I hope you realize this. Your parents may already know a relative who had or is having symptoms of bipolar. You see it is genetic, passed from generation to generation, perhaps skipping one or two generations but it usually pops up again. You have inherited this gene. You now have symptoms of bipolar as well.
Having bipolar is not a character or personality flaw. It is not the result of anything you have done in your past. It is a brain chemistry imbalance, of which your doctor must determine which chemicals your brain is not receiving and using medication he replaces those chemicals to help your brain be normal again.
Liken this to a person who becomes diabetic. This tends to run in families too. The pancreas stops working as it should. It is not producing Insulin the way your cells need it to and you may need to take medication to balance this chemistry. That is not a character or personality flaw. It is all a physiological processes in different parts of the body.
Bipolar disorder cannot be cured, but it can be managed with medication, and talk therapy if needed. I have noticed many people who don't understand bipolar disorder and some are in denial that they have it, despite diagnosis, and equate taking medications as something negative, even to the point of stopping the medicines. It equates to stopping the taking of insulin for one's diabetes. The illness is not going to go away by our stopping to treat it effectively.
Some people have Borderline 2 disorder which is only that they experience more depressions and little or no mania. Others have Bipolar 1 disorder, which is more severe and encompasses both depressions and manias at more extreme degrees Depressions are different than having the blues, which can go away in a day or so. Clinical depressions can last weeks, months, years without medications. (You can Google "Symptoms of depression" for a listing of symptoms). Manias are varied in that they can start as hypomania that is less severe, to full blown mania. Both extremes may need hospitalizations to protect the person for the time being. Keep in mind that this is a chemical imbalance, not a character or personality flaw.(You can also Google "Symptoms of mania" or "Manic Depressive Disorder"). While some people may enjoy feeling hypomanic, others may find it quite irritating. And a person who is becoming depressed may also feel irritation and painful sadness.
Along with taking your medications, you need to adjust your life style some so that you get 8 hours sleep every night, going to bed at a certain time and getting up at a certain time, everyday. Also eat nutritious foods, exercise daily, if possible, maintain a low stress level, know what things "trigger" your mood swings by maintaining a mood tracker and writing a little every day in your journal.
Explaining Bipolar to people may be challenging due to their ignorance and fears about the disorder. So read about it on the Internet, in books on Bipolar Disorder, some of the people you read in this forum, talking to doctors, therapists, and social workers in the mental health field. Knowledge is power, and it puts your fears to rest and you will not react to this diagnosis with fear and confusion, but respect for the disorder and confidence that you will be alright despite a few hiccups here and there. How much you learn and how well you can present it to your family can make all the difference in their ability to accept this information, and you as you are.
Having bipolar is not a character or personality flaw. It is not the result of anything you have done in your past. It is a brain chemistry imbalance, of which your doctor must determine which chemicals your brain is not receiving and using medication he replaces those chemicals to help your brain be normal again.
Liken this to a person who becomes diabetic. This tends to run in families too. The pancreas stops working as it should. It is not producing Insulin the way your cells need it to and you may need to take medication to balance this chemistry. That is not a character or personality flaw. It is all a physiological processes in different parts of the body.
Bipolar disorder cannot be cured, but it can be managed with medication, and talk therapy if needed. I have noticed many people who don't understand bipolar disorder and some are in denial that they have it, despite diagnosis, and equate taking medications as something negative, even to the point of stopping the medicines. It equates to stopping the taking of insulin for one's diabetes. The illness is not going to go away by our stopping to treat it effectively.
Some people have Borderline 2 disorder which is only that they experience more depressions and little or no mania. Others have Bipolar 1 disorder, which is more severe and encompasses both depressions and manias at more extreme degrees Depressions are different than having the blues, which can go away in a day or so. Clinical depressions can last weeks, months, years without medications. (You can Google "Symptoms of depression" for a listing of symptoms). Manias are varied in that they can start as hypomania that is less severe, to full blown mania. Both extremes may need hospitalizations to protect the person for the time being. Keep in mind that this is a chemical imbalance, not a character or personality flaw.(You can also Google "Symptoms of mania" or "Manic Depressive Disorder"). While some people may enjoy feeling hypomanic, others may find it quite irritating. And a person who is becoming depressed may also feel irritation and painful sadness.
Along with taking your medications, you need to adjust your life style some so that you get 8 hours sleep every night, going to bed at a certain time and getting up at a certain time, everyday. Also eat nutritious foods, exercise daily, if possible, maintain a low stress level, know what things "trigger" your mood swings by maintaining a mood tracker and writing a little every day in your journal.
Explaining Bipolar to people may be challenging due to their ignorance and fears about the disorder. So read about it on the Internet, in books on Bipolar Disorder, some of the people you read in this forum, talking to doctors, therapists, and social workers in the mental health field. Knowledge is power, and it puts your fears to rest and you will not react to this diagnosis with fear and confusion, but respect for the disorder and confidence that you will be alright despite a few hiccups here and there. How much you learn and how well you can present it to your family can make all the difference in their ability to accept this information, and you as you are.
how do i find support groups or were to go, my dr dosen't tell me anything just wants to give me more drugs just to get me out of his office..i relly dont have any support and i want to change that for myself..how do i do that?
If your family doesn't understand what you are coping with it might be worthwhile to educate them. NAMI friend and family support groups can be helpful for that purpose.
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