Family Issues

Hello all,

So I've been struggling with Mental Health for around 16 years (I am 31). I have been diagnosed with Borderline Personality Disorder and Schizoaffective Disorder (Bipolar Type), both still current.

My mental health is somewhat of a roller coaster as you can imagine, I have been through 2 years of intensive DBT, and many pharmacological therapies including depot injections to try and manage it. After the intense amount of medication I was put on I started becoming quite reluctant to take it due to the many unwanted side effects it caused; including sleeping huge amounts, weight gain, drooling in my sleep among many other things.

After years I slowly got down to taking "smaller" amounts of just one medication, which was agreed upon by myself and my treating team. I have been hospital and episode free for over 10 months now.

The issue I am having is that, although I understand my past has not been pretty and my family obviously care for me, they are actually making it hard for me by treating me like I am a child and trying to control certain aspects of my life.

I have expressed my concerns to them multiple times, asking them to please stop. If I don't answer the phone one day I am asked if I am "still taking your medication because you seem to be distancing yourself?". No I just didn't want to answer the phone. Or if I go out to an event where a member of my family is, I am not allowed to consume any amount of alcohol without being told not to. I know my limits, I am more than capable of making that decision for myself. It doesn't really matter what it is, it could be simply suggesting I want to travel somewhere for a bit, the responses are always the same, "you can't do that, that's impulsive, are you taking your medication?". I think it's healthy for them to be concerned but at the same time I have a life, I need my freedom, if I make a mistake, so be it, that's honestly part of living.

Today was the tipping point for me, I have been so well with my BPD but today I couldn't manage it. I missed a phone call from my mum. My sister texts me a few hours later asking me if I'm taking my medications... I knew straight away they had spoken, so I asked my sister why she randomly and suddenly thinks I am not and she just shrugged it off. Hours later my mum texts me the same question and that's when I snapped. I told them to not talk to me. I don't want to continue down this road with them. If they can't treat me like an adult, I don't want to bother trying anymore. I want to be able to go and do things without being interrogated.

What should I do? How do I handle this because I honestly am at the point of just not replying to them which ironically will make their behaviour worse and then make me more upset.