Ups and Downs of Husband`s Mental Illness

Doing okay @Former-Member .....

Over east at the mo ..... baby steps on this coast this week .....

Hey @Mandy1
Here on the up and down thread we care for our significant others.
We know what it like to feel overwhelmed at times.
Can I call your partner Ms M? Does she have a formal diagnosis?
My husband Mr Darcy has a primary bipolar ii diagnosis, with anxiety and a personality disorder (not otherwise specified), he is presently in hospital having surgery which relates back to an injury he got from an attempt nearly 2 years ago.

@Faith-and-Hope
Rubber hitting the road ...

Hi @Former-Member Ms M has been diagnosed Bipolar II a year ago after some major mixed episodes - diagnosis was in addition to existing generalised anxiety and depression diagnosis which she’s had diagnosed for over 15 years now ... first self harm was at age 8 .. so I suspect undiagnosed for most of her life ... I love my Ms M so much and will always be here for her - despite how tough life can be and how broken we all can be - I’m sticking it out and hope she does too. How long have you been with Mr D and did you know about his condition early in the relationship?

@Mandy1
Been married 33 years, he started having problems 17 years ago, so nothing when we first met. Mr D does not non suicidal self harm (genuine attempts only). Mr D was probably thought to have treatment resistant major depression but since the BPii diagnosis and discontinuation of a few meds he is the most stable he has been in a long while although hope is still hard to detect. The best thing I did was to chart all his meds and his responses to them as well as all his symptoms, hospitalisations etc, in doing so I realised some drugs made him hypomanic and suicidal. Mood charting has made a heap of difference esp when discontinuing meds as it has documented he was better without them. This is one of the best talks on BP and relapse prevention I have seen. Mr D is realising it takes more than meds to keep well but is sick of seeing doctors, therapists etc.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=6mdopKvBqNA

I will watch the link when not so tired - but many thanks for this - charting sounds great because it’s easy to forget

@Mandy
I print the chart off, fill out meds section, all he does is the mood bit. If I didn't do the rest it would not get done. I got ours from this site - has a couple of different ones.

http://www.bipolar-lives.com/bipolar-mood-chart.html

@Shaz51
How is mum getting along? How are you coping?

@Cath22
Remembering you and yours.