AkkyCasual Contributor
Mother suffering from bipolar.
My mother is in her mid 50's and was diagnosed with bipolar when she was in her early 30's. She has been hospitalised multiple times throughout her life. She is currently in the midst of another episode and our family finds it so difficult to cope. She had her last admission to hospital 2 years ago and that was one of her worst episodes. This time feels as bad as the last time and it's difficult for us to convey to the local mental health team just how sick she is. Often she is picked up by the police and taken into the emergency department and we are frustrated that it always seems to get to a super dangerous point before she gets help. We understand how the mental health act works but she is being dangerous at the moment and it's almost as if our concerns aren't listened to.
She has currently attached herself to family friends who have just had a death within their family and has been going there daily. Tonight for the first time they couldn't get her to leave. Most nights they can get her to go home but tonight she flattened her car battery and bent her bonnet latch so it couldn't be closed then hid her car on their farm. A farmer from a neighbouring farm fixed the bent bonnet latch and they jump started her car so they could get her to leave but she became agitated so they are letting her stay for the night and are calling the mental health team again in the morning (They have called this week as well as myself and my grandmother to express our concerns). The husband/father from that family just died suddenly a month ago so they are dealing with the grief from that but they are trying to help her because they know she is not talking to our family at the moment. They are worried that if she becomes isolated from them she will have no one and will hurt herself either intentionally or unintentionally. She has been walking long distances by foot and trying to hitch hike which is something she did during her last illness. She walked barefoot along a highway and took herself to an emergency department where they realised she wasn't right so they tried to detain her under the mental health act and she escaped the ED. Luckily someone from her local community saw her wondering the streets and took her home.
She is currently obsessed with domestic violence and telling people that my brother, brother in law and sister in law are physically abusive so none of them are talking to her. I have a partner who she currently dislikes because she believes I should marry a police man that she has an obsession with. Her symptoms are extensive at the moment. I don't even understand how she functions there are so many and they are so varied.
She believes that Prince Harry of the English royal family is communicating with her. She had an ex boyfriend die when she was in her mid twenties and she believes he drives in the car with her and instructs her. She believes she can't go home because her phones have been tapped. She is generally obsessed with becoming part of the armed forces but this time her obsession is with surf life saving. She has been hiding her car in the local national park and walking home so 'they' don't know she is at home. She is currently obsessed with the date Monday the 27th of February, telling people that she won't be around after that date and she has started giving her possessions away.
To us all of those things are signs that she has deteriorated beyond the point of any one helping her within our family or community. She was visited by the mental health team two days ago and from what they've told my grandmother it seems they feel they can't do anything because she answered all of their questions correctly. I have no idea what these questions were. She did admit to them that she has lowered her medication dose of her own accord and the friends she is staying with at the moment believe that tonight she disposed of a lot of her medication in one of their paddocks. I'm worried how it is affecting their family. The mother and eldest daughter know my mother the best and have been the most supportive but the younger sister hasn't had to cope with my mother like this before. She is only 18 years old and she was the one that was there when her father collapsed and died. She performed CPR on him and is obviously traumatised by that. She is finding it so stressful having my mother there so often she wants to move out.
As you can probably tell this is causing my anxiety levels to rise as well as I am feeling hopeless that I can't do anything. I was one of the few family members she was talking to but this evening I spoke to her and asked her to go home and leave them alone (in the nicest way possible) and now she thinks I am out to get her as well.
That family are absolute angels but they are currently helping her to their own detriment. I feel as though the police and the next service I have to call just so she will leave their farm but I am worried as to what her reaction will be to that.
She has currently attached herself to family friends who have just had a death within their family and has been going there daily. Tonight for the first time they couldn't get her to leave. Most nights they can get her to go home but tonight she flattened her car battery and bent her bonnet latch so it couldn't be closed then hid her car on their farm. A farmer from a neighbouring farm fixed the bent bonnet latch and they jump started her car so they could get her to leave but she became agitated so they are letting her stay for the night and are calling the mental health team again in the morning (They have called this week as well as myself and my grandmother to express our concerns). The husband/father from that family just died suddenly a month ago so they are dealing with the grief from that but they are trying to help her because they know she is not talking to our family at the moment. They are worried that if she becomes isolated from them she will have no one and will hurt herself either intentionally or unintentionally. She has been walking long distances by foot and trying to hitch hike which is something she did during her last illness. She walked barefoot along a highway and took herself to an emergency department where they realised she wasn't right so they tried to detain her under the mental health act and she escaped the ED. Luckily someone from her local community saw her wondering the streets and took her home.
She is currently obsessed with domestic violence and telling people that my brother, brother in law and sister in law are physically abusive so none of them are talking to her. I have a partner who she currently dislikes because she believes I should marry a police man that she has an obsession with. Her symptoms are extensive at the moment. I don't even understand how she functions there are so many and they are so varied.
She believes that Prince Harry of the English royal family is communicating with her. She had an ex boyfriend die when she was in her mid twenties and she believes he drives in the car with her and instructs her. She believes she can't go home because her phones have been tapped. She is generally obsessed with becoming part of the armed forces but this time her obsession is with surf life saving. She has been hiding her car in the local national park and walking home so 'they' don't know she is at home. She is currently obsessed with the date Monday the 27th of February, telling people that she won't be around after that date and she has started giving her possessions away.
To us all of those things are signs that she has deteriorated beyond the point of any one helping her within our family or community. She was visited by the mental health team two days ago and from what they've told my grandmother it seems they feel they can't do anything because she answered all of their questions correctly. I have no idea what these questions were. She did admit to them that she has lowered her medication dose of her own accord and the friends she is staying with at the moment believe that tonight she disposed of a lot of her medication in one of their paddocks. I'm worried how it is affecting their family. The mother and eldest daughter know my mother the best and have been the most supportive but the younger sister hasn't had to cope with my mother like this before. She is only 18 years old and she was the one that was there when her father collapsed and died. She performed CPR on him and is obviously traumatised by that. She is finding it so stressful having my mother there so often she wants to move out.
As you can probably tell this is causing my anxiety levels to rise as well as I am feeling hopeless that I can't do anything. I was one of the few family members she was talking to but this evening I spoke to her and asked her to go home and leave them alone (in the nicest way possible) and now she thinks I am out to get her as well.
That family are absolute angels but they are currently helping her to their own detriment. I feel as though the police and the next service I have to call just so she will leave their farm but I am worried as to what her reaction will be to that.
