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New, Exhausted in every way and looking for Help!

Carebear5Casual Contributor13 Aug 2016, 8:08 am AEST

New, Exhausted in every way and looking for Help!

I love my husband very much but things have been pretty rough and getting worse for about 3 years. I finally asked him to leave as I'm now working full time to help pay our bills, raising 3 children, running our house and feel like I'm expected to do everything. I am emotionally, physically and mentally exhausted.
This week he finally told me he has been diagnosed with bipolar. He has know. For about 5 weeks but didn't want to accept it so he didn't tell me. Everything now makes sense... All the rejection and actions that led me to believe he just didn't care, what I thought was laziness and a huge lack of effort, so many things. I feel relieved and positive that we can work through this yet I'm scared at the same time.
I want to help and support him but I don't know where to start. I am going to go and see his psychologist with him. We are in NSW so if anyone can steer me in the right direction I'd appreciate it.

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In response to: New, Exhausted in every way and looking for Help!

PeppiPattySenior Contributor09 Oct 2016, 4:45 pm AEDT

Re: New, Exhausted in every way and looking for Help!

Dear @Maple and @Former-Member

I am too tired to respond but reading you. My thoughts are with you both
We all must remember to self care .....

Pp

In response to: New, Exhausted in every way and looking for Help!

Unknown userMember31 Oct 2016, 11:54 pm AEDT

Re: New, Exhausted in every way and looking for Help!

Hi Carebear5,

I support my hubby who doctors have been finding difficult to diagnose, now trialling mood stabilising drugs for possible bipolar II.

I hope things are starting to settle a bit for you.

There are free support services such as Wellways that can help you in your caring role. You can get up to 12 free counseling sessions through Carers Australia.

I feel as carers we do ourselves a disservice if we fail to learn about our loved ones disorders and their treatment. There is a lot of information out there, I try and stick with sites that are trustworthy, have moderators and quote from reliable sources. For example the RANZCP has a brochure on bipolar for patients and caregivers that can be downloaded.

Knowing the nature of a disorder can help you in knowing what to look out for in terms of maintaining the condition, if it looks like his mood is swinging up or down and what can be done to minimise mania or depressive episodes.

Understanding that drugs are only part of the equation in mental health and in order to live well in spite of a mental health diagnosis, a holistic approach is best - mind, body and soul - this applies to both the patient and carer. How often do we neglect our own health as we are too busy looking after our partner. For me sometimes even getting a hair cut has been too hard let alone finally getting around to booking a specialist appointment only to find the referral has run out.

I do hope you have been able to get the NSW info you needed. I am in Tassie so probably not much help to you.

Take care

Darcy

In response to: Re: New, Exhausted in every way and looking for Help!

Shaz51Senior Contributor30 Dec 2016, 4:13 pm AEDT