WHEN THE WIFE IS BIPOLAR HOW DO WE FIT IN???

Hi Tammy...first of all I want to welcome to this wonderful site where u r going to meet the best bunch of women who also struggle with the same issues...I was diagnosed 3 yrs ago and it took the same time to get the right "cocktail" for me ....I went thru every meds out there and always felt out of control, I would cry at the drop of a hat...but eventually my psy found the right mix its very high doses and I just started having problems sleeping I have an appt this sat so I will ask hi m about the sleeping issue...Tammy u have come to the right place the women here are very kind, caring, compassionate, never judgemental u can talk about ne thing...if on any day u feel over whelmed u can email me at aslicia@aol.com I am available just about the whole day..I dont work outside and I am usually on the comp please continue posting and u can talk about ne thing .....take care......Ali

Hi Joebear...why wont your dr fill in your xanax Rx???..I would be lost without it but lately I am not sleeping and may have to give it up my Psy wont give me sleeping aids as long as I am on my xanax...we will see what happens on sat when I see him....Ali

Hi Ali...He said I don't need them, that the lexapro should be helping. I still have a really bad headache i drank some coffee, Didn't help! Whats the best time to take the seraquel? It says twice a day but if I take it in the morning Im really tired all day!......Joebear

Hi ya'll. Hi Tammy, Welcome Home!!!! We are like one big family around here. We talk about anything and everything under the sun and the best thing is we DON'T judge. How awesome is that!!!! Anyways, just to get you acquianted with me, I am 38 yrs old. I am married to my best friend of 30 yrs(known him since 2nd grade). Married him 2 yrs ago. I have 3 kids who are 14, 11, and 12, but who all have birthdays in January. I am not only bi-polar, but I am also ADHD...Yippee!!!! So basically I am hard wired to move around constantly. I guess that doesn't make me a "walking time bomb" but a "flying one." There is actually humor in that. I take Seroquel and Adderall to help me slow my mind down and my body down. I work outside the home. The comical part is I teach Special Ed. I however am not on a behavior plan. I read that you are living in Indiana. My husband is seeking employment in south Indiana and there is a very good chance we will be moving to Jasper or thereabouts by summertime. I am currently in the hypomania/mania stage. If you were to look at previous posts of mine you would see that about a month ago and even a couple of weeks ago I was in a "rage" stage, and feeling very, very low. Almost to the point of having suicidal thoughts. BUT thanks to these great "sisters" of mine I pulled through the "funk" and am doing half way decent. Well, I hate to run but I have Spanish class tonight. You will see in my previous posts that I work full-time, go to school-full time, tutor 5 days a week after school, and interact with my own family. It does sound exhausting and it is. However, when I am in one of my very low moods I can barely get out of bed, but somehow do, and then come home from work and sleep all afternoon, night and weekend. But now that I am in my fly-by-the-seat-of-my-pants and on-the-go-hypo-moods I can't sit still. Right now I feel like I am jumping out of my skin. Boy, what a sight that would be. Take care. I will check back tonight after class. Audios amigas!!----Sharon

Oops again!! My kids are 14, 11, and 10....In January they will be 15, 12, and 11. I kind of got ahead of myself. I am not ready for my 10 yr old daughter to get any closer to PMS-ing. I feel like she does enough of that already. My boys are so much easier to deal with than she is.. My oldest is ADHD, my 2nd (son) we think is displaying some bi-polar tendencies, and my daughter is also ADHD....

Bobbie,

You sound a lot like me with your meds and moods. I went to the Health Hut today and bought some Gogi juice. You have to take it on an empty stomach so I;ll try it in the morning and let you guys know if it helps any. They gave me this huge phamplet and a dvd on the Gogi juice that promises me to have a long and energetic life, so we'll see. While I was in the hut,, I looked around for other miracle pills and juices. I came upon a box that said it was a Heavy Mental Cleanse....I got it to the checkout and realized I had misread it, It was a Heavy Metal Cleanse...too bad I was so excited about having a mental cleanse. B.

Hi Tammy....welcome to the group. I'm 40, diagnosed at 19 and still trying to find the right mix of meds. Sharon, I'm jealous of your adderall....that stuff makes you kick butt and loose all kinds of weight. My aunt is a doctor and she said she could get me some Provigal samples until my insurace decides to cover it. I have to have that stuff to remotely function...I don't know what I did before I had it??? She also suggested that I switch from Cymbalta to Lamactial....is anyone on that? I've only been onn the Cymbalta for 2 weeks but it isn't fulfilling the promises that it's commercial makes....I'm sick and tired of being tired. B.

Hi Tammy. Welcome aboard The Poalr Express. Its very hard when you first find out you have Bipolar. Keep coming here and you will find freindship, be able to ask any questions and share yoour days with some truly inspirational people.. You won't have to cry alone anymore or stare at that wall. I have BP1 PSTD, OCD amongst other things. I am 46 an Activist , love photography, nearly have my Biology Degree. I can be a pain in the butt but basically a very caring person. You may at first feel like you someone different but its all new and these are early days. Coming to talk here has helped me so mcuh, I can't tell you when I started to feel better but trust me you will. Hang in ther and know ther are millions of us, you are not AlONE. With love form Carol PS and you are NOT crazy and being isolated is the worst thing for all of us so keep coming and I swear you will make great freinds and your days wil become brighter! Sweet Dreams

just wanted to wish everybody sweet dreams for tonight and a sweet day tomorrow and hope to catch up with a few of you tomorrow...good night bobbie

Here's the first posting of BP wives for whoever was looking for it... B.

Hi B.....you are so right this site grew so ,much I started part 2 and that is a huge site too...this site got mixed up with another site...I have no idea how it happened...Ali

I am 29 years old with fraternal
twin boys who are 10. I've been diagnosed with BD2, ADHD, OCD,
Anxiety Disorder & chronic back/neck/shoulder pain resulting from
an old car accident. My boys both suffer from ADHD and one also is
Bipolar. Looking back at my childhood I would say I noticed the
symptoms at about 8 yrs old, around the time my kids were diagnosed. I
have to depend on someone (usually my mother who I have a LOT of deep
issues with) to take me to appointments and the store because of
driving anxiety. Anyway ... I got married May 1st. The circumstances
were far from ideal. I had been hypersexual even to the point of
compulsion and promiscuity in earlier years. But about 2 months before
I got married I just stopped wanting sex alltogether. I have absolutely
no interest in it. We lived above my parents' house, which makes "doing
the deed" a little difficult anyway. But after about a month I got
really sick and stayed sick for 4 months. I couldn't keep anything
down, at one point not even water. Anyway, I found out it was because
of an issue with my bile duct to my gallbladder ... bla bla bla ... My
parents got too involved in my personal affairs with my husband and we
began to argue regularly. He resented me for being sick and even
thought I was faking everything in spite of the fact that I am on
SSI/SSD and have been on a LOT of medication combinations. I have been
trying to find answers to my depression from age 15 and finally
diagnosed at 25/26 as Bipolar and all that other jazz I mentioned
above. Now, like I said, my husband had been acting like I was faking
everything because he thought I was just lazy. The laundry and dishes
just piled up and he fed my kids $1.00 tv dinners at one point. That began
a downward spiral between us because not only was I faking and lazy but
I didn't cook dinner which meant he had to do it, thus why he chose the
easy food. I got pissed because my kids werent getting nutritious food.
Mind you, he had lost his job so we were living off of MY disability and hiis unemployment.
Finally the arguing got to be too frequent, my parents
were getting involved, and it was stressing the kids (whose
biological father abused all of us). So one day, during an argument, my
husband said something so hurtful I can't repeat it and I said "I think
you need to leave". So, he is now living in Florida, with his CRAZY mom, once again. She talks trash about me and has never met me or had an actual conversation with me! She is neurotic ... and I can truly say this because I have educated myself on my own issues, plus, my mom is CRAZY too. She threatens to call Family Services on me when we fight because she's evil. Anyway, I was
looking out for my kids and myself at that point. I have been a
terrible mom because Bipolar disorder has stolen so much time from me,
trying to fill voids that will never be filled. Trying to win people's
approval that will never love me. Trying to distract myself from all of my haunting thoughts and insecurities. I am almost 30, my kids will be in
Junior High next year (sigh) and my THIRD marriage is not going well.
He and I do now communicate daily after a few weeks of pretty hateful
emailing. But I was trying to tell him how depressed I was today about
life in general and about our relationship and, like I was telling him,
it just feels like the love is not there between us. I don't believe in
divorcing unless there is adultry (AKA my first two marriages). He and I both know we should be
working our problems out together. But I think he bit off more than he could
chew and regrets marrying me and becoming a step-father now. He did send me flowers a week or so
ago and a CZ ring (we are poor and there's a recession) to replace my
original wedding ring. Those were nice gestures but I feel, by his
responses, that our relationship is hollow. I can't put into words the
other details involved. That would take all day. I have become a
shut-in. The only house work I can get myself to do now is make dinner
for the kids and I do laundry when the kids run out of clean clothes. I don't have the motivation to follow-through with
anything anymore. From childhood on, I used to be into drawing, painting and making awesome jewelry. I am
not interested in anything, not even shopping! And you KNOW that's what Bipolar women tend to do, shop! Anyway, my mom had to do
all my laundry a few weeks ago. I am just tired of battling the depression, moodswings, failed relationships, distance from relatives, emptiness, chronic pain and fatigue .
Medication combinations are failing me after years of different combos,
my family is either skeptical or in denial about my illnesses and
besides God and my therapist, I don't really have a steady friend. I
actually look forward to, and am disappointed when I miss, my
appointments! I am sorry this is so long and I wish I was able to
concentrate long enough to read everyone else's posts. I was just
hoping that, aside from the sex issue, there were people who could
identify in some way with something I have mentioned. I don't know how
my marriage is going to turn out. He has a lot of growing up to do. And
I hope he does it. We used to have fun together. We both loved reality
shows about cooking and watched cartoons everyday, all day. All I
can do is pray and wait I guess. I do want to make it clear that, in spite of everything, if God finds me favorable, I will be able to have these afflictions removed from my body and mind forever. That hope and my children's lives are the only reasons I am not dead today. I wish the best for you all.

causeiuh a.k.a. Keziah (Yes, that's how you pronounce it.)