bi-polar

I agree with this. I was diagnosed with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and put on tons of medications. All of my family and friends said I was Bi Polar also. What was REALLY wrong with me was Graves Disease. :/ Graves Disease is an auto immune disorder that causes the body to attack the thyroid. Low levels of thyroid hormones can cause the body to go into hyper mode and causes extreme irritability and "crashes" which make you feel exhausted....among a hundred other symptoms. Just food for thought.

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Irish Princess

I have a sister in law who is an uncontrolled bi-polar. She knows she has it, is aware and remembers clearly being diagnosed, knows she has medication but is noncompliant. She has made my brothers and nephews lives a living hell. Yes, a living hell. My nephews moved out when the older one was 18 and he took his younger brother aged 16 with him, so they could begin trying to have a normal, stable life. They have done very well. My poor brother has abided by his marriage vows for the 30 something years they have been married. His health has suffered tremendously. He went from being a well educated, happy, outgoing man who was a very hard worker and who provided very well for his family to a thin, ill, miserable soul with nothing to look forward to in life. My heart aches for him, but he will not divorce his wife.

Why doesn't she take her meds? In her words, and I quote (even though no one here has a way to verify it) "I don't want to lose all my energy! I would never get anything done!". Unquote.

She doesn't get anything done as it is. She is unable to keep a job, she is slovenly, their home is filthy, her car is a smashed up piece of crap because she drives too fast and hits things,.... I could go on but all she accomplishes is to keep stirring the pot all day every day until she works herself into a frenzy and finally blows her lid. At my brother.

So yes, not all bi-polars stay on their medication and live happy, productive lives. Many of them choose not to take their meds and thus continue wreaking havoc in the lives of people who love them.

And FWIW, I was once briefly involved with a man who was later diagnosed with Borderline Personality Disorder (discovered this through a mutual friend who he tried to start a relationship with). If I knew that someone had that diagnosis, there is no way in blue blazes I would become involved with them. There are too many fish in the sea to choose to be in a relationship with someone with BPD. When I told him I couldn't deal with his mental issues, he threatened suicide. I told him I would not be held emotionally ransom, don't contact me or my family again, goodbye. I once wondered what poor woman he later went on to victimize....

Not everyone in this thread is doing it, but it really bothers me that for some reason the language often used for this terrible disorder defines the sufferer.

A person is not bi polar, they HAVE bi polar. You would never say someone IS cancer.

Referring to someone as 'a bi polar' is an awful way of speaking about someone who is ill.

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I saw something nasty in the woodshed

Some people have diabetes and do not treat it. They gain weight, go blind, loose limbs, and die a very early death. Their loved ones watch this and it is horrible.

Some people have bipolar and do not treat it. They yell and gamble and try to kill themselves, and their loved ones watch it and it is horrible, though in a different way.

Self destructive behavior is never a good thing.

Bipolar is a behavior disease so the person is called bipolar.

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we still call my friend Susan. I had no idea we were supposed to call her bipolar.

I think folks are using it as an adjective, not a noun.

Some call it a toe-Mott-o, some call it a tomato...

Doesn't change the fact that at the end of the day a tomato is tomato, and a bipolar is...wait...still a bipolar.

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What happened to the "Be Nice" rule? IMHO some of these posts are mean, just for the sake of being mean. Don't people who do that have some type of mental problems?

I completely agree with you Molly. Advocating the hanging or electrocution of mental health patients? And the wholesale character bashing and generalizations if people with bipolar? Absolutely vile.

I completely agree with you Molly. Advocating the hanging or electrocution of mental health patients? And the wholesale character bashing and generalizations of people with bipolar? Absolutely vile.